Download State Government - Cabarrus County Schools

#4 Civil Rights and Vietnam
Kennedy wins Presidency – 1960

Inaugural Address: “Ask not what your
country can do for you, but ask what
you can do for your country.”
Military Policy – “Flexible Response” – increase
defense spending in order to boost conventional
military forces. Created “Special Forces” – Green
Berets. Kennedy wanted to reduce the threat of
nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
Bay of Pigs – Cuba – Fidel Castro’s communist
revolution servers ties with America in the 1950s.

March 1960 - Cuban and Soviet forces
overwhelm US troops at a failed
invasion.

Cuba releases survivors in exchange
for $53 million in food and medical
supplies.
Cuban Missile Crisis – Cuba engages in
protective alliance with Soviet Union.

Summer of 1962 – Cuba houses nuclear
weapons for the Soviet Union. Kennedy
ensures American protect, saying that a
missile attack from Cuba would trigger
an all-out American response.

Soviets remove missiles after USA
pledges not to invade Cuba.
New Frontier – Kennedy’s Camelot

Deficit Spending to increase economic
protection

Peace Corps – program of volunteer
assistance in developing nations of
Asia, Africa, and Latin America

Alliance for Progress – economic and
technical assistance to Latin American
Countries

NASA- National Aeronautics and Space
Administration – 1969 US lands men on
the moon.
Kennedy’s Death- Dallas, TX

Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK in the
head while riding in an top-down car
through the city of Dallas
LYNDON B. JOHNSON’S GREAT SOCIETY
LBJ – wanted to change America into a “Great
Society” by focusing on ending poverty and racial
injustice

Medicare – health insurance for retirees

Medicaid – health insurance for those on
welfare

Immigration Act of 1965 – ended quotas
based on nationality

Environmental Measures – Water Quality
Act of 1965 – requires states to clean up
rivers.
Warren Court – Liberal court focusing on social
issues

Mapp V. Ohio – Evidence seized illegally
cannot be used in court

Miranda V. Arizona – Miranda Rights

Gideon V. Wainwright – Right to court
appointed attorney
Impact of Great Society – Extends power of Federal
Government; War on Poverty cuts unemployment by
10%; Fear of Communism still present – communist
forces begin to invade Vietnam
CIVIL RIGHTS
Challenging Segregation in the Court –
NAACP develops strategy under the direction
of Thurgood Marshall.
Brown V. Topeka Board of Education –
segregation in Public facilities is ILLEGAL

Little Rock 9 – African American
students who had volunteered to
integrate Little Rock Central High
School – Eisenhower sends in
National Guard to ensure student
safety
Montgomery Bus Boycott – Rosa Parks,
NAACP officer, refuses to give up her seat for
a white man – is arrested.

Montgomery Improvement
Association – elects 26 year-old
leader Martin Luther as their leader
– PEACEFUL PROTEST

Bus Boycott will continue for a
year.
MLK’s “Soul Force” – “we will wear you down
by our capacity to suffer.

Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC). – nonviolent
crusades against the evils of
second-class society

Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) – University
group
Freedom Riders – Civil Rights activists who
ride busses through the South to challenge
segregation.
James Meredith – first African American to
integrate University of Mississippi
Letter From Birmingham Jail – MLK arrested
during peaceful protest.

Write letter describe the injustice
faced.
March on Washington – 250,000 people
march to Lincoln Memorial where MLK
addressed the crowd with “I Have a Dream”
speech.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 – prohibits
discrimination based on race,
religion, ethnicity, and gender.
Selma - Voting Rights Campaign where a
peaceful protest march 50 miles from Selma
to Montgomery

Civil Rights Act of 1965 –
eliminated literacy tests and
allowed federal examiners to enroll
voters who were denied.
Malcom X – Black superiority over whites –
advocated for armed self-defense.

Black Power – call for black people
to define their own goals

Black panthers fought police
brutality while advocating for equal
opportunities for African Americans
in California
Civil Rights Act of 1968 – ended
discrimination in housing; helped equalize
education, job opportunities, and promoted
affirmative action.
Vietnam
Eisenhower’s Domino Theory – of one nation
falls to communism, nearby nations will also
fall.

Geneva Accords divides Vietnam
into Communist North, and
Nationalist South.
Eisenhower promises military aid and
training to Nationalist leader Diem in
return for a stable government in
South Vietnam. Diem, however,
ushered in a corrupt government.
1957 – Vietcong (Communist
opposition group in South Vietnam),
attacks the government – Ho Chi
Minh supports the group.
August 2, 1964 – USS Maddox shoots
down North Vietnamese patrol boat in
the Gulf of Tonkin

Tonkin Gulf Resolution – “all
necessary measures to
prevent further aggression –
BROAD MILITARY POWER
March 1965 – Johnson along with
Secretary of Defense and Secretary
of State Dispatch ground troops into
Vietnam
Vietcong Tactics – Guerilla Warfare,
Civilian Camouflage, Jungle Terrain.
American Tactics – Destroy morale,
win support of South Vietnamese,
Search and Destroy Missions

Gas – Agent Orange,
Napalm.
The War at home - “Living-Room
War” – combat footage appeared
nightly on the news in millions of
homes

Federal government was
saying the war was about to
end, images on TV showed
another side – Credibility
Gap
The Draft Returns – 80% of those
drafted were from lower class
background and 20% were African
American.
Free Speech Movement – clash
between administrators and you
embracing the “New Left”
Tet Offensive – Vietcong attack over
100 towns including the US Embassy
in Saigon – CHANGES AMERICAN
VIEWS OF WAR.
Nixon wins 1968 Presidential Election

Vietnamization – gradual
withdrawal of troops to take
a more active combat role
University Protests against war – Kent
State U – 4 student die when National
Guard opens fire on a protest.
Pentagon Papers – confirmed that the
gov. had not been honest about
Vietnam intentions
Legacy – war diminished the public
optimism and faith in gov.
War Powers Act – president must
inform congress within 48 hours of
sending troops to a hostile area
without declaration of war.