VIETNAM, CIVIL RIGHTS, POST COLD WAR1955-2001

PRESIDENT KENNEDY President Kennedy famous quotes:

• “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

• “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

President Kennedy, a World War II veteran, was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas

• that shook the nation’s confidence • began a period of internal strife and divisiveness, especially over United

States involvement in Vietnam.

CUBAN MISSILE CRISISFidel Castro led a communist revolution that took over Cuba in the late 1950s. Many Cubans fled to Florida and later attempted to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. This “Bay of Pigs” invasion failed.

In 1962, the Soviet Union stationed missiles in Cuba, starting the Cuban Missile Crisis.

• President Kennedy ordered the Soviets to remove their missiles, and for several days the world was on the brink of nuclear war. Eventually, the Soviet leadership removed their missiles.

THE VIETNAM WARBrief Timeline

• 1857-1930: French Colony- base of trade to China• 1930-1945: Japan used it for military operations and to expand

into other Asian countries• 1945: After Japan surrenders, the colony is given back to

France; Ho Chi Minh also declares Vietnam independent

THE VIETNAM WAR-THE CONFLICT

Colonial Struggle

• 1945-1954: French tried to get control, which leads to fighting between France/Vietnamese. Ends in a French defeat in 1954

• 1954-1959: Vietnam is divided into 2 zones• North- Ho Chi Minh is the leader and is communist/ supports USSR

& China• South- No communist, supported by the US

THE VIETNAM WAR-PART OF THE COLD WAR

1. In the 1950s-1960s, the communist government of North Vietnam tried to use force to make South Vietnam communist. The US helped South Vietnam resist.

2. The American military buildup in Vietnam began under President Kennedy. After Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, the buildup was increased under President Johnson.

3. The scale of combat in Vietnam got larger during the 1960s. American military forces repeatedly defeated the North Vietnamese forces, but by fighting a limited war, could not force an end to the war.

4. Why? Reflected the Cold War policy of containment of communism. (Domino Theory)

JOHNSON & THE GREAT SOCIETY• Johnson proposed “Great Society”- a sweeping set of New

Dealish economic and welfare measures aimed at transforming the American way of life

• Civil Rights Act of 1964

• The act prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin.

• Desegregated public places.• President Lyndon B. Johnson was important in passing the act.

• Voting Rights Act of 1965

• outlawed literacy tests.• Tried to register voters in the South• Leads to an increase in African American voters.• President Johnson helps pass the Act.

VIETNAM & JOHNSON• Johnson inherited a difficult situation

• South Vietnamese government was in shambles & the Viet Cong were making large gains in the South

• Gulf of Tonkin Incident

• Two US Navy destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin reported that North Vietnamese gunboats attacked them

• American public was angry• Johnson asked Congress to take “all necessary steps” to

protect US interests in Vietnam• Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in August

1964• Used it as a justification to escalate the war even though

most were unsure it was entirely unprovoked

OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER• By 1965 Viet Cong attacks on US forces were becoming

increasingly violent

• Johnson ordered the US Air Force and US Navy to begin an intense series of air strikes

• He hoped the bombing campaign would demonstrate to the South Vietnamese the US commitment to the war

• Actually increased the number of Viet Cong and NVA

WAR OF ATTRITION• Strategy meant to inflict so many casualties on the enemy

that it could not continue

• US leaders did not think the North Vietnamese could sustain a prolonged war effort

• Each side began keeping a body count of soldiers kept killed

• North Vietnamese used a strategy of guerrilla warfare

• US had been used to traditional warfare with WWII, had difficulty combatting the guerrilla warfare

TET OFFENSIVE• By the end of 1966 400,000 US soldiers were in Vietnam,

and was 500,000 by the end of 1968

• Johnson authorized the use of napalm and Agent Orange to destroy the jungle and Viet Cong hideouts

• Although effective they inflicted horrible devastation and Agent Orange caused unforeseen health problems which still exist today

• Credibility Gap- people in America began to see a difference between what Johnson/US Government were telling them and what was actually happening on the ground

TET OFFENSIVE• January 30, 1968 on the Vietnamese new year holiday of

Tet, separate Viet Cong and NVA cells attacked 27 different US military bases throughout South Vietnam at the same time

• Massive causalities on both sides, but US forces managed to kill or capture most of the Viet Cong raiders

• Tet was actually a huge victory for the US. The NVA gained no territory and 40,000 Vietnamese troops died, compared to 3,000 Americans/South Vietnamese combined. It severely damaged Ho Chi Minh’s armies. Its cost in the US public opinion outweighed the military victory

• It was a huge political defeat for the Army and Johnson

• Turned millions against the war and split the Democratic Party and the US gov’t into antiwar and pro-war factions

PUBLIC OPINION• Americans felt they had been betrayed by America after

the Tet offensive

• In 1959 students created the semi-socialist Students for a Democratic Society

• By 1965 students began to organize protest rallies against the Vietnam draft- some publicly burned their draft cards

• Thousands of young draft dodgers fled to Canada • The student antiwar movement reflected the growing

disillusionment among young Americans about politics and society as a whole

• Influenced by the writers of the rebellious Beat Generation of the 1950s

HIPPIES & COUNTERCULTURE• Expressed frustration about racism, gender issues,

consumerism and authority

• Challenged social norms by embracing sex, drugs and rock-and-roll

• Reached its height in August 1969 when 400,000 people went to the Woodstock Music and Art Festival in NY

• Became a symbol of the antiwar movement and an expression of the American youth counterculture

KENT STATE• May 1970 at Kent State in

Ohio

• National Guard troops called in to calm the scene ended up firing on a crowd, killing four students

• Touched off protests at hundreds of college campuses across the US

• Two more students were killed at Jackson State in Mississippi

IMPACT OF THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT• Opposition to the war was unprecedented

• Antiwar movement exposed class tensions

• The ones protesting the war were most likely to received draft deferments

• Relatively wealthy students protested the war at home while the majority of the soldiers who fought and died in Vietnam were from lower-class families

VIETNAM WAR & NIXON

1. America became very divided over the war. Active opposition to the war grew, especially on college campuses.

2. President Nixon pledged to bring the war to an honorable end. He instituted a policy of “Vietnamization,” withdrawing American troops and replacing them with South Vietnamese forces while maintaining military aid to the South Vietnamese.

3. Ultimately “Vietnamization” failed when South Vietnamese troops were unable to resist invasion by the Soviet-supplied North Vietnamese Army.

4. President Nixon was forced out of office by the Watergate scandal. In 1975, North and South Vietnam were merged under communist control.

THE VIETNAM WAR-RESULTS• Unlike veterans of World War II, who returned to a grateful and

supportive nation, Vietnam veterans returned often to face indifference or outright hostility from some who opposed the war.

• It was not until several years after the end of the Vietnam war that the wounds of the war began to heal in America, and Vietnam veterans were recognized and honored for their service and sacrifices

COLD WAR AT HOME • Foreign policy was a major issue in every presidential election

during the period.

• The large military expenditures throughout the Cold War benefited Virginia’s economy more than most states, especially in Hampton Roads, home to several large naval and air bases, and in Northern Virginia, home to the Pentagon and numerous private companies that contract with the military.

CIVIL RIGHTS

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

• Challenged segregation in the courts.• Created by DuBois

1963 March on Washington

• Participants were inspired by the “I Have a Dream” speech by MLK Jr.

• Influenced the public to support civil rights laws.• Demonstrated the power of nonviolent, mass protest.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Voting Rights Act of 1965

GREENSBORO SIT-INS• On Monday, February 1, 1960, four black students from the North

Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro sat down at the whites-only counter at a local Woolworth’s and ordered lunch.

• The clerk refused to serve them, but the four men remained sitting at the counter until the store closed.

• The men returned the following day with more than a dozen fellow black students and again remained quietly at the counter until the store closed.

• By the end of the week, hundreds of black students and even several white students were waiting patiently for service in Woolworth’s, with several hundred more at other restaurants in Greensboro.

• Continued to boycott segregationist stores such as Woolworth’s until the desperate merchants finally conceded that summer.

FREEDOM RIDES• In 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality organized a biracial Freedom Ride on interstate

buses traveling through the South.

• Hoped that the Freedom Ride would provoke a reaction from segregationists just as the student-led sit-ins had, with public harassment, arrests, and widespread media attention.

• hoped that the publicity and arrests would force the Kennedys to intervene.• Black and white Freedom Riders left D.C. in May 1961 and faced only mild opposition

until they met a mob of white supremacists ten days later in Alabama.

• The mob torched the bus and assaulted the Freedom Riders almost killing two of them. • Police eventually arrested the SNCC Freedom Riders on charges of disturbing the

peace.• Just as the protesters hoped, the mob violence and police inaction in Birmingham and

Montgomery outraged President Kennedy and were a major embarrassment for the U.S. government.

• Kennedy sent 400 federal agents to prevent further violence in Montgomery and pushed the Interstate Commerce Commission to clarify its regulations regarding segregation on interstate buses.

• The success of the CORE and SNCC Freedom Rides prompted chapter organizations to sponsor their own rides in the Deep South throughout the 1960s.

SPACE RACESoviet Union was first with the launch of Sputnik

In the early 1960s, President Kennedy pledged increased support for the space program.

The race to the moon continued through the 1960s.

• U.S. astronaut John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. • In 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first person to step

onto the moon’s surface. • “That’s one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind.”

• Sally Ride was the first woman in space

IMPROVEMENTS IN SPACE & TECHNOLOGY

Space/Technology advances today

• Space shuttle• Mars rover• Voyager missions• Hubble telescope

Communications

• Satellites• Global positioning system (GPS)• Personal communications devices• Robotics

END OF THE COLD WAREnds with the collapse of the Soviet Union

• Internal problems of the Soviet Union• Increasing Soviet military expenses to compete with the United States• Rising nationalism in Soviet republics• Fast-paced reforms—market economy• Economic inefficiency• Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika (openness and economic

restructuring)

• Role of President Ronald Reagan• Challenged moral legitimacy of the Soviet Union,

• Ex. speech at the Berlin Wall (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”)• Increased United States military and economic pressure on the Soviet Union

REAGAN’S ECONOMIC LEGACY• Ronald Reagan vowed to stimulate the American economy

by rolling back government regulations, lowering taxes, and balancing the budget.

• Supply-side economic theory had promised that lower taxes would actually increase government revenue because they would stimulate the economy as a whole.

• The combination of tax reduction and huge increases in military spending caused $200 billion in annual deficits. The large deficits of the Reagan years constituted a great economic failure.

MODERN PRESIDENTS & POLICIES

Selected post Cold War era goals and policies

• Foreign aid• Humanitarian aid• Support for human rights

President Reagan 1981-1989

• conservative Republicans• Wanted:

• tax cuts• transfer of responsibilities to state governments• judges who exercised “judicial restraint” (strict interpretation

of Constitution- like Thomas Jefferson)• Limiting the number of government programs and regulations• Strengthening the military.

POST COLD WAR ERA

The “Reagan Revolution” extended beyond Reagan’s time in office with

• the election of his vice president, George H. W. Bush

• the election of a centrist Democrat, William J. Clinton

• the Republican sweep of congressional elections and statehouses in the 1990s

• the election of George W. Bush as president.

POST COLD WAR PRESIDENTSPresident George H. W. Bush, 1989–1993

• Fall of communism in Eastern Europe• Reunification of Germany• Collapse of Yugoslavia• Breakup of the Soviet state into smaller countries• Persian Gulf War of 1990–1991

• First war in which American women served in a combat role• Invasion of Kuwait by Iraq

• Operation Desert Storm

POST COLD WAR PRESIDENTSPresident William J. Clinton, 1993–2001

• North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)• Opens up trade between America, Canada & Mexico

• Full diplomatic relations with Vietnam• Lifting of economic sanctions against South Africa when

apartheid ends• NATO action in former Yugoslavia

POST COLD WAR PRESIDENTSPresident George W. Bush, 2001–2009

• Terrorists attacks on United States soil on 9/11/2001• War in Afghanistan• War in Iraq

Responses to terrorism

• Heightened security at home (Patriot Act)• Increases the government’s power to monitor people

• Diplomatic and military initiatives

IMMIGRATION

Immigration to the United States has increased

• especially Asian and Latin American countries

Reasons for immigration

• Political freedom & Economic opportunity

Issues related to immigration policy

• Strain on government services• Border issues• Pathway to citizenship

Contributions of immigrants

• Diversity in music, the visual arts, and literature• Roles in the labor force• Achievements in science, engineering, and other fields

IMPROVEMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY

Over the past 30 years, improved technology and media have brought better access to communication and information.

• more Americans have access to global information and viewpoints.

Changes in work, school, and health care in recent decades

• Telecommuting• Online course work• Growth of service industries• Breakthroughs in medical research- ex. medical

diagnostic and imaging technologies• Outsourcing and offshoring

ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE ECONOMY

Government promotes a strong economy with full employment and low inflation through the actions of

• the Federal Reserve: Policy decisions to control the supply of money and credit to expand or limit economic growth.

• the president and Congress: Money policy decisions determining levels of taxing and spending

ROLE OF THE SUPREME COURT

membership of the Court has included women and minorities

• Ex. Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Clarence Thomas.

The Court protects individual rights in the Constitution

The Court protects people’s privacy from government interference.

The Court overturns laws and executive actions that they think exceed the authority granted to the government by the Constitution