Unit 11

1. Unit 11

2. REASONS AND OUTCOMES FOR U.S INVOLVEMENT • Vietnam • Reasons • Support of the Potsdam Agreements • Create stable environment for growth and recovery of Japan, France, and Britain • Continued change in American political environment (different presidential personalities and national goals) • Domino Theory and containment – the idea that the spread of communism was unacceptable • Growing economic interest in Asia

3. Outcomes • The decline of colonialism (British and French) • Lasting effect on U.S. military policy and employment • Distrust of the U.S. press • Realignment of U.S. balance of powers • The spread of communism into South Vietnam • Beginning of the realities for the U.S. maintaining promises of support

4. MAJOR ISSUES AND EVENTS OF THE VIETNAM WAR • Tet Offensive – full-scale offensive by regular, North Vietnamese Army and irregular forces to attack the command-and-control centers of the South Vietnamese, U.S., and other allies. The intent was to create a general uprising and overthrow the Saigon government. • Escalation – increase of U.S. forces by President Lyndon B. Johnson • Vietnamization – change in U.S. Military policy in Vietnam by President Nixon. This policy focused on equipping, training, and giving more responsibility for combat actions to local South Vietnamese forces. At the same time, U.S. ground forces started to be drawn down and transitioned to more of an advisory role. • Fall of Saigon – pivotal moment at the end of the Vietnam War; U.S. forces had been ordered out of the country; after their withdrawal, the North Vietnamese Army marched into Saigon and took control of the country

5. RESPONSES TO THE VIETNAM WAR • Draft – in response to an increase of U.S. military presence in Southeast Asia, the draft was reinstituted during the war. • 26th Amendment – reduced the voting age from 21 to 18. This gave the young men being drafted to fight in Vietnam a way to influence policies that affected them. • Role of the media – the media irrevocably showed that it could be used to aid American National Strategy or used against it. Highlighted media coverage turned public opinion against the armed forces and promoted the counterculture environment of the 1960s

6. Credibility gap – refers to the public's skepticism over President Johnson’s administration’s statements and policies on the Vietnam War • Silent majority – term coined by President Nixon to represent the large number of Americans that were overshadowed by the large number of protestors against the Vietnam War, the counterculture, and by the more vocal minority in the media of the 1960s • Anti-war movement – peace movement of the 1960s advocating the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. These advocates were usually known as Doves.

7. ECONOMIC IMPACT OF DEFENSE SPENDING • Cold War fueled businesses, especially high tech industries and research and development (e.g., Rand Corp.) and steadily increased government defense spending. • Cold War led to creation of a huge national security apparatus • Military Industrial Complex and weapons of mass destruction, NASA, Space Race • NDEA – National Defense Education Act

8. ACTIONS OF GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE SECTOR TO EXPAND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF EACH • Great Society – set of domestic programs designed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice • Affirmative Action – means positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded

9. Title IX – "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..." Title IX is best known for its impact on high school and collegiate athletics. • Other examples • Federal Housing Authority – improve housing standards and conditions; insurance of mortgages • Head Start and Upward Bound – foster healthy development of young children from low income families

10. DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICIES AND FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM • OPEC – organization consists of 12 member countries (primary goal is to stabilize the oil market by balancing supply and demand); 1960 to the Present • GATT– General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (encouraged free trade between member nations by regulating and reducing tariffs); 1947 to 1993 • NAFTA – North American Free Trade Agreement (free trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico); 1994 to the Present

11. CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES RAISED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT POLICY CHANGES DURING TIMES OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS • 1960s – the debate regarding the Gulf of Tonkin incident caused the creation of the War Powers Act, which placed restrictions on the executive branch’s ability to send American troops into combat

12. IMPACT OF EVENTS • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and War Powers Act deal with presidential war powers. • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave President Johnson authorization (without formal declaration of war by Congress) to use conventional military force in Southeast Asia. • War Powers Act (1973) limits the ability of the President to send troops into combat areas without congressional approval

13. EFFECTS OF LANDMARK U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISIONS • Landmark cases • Tinker v. Des Moines(1969) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students had the right to wear armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. It defined the constitutional rights of students (freedom of speech protected by the 1st Amendment) • Example of Effects: opened opportunities for interpretation of free speech to also mean freedom of expression

14. HISTORICAL REASONS WHY THE CONSTITUTION HAS BEEN AMENDED • 25th – presidential succession and disability • 26th – right to vote changed from age 21 to age 18 (draft age was at 18 and many feld disenfranchised because during the Vietnam War they were drafted but not allowed to vote)