1958 State of the Union Address

38°53′23″N 77°00′32″W / 38.88972°N 77.00889°W / 38.88972; -77.00889TypeState of the Union AddressParticipantsDwight D. Eisenhower
Richard Nixon
Sam RayburnPrevious1957 State of the Union AddressNext1959 State of the Union Address

The 1958 State of the Union Address was given by Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, on Thursday, January 9, 1958, to the 85th United States Congress in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives.^[3] It was Eisenhower's sixth State of the Union Address. Presiding over this joint session was House speaker Sam Rayburn, accompanied by Vice President Richard Nixon, in his capacity as the president of the Senate.

Eisenhower's theme for his address was "safety through strength."^[4] He argued that the main threat to the safety and security of the United States was "communist imperialism" led by the Soviet Union which was "waging total cold war."^[3] He touted not only support for national defense initiatives but also for giving economic aid to allies of the United States to counter the "economic offensive" waged by the Soviet Union.^[4] Eisenhower closed his speech as follows:

My friends of the Congress: The world is waiting to see how wisely and decisively a free representative government will now act.... I am fully confident that the response of the Congress and of the American people will make this time of test a time of honor. Mankind then will see more clearly than ever that the future belongs, not to the concept of the regimented atheistic state, but to the people—the God-fearing, peace-loving people of all the world.^[3]

References

Military
careerPresidency
(timeline)

Foreign policy

Eisenhower Doctrine Korean War 1953; Korean Armistice Agreement 1953 Iranian coup d'état "Chance for Peace" speech (1953) Cold War Domino theory Khrushchev, Eisenhower and De-Stalinization New Look policy 1955 Geneva Summit 1960 U-2 incident Atomic Energy Act of 1954 Atoms for Peace Restricted Data Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 Food for Peace Suez Crisis (1956) DARPA (1958) EURATOM Cooperation Act of 1958 National Aeronautics and Space Act 1958; NASA Operation 40 (1960)

Domestic policy

Executive Order 10479 (1953) Outer Continental Shelf Act (1953) Refugee Relief Act (1953) Submerged Lands Act (1953) U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953) Agricultural Act of 1954 National Wool Act of 1954 Special Milk Program Excise Tax Reduction Act of 1954 Internal Revenue Code of 1954 Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954 Small Watershed Program Air Pollution Control Act of 1955 Agricultural Act of 1956 Soil Bank Act Soil Bank Program Federal Voting Assistance Program (1955) Bank Holding Company Act (1956) Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 Interstate Highway System Highway Trust Fund Fish and Wildlife Act (1956) People to People Student Ambassador Program (1956) President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (1956) Civil Rights Act of 1957 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Federal Plant Pest Act of 1957 Little Rock Nine intervention (1957) Price–Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act (1957) Alaska Statehood Act (1958) Humane Slaughter Act (1958) National Defense Education Act 1958; Federal Perkins Loan Student loans in the United States Hawaii Admission Act (1959) Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960 Civil Rights Act of 1960 Sikes Act (1960)

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