Korean War armistice (1953)
Ended the fighting in Korea in his first year in office
US Presidents · 20th century
Dwight D. Eisenhower
1890–1969 · American
Republican
In office: 1953–1961
Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower, the 34th president, was the five-star general who commanded the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944. As president he ended the fighting in Korea, built the Interstate Highway System, sent troops to enforce school desegregation at Little Rock, and in his farewell address warned against the "military-industrial complex".
How to spot them
- ▸'Ike'; the slogan 'I Like Ike'
- ▸Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force on D-Day
- ▸Farewell address warning of the 'military-industrial complex'
- ▸Interstate highways; Little Rock; the U-2 incident; Camp David named after his grandson
In office
The 'Atoms for Peace' speech (1953)
Address to the UN General Assembly on peaceful uses of nuclear energy
Federal-Aid Highway Act (1956)
Created the Interstate Highway System
Sending the 101st Airborne to Little Rock (1957)
Enforced desegregation of Little Rock Central High School
Creation of NASA (1958)
Space agency founded in response to Sputnik
The U-2 incident (1960)
American spy plane shot down over the USSR; pilot Francis Gary Powers captured
The 'military-industrial complex' farewell address (1961)
Warning about the influence of a permanent arms industry
Key ideas
- The 'domino theory' (1954): if one country fell to communism, its neighbours would follow
- The Eisenhower Doctrine (1957) offering aid to Middle Eastern states resisting communism
- 'Modern Republicanism' and the 'New Look' defence policy relying on nuclear deterrence
Quick-fire facts
- •34th president; the only president of the 20th century who had been a career army general
- •Born in Denison, Texas; grew up in Abilene, Kansas
- •West Point class of 1915, 'the class the stars fell on'
- •President of Columbia University and first Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO before entering politics
- •Richard Nixon was his vice president
- •Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959
- •'Under God' was added to the Pledge of Allegiance (1954) and 'In God We Trust' became the national motto (1956)
- •Renamed the presidential retreat Shangri-La as Camp David, after his grandson David
- •Appointed Earl Warren Chief Justice; a keen golfer and amateur painter
Drill it — 8 cards
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Sources
- Miller Center, University of Virginia — Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Dwight D. Eisenhower