Black Enterprise | Obama 100 Day Calendar

Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th President of the United States (1953-1961)
Republican

Historians cite that Eisenhower did not officially establish what would be considered a “First 100 Days” program. In fact, he didn’t develop much of a domestic agenda during his first two years in office, flummoxing the Republican-controlled Congress that sought to unravel FDR’s New Deal policies. Coming to power after the close of World War II and the Korean War, the former general and World War II hero placed his focus on foreign affairs, dealing with the Cold War in Europe and Asia and seeking to stomp out the Communist threat within and outside American borders.

Highlights from his first 100 days:

• To ensure peace in the region, Eisenhower announced to the National Security Council he would agree to sign Korean War armistice leading to the division of Korea.
• Citing Communist China’s involvement in Korea, he declared that the U.S. Navy would not longer provide protection from Nationalist Chinese forces in the Formosa Strait, near Taiwan.
• He signed an executive order suspending price and wage controls instituted by Truman in 1950.
• Refused clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who are sentenced to death for furnishing atomic secrets to the Soviets.
• Created a new cabinet post: Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare.

“We have grown in power and in responsibility. We have passed through the anxieties of depression and of war to a summit unmatched in man’s history. Seeking to secure peace in the world, we have had to fight through the forests of the Argonne to the shores of Iwo Jima, and to the cold Mountains of Korea. In the swift rush of great events, we find ourselves groping to know the full sense and meaning of these times in which we live.”