News coverage of political history from 1950-1959


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OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Budget & Economy     John F. Kennedy: Since 1958 recession, the American economy is in trouble.

Civil Rights     Richard Nixon: 1953: chaired committee to eliminate federal discrimination.     Dwight Eisenhower: 1953: eliminate discrimination in government contracting.     Dwight Eisenhower: Desegregate federal government and nation's capital.     Dwight Eisenhower: Signed 1957 Civil Rights Act, including Negro voting rights.     Dwight Eisenhower: 1953: Allowed black kids in White House Easter Egg Roll.     Richard Nixon: 1959: Tie-breaking vote to strengthen black Southern voting.

Corporations     Ayn Rand: Greed, if rational, is good.

Crime     Martin Luther King: Purpose of jail is reformation rather than retribution.

Education     Richard Nixon: 1954: Racially integrated schools as model for rest of world.

Foreign Policy     Richard Nixon: 1959 Kitchen Debate: show Soviets the American lifestyle.     John F. Kennedy: Alliance for Progress followed up on 1957 change in policy.

Government Reform     Richard Nixon: 1952 headline: "Secret Nixon Fund" led to resignation call.     Martin Luther King: If I don't possess the right to vote, I don't possess myself.

Homeland Security     Richard Nixon: 1954: criticized McCarthyism as unfair and destructive.

Immigration     Dwight Eisenhower: Operation Wetback: Use military to deport 1.3M Mexicans.

Jobs     Richard Nixon: 1959: Led secret meetings to resolve steel strike deadlock.

Principles & Values     Dwight Eisenhower: 1950: Recruited for President while head of Columbia Univ.     Dwight Eisenhower: 1955: Preferred to dump Nixon as V.P.     Dwight Eisenhower: Suffered heart attack prior to 1956 re-election campaign.     Harry S Truman: Fair Deal: alleviate social and economic injustice.     Richard Nixon: 1952 Checkers speech: a "respectable Republican cloth coat".     Richard Nixon: Earned nickname "Tricky Dicky" in 1950 Senate race.     Richard Nixon: 1950s: As VP, frontrunner for 1960 presidential nomination.     Richard Nixon: 1955: Outflanked Ike to keep V.P. post instead of Cabinet.

Social Security     Dwight Eisenhower: 1954: anyone attempting to abolish Social Security is stupid.

Technology     Dwight Eisenhower: 1957: Sputnik ended "Peace and Prosperity" boosterism.     Dwight Eisenhower: Create interstate highway system because free market won't.     Dwight Eisenhower: 1957: Anyone want to go to the moon? I don't.     Dwight Eisenhower: 1957: Space agency within Department of Defense.     Richard Nixon: 1957: Non-defense agency for peaceful space research.

War & Peace     Dwight Eisenhower: Tac nukes to defend Taiwan from China.     Harry S Truman: Soviet Union is animated by a new fanatic faith.     Harry S Truman: 1950: sued for peace in Korea, but MacArthur waged war.     Richard Nixon: 1954: Communists understand nothing but massive retaliation.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Ayn Rand Dwight Eisenhower Harry S Truman John F. Kennedy Martin Luther King Richard Nixon