Nifty Fifties Essay - Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School

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DOCUMENT ONE: Truman’s Loyalty ProgramThe DocumentsPRESCRIBING PROCEDURES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF AN EMPLOYEES LOYALTY PROGRAMIN THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF THE GOVERNMENTWhereas each employee of the Government of the United States is endowed with a measure of trusteeship over thedemocratic processes which are the heart and sinew of the United States; andWhereas it is of vital importance that persons employed in the Federal service be of complete and unswerving loyalty tothe United States; andWhereas, although the loyalty of by far the overwhelming majority of all Government employees is beyond question,the presence within the Government service of any disloyal or subversive person constitutes a threat to our democraticprocesses; andWhereas maximum protection must be afforded the United States against infiltration of disloyal persons into the ranksof its employees, and equal protection from unfounded accusations of disloyalty must be afforded the loyal employeesof the Government…PART I, -- INVESTIGATION OF APPLICANTSThere shall be a loyalty investigation of every person entering the civilian employment of any department or agency ofthe executive branch of the Federal Government…An investigation shall be made of all applicants at all available pertinent sources of information and shall includereference to:Federal Bureau of Investigation files. Civil Service Commission files. Military and naval intelligence files.The files of any other appropriate government investigative or intelligence agency. House Committee on un-AmericanActivities files. Local law-enforcement files at the place of residence and employment of the applicant, includingmunicipal, county, and State law-enforcement files. Schools and colleges attended by applicant. Former employers ofapplicant. References given by applicant. Any other appropriate source.Whenever derogatory information with respect to loyalty of an applicant is revealed a full investigation shall beconducted…Harry S. TrumanThe White House, March 21, 1947Citation: Harry S. Truman, Federal Employee Loyalty Program, 1947.DOCUMENT TWO: Dwight D. Eisenhower, "Address Before the General Assembly of the United Nations onPeaceful Uses of Atomic EnergyOn July 16, 1945, the United States set off the world's first atomic explosion. Since that date in 1945, the United Statesof America has conducted 42 test explosions. Atomic bombs today are more than 25 times as powerful as the weaponswith which the atomic age dawned, while hydrogen weapons are in the ranges of millions of tons of TNT equivalent.Today, the United States' stockpile of atomic weapons, which, of course, increases daily, exceeds by many times theexplosive equivalent of the total of all bombs and all shells that came from every plane and every gun in every theatre ofwar in all of the years of World War II….But the dread secret, and the fearful engines of atomic might, are not ours alone…. The secret is also known by theSoviet Union…If at one time the United States possessed what might have been called a monopoly of atomic power, that monopolyceased to exist several years ago. Therefore, although our earlier start has permitted us to accumulate what is today agreat quantitative advantage, the atomic realities of today comprehend two facts of even greater significance….4
But let no one think that the expenditure of vast sums for weapons and systems of defense can guarantee absolutesafety for the cities and citizens of any nation. The awful arithmetic of the atomic bomb does not permit of any sucheasy solution. Even against the most powerful defense, an aggressor in possession of the effective minimum number ofatomic bombs for a surprise attack could probably place a sufficient number of his bombs on the chosen targets tocause hideous damage.Should such an atomic attack be launched against the United States, our reactions would be swift and resolute. But forme to say that the defense capabilities of the United States are such that they could inflict terrible losses upon anaggressor--for me to say that the retaliation capabilities of the United States are so great that such an aggressor's landwould be laid waste--all this, while fact, is not the true expression of the purpose and the hope of the United States…My country wants to be constructive, not destructive. It wants agreements, not wars, among nations. It wants itself tolive in freedom, and in the confidence that the people of every other nation enjoy equally the right of choosing theirown way of life.So my country's purpose is to help us move out of the dark chamber of horrors into the light, to find a way by whichthe minds of men, the hopes of men, the souls of men everywhere, can move forward toward peace and happiness andwell being….The United States knows that if the fearful trend of atomic military buildup can be reversed, this greatest of destructiveforces can be developed into a great boon, for the benefit of all mankind.The United States knows that peaceful power from atomic energy is no dream of the future. That capability, alreadyproved, is here--now--today. Who can doubt, if the entire body of the world's scientists and engineers had adequateamounts of fissionable material with which to test and develop their ideas, that this capability would rapidly betransformed into universal, efficient, and economic usage.Citation: Dwight D. Eisenhower, "Address Before the General Assembly of the United Nations on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, New YorkCity," December 8, 1953. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project.http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9774.DOCUMENT THREE: Montgomery, Alabama, Code on SegregationSec. 10. Separation of races—Required.Every person operating a bus line the in the city shall provide equal but separate accommodations for white people andNegroes on his buses, by requiring the employees in charge thereof to assign passengers seats on the vehicles undertheir charge in such manner as to separate the white from the Negroes, where there are both white and Negroes on thesame car. . . .Citation: Code of the City of Montgomery, Alabama, (Charlottesville: Michie City Publishing, 1952).DOCUMENT FOUR: Integration of Central High School, Little Rock, ARWhen the nine of us got together to compare notes, we discovered we were all facing an increasing barrage of injuriousactivities. What was noticeably different was the frequency and the organized pattern of harassment. Teams of studentsappeared to be assigned specific kinds of torture. One team concentrated on slamming us into lockers, while anotherfocused on tripping us up or shoving us down staircases; still another concentrated on attacks with weapons. Anothergroup must have been told to practice insidious harassment inside the classrooms. Still others worked at entrapment,luring the boys into dark corners or the girls into tight spots in isolated passageways.Citation: Melba Pattillo Beals, Warriors Don’t Cry (New York: Simon Pulse, 1995), 213.5
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Nifty Fifties Essay - Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School

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