Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1957 Events Inauguration Dwight David Eisenhower became the thirty-forth President of the United States on January 20, 1953. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Executed On June 19, 1953 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed at Sing Sing prison in Ossing, New York for passing secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviets during the World War II. Iranian Coup In 1953 the CIA arranged and executed a coup d'etat in Iran which replaced the popularly elected government, which was hostile to American interests, with a pro-American government headed by Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi. Army-McCarthy Hearings McCarthyism peaked in 1954 when Senator McCarthy lead an attack against the United States Army which lead to special hearings by the Senate. From April 22 to June 17 the Army-McCarthy hearings were broadcast on national television, giving Americans their first opportunity to see Senator McCarthy in action. McCarthy's approval ratings fell almost overnight. On December 2, 1954 the Senate voted to censure Joseph McCarthy for behavior unbecoming of a United States senator. Guatemalan Coup In 1954 the CIA executed a coup d'etat in Guatemala which replaced the existing leftist government with an American puppet regime. Geneva Summit Conference In July of 1955 President Eisenhower, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, and French Premier Edgar Faure met with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss ways of achieving a "peaceful coexistence". No treaties were signed, but the meeting, the first of its kind since the dawn of the Cold War, did help ease tensions between Eastern and Western powers for the time being. Montgomery Bus Boycott On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks, a seamstress and an active member of the NAACP, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. To protest the segregationist laws under which Mrs. Parks had been arrested, Civil Rights activists organized a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a young minister from Atlanta who had recently come to Montgomery to work at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, was chosen to lead the strike. The strike lasted for 381 days before the Supreme Court declared the segregation laws unconstitutional and ordered the bus companies of Montgomery to integrate. The Middle East In 1952 a revolution in Egypt had brought Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser to power. In an attempt to obtain Egypt as an ally in the Cold War, the United States promised Colonel Nasser that it would finance a much needed dam along the Nile at Aswan. When Egypt established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1956, the United States withdrew its offer. Nasser responded by declaring that the Suez Canal was to be nationalized. Unwilling to loose their access to the canal, Britain, France, and Israel issued a joint statement promising drastic action if the canal was not restored to international control. On October 29, 1956 Israel, Britain and France invaded Egypt and seized the canal. The invasion was condemned by both the Soviet Union and the United States. Under pressure from the United States, Israel, France, and Great Britain withdrew their forces on November 6. Legislation Armistice in Korea An armistice a was reached in Korea in July of 1953. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Created The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was created in 1953. Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka On May 17, 1954 Chief Justice Earl Warren handed down the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka. In the decision the Supreme Court found segregation in education illegal, declaring that "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." National System of Interstate and Defense Highways Act In 1956 Congress passed the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways Act which committed over $26 billion to the construction of a national interstate highway system covering over 41,000 miles. Eisenhower Doctrine Fearing that the Soviet Union may have benefited from the recent Egyptian crisis, President Eisenhower issued the Eisenhower Doctrine in January of 1957. The Eisenhower Doctrine declared that the United States reserved the right to use force in the Middle East to help any country fighting off communist aggression. Dwight David Eisenhower 1957-1961 Second Term Events Inauguration Dwight David Eisenhower delivered his second inaugural address on January 20, 1957. Integration in Little Rock, Arkansas In September of 1957 public school officials in Little Rock, Arkansas moved to comply with federal orders to integrate. Declaring that the process of integrating the schools would disrupt public order, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus sent in the state militia to prevent any and all African American students from entering Central High. President Eisenhower responded to the crisis by sending a thousand federal soldiers to Little Rock to ensure that African American students could safely attend classes. Vanguard Early in 1957 Soviet scientists successfully placed two artificial satellites, both code named Sputnik, into orbit around the Earth. American scientists tried to launch their own satellite, code named Vanguard, on December 6 of that same year. Vanguard got only a few feet off the launch pad before exploding and falling back to Earth. Police Action in Lebanon In 1958 Lebanese Moslems threatened an armed revolt against Beirut's government which was dominated by that country's Christian minority. The revolt coincided with the stepping down of Beirut's President Camille Chamoun. President Eisenhower sent the Marines into Lebanon to quell the violence until Chamoun's successor was established in office. Khrushchev Visits the United States Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev toured the United States in 1959. President Eisenhower met with Khrushchev during the trip and the two set a date to meet formally for a summit in Paris in May of 1960. Revolution in Cuba In 1959 a group of revolutionaries lead by Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista. President Eisenhower immediately recognized the Castro government. Soon, however, Castro began to openly criticize the United States. He confiscated property owned by private American investors, and entered into a trade agreement with the Soviet Union. The United States retaliated by suspending diplomatic relations with Cuba, and stopping the importation of Cuban sugar. U-2 Spy Plane Shot Down Early in 1960 an American U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying over Soviet territory. Up until this time the United States had kept the advanced U-2 as a military secret. U-2 pilots had been instructed to self desctruct their planes in the event that they were shot down over hostile territory. Assuming that the pilot had followed orders, President Eisenhower initially responded to the incident by declaring that the downed plane had been a weather plane which had accidentally flown off course. Later when Eisenhower learned that the pilot had failed to self destruct his plane, and that both plane wreckage and pilot were in Soviet custody, he accepted full responsibility and refused to apologize to the Soviets for spying. Khrushchev in turn refused to attend the upcoming Paris summit conference. Legislation Civil Rights Act of 1957 Civil rights legislation signed by Eisenhower in 1957 and 1960 strengthened the legal rights of voters by imposing fines and penalties on any person denying blacks their constitutional right to vote. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Established The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created in 1958. National Defense Education Act Congress passed the National Defense Education Act in 1958 to help promising students finance their undergraduate and graduate studies. Alaska Alaska became the 49th state in the Union on January 3, 1959. Hawaii Hawaii became the 50th state in the Union on August 21, 1959