Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Success Criteria:
To analyse Eisenhower’s stance on Civil Rights
The importance of :
The Brown case
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
Little Rock
Dwight D Eisenhower succeeded
to the Presidency of the USA in
1953. He was a Republican and
a former soldier. During World
War Two Eisenhower had been
in charge of all Allied soldiers in
Europe.
In the 1950s Eisenhower took a
strong position in the
development of the Cold War.
During his presidency the Arms
and Space Races took off.
Essentially, although not actively a racist,
Eisenhower did little to respond to the calls for
greater equality between blacks and whites.
Eisenhower was scared to act and held prejudiced
views against blacks.
Like many whites, Eisenhower was afraid of
miscegenation (co-habitation or inter-racial
marriage), so although he called for more equality,
that didn’t mean that blacks and whites had …
‘to mingle socially- or that a Negro could court my
daughter’
Eisenhower had only one black
member of staff, E. Frederick
Morrow, and he was there only
to help Eisenhower get re-
elected.
Morrow was given low-ranking
tasks like arranging the staff
car-parking and answering
letters from blacks. Even the
other White House staff
refused to file or type for him!
Morrow was shocked at
Eisenhower’s ignorance.
Eisenhower only met the Civil
Rights leaders once!
Eisenhower tried to avoid
talking to his Republican
colleague Congressman Adam
Clayton Powell, because he
was black.
Eisehower’s attitude to Civil
Rights
Eisenhower hoped that either the civil
rights movement would just go away,
or that things would gradually
improve on their own. He failed to
grasp that his role as President
offered leadership opportunities to
change matters for the better.
Emmett Till
In 1955 Emmett Till’s mutilated
body was dragged from a
Mississippi river. He had been
killed for allegedly whistling at a
white woman.
Those responsible were put on trial.
The defendants lawyers were
leading Democrats in the county.
They claimed that Till was still
alive at one point and when
summing up they asked the
(white) jury to make ‘sure that
every last Anglo-Saxon one of us
has the courage to free’ the white
defendants.
The verdict was ‘not guilty’.
Eisenhower made no comment.
Autherine Lucy
Another opportunity for
Eisenhower to show support
was missed at the trial of
Autherine Lucy.
Lucy had successfully took the
University of Alabama to
court to gain admission, but
she was later expelled. The
University said she had lied
when she said that they had
excluded her for racial
reasons.
Eisenhower, again, made no
comment.
Eisenhower the Passive
Eisenhower summed up his stance on
Civil Rights with this statement…..
1960 – In late 1958, Eisenhower introduced another bill because he was concerned about bombings of
black schools and churches. While Eisenhower considered the Bill to be moderate, Southern
Democrats again diluted its provisions. It finally became law because both parties sought the black
vote in the presidential election year. The act made it a federal crime to obstruct court ordered
school desegregation and established penalties for obstructing black voting.
These 2 acts only added 3% of black voters to the electoral roles during 1960. Contemporaries were
unimpressed, but at least the acts acknowledged federal responsibilities, which encouraged civil
rights activists to work for more legislation.
Cold War & Decolonisation
Cold War
The need for unity during the Cold War helps to explain Eisenhower’s frequent inactivity on civil
rights. He did not want to antagonise the white majority. Black civil rights activists with
Communist sympathies became very unpopular. The Cold War helped as well as hindered the
civil rights movement. It was difficult for both Truman & Eisenhower to try to rally the free
world against Communism when blacks in the American South were clearly un-free.