Franklin D. Roosevelt put this system into place with the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944. He thought that an interstate highway system would be beneficial for military operations and would also provide a measure of continued economic growth for the nation.[169] The legislation initially stalled in Congress over the issuance of bonds to finance the project, but the legislative effort was renewed and Eisenhower signed the law in June 1956.[170]

Foreign policy
Main article: Foreign policy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration
Eisenhower meeting with Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser during Nasser's visit to United Nations in New York, September 1960
Eisenhower visits the Kingdom of Afghanistan and its king Mohammed Zahir Shah in Kabul.
Eisenhower with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
U.S. President Eisenhower visits  the Republic of China and its President Chiang Kai-shek in Taipei.
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev during his 11-day U.S. visit as guest of President Eisenhower, September 1959.
In 1953, the Republican Party's Old Guard presented Eisenhower with a dilemma by insisting he disavow the Yalta Agreements as beyond the constitutional authority of the Executive Branch; however, the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953 made the matter a moot point.