It was "Booker T Washington" who started school in Alabama where black children could learn skills such as shoemaking and farming, since he believed this was a way in which this children could eventually advance in society.
Technically, yes, it is true that the development of the middle class signaled a decline in the importance of nobility, since people were able to have more economic freedom.
"stop the spread of Communism" since the US was still undertaking a role of communist "containment" around the globe.