Compare Truman and Eisenhower’s presidency Even though one was democrat, and the other republican, the policies of these two presidents were similar in certain points.
Domestic policies: Truman’s was engaged to fight poverty, through the Fair Deal programme. But the Congress, because of Republican majority, only passes Full Employment Act and Atomic Energy Act. Eisenhower had no specific programme against poverty. Nevertheless, he didn’t really overturn the previous programme: he continued all the major New Deal programmes still in operation (for example the extension of the social security or the increase of the minimum wage). This doctrine was considered as a “Dynamic Conservatism”. Truman and Eisenhower also both supported the civil right’s movement. Indeed, Truman managed to desegregate fully the army by 1946, and also recommended the Congress to pass laws stopping the racial discrimination: causes irritation from the Southern Democrats. But the real start of the civil right movement begins with Eisenhower. “Separate but equal” becomes unconstitutional in 1954 after the court case: schools are finally desegregated. A commission was also set up in 1957, to protect the black people’s voting right, but wasn’t very effective. In addition, he supported the students of the high school in Little Rock, in 1957, whom weren’t accepted in the school: he ordered to send federal troops to escort them. Eisenhower was fairly passive towards McCarthyism, compare to Truman. Actually, Truman promoted it with his set up of a Loyalty Review Board, which investigated people working in the government, in 1947. This led to the communist witch hunt in 1948. Then, as things were going too far, he tried to veto the passing of the McCarran Act (restricts communist party) but is ineffective: once more, his veto is overridden by the Republican Congress.
Foreign Policies and Cold War: Both of Truman’s and Eisenhower’s governments were deeply engaged in the Cold War, and increased tensions with Russia. Indeed, Truman was the initiator of the “containment” policy, applied during the entire Cold War. His main actions were the German airlift, Korean War (where the rollback failed, but succeeded to contain communism), the creation of the NATO and the creation of NSC-68 (which recommended increasing the military budget three-fold). Then, Eisenhower greatly expanded this policy. More than containment, Eisenhower’s Secretary of State John Foster Dulles wanted to “rollback” the communist extension. He also increased the tensions of the arm race with his “massive retaliation” policy, leading to “brinkmanship”. Its consequence is the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 (Eisenhower breaks relations in 1961 with Castro). To contain communism more effectively, he signed defensive treaties with Australia and New Zealand in 1951 and created the SEATO (South East-Asia Treaty Organisation) in 1954. Nevertheless, calmer relations seemed to begin between Eisenhower and Khrushchev: the Russian leader visited the American president in 1959. Eisenhower’s visit to Russia was cancelled after the U-2 crisis. They had similar policies in Vietnam: supported the French with financial aid, but it wasn’t enough.
