What were the policies of Dwight Eisenhower's “American Dream”?

President Eisenhower's vision of economic development was fully supported by automakers, oil companies, appliance manufacturers, builders, bankers, and ordinary Americans. This created a kind of orchestra of cheerleaders and fans surrounding the president in the field of American politics and society. 

It was a vision of the future that was not a break with a recognizable past, but rather a projection and expansion of the most attractive aspects of what Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman had aspired to.

The American Dream Project

Obviously, there were no theoretical or ideological issues to puzzle over; there were no abstractions or hidden subtexts. The focus was on the concept of the “American Dream.” In this vision, the house was surrounded by green space, with a large refrigerator full of food, a washing machine and a television inside. Children with braces played nearby, and a shiny car stood in the driveway leading to a wide and smooth highway.

On the other side, we see nuclear submarines, fighter jets, atomic bombs and missiles, and the extensive network of research laboratories where America's defenses were developed and its technological superiority was maintained in the second half of the 20th century, when the ocean could no longer serve as a sufficient defense.

The fruits of government spending, mostly on defense, science and technology, under the banner of the “endless frontier” are displayed on the left. We see commercial airliners, amazing machines for making airplane wings, and other technological marvels such as electricity from nuclear reactors that is too cheap to measure. Radar, kitchen appliances and vaccines are also shown, and penicillin was still a relatively new invention. The memory of its miraculous power was kept alive by the names of scientific geniuses such as Jonas Salk and Albert Einstein. This context presents all manner of wonders that are difficult to comprehend but certainly capture the imagination, such as Dick Tracy's telephones and clocks, and giant computers capable of performing any task envisioned for machines. It all presented a simple but fascinating picture.

This image seemed flawless: despite its appeal, there was nothing new about it. Everything looked familiar, with no radical changes, risks or reasons for discontent. Improved cars with power steering and air conditioning, televisions, refrigerators, dishwashers and washing machines, commercial airliners with jet engines - all this was already a reality. Attractive suburban homes with large lots, highways with limited access - these symbols of the American dream became available to many families.

 

 

Realizing the renewal of the American economy

 

Existing institutions, structures, and technology made all of this possible. Large corporations, powerful labor unions, and an active government already worked in concert to support private enterprise through financing mortgages on private homes, road building, defense spending, and strict control of the financial sector. The state also regulated big business and labor unions, ensuring a stable economy.

When Eisenhower came to power, he approved the continuation of these measures, assuring that they would continue on a large scale. His administration acted confidently and without obstruction, promising a responsible expansion of these initiatives that led to a complete reformatting of the economy.

Already in those days, the left wing of the Democratic Party had supporters of a broader social democracy than Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, or even Johnson had proposed. At the same time, the southern wing of the Democratic Party included many who wanted to dismantle the great state, especially those elements of it that did not directly benefit their regions. Among Republicans, too, there were many who sought to dismantle the structure of the great state and control of the economy, wanting to undo the New Deal and return to policies reminiscent of the 1920s. Unlike today's realities, however, these aspirations were opposed by Eisenhower and the moderate wing of the Republicans, who focused on the middle class and corporations. Under the Republican banner, Eisenhower effectively legitimized the great state and its institutions.

During his administration, Eisenhower ended, but did not win, the Korean War, and prevented the nation from sliding into an era of scapegoating, recrimination, and strife that would have led to consequences even greater than the McCarthyism he inherited.

This process of legitimizing the New Deal developed quietly and gradually, like a wide river, throughout the eight years of Eisenhower's presidency, then for eight years under Democrat Kennedy and Johnson, and then into the Republican era of Nixon and Ford. During Carter's four-year presidency, the process weakened and was finally blocked by the “Reagan Revolution,” when the delegitimization of the ideas but not the budgets of the large and active New Deal state began. The Reagan administration proceeded to dismantle regulatory structures, but it is notable that the president who openly declared to the nation the end of the era of the great state was not Ronald Reagan, but Bill Clinton.

 

Conclusion

 

The ideas and institutions established during the New Deal period have gone through several decades of transformation and political clashes. The stable development of the great state, enshrined by Eisenhower and supported by both Democrats and moderate Republicans, ensured the economic prosperity and social cohesion of the nation, despite the existence of various political currents that sought to alter or destroy this order.

Toward the end of the twentieth century, however, the era of big government began to wane, facing new challenges such as Reagan's conservative reforms and rhetoric against regulation and control of the economy. Nevertheless, the full end of this era was not heralded until the 1990s by Bill Clinton, symbolizing a new vision of the role of the state in the life of the country. This long journey illustrates the struggle between traditional state-centered approaches and the desire to reduce its role in the economy and society that continues to shape American politics to this day.

The story of a great nation is not just the story of its creation and development, but of a continuous struggle to balance private interests, social equality, and economic stability.

Read also about how Eisenhower realized his economic strategy.