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Shattered
MLK assassinated 1968 Bobby Kennedy (RFK) assassinated
1968 Race Riots Vietnam War escalates Student Protests
The Great Society
Johnson’s vision to eliminate poverty and inequality
Believed that government was the solution to society’s problems
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Ended some racial injustices› Fairer voter registration› No racial discrimination in public buildings› Forced desegregation of public schools› No federal funds to organizations which
discriminated against minorities› Created Equal Opportunity Employment
Commission – enforce equality in the workplace
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Help blacks have access to the ballot box
Federal officials to states to help blacks register to vote
Literacy tests illegal
Supported the 24th Amendment to the Constitution: No poll taxes
WA
R O
N P
OV
ERTY
Office of Economic Opportunity
Job Training
Job Placement
Head Start
Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)
Flood of Legislation
Johnson wins and controls Congress. Federal aid to education Medicare – government health
insurance for elderly Tax some people to benefit others
(redistribution of income/wealth)
The Warren Court – Judicial Activism
Chief Justice Earl Warren
Judicial Activism – broad interpretation of the Constitution to address what justices see as social problems
Which branch makes laws?
Warren Court Decisions1953-1969
Brown v. Board of Education Gideon v. Wainwright – provide
attorney for poor defendants Miranda v. Arizona – inform suspects of
their rights Engel v. Vitale – banned prayer in
public schools Roth v. U.S. – obscenity not 1st
amendment speech, but narrowly defined obscenity
Evaluating the Great Society
Failure Why?
› Improved the plight of some poor, but poverty remained.
› Great strides toward equality, but racism and discrimination remained.
› Burdened the nation with debt.› Government cannot solve problems that
result because of sin.
Vietnam Eisenhower – 2000 military advisors Kennedy – 16000 military advisors Johnson – advisors became combatants
Vietnam
Broken Campaign Promise Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - 1964
› Destroyer Maddox attacked by North Vietnamese
› Johnson seeks and receives authority to respond to Communist “aggression” in Vietnam.
› Actually he had prepared the speech months before the attack and was looking for a reason to escalate the war.
Why was Vietnam so hard to win?
1. Couldn’t tell friend from foe.2. Guerilla warfare3. Couldn’t cut off access to supplies› China, Laos, Cambodia
4. Limited, defensive war strategy
Vietnam
http://www.history.com/videos/the-road-to-war#the-road-to-war
General war info – how we got there
Tet Offensive
American opposition to the Vietnam War
Johnson’s deception› Afraid people would oppose his Great
Society…
Tet Offensive
January 1968 Lunar New Year Viet Cong infiltrated the cities of South
Vietman 60,000 VC troops attacked every major
strategic point in South Vietnam. U.S. took back the territory Sudden, heavy losses Americans thought Communists won
Tet Offensive Now they didn’t believe Johnson
because they learned the truth. After Tet, most Americans began to
want OUT of Vietnam rather than to win.
War on civilian population What would the U.S. have considered a
victory? Was it a realistic expectation?
Paris Peace Talks
U.S. goal: preserve South Vietnam as non-Communist
Communist goal: unify Vietnam under communism
Five years of talks while fighting continued.
Dogfights: Aces of Vietnam
http://www.history.com/shows/dogfights/videos/dogfights-aces-of-vietnam#dogfights-aces-of-vietnam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsyYvFgdb5c
Forest Gump in Vietnam (10 minutes)
Racial Conflict
Violence on all sides: blacks, whites, police
1964 Mississippi Ku Klux Klan murder 3 civil rights workers.
Selma, Alabama white civil rights activists killed by racist extremeists.
16th St. Baptist Church Bombing
Racial Conflict
Civil Rights Movement in the North Increased violence Northerners approved of Civil Rights
when it applied to the south but when it came north, they did not want to integrate their schools & neighborhoods.
Urban Riots Watts Riots (1965) – L.A.: 6 days, 34 dead, 900 injured, $45M damage.
Detroit (1967) – 43 dead, arson
Watts, L.A.
Detroit
Urban Riots
The blacks were destroying their own communities and their own people.
Public opinion changed and fewer people supported their cause.
That’s why MLK’s non-violent civil disobedience was so important in bringing change.
Black Radicals
Black Power – black supremacy
Black Panthers Nation of Islam
› Elijah Mohammed› Malcolm X
Fear of race war
Radical Youth
Half the population was under 25 years old.
Prosperity, affluence Question values,
then rebellion against those values
Spiritually unsatisfied
Disillusioned
New Left
Students for a Democratic Society – overthrow established institutions
Weathermen – terrorists, bombed buildings
Radical Youth
President Johnson bore the brunt of the fury.
Do you think his deception about the war had anything to do with the anger?
Protest Slogan: “Hey, Hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?”
Radical Youth
“Much of the energy for the Anti-war movement came from the resistance to authority that is always present in unregenerate man.” P. 573
Had that authority exceeded its bounds?
Had the authority acted in a manner that undermined its legitimacy?
Compare to American Revolution.
Counterculture
Rooted in rebellion Rejection of
materialism Rejection of morals
& values of previous gen.
“Do your own thing.”
“All you need is love.”
“Don’t trust anyone over 30.”
Hippies
Counterculture
Jeans Sandals Long hair & beards Unrestricted sexual
activity Rock music Hallucinogenic
drugsWoodstock 1969
Jimi Hendrix Janis Joplin
The baby boom generation did not find peace or satisfaction through sex, drugs, or rock & roll.
Contrast with God’s Word
Can a person live a carefree life without assuming responsibility for his/her actions?
What is true love? I Corinthians 13 Psalm 58:3 Romans 5:12
How could America fall from its Post WWII elation, euphoria, unity, sense of success and accomplishment so quickly into distrust, division, and disorder?
Johnson decides not to run again.
Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy (antiwar), and Hubert Humphrey (Johnson position) run for the Democrat nomination.
Assassination X 2
MLK 1968 Memphis, TN Garbage worker
strike Balcony of hotel James Earl Ray,
white supremicist Confessed then
recanted 99 years in prison
Complications
A 3rd party candidate, George Wallace from Alabama, enters as American Independent Party.
Anti-war, anti-civil rights
Republican Nomination
Richard Nixon – moderate
Nelson Rockefellar – liberal
Ronald Reagan - conservative
Nixon versus Humphrey versus Wallace
Nixon 43.4% Humphrey 42.7% Wallace 13.5%
ELECTORAL COLLEGE:› Nixon 301› Humphrey 191› Wallace 46 (Map p. 579)
Silent Majority
Nixon believed the majority of Americans were not radical, but were quiet, respectable, hard-working, decent citizens who wanted peace and order.
He claimed to represent the interests of “Middle America.”
Domestic Problems
Busing Economic Problems
› Budget deficit (Great Society, Vietnam War)
› Nixon’s “New Economic Policy” - Failure Wage and Price Controls (Oil Shortage Crisis) Board to regulate wages and prices Still had inflation and unemployment
Diplomatic Successes
China Established
relations Visited China in
1972 Got People’s
Republic of China (Communist) admitted to UN.
Then the UN kicked out Taiwan (Republic of China).
Diplomatic Successes
Soviet Union Henry Kissinger –
Secretary of State Détente – period of
relaxed tension SALT – Strategic
Arms Limitation Treaty
Grain sales to USSR
Nixon & Vietnam
De-escalation - bring troops home, let South Vietnamese fight.
500K in 1969 140K in 1972 “Vietnamization” of
the war
Nixon & Vietnam
At the same time, he expanded the war.
Raids into Laos & Cambodia
Blockade of North Vietnam
Massive bombing Fighting more
widespread.
Dissent at Home
My Lai Massacre - 1968
300 unarmed civilians killed
Lt. William Calley – court martial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ1yTf4N9eM&feature=related
Dissent at Home
Kent State Student
demonstrators› Riots, fires
National Guard Four dead students Two were not even
participating in the demonstration
Dissent at Home
Pentagon Papers› Revealed the
blunders & deceptions of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
› Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon staffer released docs to NYT
“Peace”
Paris Peace Talks Agreement reached
in 1973. U.S. recalls troops
and gets back POWs.
South Vietnam gets arms.
North Vietnam remains in the south.
“A decent interval”
Aftermath
1975 South Vietnam falls to the Communists.
Justified Eisenhower’s Domino Theory, Cambodia
“No more Vietnams” Wave of isolation Presidential power limited – War Powers
Act 1973
Why did America lose in Vietnam? Some answers from
different perspectives:
Corrupt and unpopular South Vietnamese govt.
Limited war concept Media’s falt Result: America
traumatized by the war.
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