Unit 11

1. Unit 11 Chapters 30b, 31b,32 SSUSH 20 d; 21 c; 24 c,e,f; 25 a-c

2. Events in the… 1960s AND 1970s

3. The Vietnam War • During the 1800s France established a colony in the Southeast Asian country of Vietnam. • Following WWII, war erupted as Vietnamese nationalists wanted independence from France. • This greatly concerned President Eisenhower b/c of the nationalists’ ties to communism. • At a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, countries met to search for a peaceful solution. • In 1954, the Geneva Accords were drafted; it called for Vietnam to be divided into 2 separate nations.

4. Geneva Conference Anticommunist Vietnamese refugees moving from a French LSM landing ship to the USS Montague during Operation Passage to Freedom in August 1954 French Indochina

5. The Vietnam War • In the North, Ho Chi Minh established a communist-backed gov’t. • In the South, the US supported the gov’t of Ngo Dinh Diem. • It was not long before war broke out b/t the 2 sides. • Even in his own country, Diem faced opposition. • He imprisoned many people who criticized his gov’t and he allowed US money sent to help his people end up in the hands of corrupt politicians. • Diem also alienated the mostly Buddhist population by trying to force his own Catholic views on them.

6. Hồ Chí Minh Ngô Đình Diệm

7. The Vietnam War • In the early 1960s, both Eisenhower and Kennedy feared the spread of communism. • Both sent military advisors to aid South Vietnam against the North and against communist rebels in the South known as the Viet Cong. • Eventually, JFK and his Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, realized that communism would not be defeated in Vietnam as long as Diem’s corrupt gov’t controlled the South. • In 1963, when Diem was overthrown and killed by members of his own military, JFK and McNamara worried about how they might pull US military personnel out of South Vietnam.

8. Viet Cong Flag, Soldier, Uniform, & Weapons Robert McNamara

9. The Vietnam War • Unfortunately, JFK was assassinated in November 1963 before any decision was reached. • The presidency then fell to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. • LBJ vowed that he would not lose Vietnam to the Communists. • In August 1964, just months before the Election of 1964, a key incident occurred in the Gulf of Tonkin. • Johnson announced to the nation during his campaign that the North Vietnamese had attacked US ships.

10. The Vietnam War—Gulf of Tonkin Resolution • Details were sketchy and some questioned if the event even occurred the way Johnson claimed, but Johnson was able to use the incident to get Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. • This gave the president the authority to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States…” • It gave Johnson the power to take military actions in Vietnam w/o having to get approval from Congress.

11. Painting of USS Maddox firing upon three P-4 torpedo boats In 2005, an internal National Security Agency historical study was declassified; it concluded that the Maddox had engaged the North Vietnamese Navy on August 2, but that there may not have been any North Vietnamese Naval vessels present during the incident of August 4. The report stated: [I]t is not simply that there is a different story as to what happened; it is that no attack happened that night. [...] In truth, Hanoi's navy was engaged in nothing that night but the salvage of two of the boats damaged on August 2.

12. The Vietnam War—Barry Goldwater (1964) • LBJ (Democrat) won the election of 1964 by portraying his opponent Barry Goldwater(Republican), as a man ready to plunge the US into a nuclear war over Vietnam. • US Senator from Arizona, Barry Goldwater, was actually a much more conservative figure. • Conservatism is the belief that the gov’t should not try to regulate too much. • Conservatives would rather keep taxes low and have a gov’t that does as little as possible. • They believe in personal freedoms and property rights rather than gov’t trying to control how society operates.

13. Barry Goldwater United States Senator from ArizonaJanuary 3, 1969 – January 3, 1987

14. The Vietnam War—Barry Goldwater (1964) • Goldwater’s ideas appealed to many conservative southern Democrats, western conservatives, and Republicans. • Despite Johnson’s easy victory in the 1964 election, Goldwater’s ability to win the Republican nomination and parts of the South over a Democratic president had historic significance.

15. The Vietnam War—Barry Goldwater (1964) • First, it was a lesson in what conservatives needed to do to mobilize an effective campaign. • Second, it marked a major shift in southern politics; the days of the “Solid South” were over. • Once elected LBJ was prepared to increase US military presence in Vietnam.

16. 1964 Presidential Election Goldwater versus Johnson

17. The Vietnam War • By 1965, the Viet Cong were continuing to expand as more of the poor in South Vietnam were drawn to their cause. • Key to the Viet Cong’s efforts were the supplies that came from North Vietnam along what is called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. • To try and cut off this support, Johnson ordered an intense bombing campaign against North Vietnam. • The operation was code named Operation Rolling Thunder. • During this time, the US dropped tons of explosives. • The bombings destroyed bridges, supply lines, and villages. They also killed many civilians in the process.

18. Coolies took supplies south on the Ho Chi Minh Trail (1959) A 23-year-old man who nearly starved to death after spending one month in a Vietcong internment camp, 1966.

20. The Vietnam War • B/t 1965 and 1968, the US military presence increased dramatically. • On January 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launched a major coordinated attack against the US and South Vietnamese forces. • Known as the Tet Offensive, it produced heavy fighting, even in the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon. • The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were eventually turned back, but they won a major psychological victory. • The Tet Offensive showed that the Communists could launch a coordinated attack. • It also led many people in the US to question how the gov’t was handling the war and whether US troops should be there at all.

21. General William Westmoreland Some Viet Cong targets in South Vietnam U.S. Marines battle in Hamo village

22. The Vietnam War—Attitudes at Home • Few events in US history have divided people like the Vietnam War. • On one hand, many people believed that it was important to fight communism at every turn; they believed Vietnam was a noble cause and that it was not wrong to send in troops. • Such people were more upset with the gov’t for limiting the military’s ability to win the war.

23. The Vietnam War—Attitudes at Home • On the other hand, a growing number of citizens and activists proclaimed that it was wrong for US soldiers to be in Vietnam at all. • Some even viewed the US actions as “criminal.” • Johnson found himself caught in the middle. • His popularity plummeted as he was blamed for failures in Vietnam. • So great was the weight of the ordeal that Johnson decided not to run for re-election in 1968.

24. Vietnam War Protests “Doves”

25. Actress Jane “Hanoi Jane” Fonda and Politician John Kerry

26. The Vietnam War • Richard Nixon (Republican) took office in 1969 and advocated a policy of “Vietnamization.” • He wanted South Vietnamese soldiers to take the place of the US soldiers in Vietnam. • However, while Nixon wanted to reduce the numbers of US troops in Southeast Asia, he was also determined to make sure that South Vietnam did not fall to the Communists. • He combined his withdrawal of US troops with renewed bombing against North Vietnam and the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia, believing that certain areas of these countries were supporting the Viet Cong.

28. The Vietnam War • In April 1970, Nixon went even further and authorized US troops to invade Cambodia for the purpose of destroying Communist training camps. • Nixon did not expect these moves to end the war, but he hoped that they would give him more negotiating power for ending the war on favorable terms for the US.

29. The Vietnam War • The US, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and leaders of the Viet Cong met in Paris, France in January 1973. • There they signed the Paris Peace Accords, officially ending US involvement in Vietnam. • The agreement called for: • Withdrawal of US troops within 60 days. • Release of prisoners of war. • All parties involved would end military activities in Laos and Cambodia. • The 17th parallel would continue to divide Vietnam.

30. The Vietnam War—The Troops Come Home • The return of US soldiers caused almost as much division as the war itself. • While many appreciated their efforts and saw them as returning heroes, others viewed them as having participated in an unjust war against a Third World country, others just felt let down b/c they were unsure about why troops were in Vietnam in the first place. • As a result, the bravery and sacrifice of thousands of soldiers was overshadowed by controversy and disgust.

31. "No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much. Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic." --Richard Nixon

33. The Environmentalist Movement • The 1960s also saw the birth of the modern environmentalist movement. • Environmentalists are concerned with preserving the Earth’s resources and species of life. • They often focus their efforts on drawing attention to and combating ways in which human beings “negatively affect” the environment. • Although calls for gov’t action date all the way back to the late 1800s, the modern movement began b/c of scientist/writer, Rachel Carson.

34. The Environmentalist Movement • Carson published a book in 1962 entitled Silent Spring, in which she argued that mankind’s use of certain chemicals (especially pesticides) was poisoning the environment. • Despite protests from several chemical companies, Carson’s book won critical acclaim and led to the banning of DDT and more gov’t restrictions on various chemicals. • Its message, combined with the activist atmosphere of the 1960s, fueled an entire movement.

37. The Environmentalist Movement • As more people joined the cause, the US celebrated the first ever Earth Day in April 1970. • Earth Day became an annual event meant to encourage concern for the environment and draw attention to environmental issues. • That same year, President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a federal agency whose purpose is to enforce laws aimed at maintaining a safe and clean environment.

39. Presidency of Richard Nixon • Most people remember Nixon as a president whose greatest accomplishment was foreign policy. • Nixon took a new approach towards the USSR and China; he introduced the policy of détente. • Under détente, Nixon sought to use diplomacy rather than intimidation to ease tensions that existed b/t the US and Communist nations. • Nixon became the first president to publicly acknowledge the Communist gov’t of Chinaand he even visited China during his first term in office.

40. Presidency of Richard Nixon • Nixon also realized that, although both the USSR and China were communist, the 2 nations disagreed with one another on some major issues. • For this reason, Nixon believed that good relations with the Chinese would give him more bargaining power with the Soviets. • In 1972, after extensive talks with Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, the US and USSR signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), which limited development of certain nuclear weapons.

41. Détente (French for 'relaxation') is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War. Détente is an alternative strategy to rollback, the strategy of destroying an enemy state, and containment, which means preventing the expansion of the enemy state.

42. Presidency of Richard Nixon • At home, Nixon wanted to cut gov’t programs and spending and give more power back to the states. • He wanted to turn back the aggressive tide of civil rights legislation and he advocated a “middle road” b/t integration and segregation. • Nixon also took advantage of vacancies on the Supreme Court to nominate judges that he believed would interpret the Constitution the way that he did. • Despite Nixon’s concerns, civil rights continued to advance during his time in office and even won key court victories.

43. Presidency of Richard Nixon • Another topic to gain attention was the idea of affirmative action: policy aimed at increasing minority representation in the workplace, educational institutions, social settings, etc. by imposing guidelines requiring the hiring or acceptance of minority candidates, or by actively pursuing recruitment of such candidates. • In 1978, the SC ruled on affirmative action in the case of Regents of UC v. Bakke. • In 1973 & 1974, a white man named Allan Bakke applied to medical school at the University of California. • He was not accepted either time; he challenged the university’s affirmative action program that guaranteed 16 places in each new class to “qualified” minorities.

44. Presidency of Richard Nixon • Believing that his qualifications were superior to those of other accepted students, Bakke sued the University of California Medical School. • The SC ruled in favor of Bakke, stating that, while race could be used as a consideration in admission, the institution of racial quotas is a violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protections clause. • The case did not strike down affirmative action, but it did set a precedent that quotas cannot be used in the interest of increasing minority representation.

46. Presidency of Richard Nixon • The women’s movement of the 1960s-70s led to a campaign to amend the Constitution. • Many of the movement’s supporters wanted an amendment making sexual discrimination illegal. • In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress and was sent to the states for ratification. • This amendment was considered highly controversial, however, and gained opposition from women and men. • It failed to be ratified by enough states and was never added as an amendment to the Constitution.

47. Presidency of Richard Nixon • Prior to 1973, states could outlaw or restrict abortions during a woman’s pregnancy. • Citing an implied (not directly stated in the Constitution) right to privacy, the SC ruled state laws restricting a woman’s right to an abortion during the first 3 months of pregnancy to be unconstitutional. • Roe v. Wade remains one of the most controversial decisions in US history.

49. Presidency of Richard Nixon • Despite some of the social conflicts and economic woes facing the nation, most citizens felt far more positive about Nixon than they did about the liberal Democratic candidate, George McGovern, in the 1972 presidential election. • As a result, Nixon easily won re-election to a second term. • War protests and social unrest, however, left President Nixon and those close to him fearing the possibility of political conspiracies (plots to undermine the gov’t).

50. George McGovern “The current dilemma in Vietnam is a clear demonstration of the limitations of military power. ... [Current U.S. involvement] is a policy of moral debacle and political defeat. ... The trap we have fallen into there will haunt us in every corner of this revolutionary world if we do not properly appraise its lessons."