The American people liked Ike, the nickname given to Eisenhower as a teenager; he won a war for them with his strategy to storm the beaches of France on D-day. Truman's demeanor was feisty compared to Ike's relaxed attitude. So it shouldn't have come as a surprise that as America was embroiled in yet another war, citizens would elect the Republican Eisenhower, after a long reign by Democrats.

Eisenhower kept his campaign promise to end the Korean conflict. He ran the government much as he ran things in the army, by appointing people to office who would take charge under his supervision. With the United States and Soviet Union as contentious superpowers, President Eisenhower cut back defense spending on traditional weapons while boosting nuclear deterrents. He came to office in the midst of McCarthyism and was president when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a couple convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets, were executed in 1953.

On the lighter side, America prospered. With the G.I. Bill providing affordable mortgages to returning veterans, many began the slow migration to the suburbs. It seemed prosperity followed the frugality of the 1940s. Consumer goods were plentiful. The baby boom was in full swing, and so was Ike. Since golf was his favorite pastime, the sport caught on with Americans, establishing a nationwide trend. On sunny days, the president practiced his shots on the White House lawn.

With the automobile freeing Americans to move about the nation, Congress passed the Interstate Highway Act of 1956, making good roads a convenient way of life. People were no longer as isolated, and they certainly knew more about the nation and their neighbors, with the influences of radio, television, movie theaters, and drive-ins, and the handy 45-rpm vinyl records.