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New Directions • President Kennedy continued the anti-

Communist policies of his predecessors, but with a few changes.

(pages 866–867)(pages 866–867)

• Kennedy increased spending on nuclear arms, while attempting to get the Soviets to agree to a ban on nuclear testing.

• He also decided to counter Soviet-sponsored guerrilla forces fighting in various places around the world with American special forces (Green Berets), which were also trained in guerrilla warfare.


New Directions (cont.) • Kennedy believed that American foreign

aid to poor countries around the world would make the promises of communism seem less attractive to poor nations.

• The Peace Corps (Americans volunteering to work as teachers, health workers, and agricultural advisers in other nations) and the Alliance for Progress (a development plan for Latin America) were parts of this initiative.

(pages 866–867)(pages 866–867)


Cold War Confrontations • Soon after taking office, President

Kennedy faced serious foreign policy crises.

(pages 867–869)(pages 867–869)

• One involved Cuba, where Fidel Castro had seized power in 1959.

• When Cuba formed an alliance with the Soviet Union, the American CIA formed a plan to overthrow Castro.


• The plan, created during the Eisenhower administration, called for Cuban refugees living in the United States to return to Cuba, spark an uprising, and overthrow the Communist government.

• Kennedy had doubts about the plan, but he allowed it to go forward.

• In April 1961, 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba.

Cold War Confrontations (cont.)

(pages 867–869)(pages 867–869)


• Cuban forces crushed the invasion and captured the insurgents.

• Kennedy took the blame and was embarrassed by the failure.

• The Bay of Pigs failure had three consequences for Kennedy:


(pages 867–869)(pages 867–869)

- He lost faith in military and intelligence advice. - Latin American nations lost faith in Kennedy.

- Soviet leader Khrushchev concluded that Kennedy was weak and could be bullied.


• The status of Germany had not been completely settled since World War II.

• The Soviet Union still controlled East Germany. Berlin, surrounded by Communist East Germany, was split.

• West Berlin was a non-Communist area protected in part by American, British, and French troops.


(pages 867–869)(pages 867–869)



(pages 867–869)(pages 867–869)

• After a large number of East Germans fled to West Germany through West Berlin in the summer of 1961, the East German government, with the backing of the Soviet Union, erected the Berlin Wall.

• The wall cut communications between East Germany and West Germany. The United States and its allies protested the building of the wall, but could do nothing to stop it.


The Cuban Missile Crisis • The most dangerous dispute between the

United States and the Soviet Union was the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

(pages 869–870)(pages 869–870)

- In October photos from an American spy plane flying over Cuba revealed that the Soviet Union was building nuclear-missile launch sites on the island.

- Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba until the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles.

- He promised to destroy any Soviet ship that tried to break through the blockade.


The Cuban Missile Crisis (cont.) - Kennedy also stated that any nuclear missile

launched from Cuba would be considered an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union and would be met with a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union.

- After a few tense days, Soviet ships approaching Cuba turned back rather than trying to break the blockade.

- Soviet leaders also agreed to withdraw their missiles from Cuba.

(pages 869–870)(pages 869–870)


• Having come close to nuclear war, the United States and the Soviet Union started working to establish a better relationship.

• In 1963 a hot line between Washington and Moscow was established to allow American and Soviet leaders to communicate instantly during times of crisis.

• That same year, the two nations signed a treaty banning nuclear tests aboveground or underwater.

The Cuban Missile Crisis (cont.)

(pages 869–870)(pages 869–870)


• The United States and the Soviet Union continued to compete in the space race during the Kennedy administration.


(pages 869–870)(pages 869–870)

- The space race began with the 1957 launch of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik, the world’s first satellite.

- Then Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit Earth.

- One month later, Alan Shepard, Jr., became the first American to make a space flight.

- John Glenn orbited the Earth in February 1962 and became the first American to do so.


• The United States was not satisfied to be second to the Soviet Union in space exploration.

• Funding for NASA was expanded, as were its facilities in Florida and Texas.

• The challenge was met when, in July 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first human steps on the moon with the Apollo Project.


(pages 869–870)(pages 869–870)


Guide to Reading

U.S. military involvement in Vietnam increased steadily throughout the 1960s.

• Vietcong

Main Idea

Key Terms

• coup

• escalate

• search-and-destroy mission



Soldier’s boots, Vietnam War


The U.S. and Vietnam • Vietnam was a French colony that had

been captured by Japan during World War II.

(pages 871–874)(pages 871–874)

• When the war was over and Japan was defeated, the Vietnamese looked forward to independence.

• But the French were not prepared to give up the colony.

• Vietnamese forces, led by Communist Ho Chi Minh fought against the French for Vietnam’s independence.


• Ho Chi Minh’s forces finally defeated the French in 1954.

• A peace agreement temporarily divided Vietnam.

• Communist nationalists would control the north, while non-Communists, supported by the United States, would control the south.

• The country was to be unified in 1956, after national elections were held.

• The elections were never held.

The U.S. and Vietnam (cont.)

(pages 871–874)(pages 871–874)


• In 1955 Ngo Dinh Diem gained control of the government of South Vietnam and, with American support, refused to hold elections in 1956.

• Many Communists in the South opposed Diem’s power grab and his brutal policies against those who opposed him.

• When Diem tried to destroy the forces working against him, they organized themselves into the National Liberation Front, or the Vietcong.


(pages 871–874)(pages 871–874)


• In 1959 the Vietcong started a war to defeat the Diem regime.

• The United States began to support South Vietnam because of the domino theory–the idea that if Communists took over one country in Southeast Asia, the other countries in that area would also fall to the Communists like a row of dominoes.

• Eisenhower sent South Vietnam billions of dollars in aid and several hundred soldiers as military advisers.


(pages 871–874)(pages 871–874)



(pages 871–874)(pages 871–874)

• Kennedy was also interested in keeping Vietnam out of Communist control.

• He sent more military advisers and pressured the Diem government to undertake reforms that would eliminate conditions that had spurred the growth of the Communist opposition–poverty, landlessness, lack of education, and poor health care.

• But Diem refused. As opposition to his regime grew, more aid flowed from North Vietnam to the South to fuel the guerrilla war against the Diem regime.



(pages 871–874)(pages 871–874)

• As Diem became more autocratic and internal opposition against him grew, the Kennedy administration found it difficult to continue to support him.

• In November of 1963, the South Vietnamese military overthrew Diem and assassinated him.

• Kennedy supported the coup, but not the assassination.


The Conflict Deepens • After President Kennedy’s death, the

problem of what to do in Vietnam fell to President Johnson.

(pages 874–876)(pages 874–876)

• He did not think Vietnam was worth heavy military involvement, but the United States continued to get drawn into the conflict there to stop the attempted Communist takeover by the North.

• Johnson wanted congressional support for expanding United States involvement in Vietnam.


• In 1964, when North Vietnamese naval forces allegedly attacked American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

• The resolution allowed the president to take “all necessary measures” to repel any armed attack against American forces.

• Johnson used the resolution to escalate, or gradually increase, United States involvement in Vietnam.

The Conflict Deepens (cont.)

(pages 874–876)(pages 874–876)


• By late 1967, roughly 500,000 American soldiers were in Vietnam.

• The American military also began an intense bombing campaign against the North Vietnamese in the mid-1960s.

• One target of the bombing was the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of roads, paths, and bridges connecting North and South Vietnam.


(pages 874–876)(pages 874–876)


• The trail was bombed because North Vietnamese troops used it to bring equipment south.

• Bridges, docks, factories, and military bases in the North were also bombed.

• The American forces found fighting the war in Vietnam difficult for many reasons.


(pages 874–876)(pages 874–876)

- Dense jungles, muddy trails, and swampy areas made troop movements difficult.

- Because the Vietcong guerrillas blended in with the rest of the Vietnamese population, it was hard to tell friends and enemies apart.


• Lethal weapons were used in the war.

• Aside from conventional bombs, planes also dropped napalm, an explosive that burned intensely.

• A toxic herbicide called Agent Orange was used to destroy the jungle vegetation that the enemy used for cover.

• Agent Orange contaminated many American and Vietnamese soldiers, causing them severe health problems.


(pages 874–876)(pages 874–876)

- America’s allies in the army of South Vietnam often did not fight effectively.


• American war tactics caused enormous Vietcong losses but an increasing number of people in the Johnson administration began to believe that the ground battles and the air attacks still could not win the war.

• Also, the American public’s opposition to the war began to grow.


(pages 874–876)(pages 874–876)


Guide to Reading

Many Americans opposed the nation’s involvement in Vietnam. Many others believed that U.S. leaders were not doing enough to win the war.

• counterculture

Main Idea

Key Terms

• deferment • dove

• hawk • credibility gap

• silent majority


Demonstration at the Pentagon


The Youth Protest • As the war dragged on, protests in the

United States pitted supporters of the war (hawks) against those who thought the United States should get out of Vietnam (doves).

• People who opposed the war were part of the counterculture

(pages 877–878)(pages 877–878)

• Many student protests focused on opposition to the draft.

• The draft supplied soldiers for the war.

• All men were required to register for the draft when they reached

age 18.


• There were several reasons people protested the draft.

The Youth Protest (cont.)

(pages 877–878)(pages 877–878)

- Some people who opposed the war believed that ending the draft would stop the supply of soldiers, thereby ending the war.

- Many draft opponents protested that the majority of soldiers came from poor or working-class backgrounds.

- Full-time college students, who were mostly from the middle class, got deferments that excused them from the draft.


• Americans had many reasons for opposing the war.

• Some thought the United States should not be in Vietnam under any circumstances.

• Others did not like the way the war was being fought.

- Some draft opponents became conscientious objectors, or people who claimed their religions or moral beliefs did not allow them to fight in any war.


(pages 877–878)(pages 877–878)


• Many hawks and doves criticized President Johnson for his handling of the war, and the president’s approval rating fell dramatically.

• As opposition to the war mounted, protesters planned larger and larger demonstrations.

• In October 1967, 50,000 people marched to the Pentagon to protest the war.

• To show their opposition to the war, young people chose to burn their draft cards in defiance.


(pages 877–878)(pages 877–878)


• The presidential race also heated up, with Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey joining Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy in seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

• As 1968 continued, McCarthy and Kennedy faced each other in several primaries.

• After Robert Kennedy won the California primary in early June, he was shot and killed by an assassin.

Violence Erupts (cont.)

(pages 880–881)(pages 880–881)


Election of 1968 • The Republican Party nominated Richard

M. Nixon.

(page 882)(page 882)

• Sensing the public’s resentment and weariness regarding the antiwar violence and protests of the Johnson era, Nixon promised a return to “law and order” and vowed to represent what he called the “silent majority” of Americans who did not shout and protest.

• Nixon was vague about his stand on Vietnam, only promising that he would achieve “peace with honor.”


Guide to Reading

President Nixon put a plan in place to train and equip South Vietnamese soldiers to take the place of American troops.

• Vietnamization

Main Idea

Key Terms

• martial law

• MIAs


Nixon inaugural button


A New Strategy • Newly elected President Nixon now had

the task of dealing with the Vietnam War.

(pages 884–885)(pages 884–885)

• He wanted to pull American troops out of Vietnam, but he did not want it to be done in a way that would look like defeat.

• President Nixon’s strategy of peace with honor had three parts:

- The military began drafting fewer men for service in the war, and Nixon promised to eliminate the draft totally in the future.


A New Strategy (cont.)

(pages 884–885)(pages 884–885)

- Nixon authorized an expansion of the bombing campaign to help the South Vietnamese troops by destroying enemy supply routes and hideouts in neighboring Laos and Cambodia. This part of the plan was kept secret.

- Nixon began to withdraw troops slowly from Vietnam, while turning more and more responsibility for fighting the war over to South Vietnamese forces. This was called Vietnamization.


• The invasion of Cambodia sparked a series of protests on college campuses across the country.

• Most went on peacefully, but two ended in tragedy.

• On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, a clash between student protesters and members of the National Guard ended in tragedy when four students were killed and 13 others were wounded.

Renewed Opposition at Home (cont.)

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• On May 14, at Jackson State College in Mississippi, two students were shot and killed after a night of campus violence.

• President Nixon’s reaction was to take a hard line and blame the protesters for the violence.

• A commission found that the shootings at Kent State were unjustified.

• But a majority of Americans seemed to side with President Nixon.

Renewed Opposition at Home (cont.)

(pages 885–887)(pages 885–887)


• The United States also put pressure on South Vietnam to accept the terms of the peace treaty.

• As a result, the peace agreement was signed in January 1973.

• The United States agreed to pull all of its remaining troops out of Vietnam, and the North Vietnamese agreed to return all American prisoners of war.

• The Paris Peace Accords ended American involvement in Vietnam, but the conflict there continued.

“Peace Is at Hand” (cont.)

(pages 888–889)(pages 888–889)


• The North Vietnamese did not abandon their goal of unifying Vietnam under their control.

• In early 1975, they launched a major offensive against the South.

• The weakened South Vietnamese army collapsed.

• Within a few days, North Vietnamese tanks were on the outskirts of Saigon.


(pages 888–889)(pages 888–889)


• The last Americans fled the city, along with many Vietnamese who had supported or worked for them.

• Many of the Vietnamese people who escaped with the Americans ended up in the United States, but many others were left behind.

• In April 1975, Saigon fell to the Communists, and South Vietnam surrendered soon after. This ended the Vietnam War.


(pages 888–889)(pages 888–889)


Legacy of the War • The Vietnam War took a staggering toll of

life. About 1.4 million Vietnamese–civilian and military–died. The country also lay in ruins.


• More than 58,000 Americans died as well.

• About 300,000 others were wounded, many permanently disabled.

• The United States spent about $150 billion on the war.


• The soldiers who returned from Vietnam did not receive the hero’s welcome that many returning soldiers from past wars had received.

• Many Americans had not supported the war and wanted to forget about it.

• As a result, the soldiers who returned from Vietnam were largely ignored.

Legacy of the War (cont.)



• There were many American soldiers who were classified as missing in action, or MIA.

• Their relatives and friends demanded that the United States government pressure the Vietnamese for information on the MIAs.

• Several American groups were allowed to do searches in Vietnam, but with no success.

• Most MIAs have remained missing.

Legacy of the War (cont.)






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Introduction 1 Click the Speaker button to replay the audio