The presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower began at noon EST on January 20, 1953, with his inauguration as the 34th President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 1961. John F. Kennedy succeeded him after winning the 1960 presidential election. U.S. and Soviet leaders met at the 1955 Geneva Summit, the first such summit since the 1945 Potsdam Conference. No progress was made on major issues; the two sides had major differences on German policy, and the Soviets dismissed Eisenhower's 'Open Skies' proposal. He sanctioned a major expansion of Social Security by a self-financed program. He supported such New Deal programs as the minimum wage and public housing—he greatly expanded federal aid to education and built the Interstate Highway system primarily as defense programs (rather than a jobs program). In a private letter, Eisenhower wrote: Should any party attempt to abolish social security and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history.