Years in Office: 8 | Term: 1945 - 1953 | Political Party: Democrat
Domestic Affairs
- Dismissed MacArthur during Korean War
- Ordered desegregation of military
- Executive Order 9835
- GI Bill of Rights
Foreign Policy
- Containment: prevent spread of Communism
- Authorized atomic bomb usage
- Potsdam Conference, Marshall Plan, NATO
- Truman Doctrine
- Korean War – domino theory – contain communism at all costs
- Recognized Israel as a country
Trivia
- The S in Harry S Truman is his full middle name
- Helped start FDR’s brainchild – United Nations
- 1948 election – Truman still won despite his bleak approval rating
Dwight Eisenhower
Years in Office: 8 | Term: 1953 - 1961 | Political Party: Republican
Domestic Affairs
- Interstate Highway System – easier transportation for military and missiles
- Sputnik NASA, education more of an issue
- Operation Wetback – stop increasing immigration
- Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956
- Little Rock Crisis – sent federal troops to Little Rock to enforce court orders to desegregate schools
- McCarthyism
- Expanded Social Security
- NASA
- “New Look”
Foreign Policy
- Brinksmanship: the practice of pushing dangerous events to the verge of disaster in order to achieve optimal results
- Pactomania
- Ended Korean war
- Opened relations with Spain
- Suez Canal Crisis
- Ignored Hungarian revolution
- U-2 spy plane incident
- Deposed of former Iranian leader in 1953 Iranian coup d’état
Trivia
- Previously a five star general in army – Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe
- Favorite dessert = prune whip
- Wrote a book – Crusade in Group
- Eisenhower used to practice his putts on the White House lawn and ordered the squirrels to be removed when they interfered with his golfing
John F. Kennedy
Years in Office: 2 | Term: 1961 - 1963 | Political Party: Democrat
Domestic Affairs
- Little significant social legislation passed
- Economic growth (defense