Standard 8.2 and 8.3

1. Standard 8.2 and 8.3 Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon Policies and the Vietnam War

2. Domestic Agenda for Kennedy • Start of “Camelot” in 1961. • Domestic agenda was called the New Frontier – Use deficit spending; lower taxes, higher minimum wage, unemployment insurance.

3. Flexible Response • JFK’s foreign policy – have a number of options in case of international crisis.

4. Bay of Pigs • CIA had trained Cuban exiles for invasion of Cuba. Air strikes failed to knock out Cuban Air Force. 20,000 Cubans waiting for 1400 exiles. (200 were killed) • Biggest disaster of Kennedy Presidency; fired 3 in charge. • Paid $53 million in food and medical supplies in ransom to free commandos after 20 months of discussions.

5. Cuban Missile Crisis • Lasted for 13 days in October of 1962. • Soviets had missiles in Cuba to answer our missiles in Turkey. • JFK called for a quarantine, blockade was considered and act of war, of ships coming to Cuba. • Khrushchev says he will remove missiles if the U.S. end quarantine. • We took missiles out of Turkey months later.

6. 1963 • “Hot Line” was est between JFK and Khrushchev to discuss crisis. • 1: "Hot line" The US-USSR hot line provided for a two-way telegraphic link routed via Washington-London-Copenhagen-Stockholm-Helsinki- Moscow, to be used for transmission of messages; and a stand-by radio link routed Washington-Tangier-Moscow. Both the telegraphic and radio links would be open 24 hours a day. • Limited Test Ban Treaty – ended the testing of nuclear bombs in the atmosphere and underwater. • JFK called for a “national assault on poverty”. • Presented a civil rights bill and proposed a tax cut.

7. November 22, 1963 • Kennedy assassinated by Oswald in Dallas. • Oswald is then killed by Jack Ruby on the 24th. • Lyndon Johnson takes over as President.

8. LBJ takes over in 1963 LBJ asked for tax reduction bill of $11 Billion. Civil Rights Act – Prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and gender. August Congress enacted the Economic Opportunity Act – which gave $1 Billion for youth programs, antipoverty measures, small business loans, and job training. November – LBJ defeats Goldwaterin Nov 1964 for President by getting 90% of electoral votes. Starts his Great Society.

10. Great Society LBJ’s domestic program. 207 measures to end poverty and racial injustice. Johnson was a FDR New Deal Democrat

11. Poverty Medicare – national health insurance program for people over age of 65. Medicaid – government program that provides free health care to the needy.

12. Cities 1965 – Formed the Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD) to administer federal housing programs, and appoints Robert Weaver as 1st African American to cabinet.

13. Education and Discrimination 1965 – Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided for aid to states based on number of children from low-income homes. Higher Education Act funded scholarships and low interest rates loans for college students. Head Start Program - Head Start was originally conceived as a catch-up summer school program that would teach low-income children in a few weeks what they needed to know to start kindergarten. Affirmative Action Plan - prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, and national origin by those organizations receiving federal contracts and subcontracts. In 1967, President Johnson amended the order to include sex on the list of attributes.

14. Environment and Consumer 1965 – Water Quality Act required states to clean up their rivers. Clean Air Act established emissions standards for new vehicles. 1966 – Truth in Packaging Act set standards for labeling consumer products. Department of Transportation was created to deal with national air, rail, and highway transportation.

15. Election Effect • White southern voters turned to the Republican party – did not like expansion of government

16. Civil Rights Act of 1964 Banned discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Look back in notes…may already have this!

17. Voting Rights Act of 1965 1965 – Also eliminated literacy test and other barriers after the 24th Amendment.

18. Vietnam Years - Background WWII – 1954: Vietnam was controlled by France. Ho Chi Minh led independence movement after WWII, but the U.S. did not favor him because he was Communist. 1954 – Vietnamese overran French outpost at DienBien Phu, and the French began to pull out.

19. Geneva Accords Temporarily divided at 17th parallel; France controlled the south. Ho Chi Minh became the leader of the North with the capital at Hanoi. Ngo Diem is leader of the South with the capital at Saigon. He was very unpopular, and was very authoritarian.

20. U.S. Involvement Why we got in war - We did not want Communism to win! Diem was Catholic that practiced religious intolerance, and imprisoned criticizers and appointed family members to the government. Ngo Diem is assassinated in Nov. 1963 in a coup. Kennedy is ready to withdraw before he is killed. U.S. had to deal with Vietcong, rebel forces that did not support South’s gov’t who were supported by Ho Chi Minh

21. Johnson and the War Says “I will not lose Vietnam”. Wants to be strong against Communism. He gets us involved with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, gave the Johnson authority to “take all necessary measures to repel any attack against forces of the U.S.”, which was based on an attack that didn’t occur.

23. Fighting Conditions American strategy was to win the support of the S. Vietnamese, but we used napalm, agent orange, and search and destroy missions. Started Operation Rolling Thunder in May of 1965 – bombing military targets. American morale dropped and they turned to drugs and alcohol.

25. Effect of War at Home Cost of financing the war and the Great Society programs were too much. Tax increase goes to fund the war, and LBJ begins to lose public support. Vietnam was America’s “first living room war”.

26. War Divides Americans The draft was manipulative – men found ways around the draft, especially the wealthy young men. 80% of American soldiers were from lower economic levels. Made it a “working mans war”. At the start African Americans accounted for 20% of combat deaths, but only 10% of U.S. population.

27. Student Protest New Left – groups like the Students for a Democratic Society and Free Speech Movement. Teach ins – special classes organized by professors in which views about the war could be aired. More protest when Johnson changed deferments to only those students in good academic standing in Jan. 1966.

28. Protest Cont’d Most common reason for opposition was most thought that the conflict was a Civil War and the U.S. had no business being there. About 10,000 Americans fled to Canada rather than serve. Doves – those who opposed the war. Hawks – people who supported the wars cause.

29. War in 1968 Jan. 30 - Feb. 24: Tet Offensive: launched by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese; surprise attacks on major cities and U.S. military bases in South Vietnam. Showed Vietcong could attack any time and any place.

30. 1968 Feb. - Nearly 60% of Americans disapproved of Johnson’s handling of the war. March – Robert Kennedy enters the Presidential race. March 31 – Johnson announces he will seek negotiations to end the war, end escalation, and not seek the nomination of his party for Pres.

31. 1968 June 4 – Robert Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles. August – Humprhey is nominated by the Democrats at their convention in Chicago, and violence erupts as a result of their antiwar platform. Nov. – Nixon defeats Humphrey for President by more than 100 electoral votes, but only 43 percent of the popular vote. Nixon promised to restore law and order.

32. 1969 Jan. 1969 – Beginning of Paris Peace Talks – They went no where. Nixon announces his strategy of vietnamization, turn fighting over S. Viet and get out. Nixon began “peace with honor” – pulling out of Vietnam, allowing South Vietnam to govern themselves, but at the same time we began bombing supply routes and bases of the North Vietnamese. Also bombed routes in Cambodia and Laos. Nov. 1969 – My Lai Massacre – led to American distrust.

33. My Lai Massacre Lt. Calley, in March 16, 1968; ordered his platoon to round up and kill villagers in a suspected Vietcong village. Killed over 100 of mostly women and children. There were no Vietcong present.

34. 1970 April 13, 1970 – Nixon announces U.S. troops have invaded Cambodia. College protests erupted – first general student strike. May 4, 1970 – Kent State shootings. Dec. 31, 1970 – Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

35. 1971-1972 June 1971 – Pentagon Papers – showed the gov’t had mislead America about course of war. 1972 – U.S. continues bombings. Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s national security advisor and top negotiator in Vietnam, announces “peace is at hand”. Nov. 1972 – Nixon wins reelection. Dec. 1972 – Nixon unleashed the “Christmas bombings”.

36. 1973 Jan. 27, 1973 – U.S. and North Vietnamese sign a cease-fire agreement. March 29, 1973 – Last combat troops left for home. Nov. 1973 – Congress passed the War Powers Act – reaffirms Congress’s constitutional right to declare war by setting a 60-day limit on the presidential commitment of U.S. troops in foreign conflicts.

37. March 1975 – Fall of Saigon North Vietnamese launched a full-scale invasion of Saigon, and took the city by April.

38. Lasting Importance of War • Led to distrust between generations and between the people and their government. • Future and present fear of being mired in a prolonged war.

39. Nixon Administration • Determined to turn America in a more conservative direction. • Reduce the size and influence of the federal gov’t - plan was New Federalism and proposed revenue sharing. • Tried to be bipartisan with the FAP, would guarantee families a minimum income, but it went down in defeat. • Pledged to end the war and divisiveness in America even if it was illegal.

40. The Stagnant Economy • Stagflation – rising unemployment and rising inflation. • Caused by inflation prompted by deficit spending under Johnson, competition on international trade, and larger labor force. • Inflation had doubled and faced an oil crisis because we supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War. • Tried to raise taxes, but Congress said no, and tried to raise interest rates which led to a recession.

41. Southern Strategy • Wooing southern white Dem voters away from Dem Party. • Didn’t support advances in civil rights; favored slower desegregation. • 1971 – Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg BOE: busing was one possible option for ending school desegregation. • Able to appoint 4 of 9 members of the Supreme Court – tried to put more conservatives. Names Burger as Chief Justice.

42. Environmentalism in the 70’s • Environmentalist • April 22, 1970 – first Earth Day. Was designed to discuss environmental problems. • 1970 Nixon forms the EPA – had the power to enforce environmental laws. • 2 types of waste matter that pollute – particles of liquid or solid, and gases. We were worried about air and water.

43. Watergate – break in and cover-up of Democratic headquarters. • “The Presidents Men” – Haldeman (Chief of Staff), Ehrlichman (chief domestic advisor), and Mitchell (Attorney Gerneral). • Came up with enemies list, ordered wiretaps, and had a group called “plumbers”. • CRP (1019) helped to bribe burglars to cover-up break in. Woodward and Bernstein: Washington Post writers that investigated and broke the story open. • During the trial John Dean, former White House Counsel, testified that Nixon knew of the cover-up.

45. Watergate Cont’d • Oct. 1973 – VP Agnew resigns for tax evasion, and Ford replaces him as VP. • October 20, 1973 – Saturday Night Massacres (1021). • July 1974 Nixon was forced to surrender tapes of meetings. • August 4, 1974 – Nixon resigns as Pres. • Ford pardons Nixon…leads to Jimmy Carter (Democrat) getting elected in 1976.