random item

Troperville

Tools

Find recent edits by troper:

back to: Main / DwightDEisenhower

edit article | go to discussion page

2nd May '13 3:30:45 PM maxwellsilver

Send maxwellsilver a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 1,89 (click to see context) from:

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ilikeike.jpg
[[caption-width:222:Who doesn't like Ike? (Answer: Adlai Stevenson [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius and]] [[SuperSmashBros Meta]] [[StealthPun Knight]].)]]

->'''I Like Ike!''' - ''Eisenhower campaign slogan''

'''Dwight David Eisenhower''' (1890-1969) was a five-star general during WorldWarII and later the 34th President of the United States (1953-1961). He was the last President born in the 19th century and was the 13th from the Republican Party. Eisenhower was the first President who was limited to two terms by the 22nd Amendment (HarryTruman was grandfather-claused). Famous for his nickname “Ike”, which he got from his parents. In fact, all of his brothers were nicknamed Ike, which [[FridgeLogic doesn’t make a lot of sense]]. For some reason, it only stuck with him for the rest of his life. Ike was actually first named David Dwight Eisenhower; his mother changed the order of his names when he was a year old because having three Davids in the family was confusing everyone. One gets the feeling from all of this that his family had trouble with names. To this day, some people believe that she did it so "he couldn't have a nickname" - this despite the fact that she was the one who thought up "Ike"!

Despite his deeply-religious mother’s [[ActualPacifist beliefs on war]], Eisenhower went to West Point and graduated in 1915; this class is famous for producing 58 future generals (including Omar Bradley, another major WorldWarII General and Ike’s good friend) and has been nicknamed “the class the stars fell on” by military historians. During WorldWarI, Eisenhower trained tank crews at {{Film/Gettysburg}}, though, to his disappointment, he never saw action. Between the wars, he studied military history and strategy, rose up the ranks to lieutenant colonel, and served for a few years under DouglasMacArthur (another future WorldWarII General) in the {{UsefulNotes/Philippines}}. All of this proved to be invaluable for preparing him for his future leadership in the next world war.

Eisenhower saw a number of promotions throughout WorldWarII, eventually reaching the ranks of General of the Army (five-stars) and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He was one of the most brilliant strategists on the Allied side, and was responsible for some of the most important American victories in the European and North African theaters. He was the commander of both Operation Torch (the Allied landings on North Africa) and Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily). President FranklinDRoosevelt then chose him to plan the Allied invasion of northern Europe. Codenamed [[AwesomeMcCoolname Operation Overlord]], but best known as D-Day, the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy (part of northern France) were a very risky move (he actually had [[ItsAllMyFault a speech assuming full responsibility ready]] in case it failed) that, luckily, paid off. Eisenhower continued to supervise the western front and was present at the German surrender. He was also one of the first Allied leaders to see the concentration camps in Germany, and he ordered both the military and news crews to document everything they saw [[GenreSavvy knowing some would deny it really happened]]. He famously wrote [[TearJerker "We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."]]

Eisenhower was made the Governor of the American Zone in Germany, where he helped bring in food and medicine for the German citizens. He served as Chief of Staff for President HarryTruman and, later, as the first supreme commander of NATO during the beginning years of the ColdWar. He was courted by both major parties in 1948, but declined to run. He was "drafted" by Republicans in 1952 and won the general election in a ten-point victory and Electoral College landslide. His campaign slogan was "I Like Ike", which was meant to be worn on buttons and bumper stickers to show support. The unpopular and sour-faced RichardNixon, then a Senator, was his running mate. Eisenhower was also president of Columbia University from 1948 to 1953, which gave him administrative experience for his years as the nation’s president.

Eisenhower proved to be a very moderate President, upholding the surviving New Deal agencies of Roosevelt and Truman and even expanding Social Security. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was created during his time; it’s now the Department of Health and Human Services, after Education was given its own Department. He made five appointments to the Supreme Court, including California governor Earl Warren as Chief Justice. Despite expectations that he would lead the Court in a conservative direction, the Warren Court gave many liberal rulings on topics as varied as civil rights, the rights of accused citizens, the supremacy of federal laws over state laws, and education. Eisenhower is said to have called it the biggest mistake of his presidency, though this [[UrbanLegend has never actually been proven]]. He also appointed the first Catholic justice, William J. Brennan, who also turned out to be unexpectedly liberal. The Supreme Court ruling in ''Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka'' (1954) ended school segregation and seriously kicked off the CivilRightsMovement. Supporting their ruling, he ordered the desegregation of DC schools (per ''Bolling v. Sharpe'') and would later [[BigDamnHeroes send down the 101st Airborne Division]] [[PetTheDog to enforce the inclusion of black students]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome in the high school at Little Rock, Arkansas]]. He also proposed two Civil Rights Acts to Congress in 1957 and 1960, which were the first passed since Reconstruction ended in 1877, and completed Truman’s process of desegregating the military. Eisenhower has often been criticized for not doing enough to support the Civil Rights Movement; he did ''personally'' support it, but he believed that the President could only help them to a limited extent and that changing things suddenly would [[{{Foreshadowing}} lead to some people taking violent action to try and stop it]].

While Eisenhower was President, infamous Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=] was leading a witch-hunt against (mostly imaginary) communists in the federal government. When [=McCarthy=] began to target the Atomic Energy Commission, Eisenhower ordered that its employees not reveal anything for the sake of “public interest”, technically making him the father of executive privilege. Despite being criticized for failing to stop [=McCarthy=], Eisenhower worked behind the scenes to get the [=McCarthy=]-Army hearings televised, leading to [=McCarthy=]'s downfall when the public got a look at how utterly unlikable and out-of-touch with reality he was. Ike also signed the act creating the Interstate Highway System; largely inspired by the German ''[[GermanPeculiarities Autobahnen]]'' he saw during WWII, it authorized the building of tens of thousands of miles of new freeways across the nation. Most people today forget that they were created in case the Soviets invaded and troops needed to be moved very quickly; instead, it led to the rise of the suburbs and made the automobile industry even more powerful. He also signed the National Defense Education Act, which gave funding to all levels of education and provided financial assistance to thousands of college students. His administration saw the first serious federal action taken against illegal immigrants from Mexico, and nearly 1 million were rounded up and sent back during his presidency. Outside of a stinging but brief recession in 1958, Eisenhower’s two terms oversaw [[TheFifties a period of excellent economic outgrowth]], and he managed to significantly reduce federal deficits.

On the foreign policy front, Eisenhower’s “New Look” policy supported the containment and, eventually, the “rolling back” of communism throughout the world. To do this, he used a method of PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower, massively increasing the number of nuclear weapons owned by the United States. Eisenhower didn’t seem to ever want to use these weapons, though; he repeatedly turned down any attempt by his advisors to use them against RedChina or other communist nations. However, Ike wasn't opposed to using ''conventional'' weapons for the same purpose. His administration established and operated under the "domino theory", which stated that if one country falls to communism, its neighbors would eventually fall too if significant anti-communist support was not given. One of the unfortunate effects of this was the beginning of American involvement in TheVietnamWar during his time in office, though [[FairForItsDay he only sent a few hundred troops there]] and the [[JohnFKennedy next]] [[LyndonBJohnson few]] [[RichardNixon administrations]] were the ones to expand it.

Relations with the Soviet Union proved to be very testy during his eight years. He met with Soviet premiere Nikita Khrushchev a few times with the hopes of slowly ending the ColdWar, but these conferences only produced a few results. However, with Nixon’s visit to the Soviet Union and Khrushchev’s visit to America, the chance for peace started to look better. However, on the eve of another summit in Paris, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over USSR territory. Eisenhower begrudgingly admitted to an outraged Khrushchev that he ordered this flight as well as others, embarrassing the American government. Khrushchev left the summit in protest, Eisenhower had to cancel his planned trip to the USSR, and relations between the two countries returned to their previous state. TheSpaceRace also got started when the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite into space in 1957. He responded by creating both {{NASA}} to lead the American space program and DARPA to expand scientific knowledge and technological progress.

Eisenhower visited the Korean peninsula in 1952 after winning and concluded that the stalemate in TheKoreanWar was not worth the money being poured into it. Upon entering office in 1953, he negotiated an end to the fighting with an armistice. (Technically speaking, America is still at war with North Korea because a peace treaty was never signed.) That same year, he authorized a {{CIA}}-led coup d’etat in {{UsefulNotes/Iran}} to overthrow the new pro-Soviet prime minister and reinstate the Iranian monarchy. This was the start of major American involvement in the Middle East and would eventually lead to the spectacular embarrassment of the Iranian hostage crisis during JimmyCarter’s presidency. When Israel, the UK, and France [[ArabIsraeliConflict invaded Egypt in 1956 to seize the Suez Canal]], Eisenhower ordered them to leave Egypt and return the canal. He also sent troops to {{UsefulNotes/Lebanon}} two years later to prevent the nation from falling to revolutionaries. The CIA led other covert operations, including in {{UsefulNotes/Guatemala}} and the [[{{UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo}} Congo]]. {{UsefulNotes/Cuba}} fell to communism in 1959, and Eisenhower ordered the CIA to plan an invasion of Cuba that would end up happening during JohnFKennedy’s time in office. The Formosa Resolution, which promises {{UsefulNotes/Taiwan}} that America will provide military defense against RedChina, was passed in 1955 and continues to this day. During the Eisenhower administration, America and {{UsefulNotes/Canada}} worked together to create the St. Lawrence Seaway and TheFrancoRegime in {{UsefulNotes/Spain}} was recognized by the United States government.

Eisenhower changed the name of the presidential retreat from "Shangri-La" to "Camp David" in honor of his grandson. AirForceOne started to be used for security purposes after a rather embarrassing incident where a plane Eisenhower was on and a commercial flight with the same call sign entered the same airspace. He was also the first President to appoint a White House Chief of Staff and the first to appear on color television. Alaska and Hawaii were both admitted to the Union in 1959, bringing the number of states to 50. He endorsed Nixon’s first run for President in 1960 and wasn’t happy when Kennedy won, but he did live long enough to see Nixon enter the office at the end of TheSixties. Eisenhower gave a famous televised farewell speech when he warned the nation of what he called “the military-industrial complex”, or a partnership between government forces and the defense industrial base. He had to resign his position as General of the Army when he entered office, though he was recommissioned after leaving it. Ike died in 1969. He was seen for a while as a "do-nothing" who was more interested in golfing than the presidency, but he is today recognized for ending the Korean War while preventing others, overseeing a time of economic prosperity, creating lasting and highly influential government agencies, and slowly starting government support of the Civil Rights Movement. Historians [[VindicatedByHistory now usually place him in the top 10]]. He has an aircraft carrier named after him, and his place of meditation at his grave in Kansas is really cool. He donated his farm in Gettysburg to the National Park Service before he died. Currently, plans are underway for building the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C..
----
!!Tropes That Apply to Eisenhower:
* AffectionateNickname: Ike.
* ArmchairMilitary: He never saw any action during his military career. Some people opposed his promotions during World War II because of this. Turns out Eisenhower made a number of great strategic decisions. Go figure.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority
* {{Badass}}
** BadassInCharge
** FourStarBadass
* BaldOfAwesome
* BigDamnHeroes: Sending the troops to Little Rock.
* ColdWar
* CoolOldGuy
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The D-Day landings as General, sending troops to Little Rock as President.
* CurbStompBattle: Both of his elections; his opponent Adlai Stevenson wasn't a bad candidate, but the Democrats were divided and had held the presidency for 20 years in 1952, as well as the country being embroiled in the unpopular Korean War. He won 39 out of 48 states in 1952 and 41 in 1956.
* {{Determinator}}: As were most World War II Generals.
* DidntSeeThatComing: Averted. He actually recognized the growth of the military-industrial complex and tried to stop it. Then, a few decades after he left office, [[RonaldReagan it happened]].
* DirtyOldMan: He had an affair with his secretary during World War II.
* UsefulNotes/{{Dyslexia}}: There is some evidence he suffered from a form of it; the original copies of his speeches are underlined in different colours, which some dyslexics need in order to read the text, and he always kept a set of coloured crayons on his desk for the purpose. Obviously if true, this would have to have been kept secret at the time as the condition wasn't widely known or understood.
* EndOfAnAge / DawnOfAnEra: He was the last President before the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states, meaning JohnFKennedy would be the first to be elected under the US flag as we know it now. 
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: The West Point class of 1915, "The class the stars fell on", produced many important military leaders, including Omar Bradley.
* AFatherToHisMen
* TheFifties: The decade in America is often nicknamed the "Eisenhower Era".
* FriendlyEnemy: During the years after World War II, he believed that the Soviet Union did not want to go to war. He called for peace between the US and the USSR until the Berlin blockade.
* GenreSavvy: Ordered countless pictures of the concentration camps to be taken in case anyone ever doubted the Holocaust happened.
* GoKartingWithBowser: Soviet premiere Nikita Khrushchev did this with his visit to the United States during Eisenhower's time in office. Then the Soviets discovered that America was spying on them. Whoops.
* {{Irony}}: Before running for President in 1952, he had never voted in his life.
* ItsAllMyFault: He was prepared to accept full responsibility if the D-Day landings failed. Luckily for everyone involved, they didn't.
* MassiveNumberedSiblings: He had six brothers.
* {{NASA}}: The President who created it.
* NiceGuy
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: American relations with the nations of the Middle East probably would be much, much better if it wasn't for the 1953 coup d'etat in Iran.
* PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Probably the most bipartisan, compromise-friendly President of the 20th century.
* UrbanLegend: There are no records proving that he called his nomination of Earl Warren as Chief Justice the biggest mistake of his presidency.
* VindicatedByHistory: Was generally considered to be a serviceable but not particularly extraordinary President in the years after he left office. Starting after [[DeadArtistsAreBetter his death]], historians started to take a much more favorable view of his time in office. Most polls place him in the Top 10 Presidents now.
* WarriorPoet: Painting was a favorite hobby of his.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The 1962 war movie ''TheLongestDay'', which depicts the D-Day landings, features Eisenhower. The producers initially considered casting '''Eisenhower himself''', but eventually decided that he was too old to play his World War II self by the early 60's. Ike actually strongly considered it, too.
* WorldWarII

!!Eisenhower in fiction:
* ''MarriedWithChildren'' has Al Bundy attempting to prove his theory that his neighbor and RichIdiotWithNoDayJob Jefferson is actually a spy by challenging him to see which of them could name the most U.S. Presidents. Jefferson names several, while Al's only response to each is "...''Ei''senhower".
* Ike plays a minor role early in Darwyn Cooke's graphic novel ''ComicBook/DCTheNewFrontier'', mainly to represent the "old guard" before Kennedy's election at the end. He's slightly more prominent in a "special missing chapter" published a few years later, where he conscripts Comicbook/{{Superman}} to arrest Comicbook/{{Batman}} in a clever parody of RonaldReagan's role in ''TheDarkKnightReturns''.
* IndianaJones told his Commie captors in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' that he [[PreAssKickingOneLiner likes Ike]].
* He appears in the MegRyan romantic comedy ''I.Q.'', dumbfounding mechanic Ed Walters (TimRobbins) in the process. "Ike?" Apparently a close friend of AlbertEinstein.
* As a humourous take on an instance of NamesTheSame, his campaign slogan "We like Ike!" was used in ''[[SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' to cheer on [[NamesTheSame another guy named]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Ike]].
* In the ''BeavisAndButthead'' movie, Mr. Anderson is touring the White House. He stares at the portrait of Eisenhower lamenting "Where are you when we need you, Ike?"
* ''Comicbook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'' referred to Ike's Earth-C counterpart, General (and presumably 1950s Earth-C US president) Eisenhowler, during Earth-C's version of [[WorldWarII D-Day]], which Zoo Crew team member Fastback was forcibly sent back in time to by the villainous Timekeeper.
* In the first episode of ''{{Scrubs}}'', Dr Cox checks on the state of an elderly male patient by [[DoNotTauntCthulhu remarking]] that "Eisenhower was a sissy." He then jumps back and puts his fists up in defence. The patient's lack of response is taken as evidence that he is still comatose.
* He's mentioned in the ''AllInTheFamily'' episode "Mike comes into Money":
-->'''Mike:''' It's getting like politics in America is only for the rich!
-->'''Archie:''' Who's been feeding you that Commie crapola?
-->'''Mike:''' President Eisenhower said that.
-->'''Archie:''' He did not! Eisenhower was a great president who never said nothin'!
* During the 2000 Presidential Elections, Cartoon Network ran its own mock election featuring cartoon characters. Brak's campaign was a direct copy of an "I Like Ike" commercial, but with Brak pasted over everything.
-->'''Brak''': Brak's my name and [[ShapedLikeItself that's what it is!]]
* The Queen from ''TrueBlood'' lost her attraction to men during the Eisenhower years.
* In Creator/WoodyAllen's story ''Remembering Needleman'', an eulogy for the fictional academic Sandor Needleman, it's mentioned that he was dismissed from Columbia University for his disagreement with Eisenhower (who was the president of the university between 1948-53) "over whether the class bell signaled the end of a period or the beginning of another", which led to Needleman attacking Eisenhower with a carpet beater who ran for cover into a toy store.
* In ''AWorldOfLaughterAWorldOfTears'', Ike suffers a heart attack before the election and the Republicans scramble for another high-profile candidate to draft, eventually settling on WaltDisney. This does not end well.
* Ike appears at the beginning of ''SupermanRedSon'', first announcing the existence of Soviet Superman to the United States, and later privately lamenting the forthcoming ColdWar escalation to his aides, one of whom is JimmyOlsen, who in that universe is the government agent that Ike assigns to monitor {{LexLuthor}}'s progress on coming up with a way to beat Superman.
* Eisenhower appears in ''TheLongestDay'', making the fateful decision to send the invasion fleet to Normandy through questionable weather on June 6th. [[ItWasHisSled It works.]] He was played by AcademyAward-winning set decorator Henry Grace, who looked very similar to Ike, in his only acting role. In fact, before he was cast, the producers considered having '''Eisenhower himself''' in the movie until they realized how big the age difference was by the early 60's.
* ''Ike: Countdown to D-Day'' stars TomSelleck as General Eisenhower, and focuses on the planning of Operation Overlord.
* In the 1998 VideogameRemake of ''VideoGame/{{BattleZone|1998}}'', the American space army, the NSDF, is formed under his auspices. Included in the game's manual are an exchange of letters between him and the general in charge of the operation.
* He briefly appears in at start of the 1985 sci-fi comedy ''Film/MyScienceProject''.
* In "Ike at the Mike" by Creator/HowardWaldrop, Eisenhower becomes a jazz musician instead of entering the military (and Music/ElvisPresley enters the military, and later becomes a Senator, instead of pursuing his musical career).
----

to:

28th Apr '13 4:51:14 PM Tuckerscreator

Send Tuckerscreator a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 2,3 (click to see context) from:

to:

22nd Apr '13 9:18:37 PM urutapu

Send urutapu a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 66 (click to see context) from:

to:

13th Apr '13 3:30:41 AM Thande

Send Thande a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 42,43 (click to see context) from:

to:

13th Apr '13 3:29:17 AM Thande

Send Thande a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 37 (click to see context) :

Added line(s) 40 (click to see context) :

Changed line(s) 47 (click to see context) from:

to:

29th Mar '13 8:39:42 PM AyaReiko

Send AyaReiko a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:

Eisenhower saw a number of promotions throughout WorldWarII, eventually reaching the ranks of General of the Army (five-stars) and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He was one of the most brilliant strategists on the Allied side, and was responsible for some of the most important American victories in the European and North African theaters. He was the commander of both Operation Torch (the Allied landings on North Africa) and Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily). President FranklinDRoosevelt then chose him to plan the Allied invasion of northern Europe. Codenamed Operation Overlord, but best known as D-Day, the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy (part of northern France) were a very risky move (he actually had [[ItsAllMyFault a speech assuming full responsibility ready]] in case it failed) that, luckily, paid off. Eisenhower continued to supervise the western front and was present at the German surrender. He was also one of the first Allied leaders to see the concentration camps in Germany, and he ordered both the military and news crews to document everything they saw [[GenreSavvy knowing some would deny it really happened]]. He famously wrote [[TearJerker "We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."]]

to:

29th Mar '13 8:37:58 PM AyaReiko

Send AyaReiko a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:

Eisenhower saw a number of promotions throughout WorldWarII, eventually reaching the ranks of General of the Army (five-stars) and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He was one of the most brilliant strategists on the Allied side, and was responsible for some of the most important American victories in the European and North African theaters. He was the commander of both Operation Torch (the Allied landings on North Africa) and Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily). President FranklinDRoosevelt then chose him to plan the Allied invasion of northern Europe. Named D-Day, the Allied landings on the beaches of Normany (part of northern France) were a very risky move (he actually had [[ItsAllMyFault a speech assuming full responsibility ready]] in case it failed) that, luckily, paid off. Eisenhower continued to supervise the western front and was present at the German surrender. He was also one of the first Allied leaders to see the concentration camps in Germany, and he ordered both the military and news crews to document everything they saw [[GenreSavvy knowing some would deny it really happened]]. He famously wrote [[TearJerker "We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."]]

to:

Eisenhower saw a number of promotions throughout WorldWarII, eventually reaching the ranks of General of the Army (five-stars) and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He was one of the most brilliant strategists on the Allied side, and was responsible for some of the most important American victories in the European and North African theaters. He was the commander of both Operation Torch (the Allied landings on North Africa) and Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily). President FranklinDRoosevelt then chose him to plan the Allied invasion of northern Europe. Codenamed Operation Overlord, but best known as D-Day, the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy (part of northern France) were a very risky move (he actually had [[ItsAllMyFault a speech assuming full responsibility ready]] in case it failed) that, luckily, paid off. Eisenhower continued to supervise the western front and was present at the German surrender. He was also one of the first Allied leaders to see the concentration camps in Germany, and he ordered both the military and news crews to document everything they saw [[GenreSavvy knowing some would deny it really happened]]. He famously wrote [[TearJerker "We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."]]

26th Mar '13 5:45:59 PM MysteriousF

Send MysteriousF a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 14,15 (click to see context) from:

Eisenhower proved to be a very moderate President, upholding the surviving New Deal agencies of Roosevelt and Truman and even expanding Social Security. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was created during his time; it’s now the Department of Health and Human Services, after Education was given its own Department. He made five appointments to the Supreme Court, including California governor Earl Warren as Chief Justice. Despite expectations that he would lead the Court in a conservative direction, the Warren Court gave many liberal rulings on topics as varied as civil rights, the rights of accused citizens, the supremacy of federal laws over state laws, and education. Eisenhower is said to have called it the biggest mistake of his presidency, though this [[UrbanLegend has never actually been proven]]. The Supreme Court ruling in ''Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka'' (1954) ended school segregation and seriously kicked off the CivilRightsMovement. Supporting their ruling, he ordered the desegregation of DC schools (per ''Bolling v. Sharpe'') and would later [[BigDamnHeroes send down the 101st Airborne Division]] [[PetTheDog to enforce the inclusion of black students]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome in the high school at Little Rock, Arkansas]]. He also proposed two Civil Rights Acts to Congress in 1957 and 1960, the first passed since Reconstruction ended in 1877, and completed Truman’s process of desegregating the military. Eisenhower has often been criticized for not doing enough to support the Civil Rights Movement; he did ''personally'' support it, but he believed that the President could only help them to a limited extent and that changing things suddenly would [[{{Foreshadowing}} lead to some people taking violent action to try and stop it]].

to:

Changed line(s) 20,23 (click to see context) from:

TheSpaceRace also got started when the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite into space in 1957. He responded by creating both {{NASA}} to lead the American space program and DARPA to expand scientific knowledge and technological progress.

to:

10th Mar '13 8:42:56 PM LTR

Send LTR a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 16,21 (click to see context) from:

While Eisenhower was President, infamous Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=] was leading a witch-hunt against (mostly imaginary) communists in the federal government. When [=McCarthy=] began to target the Atomic Energy Commission, Eisenhower ordered that its employees not reveal anything for the sake of “public interest”, technically making him the father of executive privilege. Despite being criticized for failing to stop [=McCarthy=], Eisenhower worked behind the scenes to get the [=McCarthy=]-Army hearings televised, leading to [=McCarthy=]'s downfall. He signed the act creating the Interstate Highway System; largely inspired by the German ''[[GermanPeculiarities Autobahnen]]'', it authorized the building of tens of thousands of miles of roads across the nation. Most people today forget that it was created in case the Soviets invaded and troops needed to be moved very quickly; instead, it led to the rise of the suburbs and made the automobile industry even more powerful. He also signed the National Defense Education Act, which gave funding to all levels of education and provided financial assistance to thousands of college students. His administration saw the first serious federal action taken against illegal immigrants from Mexico, and nearly 1 million were rounded up and sent back during his presidency. Outside of a stinging but brief recession in 1958, Eisenhower’s two terms oversaw [[TheFifties a period of excellent economic outgrowth]], and he managed to significantly reduce federal deficits.

On the foreign policy front, Eisenhower’s “New Look” policy supported the containment and, eventually, the “rolling back” of communism throughout the world. To do this, he used a method of PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower, massively increasing the number of nuclear weapons owned by the United States. Eisenhower didn’t seem to ever want to use these weapons, though; his advisors often told him to attack RedChina with atomic bombs, while he told them no each time. He also established the domino theory, which stated that, if one country falls to communism, its neighbors would eventually fall if significant anti-communist support was given to those neighbors. One of the unfortunate effects of this was the beginning of American involvement in TheVietnamWar during his time in office, though [[FairForItsDay he only sent a few hundred troops there]] and the [[JohnFKennedy next]] [[LyndonBJohnson few]] [[RichardNixon administrations]] were the ones to expand it.

Relations with the Soviet Union proved to be very testy during his eight years. He met with Soviet premiere Nikita Khrushchev a few times with the hopes of slowly ending the ColdWar, but these conferences only produced a few results. However, with Nixon’s visit to the Soviet Union and Khrushchev’s visit to America, the chance for peace started to look better. However, on the eve of another summit in Paris, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over USSR territory. Eisenhower begrudgingly admitted to an outraged Khrushchev that he ordered this flight as well as others, embarrassing the American government. Khrushchev left the summit and Eisenhower had to cancel his planned trip to the USSR, and relations between the two countries returned to their previous state. TheSpaceRace also got started when the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite into space in 1957. He responded by creating both {{NASA}} to lead the American space program and DARPA to expand scientific knowledge and technological progress.

to:

On the foreign policy front, Eisenhower’s “New Look” policy supported the containment and, eventually, the “rolling back” of communism throughout the world. To do this, he used a method of PeaceThroughSuperiorFirepower, massively increasing the number of nuclear weapons owned by the United States. Eisenhower didn’t seem to ever want to use these weapons, though; he repeatedly turned down any attempt by his advisors to use them against RedChina or other communist nations. However, Ike wasn't opposed to using ''conventional'' weapons for the same purpose.  His administration established and operated under the "domino theory", which stated that if one country falls to communism, its neighbors would eventually fall too if significant anti-communist support was not given. One of the unfortunate effects of this was the beginning of American involvement in TheVietnamWar during his time in office, though [[FairForItsDay he only sent a few hundred troops there]] and the [[JohnFKennedy next]] [[LyndonBJohnson few]] [[RichardNixon administrations]] were the ones to expand it.

10th Mar '13 8:31:33 PM LTR

Send LTR a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 10,11 (click to see context) from:

Eisenhower saw a number of promotions throughout WorldWarII, eventually reaching the ranks of General of the Army (five-stars) and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He was one of the most brilliant strategists on the Allied side, and was responsible for some of the most important American victories in the European and North African theaters. He was the commander of both Operation Torch (the Allied landings on North Africa) and Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily). President FranklinDRoosevelt then chose him to plan the Allied invasion of northern Europe. Named D-Day, the Allied landings on the beaches of Normany (part of northern France) were a very risky move (he actually had [[ItsAllMyFault a speech assuming full responsibility ready]] in case it failed) that, luckily, paid off. Eisenhower continued to supervise the western front and was present at the German surrender. He was also one of the first Allied leaders to see the concentration camps in Germany, and he ordered both the military and news crews to take photos of everything they say [[GenreSavvy in case anyone couldn’t believe it really happened]]. He wrote [[TearJerker "We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."]]

to:

Eisenhower saw a number of promotions throughout WorldWarII, eventually reaching the ranks of General of the Army (five-stars) and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. He was one of the most brilliant strategists on the Allied side, and was responsible for some of the most important American victories in the European and North African theaters. He was the commander of both Operation Torch (the Allied landings on North Africa) and Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily). President FranklinDRoosevelt then chose him to plan the Allied invasion of northern Europe. Named D-Day, the Allied landings on the beaches of Normany (part of northern France) were a very risky move (he actually had [[ItsAllMyFault a speech assuming full responsibility ready]] in case it failed) that, luckily, paid off. Eisenhower continued to supervise the western front and was present at the German surrender. He was also one of the first Allied leaders to see the concentration camps in Germany, and he ordered both the military and news crews to document everything they saw [[GenreSavvy knowing some would deny it really happened]]. He famously wrote [[TearJerker "We are told the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now, at least, he will know what he is fighting against."]]

This list shows the last 10 events of 95. Show all.

new edits

TV Tropes by TV Tropes Foundation, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org.
Privacy Policy