Chapter Review 761movement (which was not a major issue in the pres-
idential campaign). He enthusiastically endorsed
the Cold War and indicted the Eisenhower adminis-
tration for falling behind the Soviet Union in the
race to build missiles. He admitted frankly that he
liked Senator Joseph McCarthy and thought that
“he may have something” in his campaign against
supposed communists in government. However, as
a presidential candidate, he sought to appear more
forward-looking. He stressed his youth and “vigor”
(a favorite word) and promised to open a New
Frontier for the country. Nixon ran on the
Eisenhower record, which he promised to extend in
liberal directions.
A series of television debates between the candi-
dates helped Kennedy by enabling him to demon-
strate his maturity and mastery of the issues.
Although both candidates laudably avoided it, the
religious issue was important. His Catholicism
helped Kennedyin eastern urban areas but injured
him in many farm districts and throughout the
West. Kennedy’s victory, 303 to 219 in the Electoral
College, was paper-thin in the popular vote,
34,227,000 to 34,109,000.
The years since the end of World War II had been
dominated by the prospect of war more terrible than
anyone could imagine. By the end of 1960
Eisenhower was less concerned about a communist
victory than the impact of the arms race on America
itself. By then defense expenditures devoured one-
tenth of the nation’s GNP. In his final speech as pres-
ident, Eisenhower warned of the “grave implications”
resulting from “the conjunction of an immense mili-
tary establishment and a large arms industry.” What
Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex
potentially endangered “the very structure of our
society.” Could the nation mount a worldwide
defense of democracy without endangering that
democracy at home?Kennedy-Nixon Debateat
http://www.myhistorylab.comWatchtheVideo1944 Congress provides subsidies to veterans in GI Bill
of Rights
1946 UN creates Atomic Energy Commission
1947 Taft-Hartley Act regulates unions and labor disputes
1947 Truman announces Truman Doctrine to stop
communism’s spread
George Kennan (“X”) urges containment policy in
Sources of Soviet Conduct
1948 Marshall Plan provides funds to rebuild Europe
Harry S Truman is elected president
State of Israel is created as Jewish homeland; Arabs
declare war
1948– United States supplies West Berlin during
1949 Berlin airlift
1949 United States and eleven other nations form North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Soviet Union detonates atom bomb
1950 North Korea invades South Korea
NSC-68 calls for massive military buildup
Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury
McCarran Act restricts “subversive” activity
Senator Joseph McCarthy charges that the State
Department is riddled with communists
UN counterattack in Korea is driven back by Red
Chinese army
1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president
1953 John Foster Dulles institutes “New Look”
nuclear-based foreign policy
Korean War ends with armistice
1954 Senate holds Army–McCarthy hearings
United States helps overthrow Arbenz in Guatemala
French are defeated in Indochina after siege of
Dien Bien Phu
Supreme Court orders school desegregation in
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Egypt nationalizes Suez Canal in Suez Crisis
1955 The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., leads
Montgomery Bus Boycotts
1956 Eisenhower is reelected president
1957 M. L. King, Jr., and followers form Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
National Guard enforces desegregation of Central
High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
1959 Fidel Castro overthrows Fulgencio Batista, takes
power in Cuba
1960 John F. Kennedy is first Roman Catholic to be
elected presidentMilestones
Chapter Review