The 1950s Primary Sources

Eisenhower's order to the soldiers, sailors and airmen who were about to land at Normandy, June 6, 1944.

Eisenhower's first inaugural address, January 20, 1953.

This doctrine of January 1957 recognized the importance of the U.S. presence in the Middle East and also gave the president the power to act militarily without the specific consent of Congress.

A message Eisenhower sent to Congress in February 1955 urging the creation of the Interstate highway system.

A copy of the Supreme Court Decision of May 17, 1954, that declared "the fundamental principle that racial discrimination in education is unconstitutional."

This is the text of a speech that Eisenhower gave to the nation on September 24, 1957, about the school desegregation crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Aimed at guaranteeing voting rights for African-Americans, this law was made ineffectual by amendments added in Congress.

Text of Eisenhower's 1953 address at the U.N. in which he calls for sharing atomic technology for industrial uses and setting up an international atomic control agency.

Eisenhower's radio and television address on science in national security,November 7, 1957.

The press release issued by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration after a U-2 spy plane was shot down, May 2, 1960. Not knowing that pilot Gary Powers had been captured, the government thought the lie would be successful.