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Similarities Between Truman Eisenhower And The American Citizen

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Truman, Eisenhower, and the American Citizen
The purpose of this essay is to highlight the similarities and differences of the decisive actions taken by President Harry Truman (1945 to 1953) and President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953 to 1961) when confronted with two pivotal issues of their administration. Those issues were civil rights for African Americans and the cold war. This essay will also highlight how American citizens responded to the issues during the period from 1945 to 1961.
President Harry Truman and Civil Rights
It is widely known of the brutalization, and inhumane treatment of African Americans, long before Truman was President of the United States in 1945. However, the first effort made by Truman to ease the burden of African Americans was the continuation of the Fair Practices Commission (FPC) that guarded against racial discrimination in employment. His …show more content…

This system was designed to maintain stability and a balance of power in the international arena. The containment expressed displeasure of totalitarian, non-democratic forms of government. Truman favored a more traditional warfare to containment and a strong conventional military. Eisenhower endorsed the threat of using nuclear warfare over the conventional war. He convinced the Soviets that he would use atomic deterrence if provoked (Costa, 1998).
American citizens became obsessed by the possibility of nuclear war, resulting from the ever increasing threat of the communist Soviet Union. The government established a loyalty review board, to thoroughly examine the background of federal employees and anyone they were conducting business with. The prospering middle class worried about intermingling with the society they were trying so desperately to isolate themselves from (Cayton,

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