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MDS Based on NBC Archives video. The 1950s in America was only the beginning of the American civil rights movement. Events spurred by the push for integration such as occurred in Little Rock, Arkansas truly reflected the width of the divergence between the regionalized views of the Southern state and local governments and the unified federal government. The occurrence of the extreme segregation and battle against it demonstrated how Southern local governments had, far from showing acceptance of equality of rights for blacks, plummeted even further into segregation than before. This was in a wide contrast to the growing push for integration and equality by members of the federal and Northern state governmental bodies. Some may say that Eisenhower proved his worth as a president with the Little Rock incident by following the noble precedent of former presidents. The incident occurred when the state government of Arkansas employed troops without federal permission to prevent nine black students from attending a primarily white school. When Eisenhower publicly defended the children’s rights to attend the school and employed federal troops to protect that right, he was following in the footsteps of presidents all the way back to Washington, who used troops to put down the Whiskey Rebellion, and Abraham Lincoln’s issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation to effectively put an end to the Civil War. In fact, the issues presented during Eisenhower’s presidency and somewhat during Roosevelt’s and Truman’s previously, dated to the Civil War, where the rights of states to enforce segregation became an issue as it contrasted to the American ideal of an equal union under the scope of federal laws. Previous presidents such as Washington and Lincoln had made use of their executive power to demonstrate that this union held above the social disputes of individuals. Like these previous presidents, Eisenhower set a precedent for the attitude of the government towards civil rights (at least during his presidency) – that equal rights for all would be upheld. He demonstrated, along with the public figures before him such as Truman, Roosevelt, and particularly Eleanor Roosevelt who was an adamant civil rights supporter, the power of the federal government to overcome segregation and inequality in the United States. It was perhaps initially this hope that was given to many black people in America that inspired the fight for civil rights, as they had seen the ramifications of the movement already.

SFH - In the 1910's Henry Ford had realized that the mass production of automobiles required the combination of precision parts and an efficient assembly process. The 1950's were revolutionized by conformity and mass production in a corporate drive to have nation wide franchises. During the decade the idea of mass production reached a new high encompassing everything from mass housing to food production. Henry Ford pioneered the mass production of the automobile industry by making his products accessible to the middle class. The novel __Forbes Greatest Business Stories of All Times__ by Daniel Gross assets the success of McDonalds and other companies of post World War II America came from the systematic method in which these men carried out their and ran their business, and the appeal to the middle class. Raymond Kroc the founder and builder of the McDonalds Corporation is the focus of the excerpt from the Forbes novel. Kroc brought the American restaurant industry to a new level by imposing discipline in the production of fast food hamburgers, french fries, and milk shakes. Kroc employed the systematic mannerism of the military (Kroc was an ambulance driver in World War II) in making a hamburger to ensure the hamburger a customer bought in Topeka would be the same as those purchased in New York. The exact science of the hamburger ensured its nationwide similarity with each burger measuring 3.875 inches and weighing 1.6 ounces. The Harvard Business Review illustrates similar success through methodical business plans and execution in the case study //William Levitt, Levittown and the Creation of American Suburbia//. William Levitt employed these tactics by introducing the assembly line concept to the building industry with the first Levittown on Long Island. Both men had huge success; both McDonalds and Levittown’s grew nationwide not only because of the rapid production of their product, but also because of their accessibility to the middle class. The success of such companies was made possible by Americans comfort in conformity as a result of World War II. Although these businesses generally led to a lack of individuality and conformity, the success of companies that employed systematic assembly line tactics is undisputable. More than fifty years later McDonalds is a global company serving billions, and a large portion of Americans live in a Levittownesque environment.

NBC Learn Video: The Internal Threat of Communism in America KBM - Both Red Scares of American history have had a large impact on American society in different ways. While both terrified social aspects of the population, the first Red Scare most prominently attacked individuals with more harsh punishment including mass deportation and Palmer Raids. The second one had more effect on industry and government by attacking important leaders and individuals, as well as running out of position those who were most knowledgeable about foreign relations and communism as a whole. Overall, the second Red Scare had a greater impact on the running of the country because, as in both, fear was instilled in the population, now it was also very common in the government, leading officials to be more reserved in order to avoid being targeted by McCarthyism. Eisenhower, and other leaders as well, avoided stopping McCarthyists because that would have put them at risk of being accused of supporting communism. The Hollywood blacklist exemplified the extent to which these accusations occurred in the industry while the Alger Hiss case demonstrates the lack of proof needed to successfully jail a targeted governmental official, 212 of which were fired. When over 2,000 government workers then resigned under pressure, those remaining that were less knowledgeable about communism and foreign affairs began working against communism in a less structured way. Perhaps if the original workers were not pressure to resign, the Cold War would have been dealt with more successfully and it would not have pushed onward all the way into the 90s. Societal issues were the most prominent in the first Red Scare, but when the Second Red Scare pushed beyond just society and terrorized the industries and government of the United States, it became more of a hard-hitting threat to the nation which then believed communist spies were around every corner. The unidentifiable threat was a concern in both Red Scares, but the scare climbed to a whole new level when McCarthy claimed that communist spies had worked their way into the US government.