Dwight Eisenhower
- Famous WWII general
- Decided to join the Republican Party after WWII
- This all but guaranteed him a win in the 1953 election
- Richard Nixon was his Vice-President
- Diagnosed with Crohn's disease and had a minor stroke while president
- Established NASA after the Soviet's Sputnik launch
- Ended the Korean War/Conflict as promised in his 1952 election campaign
- Signed the Civil Rights Bill in 1957
- Ran a balanced budget-would not spend any more money than the U.S. took in
- Started the Interstate Highway system
- Used the CIA to do covert-ops to distrupt communist governments abroad (Iran/Guatamala)
- Opened relations with Spain
- Defensive alliances were signed with South Korea and Taiwan
- Formed the South East Asia Treaty Organization-if one member nation was attacked, the other nations would help them
- Increased US involvement in Southeast Asia (Vietnam)-US advisors sent
- Developed idea that nuclear weapons would be defensive weapons (deterrance)
- Eisenhower Doctrine told Middle Eastern countries that they could ask for money or military help from the US to help keep commmunists out of their countries
- Allowed McCarthy to do his thing but privately did not approve
- Believed in laissez-faire
- Believed in a balanced budget
- Deported about 1 million illegal immigrants (mostly Mexicans)
- First president to send troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to help in the desegregation of all public schools--1954 Brown case
- US spy plane (U-2) was shot down over USSR-this was a huge embarrassment for Eisenhower because we got caught and he tried to lie about it
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