lpetrich
Contributor
That means that the Eisenhower Era was not completely conservative, that it had some public-interest features. It also had the earlier part of the black civil-rights movement, with Eisenhower supporting desegregation efforts. That may be why the founder of the John Birch Society insinuated that Eisenhower was a Communist.
The Economic Bill of Rights - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proposed it in January 11, 1944, toward the end of his presidency and his life. Here it is:
- The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
- The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
- The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
- The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
- The right of every family to a decent home;
- The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
- The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
- The right to a good education.
It was late in the New Deal Era, so it did not get any followup. That's what has happened to other reforms that were late in previous liberal eras:
- Civil War Era: Reconstruction - much of it reversed until the Sixties Era
- Progressive Era: women's-rights efforts (women getting the vote) - stalled until until the Sixties Era
- New Deal Era: black civil-rights efforts (desegregation of the armed forces) - stalled until the middle of the Eisenhower Era
- Sixties Era: Equal Rights Amendment - stalled, only recently restarted
- Sixties Era: legalization of abortion - abortion became a political battleground
- Sixties Era: Adoption of the metric system of units - slow progress
