ABSTRACT
By the mid- to late 1950s, the main battleground in the East-West struggle had moved from Europe and China to the underdeveloped nations of Latin America, Africa, and Asia. The planning and establishment of the "Unfinished Business" exhibit in which US civil rights and racial problems were addressed, however, revealed that the Eisenhower administration was faced with a contradiction that it could not resolve. Efforts such as "The Unfinished Business," no matter how well intentioned they were or how important they were thought to be in terms of international public opinion, could not compete with the attacks by prosegregation forces in the United States and the administration's own dubious commitment to equality. The history of "The Unfinished Business" exhibit, the resulting domestic uproar, and the final, ignoble end of that display tell the people much about the Eisenhower administration's views on civil rights and its attitudes toward and perceptions of international opinion concerning America's racial turmoil.
