Political Events 1957-58
Political Events
Scientific-Technical Developments
Economic Changes and Conditions
Social Conditions and Developments
President Eisenhower sent in 1,000 Federal troops to enforce the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Arkansas Govenor Orval Faubas, an opponent of integration, defied federal law in early September by sending in the state militia to stop black students from attending a previously all white high school. Federal troops had to escort nine black children into the high school to begin their classes while protected from approximately 1,500 white protestors.
The Eisenhower Doctrine - January 21,1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke before a joint session of Congress where he delineates what becomes known as the Eisenhower Doctrine. It commits the United States to protect Middle East Nations from Soviet aggression. The President assured Congress that he would only use troops if they are requested by those under attack, he would keep in close contact with Congress, and he would only act within the keeping of the recommendations of the United Nations.
De Gaulle rises to French Leadership - December 21,1958
General Charles de Gaulle, the Prime Minister of France, was elected the first President of the Fifth Republic. In May of 1958, France almost reached the point of Civil War because of the debate over keeping Algeria a colony of France or not. De Gaulle was asked in May to return as the Prime Minister. He is seen as a strong leader due to the fact that he was the leader of the Free French movement that opposed the cooperation of the French government with the Nazi's, and therefore seen as a strong leader.
Listen to President Eisenhower
give a speech on the Middle East by clicking Here
Visit the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library for more information.
Imre Nagy, ex-Premier of Hungary is executed - June 17, 1958
The former Hungarian prime minister Imre Nagy is executed during the night after a secret trial by the pro-Soviet regime. Nagy, a Hungarian Communist, was twice Premier in Hungary. In 1956 he was returned to power by the anti-Soviet revolutionary forces. Less than a month later, when Russian tanks rolled into Budapest, Nagy was kidnapped by Soviet security police. He was arrested, transferred to Rumania. He was then given a secret trial and found guilty. He was then returned to Hungary to be hanged.
Imre Nagy, ex-Premier of Hungary
Krushchev foils a plot to remove him from power - July 3, 1957
Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, has foiled a plot to remove him. And instead, he has removed those who were plotting against him. In Khrushchev's absence a special meeting of the Presidium of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee was convened. He was voted out of office 8 to 4. When he was informed, he protested that he could not legally be removed only by a full vote of the Central Committee. Marshal Georgi Zhukov, the Defense Minister, who had fleets of aircraft at his disposal helped Khrushchev by rounding up the committee. It met from June 22-29.
The Central Committee decided to remove Vyacheslav Molotov, Georgi Malenkov and Lazar Kaganovich. They were all accused of wanting to restore Stalinism, which Khrushchev had denounced in his secret speech.
Zukov is fired by the
Soviets - November 3,1957
Marshal Georgi Zhukov, a Soviet hero in World War II, was dismissed from his post as Defense Minister in late October 1957, and on November 3, 1957 he was removed from all his top positions in the Soviet Communist Party. The Party's Central Committee deflated all of Zhukov's war achievements as mere self-aggrandizment at the expense of the Soviet people and the party cause.
Krushchev becomes Soviet Premier - March 27, 1958
"We shall conquer capitalism with a high level of work and a higher standard of living," promised Nikita Khrushchev as he accepted the position of Soviet prime minister (chairman of the Council of Ministers). Khrushchev replaced Nikolai Bulaganin, who had resigned a premier of the USSR, while remaining First Secretary of the Communist Party. Not since Joseph Stalin has a Soviet leader held both positions.
Nikita
Khrushchev
