Today we did blog discussion.
Harry Truman
- Background:
- 33rd President of the United States (Republican)
- Became Vice President for FDR in January, 1945
- In office 1945-1953
- Took over after FDR died in April 1945
- One of the most unpopular presidents of all time when he left office- 22% approval rating
- Rating has improved greatly over the last 60 years
- His wife was a gold digger!
- Only election he was in was the 1948 Election
- He did not get 50% of the vote in this election. He got 49.6% of the vote
- His democratic opponent, Thomas E. Dewey was supposed to win by a landslide
- His other democratic opponent, Stron Thurman was very rascist and won in the southern states
- Accomplishments:
- He decided to use the atomic bombs against Japan.
- Helped organize and later join the United Nations
- Took a stance against Communism and the Soviet Union- Policy of Containment
- Desegregated the US military
- Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan were passed
- Created the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and the National Security Council. CIA wasn't very powerful and did some shady things, like wire tapping in and out of the US.
- "The Buck Stops Here" He said this to show that he would take responsibility for things that happened in his presidency.
- The Fair Deal- Very similar to the New Deal under FDR. Most of his proposals never got through Congress because he was such an unpopular president.
- Got the US involved in Vietnam by giving aid to France (gave them money)
- Berlin Airlift
- NATO established
- McCarthyism
- Korean Conflict and firing of General Douglass MacArthur
Dwight Eisenhower
- Background
- 34th President of the US (Republican)
- In Office: 1953-1961
- Was a famous WWII general
- Joined Republican Party after WWII, which pretty much guarenteed him the win in the 1952 election
- Richard Nixon was his VP
- Diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and had a minor stroke while president
- One of the oldest, if not the oldest president elected into office
- Election
- Ran against Adlai Stevenson- 1952
- Didn't start out as Republican or Democratic, but ended up being Republican
- Aimed his campaigning towards women
- He won 55.2% of the popular vote
- He was a very popular president because of his time in WWII
- In 1956 Election, he defeated Stevenson once again
- Accomplishments
- General in WWII
- He won 2 elections
- Continued New Deal Programs from FDR
- One of the older presidents
- He is known for setting up the interstate system
- He came up with the idea of deturrance (having nuclear weapons and saying we're going to use them in war, means that we won't go into a nuclear war)
- 1954 saw the very famous the Brown v. Board of Education that said that segregation was no longer allowed. He worked for desegregation.
- Dominated by the Cold War- Containment Policy
- Eisenhower Doctrine- US would give money and military aid to middle eastern countries to fight off Communists
- Ended the Korean War as promised in his election
- Increased US involvement in Southeast Asia (Vietnam)- US advisors sent
- NASA was created due to the Soviet Sputnik launch
- US spy plane (U-2) was shot down over USSR
- Deported around 1 million illegal immigrants (mostly Mexicans
- Allowed McCarthy to do his thing but privately did not approve
John F. Kennedy
- Background
- 1st and only Catholic President
- One of the youngest presidents elected
- Served in WWII
- Married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier
- Assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, TX by Lee Harvey Oswald
- Election
- 1960 Election he went up against Nixon, who had been VP
- Kennedy went to the swing states and bigger states for the electoral college
- Kennedy was a Democrat, and there were many more Democratic votes that year
- Got young people's interests, young people's votes
- Young people loved Kennedy
- 1st presidential televised debates took place
- Won 49.7% of popular vote, Nixon won 49.6% of popular vote so it was very close
- Accomplishments
- Bay of Pigs Invasion- 1961
- Cold War Issues dominated Kennedy's presidency
- Berlin Wall was built in 1961
- Cuban Missle Crisis
- Kennedy increased the number of helicopters, military advisors and undeclared US Special Forces in the Vietnam
- The CIA helped the new Ba'ath Party government overthrow Communists in Iraq. This new party systematically murdered large numbers of Iraq's educated elite- killings in which Saddam Hussein himself is said to have belonged.
- The New Frontier:promised funding for: education, medical care for the elderly, economic aid to rural regions and government intervention to halt the recession, end racial desgression
- Peace Corps
- Moonshot Speech
- Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
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