EISENHOWER?

S PRESIDENCY AND THE 1950s

I. Election of 1952
A. Truman did not seek reelection in the face of military deadlock in Korea, war-induced
inflation, and White House scandal.
-- Democrats nominated Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois
B. Republicans nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower
1. Eisenhower extremely popular hero of World War II (grandfatherly image)
2. Richard Nixon nominated for Vice President
C. Eisenhower won by a landslide: 442-89
-- First time since 1928 the Republicans won some Southern states.
II. McCarthyism (see previous chapter?s notes)
III. Eisenhower Republicanism at Home -- "dynamic conservatism"
A. In effect, Ike maintained New Deal programs
1. Social Security benefits extended and minimum wage raised to $1.00/hr
2. Sought middle-of-the-road approach to gov't policy in the face of the New Deal, WWII,
& Fair Deal.
3. Interstate Highway system (1954) created modern interstate freeway system
a. $27 billion plan built 42,000 miles of freeways.
-- Countless jobs on construction speeded suburbanization of America.
b. Federal gov?t paid 90% of cost and states 10%
c. The railroad industry suffered significantly in the face of increased
competition from automobiles and better transportation by airplane.
4. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare created in 1953 to oversee some
of FDR?s New Deal programs.
B. Strove to balance the federal budget; succeeded only 3 times in 8 years.
1. Ike aimed to guard against "creeping socialism"
2. Reduced defense spending down to 10% of GNP from 13%
3. Eisenhower administration ttried unsuccessfully to reduce price supports
to farmers but ended up spending more money than any previous sec. of agriculture.
4. By 1959, Ike accrued the highest peacetime deficit in US History.
-- 1954, Ike lowered tax rates for corporations & individuals with high incomes.
C. Favored privatizing large government holdings
1. Supported transfer of offshore oilfields from federal gov?t to states
2. Encouraged private power companies to compete with TVA
D. Labor Unions grow in power
1. AFL and CIO merged in 1955 in the wake of unemployment jitters due to several
business recessions in the 1950s: AFL-CIO
2. AFL-CIO expelled Teamster union in late 1950s when high Teamster officials resorted
to gangsterism to achieve their political ends.
a. Jimmy Hoffa, head of the Teamsters, became one of the most powerful
union bosses in U.S. history; influenced politicians with hard-ball tactics.
b. Hoffa's ascension triggered the split of the Teamsters and the AFL-CIO
c. Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959 (further buttressed the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947)
i. Ike?s response to Jimmy Hoffa threatening to defeat for reelection any
Congressman who supported a tough labor bill.
ii. Bill designed to clamp down on illegal financial activities by unions and to
prevent union strong-arm tactics by imposing penalties.
E. Republican lost both houses in 1954 due to economic troubles at home.
F. Alaska admitted as 49th state in 1958; Hawaii becomes 50th state in 1959
IV. Civil Rights during the 1950s -- NAACP achieves desegregation
A. Eisenhower did not intend to be a "civil rights" president.
-- Yet he was president during some of the most significant civil rights gains in U.S. history.
B. 1940s -- NAACP began to attack "separate but equal" by suing segregated colleges and
universities; African Americans gained entrance into Southern universities.
-- Elementary and secondary schools remained segregated.
C. Earl Warren appointed by Eisenhower as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in1953
-- Although viewed as a conservative, Warren would become the most significant Chief
Justice of the 20th century and lead most liberal court of the 20th century.

D. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954

1. NAACP filed suit on behalf of Linda Brown, a black elementary school student.
a. Topeka school board had denied Brown admission to an all-white school.
b. Case reached Supreme Court in 1954
2. Thurgood Marshallrepresented Linda Brown
i. Charged that public school segregation violated the "equal protection"
clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
ii. Segregation deprived blacks an equal educational opportunity.
iii. Separate could not be equal because segregation in itself lowered
the morale and motivation of black students.
3. Chief Justice Earl Warren persuaded fellow justices to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson.
a. "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. It has no place in public
education.
b. One year later, Court ordered school integration "with all deliberate speed."
C. Response to Brown v. Board of Education
1. Southern officials considered ruling a threat to state and local authority.
a. Eisenhower felt gov?t should not try to force segregation.
-- Called appointment of Warren "my biggest mistake."
b. 80% of southern whites opposed Brown decision.
c. Some white students, encouraged by parents, refused to attend integrated
schools.
d. KKK reemerged in a much more violent incarnation than in 1920s.
2. Southern state legislatures passed more than 450 laws and resolutions
aimed at preventing enforcement of Brown decision.
a. "Massive Resistance" -- 1956, Virginia state legislature passed a massive
resistance measure cutting off state aid to desegregated schools.
b. By 1962, only one-half of one percent of non-white school children in the South
were in integrated schools.
3. Crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957
a. Gov. Orval Faubus ordered National Guard to surround Central High School to
prevent nine black students ("Little Rock Nine")from entering the school.
b. Federal court ordered removal of National Guard and allowed students to enter.
-- Riots erupted and forced Eisenhower to act.
c. Eisenhower reluctantly ordered 1000 federal troops into Little Rock and nationalized
the Arkansas National Guard, this time protecting students.
-- First time since Reconstruction a president had sent federal troops into South to
enforce the Constitution.
d. Next year, Little Rock public schools closed entirely.
i. White attended private schools or outside city schools.
ii. Most blacks had no school to attend.
e. August 1959, Little Rock school board gave in to integration after
another Supreme Court ruling.
D. Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56)
1. December 11, 1955, Rosa Parks arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, after refusing to
give her bus seat to a white man; she was ordered to sit at the back of the bus.
-- Found guilty and fined $14; over 150 others arrested and charged as well for
boycotting buses during the following months.
2. Immediate calls for boycott ensued; nearly 80% of bus users were African Americans.
-- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, became a
leader of the boycott; emerged as leader of civil rights movement.
3. Montgomery bus boycott lasted nearly 400 days.
a. King?s house was bombed.
b. 88 other African American leaders were arrested and fined for conspiring to boycott.
4. Supreme Court ruled that segregation on Montgomery buses was unconstitutional.
-- On December 20, 1956, segregationists gave up.
E. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
1. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) -- King president in Jan. 1957
2. Nonviolent resistance
a. King urged followers not to fight with authorities even if provoked.
b. King?s nonviolent tactics similar to Mohandas Gandhi (both were inspired by
Henry David Thoreau?s On Civil Disobedience)
i. Use of moral arguments to changed minds of oppressors.

ii. King linked nonviolence to Christianity: "Love one?s enemy."

c. Sit-ins became effective new strategy of nonviolence.
i. Students in universities and colleges all over U.S. vowed to integrate lunch counters,
hotels, and entertainment facilities.
ii. Greensboro sit-in (Feb. 1960): First sit-in by 4 North Carolina college freshmen
at a Woolworth lunch counter for student being refused service.
-- After thousands participated in the sit-in merchants in Greensboro gave in 6
months later
iii. A wave of sit-ins occurred throughout the country.
-- Targets were southern stores of national chains.
iv. Variations of sit-ins emerged: "kneel-ins" for churches; "read-ins" in libraries;
"wade-ins" at beaches; "sleep-ins" in motel lobbies.
3. Student movement
a. Nonviolence of students provoked increasingly hostile actions from those
who opposed them.
-- Some blacks were beaten, and harassed by white teen-agers.
b. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee created by SCLC to
better organize the movement. (SNCC pronounced "snick")
i. "Jail not Bail" became the popular slogan.
ii. Students adopted civil disobedience when confronted with jail.
F. End of "Massive Resistance"
-- 1959, federal and state courts nullified Virginia laws which prevented state funds from
going to integrated schools.
V. Cold War Politics
A. Sec. of State John Foster Dulles initiates new policy of massive retaliation
1. Two major principals:
a. Encourage liberation of the captive peoples in E. Europe by widespread use of political
pressure and propaganda.
-- Radio broadcasts to E. European countries by the Voice of America and Radio
Free Europe urged people to overthrow gov?t.
b. Massive retaliation
i. Soviet or Chinese aggression would be countered with nuclear weapons directly on
USSR and China.
ii. Brinksmanship -- the art of never backing down from a crisis, even if it meant
pushing the nation to the brink of war.
2. Rejects containment policy because it tolerated Soviet power where it already existed
-- US foreign policy should be to destroy communism; communism was "immoral"
3. US & USSR begin arms race to accumulate sophisticated nuclear arsenals.
-- preemptive strike capabilities emphasized: destroy the other side before they can
destroy you.
4. Eisenhower was able to appear as a moderate when compared to Dulles.
-- Dulles was a mechanism to deter Soviets while deflecting attention from Ike.
5. Americans began preparing for the contingencies in case of nuclear war.
B. "New Look Military"
1. Eisenhower sought to reduce the military budget by scaling back the army and navy
while building up an air fleet of superbombers with nuclear weapons.
2. Nuclear force would cost less than huge conventional force -- "more bang for the
buck."
-- Nuclear force = "overkill"; US unable to respond to minor crisis (e.g. Hungary)
3. In reality, military costs soared due to expensive aerial & atomic hardware.
4. Eisenhower?s "Farewell Address" (1961) : warned Americans of the dangerous
growth of the military-industrial-complex.
a. Vast, interwoven military establishment and arms industry.
b. Power was enormous (largely in National Security Council) and had potential to effect
democracy itself.
c. His own policies had nurtured its growth
d. "In the councils of gov?t we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted
influence...by the military-industrial-complex. The potential for the disastrous rise
of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this
combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.
C. Vietnam

1. Ho Chi Minh, a Communist, began fighting for the liberation of Indochina

from French colonial rule days after the end of World War II.
2. Communists defeated French at Dien Bien Phu in March 1954; last major outpost
a. U.S. had given much aid to France to prevent communist expansion.
b. Dulles wanted US bombers to aid French (use of nuclear weapons)
c. Eisenhower refused fearing British non-support
3. Multinational conference at Geneva split Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel.
a. Ho Chin Minh accepted based on assurance that Vietnam-wide elections
would occur within two years.
b. In the south, pro-western gov't under Ngo Dinh Diem took control in
Saigon.
4. Diem?s failure to hold elections seriously divided the country.
a. Communist guerrillas in the south increased campaign against Diem.
b. China continued to support North Vietnam
5. Dulles created the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) in order to
prop up Diem's regime; Britain & France included.
a. Supposed to be a "NATO" in Southeast Asia.
-- Only Philippine Republic, Thailand, and Pakistan signed in Sept. 1954
b. US pledged to prevent communist expansion in Asia (Vietnam and China)
c. Sent in military advisors to train S. Vietnamese forces
6. Domino Theory -- If one country becomes communist, neighboring countries will also
fall like dominoes (included Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, maybe India)
-- This idea got U.S. involved in Vietnam War in 1960s
D. Warsaw Pact
1. West Germany welcomed into NATO in 1955 with half million troops
2. 1955, Soviets sign Warsaw Pact in response new NATO strength in west.
-- Countries include all the E. European satellite countries controlled by Moscow.
E. Easing of the Cold War tensions occurred after Stalin?s death in 1953.
1. After 2 year power struggle, Stalin is succeeded by Nikita Krushchev in 1955.
a. New leadership offered opportunity to reduce tension.
-- Publicly denounced bloody excesses of the Stalin regime
b. Set out to improve living conditions in USSR
c. "Peaceful coexistence" with the western democracies.
d. Khrushchev hoped to impress nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America with
superiority of communism as an economic system.
-- To the West: "We will bury you" (economically)
e. War between USSR & West now seen as unnecessary. -- Peaceful competition will
demonstrate superiority of Soviet system
2. U.S.S.R. agrees to leave Austria in May 1955.
3. Eisenhower moves to relax tensions 4. Geneva Summit -- 1955 (July)
a. US meets with USSR, Britain, & France to begin discussions on European security and
disarmament.
-- No agreements made
b. USSR resists idea of reunited Germany, especially West?s ally.
c. Both sides agreed to necessity of nuclear disarmament.
-- US & USSR voluntarily suspend atmospheric testing in October, 1958
F. Souring of relations occurred in the wake of Hungarian Uprising
1. E. Europeans, inspired by Krushchev?s words, begin to seek more freedom in 1956.
-- Polish workers riot against Soviets & gain greater control over own gov?t.
2. Hungarian Uprising -- 1956
a. Hungarian nationalists staged huge demonstrations demanding democracy and
independence.
b. Hungarians inspired by U.S. position to free people from communist control.
c. Soviet tanks & soldiers quickly moved in to crush uprising.
-- Americans never showed up; Ike didn't want a world war over Hungary.
d. World watched as Budapest became a slaughterhouse
e. US unable to help -- nuclear force too much "overkill"
-- US-Soviet relations sour again.
f. Many see Dulles? "liberation" of E. Europe as impractical.
i. Eisenhower unwilling to use "massive retaliation" over Hungary.
ii. Proved Eisenhower was more moderate vis- is the Cold War.
3. Sputnik, 1957

a. 1957, Soviets launch first ever unmanned artificial satellite in orbit.

b. Americans are horrified at the thought of Soviet technology being capable of
transporting nuclear weapons.
i. Public demands "missile gap" be eliminated
ii. America?s manned bombers still a powerful deterrent.
c. National Defense Education Act (NDEA): Eisenhower orders rigorous education
program to match Soviet technology.
i. 1/3 of all University scientists & engineers went into full-time weapons research.
ii. Special emphasis placed on math, science, & foreign languages.
d. 1958, US successfully launches its satellite into orbit, Explorer I.
e. 1958, NASA (National Aeronautics Space Agency) is launched by Ike
f. US conducts massive arms buildup: more B-52?s, nuclear subs, short-range
missiles in Europe.
4. Krushchev issues ultimatum on Berlin in November 1958.
a. Gave Western powers 6 months to vacate West Berlin.
b. Eisenhower and Dulles refused to yield; world held its breath
c. Visitations ease the conflict
i. Vice president Nixon visited the Soviet Union in 1959 and entered the "Kitchen
Debates" with Khrushchev over which economic system was better.
ii. Sept. of 1959, Krushchev makes two-week trip to US.
iii. Ike and Khrushchev agree to hold summit next year
iv. Krushchev states Berlin ultimatum extended indefinitely.
5. U-2 Incident results in worst U.S.-Soviet relations since Stalin
a. May 1, 1960 -- U-2 spy plane shot down deep in Soviet territory
-- Pilot Francis Gary Powers captured by Soviets
b. Incident occurred 10 days before planned Paris Summit.
c. Eisenhower admits he authorized U-2 flights for national security.
d. Ike suspends further flights but Krushchev demands an apology at Paris.
e. Ike refuses and Krushchev angrily calls off Paris summit conference.
V. Other foreign policy challenges in the 1950s
A. Middle East
1. Iran
a. CIA engineered coup in Iran in 1953 that installed the Shah as dictator
i. Nationalist leader Moussadegh wanted foreign oil holdings turned
over to Iranian gov't.
ii. US felt Moussadegh was dangerous to its interests
b. In 1979, the Iranian Revolution overthrew the Shah and exacted revenge against the
U.S. by holding 50 Americans hostage for 444 days.
2. Suez Crisis
a. Egypt -- Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes president (Arab nationalist)
i. Opposed existence of Israel (U.S. had supported Israel?s creation in
1948, at the expense of the Palestinians)
ii. Sought funding for Aswan Dam on upper Nile for irrigation & power.
iii. U.S. agreed to led money to Egypt but refused to give arms.
b. US withdrew its financial aid offer when Nasser seemed to court Russia and
established diplomatic relations with the People?s Republic of China.
c. Nasser seized & nationalized the Suez Canal that was owned mostly by British and
French stockholders.
d. October 1956, France, Britain & Israel attacked Egypt in an attempt to
internationalize the canal.
-- World seemed on brink of WWIII
e. Eisenhower honored the UN charter's nonaggression commitment and reluctantly
denounced the attack on Egypt
-- Siding with the US, the Soviets threatened to send troops to Egypt
f. Britain, France and Israel withdrew their troops and UN force was sent to keep order.
g. Nasser gained control of Suez
-- Britain & France Angry at US for siding against a NATO ally.
3. Eisenhower Doctrine
a. Empowered the president to extend economic and military aid to nations
of the Middle East if threatened by a Communist controlled country.
b. 1958, Marines entered Lebanon to promote political stability

during a change of governments

B. Quemoy & Matsu
1. 1955, Chinese Communists began to shell tiny Nationalist island where Jiang Jieshi had
committed 1/3 of his Taiwanese army.
-- People?s Republic of China claimed the two tiny islands.
2. Eisenhower received Congressional approval and sent the Seventh Fleet to aid Jiang.
3. Dulles convinced Jiang to renounce force in regaining Chinese mainland and thus,
quieted Communist fears.
C. Cuba
1. Prior to 1959, U.S. companies active in Cuba.
a. Owned 90% of Cuban mines and 40% of Cuban sugar operations.
b. Cuba had 2nd highest standard of living in Latin America; among highest literacy
2. Fidel Castrotakes control of Cuba, New Years Day, 1959
a. Fulgencio Batista, an oppressive leader since 1951, fled.
b. Castro visits U.S. but Ike refuses to see him (U.S. unsure if Castro is communist)
c. Castro eventually consfiscated American-owned property.
d. September 1959, Khrushchev decides to aid Cuba.
-- Deterioriating Cuban relations with U.S. leads Castro to seek alliance with USSR
e. U.S. began plotting against Castro
f. July 9, 1960?Khrushchev publicly extends Soviet nuclear umbrella to Cuba.
-- Krushchev proclaimed Monroe Doctrine was dead and stated he would shower
missiles on the U.S. if it attacked Cuba.
g. Sept 1960?CIA opens talks with mafia to arrange a "hit" on Castro.
i. U.S. breaks diplomatic relations in January, 1961
ii. Castro encourages revolution in other parts of Latin America.
-- US now sees Castro as a serious threat to national security.
3. U.S. persuades the Organization of American States (OAS) to condemn
Communist infiltration into the Americas.
-- In turn, Congress responded to Eisenhower?s recommendation for $500 million in aid
for Latin America -- Latin American "Marshall Plan"
D. Overthrow of Guatemala : U.S. supported the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz
Guzman in 1954 because he began accepting arms from the U.S.S.R.
-- Vice President Nixon had to call off an eight nation good-will tour of Latin
America after meeting hostile mobs in Venezuela and Peru in 1958.
XII. Eisenhower evaluated
A. America incredibly prosperous during the Eisenhower years.
B. As opposed to most "lame duck" presidents (esp. in light of 22nd Amendment), Eisenhower
showed more skilled leadership during his last two years than at any time before.
1. For six years, Democrats controlled Congress.
2. Ike use the veto power 169 times and was overridden only twice.
C. Public works projects revitalized certain areas of the country.
1. St. Lawrence waterway project, constructed with Canada, turned cities in the Great
Lakes into bustling seaports.
2. Federal Highway Project created nations modern interstate freeways system.
D. Eisenhower?s greatest failing (perhaps) was his anemic stance on civil rights.
E. Exercised restraint in military affairs despite being a general
F. Furthered the cause of the New Deal and Fair Deal in numerous ways and further
imbedded them in American life.
THE 1960s
KENNEDY?S PRESIDENCY
I. Election of 1960
A. Nominees
1. Republicans nominated Vice President Richard M. Nixon
a. One of most active vice presidents in U.S. history
b. Traveled throughout the world as a "troubleshooter" in various capacities.
-- Defended US democracy in his Moscow "kitchen debate" w/ Krushchev
2. Democrats nominated Senator John F. Kennedy
a. Lyndon B. Johnson, Senate majority leader, was Kennedy?s runningmate

b. Acceptance speech: Kennedy called upon American people for sacrifices to

achieve their potential greatness -- The New Frontier
-- "We stand today on the edge of a new frontier -- the frontier of the 1960s, a
frontier of unknown opportunities and paths, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes &
threats. The new frontier I speak is not a set of promises -- it is a set of
challenges."
B. Campaign
1. Kennedy?s Catholicism a major issue until Sept. 12 when he told a gathering of
Protestant ministers that he accepted separation of church and state and that
Catholic leaders would not tell him how to act as president.
2. Debates
a. First-time debates shown on national television; determined fate of the election
b. First debate most important (3 more followed)
i. Those listening on the radio gave the edge to Nixon.
ii. Those watching TV gave the edge to Kennedy
3. Kennedy earned the support of African Americans when he arranged to have Martin
Luther King released from a Georgia jail (for having been involved in a protest)
C. Result
1. Kennedy d. Nixon by slightly over 100,000 popular votes; 303-219 in electoralvotes
-- Closest election in U.S. history; difference less than 1/10 of 1%
2. Only Catholic president in U.S. history; youngest to be elected at age 43.
3. Democrats swept both houses in Congress, although lost a few seats
D. Inaugural speech: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for
your country."
II. Kennedy?s domestic policy
A. Legislative failures: JFK unable to get much through Congress due to resistance from
Republicans and conservative Southern Democrats.
1. Congress blocked plans for federal aid to education, urban renewal, medical care the
aged, reductions in income taxes, and creation of Dept. of Urban Affairs
2. Lyndon Johnson would later get these measures passed after JFK was assassinated.
B. Minimum wage raised from $1 to $1.25 an hour and extended to 3 million more workers.
C. Area Redevelopment Act of 1961: provided $400 million in loans to "distressed areas."
D. Housing Act of 1961: Provided nearly $5 billion over four years for preservation of open
urban spaces, development of mass transit, and the construction of middle class housing.
E. Steel Prices: 1961, Kennedy "jawboned" the steel industry into overturning a price increase
after having encouraged labor to lower its wage demands.
F. Space Race
1. Kennedy promoted $24 billion project to land an American on the moon.
-- As of the early 1960s, the U.S. was behind the Russians in space technology.
2. Critics charge money could be better spent elsewhere.
3. 1969, Apollo 11 mission transported two American astronauts successfully to the moon:
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
G. The Kennedys continued their crusade against organized crime
--Robert Kennedy (RFK) was JFK?s attorney general
III. JFK and Civil Rights
A. Did nothing during his first two years.
1. Tried to avoid losing either white or black southern vote.
2. Most civil rights initiatives were merely symbolic
3. RFK?s attempts at enfranchisement in the South was largely unsuccessful
a. Only small percentage of blacks able to register due to spelling mistakes on
literacy tests, poll taxes, white primaries, and grandfather clauses.
b. White segregationists wreaked terror on Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC ? "snick"); church bombings; assaults on blacks
4. While Kennedy was initially able to satisfy both sides of the issue, the rise of civil rights
militants forced his hand.
B. Kennedy and the militants
1. May 1961, Freedom Riders organized by CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)
a. Rode interstate buses to verify that segregation was not occurring..
b. In Alabama, Freedom Riders were arrested by police, state troopers, and
National Guard; some were severely beaten.

c. More Freedom Riders kept coming all summer.

d. RFK petitioned Interstate Commerce Commission to issue a ruling against
segregation of interstate facilities; sent 400 marshals to protect freedom riders.
e. ICC made the announcement on Sept. 22, 1961; CORE victorious.
2. Sept. 1962, JFK had to send the U.S. Army to enforce a court order to enroll
James Meredith in the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss)
-- Kennedy was losing control of the segregation issue.
3. Showdown in Birmingham, Alabama
a. 1963, Birmingham closed parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, and
golf courses to avoid desegregation.
b. King chose Birmingham because it was the toughest challenge and a
victory would break segregation.
c. MLK and supporters arrested on Good Friday for marching without a
permit and spent 2 weeks in jail.
"We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct-action campaign that was ?well-timed? in the view of those who have not suffered unduly
from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the worked "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing
familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never." We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that justice too
long delayed is justice denied." -- Martin Luther King, Letter from a Birmingham Jail
d. After his release, King began using black school children in the demonstrations:
i. Police commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor used cattle prods and ordered police
dogs on demonstrators and used fire hoses on children as world watched in horror.
ii. Public pressure mounted for civil rights legislation.
e. Local business leaders gave in and agreed to desegregate the big department stores.
-- King called off the demonstrations.
f. Shortly after, King?s motel was bombed as was his brother?s home
i. Rioting erupted.
ii. Kennedy decided to side with King.
4. Kennedy actively pursues civil rights
a. June 1963, JFK federalized Alabama National Guard to enforce a court
order requiring the admission of two blacks to the University of Alabama.
-- Governor George Wallace symbolically stood in the door way protesting that
states? rights were being crushed (earlier had said in his inaugural speech:
"segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.")
b. That night, Medgar Evers, NAACP director in Mississippi, was assassinated
-- Seen as retaliation for University of Alabama incident
c. In response, JFK announced he would send Congress a civil rights bill which would
crush segregation, outlaw discrimination in elections, and give the justice department
authority to enforce school integration.
d. March on Washington, August 28, 1963
i. Largest protest in nation?s history thus far; 200,000
-- Organized in part by A. Philip Randolph (who had started March on
Washington Movement during WWII)
ii. Protesters demanded support for Kennedy?s civil rights bill and
for better and more jobs.
iii. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I have a dream" speech
"I have a dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ?We hold these truths
to be self-evident, that all men are created equal?....I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain
shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains, and the crooked places shall be made straight, and the glory of the Lord
shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.... This will be the day when all of God?s children will be able to sing with new
meaning, ?My country ?tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims? pride, from
every mountainside, let freedom ring?..... When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from
every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God?s children, black men and white men, Jews and
Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ?Free at last! Free at
last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
iii. By the time JFK was assassinated, his civil rights bill was moving
toward passage in the House.

IV. Kennedy and the Cold War

A. "flexible response" -- Kennedy developed conventional military trategies to deal with
difficult challenges around the world.
1. Krushchev: "Soviets would back wars of liberation" in third world countries.
2.During presidential election of 1960, Kennedy had criticized Eisenhower for allowing a
"missile gap" that favored the Soviets.
-- When JFK became president, he learned that the gap was actually in favor of the US;
yet he continued the largest peacetime military buildup in history.
3. Kennedy ordered buildup of conventional armed forces to fight localized wars in the Third
World.
a. Replaced Ike?s heavy reliance on nuclear weapons.
b. Set up Green Berets (elite commando force)
c. Built up nuclear arsenal for 2nd strike capability.
B. Bay of Pigs
1. Early 1860, Eisenhower authorized CIA to organize, train, and arm in Central America a
brigade of 1,400 Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba to overthrow Fidel Castro.
a. Invaders would presumably trigger a popular uprising in Cuba
b. JFK continued the plan
2. In April 1961, Bay of Pigs invasion pinned down and forced to surrender
a. Kennedy had decided a day earlier against direct U.S. intervention as he did not want
to spark an international diplomatic crisis.
b. Some 1,189 men were captured, 400 killed, only 14 exiles rescued
-- Cuban people did not support the invasion
3. Kennedy publicly took full responsibility on national TV for the ill-conceived mission.
-- Privately Kennedy blamed the CIA for faulty information
4. Significance: brought USSR and Cuba closer together in planning for defense of a
future U.S. invasion.
C. Operation Mongoose
1. CIA-backed plan to overthrow and assassinate Fidel Castro
2. Ultimately failed and abandoned after Cuban Missile Crisis.
D. Peace Corps ? one of Kennedy?s most popular programs
1. Est. in 1961, sent young volunteers (doctors, lawyers and engineers) to third world
countries to contribute their skills in locally sponsored projects to improve economic
stagnation, poor health and inadequate education.
2. Alternative to military containment of communism.
3. By 1966, 15,000 volunteers served in 46 countries but were often overwhelmed.
E. Alliance for Progress
1. 1961, JFK gave $20 billion in aid to Latin America ("Latin American Marshall Plan")
2. Primary goal was to help Latin American countries to close the gap between
rich and poor thus quieting communist sympathies.
3. Result: Little positive impact on Latin America?s social problems.
F. Berlin Wall
1. 1949-1961 -- Thousands of East Germans flee to West Berlin.
2. Krushchev delivered new ultimatum on Berlin; saw U.S. weakness in Bay of Pigs
a. USSR would give Berlin to East Germany, stripping western access to Berlin.
b. Kennedy: US would not abandon West Berlin
3. USSR announced increase in defense; Kennedy asked for a $3.2 billion increase as well.
4. August, 1961 -- Soviet Union builds wall separating West Berlin from the rest of Berlin
and East Germany almost overnight.
-- Purpose: Stem the flow of 100,000 people leaving East Berlin
5. Kennedy calls up 1,500 US reserves to reinforce West German garrisons.
-- On personal trip to Berlin: "Ich bin eine Berliner" ("I am a Berliner")
6. Tensions eased as treaty not signed between USSR and East Germany
-- Air and land routes to West Berlin were kept open.
7. Wall remained until November, 1989
G. Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962)
1. Khrushchev began placing nuclear weapons in Cuba, just 90 miles off Florida
coast in October 1962.
a. Soviets intended to use weapons to force U.S. into backing down on Berlin, Cuba,
and other troubled areas.
b. Only the Pacific Northwest was out of range from the Soviet missiles.
2. Oct. 14, U.S. aerial photographs revealed Russians were secretly and speedily installing

nuclear missiles.
a. Warning of missile attack would shrink from 30 minutes to 2 minutes
b. U.S. unaware that tactical nuclear missiles were also in Cuba.
-- Designed to destroy invading armies.
c. Soviets also had nuclear cruise missiles to destroy U.S. Navy near Cuba.
3. October 22, JFK ordered a naval "quarantine" of Cuba and demanded immediate
removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.
a. Kennedy also stated any attack by Cuba on US or any other Latin American
country would result in a full retaliatory response on the Soviet Union.
-- Organization of American States had given Kennedy their full support.
b. Kennedy rejected "surgical" bombing strikes against missile launching sites
fearing it might mean war; no guarantees that all missiles would be hit.
c. Also rejected a U.S. invasion of Cuba (many in cabinet & military favored this)
i. Unbeknownst to Kennedy, Soviet tactical nuclear weapons in Cuba could have
destroyed invading American army.
ii. Had US invaded, WWIII would most likely have begun.
d. Kennedy made the announcement on national television; Americans shocked
e. All US forces put on full alert.
4. For a week, world watched as the Soviet ship carrying missiles steamed toward Cuba.
a. Any U.S. attack would trigger war between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
b. October 24, 16 Soviet ships stopped before they reached the blockade
5. October 26, Krushchev agreed to remove missiles if U.S. removed its missiles from
Turkey and vowed not to attack Cuba.
a. This agreement publicly favored Kennedy as the U.S. quietly pulled its Turkish missiles
out 6 months later.
b. Agreement can be seen as a victory for Khrushchev: he saved Cuba and got U.S.
missiles removed from Turkey.
H. New spirit of cooperation
1. Kennedy and Khrushchev realized they had come dangerously close to nuclear
war and had to work to prevent that likely from ever again occurring.
2. Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (July, 1963)
a. Banned the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons: land, sea, and outer space.
-- Khrushchev refused on-site inspections.
b. Did not reduce stockpiles
c. Signed by all major powers except France and China.
d. JFK considered the treaty his greatest achievement
3. Hot-line installed with 24-hour access between Moscow and Washington.
V. Assassination of JFK
A. November 22, 1963, Kennedy assassinated in Dallas while on a southern tour to drum up
support for his policies; pronounced dead at 1 p.m.
B. Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin arrested in a Dallas movie theater shortly after
he allegedly killed a Dallas police officer.
-- Oswald killed a few days later by Jack Ruby, who was affiliated with the Mafia.
C. Warren Commission, ordered by Johnson, report stated that Oswald was the lone
assassin.
-- "Magic bullet theory" states that one single bullet went through Kennedy?s back, out
his neck, and inflicted several wounds to Texas governor Connolly.
D. Later views question the magic bullet, Oswald?s alleged connections with Moscow, and
mysteries surrounding Kennedy?s autopsy.
JOHNSON?S PRESIDENCY
I. President Lyndon B. Johnson and the Election of 1964
A. Pledged to continue Kennedy?s policies when he became president in Nov. 1963.
1. Rammed Kennedy?s stalled Civil Rights and tax cut bills through Congress.
-- Johnson one of very few southern Democrats in favor of civil rights.
2. Began his "War on Poverty" by pushing bills through Congress costing billions.
3. 1964 tax cut of about $10 billion resulted in an economic boom.
B. Election of 1964
1. Democrats nominated LBJ on the platform of "The Great Society"

a. Sweeping set of New Deal-type economic and welfare measures aimed to transform
America.
b. Public sentiment aroused by Michael Harrington?s The Other America(1962)
which showed 20% of US population and over 40% of blacks lived in poverty.
2. Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, senator from Arizona
a. Attacked federal income tax, Social Security System, the TVA, civil
rights legislation, nuclear test ban treaty, and the Great Society.
b. Considered by many today as the "father of the modern conservatism"
-- Reagan?s platform in 1980 very similar to Goldwater?s in 1964.
3. Campaign
a. Johnson used Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to show he was a statesman and would
not expand the war in Vietnam; offered economic reform: "Great Society"
-- Characterized Goldwater the warmonger who might start a nuclear war.
b. Goldwater disenchanted many of his fellow Republicans with his extremism.
i. Suggested US field commanders be given discretionary authority
to use tactical nuclear weapons.
ii. Many Republicans more moderate vis- is social programs
4. Results: Johnson d. Goldwater 486 - 52; about 43 million to 27 million
a. Democrats swept both houses of Congress with lopsided majorities.
b. Democratic president and Democratic Congress now had a mandate for an
unprecedented passage of legislation in the next four years.
III. The Great Society
A. War on Poverty (after election of 1964): Office of Economic Opportunity ("Equal
Opportunity Act")
1. Appropriation doubled to nearly $2 billion.
2. Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1966
-- Congress allocated $1.1 billion to redevelop isolated mountain areas.
3. Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
-- More than $1 billion given to aid elementary and secondary education.
4. Head Start prepared educationally disadvantaged children for elementary school.
B. Medicare Act of 1965 passed for the elderly.
-- Supported by millions of Americans being pushed to poverty by skyrocketing
medical costs.
C. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) created in 1966
1. Provided for 240,000 housing units and $2.9 billion for urban renewal.
2. 1966, Robert C. Weaver, HUD secretary, became first African American cabinet
member in U.S. history
D. Immigration Act of 1965
1. Discontinued national origins system from the 1920s
2. Immigration now based on first-come first-serve basis.
-- Immigrants with families already residing in US had precedence.
3. Immigration on things such as skills and need for political asylum.
-- Artists, scientists and political refugees given preference.
4. Act more than doubled number of immigrants coming in each year, mostly
from Asia and Latin America.
F. Consumer protection laws passed for full disclosure of cost of credit when borrowing money
and regulating use of harmful chemicals in food.
G. Culture
1. National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities aimed to lift level of U.S. culture
2. Public Broadcasting System created (PBS)
H. Water Quality Act (1965)
-- Federal gov?t could set clean water standards for states to force industry to clean up
the nation?s lakes and rivers.
I. Space program continued: U.S. won the space race.
IV. Triumph of civil rights (part of the Great Society)
A. 24th Amendment (ratified in January 1964): Abolished the poll tax in federal elections.
B. Civil Rights Bill of 1964
1. Johnson?s skill with Congress allowed him to get Kennedy?s bill passed.
2. Provisions

a. Forbade segregation in hotels, motels, restaurants, lunch counters,

theaters, and sporting arenas that did business in interstate commerce.
-- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission created to enforce the law.
b. Relieved individuals of responsibility for bringing discrimination complaints
to court themselves; federal government now responsible.
c. Eliminated remaining restrictions on black voting.
d. Title VII: Discrimination based on race, religion gender and national origin
was illegal.
3. Result: Most businesses in the South?s cities and larger towns desegregated immediately.
C. Voting Rights Act of 1965
1. Legislation still did not address the 15th Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote.
2. March from Selma to Washington
a. Only 383 out of 15,000 African Americans registered to vote in Selma, Alabama
b. After 2 months of beatings, arrests, and one murder, civil rights leaders in
Selma announced a climactic protest march from Selma to Montgomery.
c. First march: state troopers violently ended the march on bridge outside Selma.
d. March 9, Martin Luther King led a second march
i. This time he halted on the bridge and marched back to Selma as
protesters sang "We Shall Overcome"
ii. King had agreed to President Johnson?s request to discontinue march
e. March 15, Johnson promised on TV to send a bill to Congress that would
extend voting rights to African Americans in the Deep South.
f. March 21, March proceeded peacefully from Selma to Montgomery with
the protection of the federalized Alabama National Guard.
3. Provisions:
a. Literacy tests unlawful if less than 50% of all voting-age citizens were
registered. If so, African Americans could be enrolled whether or not they could read.
b. If local registrars would not enroll African Americans, the president could
send federal examiners who would.
-- This gave teeth to the Civil Rights Act of 1964
c. As a result, 740,00 African Americans registered to vote in three years.
i. Hundreds of African Americans elected by the late 1960s in the Old South.
ii. African Americans no longer feared white reprisals during elections.
iii. Southerners now began courting African American votes and businesses.
iv. For first time since Reconstruction, African Americans migrated into the South.
D. Affirmative Action (part of the Great Society)
1. Johnson signed an executive order in 1965 requiring employers on federal contracts to
take "affirmative action" to ensure underprivileged minorities and women were hired.
2. President Nixon later furthered affirmative action.
3. Countless American corporations that did business with the gov?t, colleges and universities
that received federal scholarship and research funding became obligated
to meet guidelines.
4. Result: Black, Asian, and Hispanic enrollment in universities increased dramatically.
5. 1970s saw cries of "reverse discrimination as the economy began to suffer and whites
faced increased competition for jobs or were denied promotions and students were
denied college admission.
6. Bakke case, 1978
a. Supreme Court ruled that Allan Bakke, a white medical student, was unfairly turned
down to medical school because of an admissions program that favored minorities.
b. Court declared preference in admissions could not be given to members of any
group on the basis of ethnic or racial identity alone.
7. Jesse Jackon became a leading advocate in the 1970s and 1980s for the continuing of
affirmative action and the furthering of civil rights.
8. Affirmative action weakened by Supreme Court in late 1980s and 1990s
D. 1967, Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall as first African American to Supreme Court
E. Forced busing
1. 1968, Supreme Court ordered end to de facto segregation of nation?s school.
2. Court ordered school districts to bus children from all-minority neighborhoods in the
center cities to achieve integration of schools.
3. Issue became controversial with middle class suburban whites in early 1970s into1990s
F. African-American civil rights movement in retrospect
1. Years between 1954 and 1968 seen as "2nd Reconstruction"

-- Equality before the law largely achieved.

2. Other minorities, e.g. women, Native Americans, Hispanics and gays looked to civil
rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s as a model for their own efforts.
V. Rise of Black Power and racial violence
A. Not all African Americans agreed with Martin Luther King?s non-violent methods.
1. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 King?s ideas seemed
obsolete to many young blacks.
2. Many questioned whether it was a good idea for blacks to try to integrate with whites.
B. Black Separatism
1. Called for the separation of the races in America by returning to Africa or occupying an
exclusive area of land in the U.S. supplied by the federal gov?t.
a. Opposite of integration.
b. Inspired by ideas of Marcus Garvey (leader during "Harlem Renaissance")
c. Nation of Islam (black Muslim movement) most notable and well-organized
2. Malcolm X
a. Most vocal and brilliant orator of Nation of Islam
b. Preached religious justification for black separatism and furthering of
African American rights through "any means necessary."
i. Advocated use of weapons for self-defense believing nonviolence encouraged
white violence
ii. Many in the white community were alarmed
c. His views softened after his pilgrimmage to Mecca; he left Nation of Islam
d. February 21, 1965, assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam.
e. Never supported King?s nonviolent methods: "The white people should thank Dr. King
for holding black people in check."
C. SNCC and Stokely Carmichael
1. Influenced by Malcolm X
2. 1966, CORE and SNCC called for civil rights movements to be staffed, controlled and
financed by blacks, thus rejecting interracial cooperation.
-- Black nationalism replaced integration as the goal.
3. Black Power -- attempt to seize political power in an Alabama election.
4. Carmichael later a member of Black Panthers, based in Oakland, and
founded by urban revolutionaries Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.
a. Revolutionary social movement to organize African American men
in northern and western cities to fight for liberation.
b. H. Rap Brown another leader of the movement.
D. Racial violence
1. Poverty, unemployment, & racial discrimination common in major inner-cities.
-- Empty promise of racial equality in the North ignited rage in many African American
communities
2. "Long Hot Summers": throughout summers of 1965, 1966 & 1967, racial disorders hit.
a. Watts Riots -- Los Angeles, August 11-16, 1965
-- 34 people dead, 1,072 injured, 4,000 arrested, 1,000 buildings destroyed,
property loss nearly $40 million.
b. 1967, 7,000 arrested in Detroit
i. White businesses targeted but many black businesses inadvertently burned.
ii. Snipers prevented fire-fighters from doing their work.
c. During first 9 months of 1967, more than 150 cities reported incidents of
racial disorders
3. Kerner Commission appointed by LBJ to investigate the riots. Conclusion:
a. Frustrated hopes of African Americans led to violence.
b. Approval and encouragement of violence both by white terrorists and by black
protest groups led to violence
c. Blacks had a sense of being powerless in a society dominated by whites.
d. Recommended:
i. Elimination of all racial barriers in jobs, education, and housing
ii. Greater public response to problems of racial minorities
iii. Increased communication across racial lines.
E. Assassination of Martin Luther King -- April 4, 1968
1. 39-year-old minister shot while standing on a balcony with friends in Memphis.
-- King was working to increase wages for Memphis trash collectors.

2. King had lost many supporters when he opposed the Vietnam War.
3. Was attempting to rebuild his support -- speech on April 3rd:
"We?ve got some difficult days ahead. But id doesn?t matter with me now. Because I?ve been to the mountain top. I may not get there
with you, but I want you to know tonight... that we as a people will get to the promised land."
VI. Rise of the "New Left"and Counterculture
A. Impact of baby boom generation
1. 1950 -- 1 million went to college; 1960 -- 4 million
2. Raised largely in economic security; 75% of college students came from families
with income above the national average.
3. Student protest movement only a minority of student population -- 10-15%
B. New Left
1. By mid-1960s majority of Americans were under age 30.
2. Universities became perceived as bureaucracies indifferent to student needs.
3. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), headed by Tom Hayden called for
"participatory democracy" in universities.
4. Free Speech Movement
a. Students at U.C. Berkeley started sit-ins in 1964 to protest prohibition of political
canvassing on campus.
b. Came to emphasize the criticism of the bureaucracy of American society.
-- Police broke up a sit-in in December and protests spread to other campuses
C. SDS would become more militant during the Vietnam War.
D. Many of America?s youth became critical of U.S. policy and turned to alternative lifestyles
1. Music: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger
2. Beatles became influenced by Americans counterculture
3. Woodstock, 1969: three days of sex, drugs and rock and roll
-- Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin
VII. The Warren Court
A. Chief Justice Earl Warren appointed to the Supreme Court by Eisenhower in 1953.
1. His Court considered one of the two creative periods in US history
-- John Marshall is considered to be the first of the great creative periods.
2. Warren?s court stressed personal rights (esp. 1st Amendment), placing them in a preferred
constitutional position.
B. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) most important of his court?s decisions.
C. Reapportionment decisions -- "one-person, one-vote"
1. Result has been an electoral reform shifting voting power from rural districts to
urban and suburban areas.
2. Required states redraw their voting districts for the U.S. Congress according to population
so that each district had roughly the same number of people.
D. Rights of the accused
1. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963): Established that people accused of a crime have the right
to a lawyer, even if they cannot afford one.
2. Escobedo v. Illinois (1964): Ruled that one has the right to a lawyer from the time of
arrest or when one becomes the subject of a criminal investigation.
3. Miranda v. Arizona (1966): Required that accused people be informed of their right to a
lawyer and their right not to testify against themselves.
E. School Prayer: 1962, banned school prayer and religious exercises in public schools.
VIII. Women?s Rights
A. Eleanor Roosevelt?s Commission on the Status of Women highlighted inequalities women
faced, endorsed improvements in education, equal employment, child care, and
governmental opportunities for women.
B. Betty Friedan
1. Feminine Mystique (1963) considered a classic of women?s protest literature.
-- Criticized plight of women with domestic duties (cult of domesticity) who also had
to work full-time employment at jobs that paid women less than men.
2. With other feminists founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966.
a. Called for equal employment opportunities and equal pay.
b. Argued for changes in divorce laws to make settlements more fair to women
c. Sought legalization of abortion (most controversial issue)

d. 1967, began advocating and Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution
extending the same guarantees contained in the 14th Amendment
for racial and religious minorities. (Alice Paul had started this idea in 1923)
i. Passed in Congress in 1972 but failed by early 1980sto get required 38 states
necessary for ratification.
ii. Failed to pass as movement limited to middle class women and pro- life
groups argued against it.
-- Feared ERA would deny them rights to financial support in case of divorce,
or would end special treatment women had received in the way of "protective"
courtesies in a male-dominated society.
-- Opposition spearheaded by Phyllis Schlafly
C. Gains
1. 1972, federal gov?t required colleges receiving federal funds to establish
"affirmative action" programs for women to ensure equal opportunity.
2. Roe v. Wade -- Legalized abortion in 1973.
-- Hitherto states had the right to determine legality of abortion.
3. Several corporations forced to provide back wages to female employees who had
not received equal pay for equal work.
-- Also had to abolish hiring and promotion practices that discriminated against women
(Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964)
4. Woman experienced more inclusion in the military
5. Title IX guaranteed equal access for girls to programs boys benefited from (e.g. sports)
6. Sally Ride -- first female astronaut
7. Geraldine Ferraro -- became first woman in 1984 to be on a presidential ticket.
IX. Other minorities fight for rights
A. Chicanos (Mexican-Americans)
1. Caesar Chavez led the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC)
and succeeded in gaining improved work conditions for mostly Chicano agricultural
workers.
2. La Raza Unida -- locally-based political parties sought to increase the Mexican-American
vote in urban areas.
3. Since 1970s a number of Mexican-Americans elected to promient political positions.
B. Native Americans
1. American Indian Movement (AIM) founded in 1968
2. AIM seized Indian Bureau in Washington in 1972.
-- Protested desperate conditions in reservations (e.g. unemployment and illiteracy).
3. 1973, militant Indians led by leaders of AIM and the Oglala Sioux occupied
Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
a. Held it for two months and gained national publicity.
i. Several Indians dead and 300 arrested.
ii. Leaders acquitted
b. Eventually led to Indian gain of lost fishing rights and receiving of millions
of dollars in payments for lands taken earlier in U.S. history.
C. Gay rights movement emerged later using civil rights laws to win discrimination cases.
X. Johnson?s legacy
A. No president had shown more compassion for the poor, the ill educated, and minorities.
1. Achievements of first three years compared with the successes of the New Deal.
2. Poverty rate declined measurably in the next decade.
a. Medicare dramatically reduced poverty among America?s elderly.
b. Anti-poverty programs, such as Head Start, significantly improved the educational
performance of underprivileged youth.
c. Infant mortality rates fell in minority communities as general health conditions improved.
B. No president since Lincoln had worked harder or done more for civil rights.
C. "Great Society" programs heavily criticized by conservatives in subsequent years.
1. Most programs extremely costly and eventually required increased taxes to fund them.
2. Dubbed Great Society as "social engineering" that could not be solved simply by
allocating billions of dollars.
D. The Vietnam War siphoned off much of the energy of the Great Society
1. Inflation racked the Great Society programs.
2. War on Poverty eventually went down in defeat.

3. Johnson?s handling of the war caused the turbulence that characterized the
1960s and led to America?s skepticism over its government.
VIETNAM WAR
I. VIETNAM WAR
-- Vietnam War spread across 5 presidencies and spanned 25 years. Direct U.S involvement
from 1963-1973
A. France lost control of Vietnam after the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954
1. U.S. by 1954 had financed about 80% of France?s war effort.
2. Ho Chi Minh leader of Communists: Vietminh
3. Geneva Conference, 1954 -- Agreement reached to divide country into
north and south along the 17th parallel until a 1956 unifying election.
a. Ho Chin Minh accepted based on assurance that Vietnam-wide elections
would occur within two years.
b. Eisenhower refused to sign Geneva agreement
-- Domino Theory -- if one country falls to communism, other
surrounding countries will fall, one right after the other, like dominoes
(included Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, maybe India)
c. In the south, pro-western gov't under Ngo Dinh Diem took control in Saigon.
B. Vietnam?s Civil War
1. The Ngo Dinh Diem Regime
a. U.S. backed Ngo Dinh Diem
i. Nationalist and fierce anti-communist
ii. Aloof and aristocratic Catholic autocrat ruling over a nation of poor Buddhist
peasants.
b. Ngo canceled 1956 elections and seriously divided the country.
i. US supported him -- didn?t want Ho Chi Minh winning election.
ii. South Vietnam in disarray from war and colonial rule
c. Eisenhower promised economic and military aid to Ngo?s regime in return for social
reforms.
i. Reforms extremely slow
ii. 4 of 5 dollars went to the military
d. Dulles created the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) in order to
prop up Diem's regime; Britain & France incuded
i. Supposed to be a "NATO" in Southeast Asia.
-- Only Philippine Republic, Thailand, and Pakistan signed in Sept. 1954
ii. US pledged to prevent communist expansion in Asia (Vietnam & China)
-- Sent in military advisors to train S. Vietnamese forces
2. In response, the Vietcong?s (VC) political arm, the NLF (National Liberation
Front) ,was formed in South Vietnam and tied to Ho Chi Minh in the north.
a. Consisted of Vietminh and other groups opposed to Ngo.
b. Supported by China and the Soviet Union
c. Promised economic reform, reunification with the north, and genuine independence.
-- Goal: Topple pro-American gov?t from power
d. NLF assassinated 2,000 gov?t officials during 1960.
e. Civil War resulted
C. Kennedy and Vietnam
1. Kennedy had to choose between abandoning Ngo or deepening US involvement.
-- Increased US military advisors from 652 to 16,000
i. Goal was to strengthen S. Vietnam Army with US technology.
ii. Also hoped to pressure Ngo into making necessary reforms.
2. Fall of Ngo Dinh Diem
a. Buddhist monk set himself on fire to protest Ngo?s regime (self-immolation)
-- Photos of this changed world opinion overnight.
b. Nov.1, 1963, a coup by S. Vietnamese generals overthrows and kills Ngo.
i. Tacitly supported by US as Ngo?s corruption seen as a liability.
ii. Three weeks later JFK is assassinated.
3. The question of whether or not Kennedy would have pulled out of Vietnam still remains
unanswered today.
D. Johnson?s War -- Political aspect
-- "I?m not going to be the president who saw SE Asia go the way China went."

1. Keeps most of Kennedy?s cabinet:

a. Dean Rusk - Sec. of State: Major proponent of the domino theory
b. Robert McNamara -- Sec. of Defense: claims responsibility for war in 1995
c. McGeorge Bundy - NSC.
2. Johnson rejects any settlement in Vietnam not guaranteeing a non-communist gov?t.
3. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
a. Early Aug. 1964, Johnson announced N. Vietnamese torpedo boats had
attacked two US destroyers on international waters Aug. 2 and 4 patrolling off the
coast of N. Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin.
-- "Attacks were unprovoked"
b. Congress almost unanimously passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
-- Gave Johnson more authority to widen the war effort w/o waitingfor Congress
to declare war.
c. Years later, it became known that US ships were helping S. Vietnamese
commandos raid N. Vietnamese islands and that attacks were not "unprovoked"
d. In response, Johnson ordered a "limited" retaliatory air raid against North
Vietnamese air bases, stating he sought "no wider war"
e. LBJ used this episode effectively during 1964 presidential campaign.
f. Major point: LBJ?s major error was using the G of T Resolution to justify
his widening of the war without seeking congressional and popular approval.
i. He sought to protect his Great Society programs by keeping the war?s
decision-making secretive.
ii. His lack of trust in the Joint Chiefs of Staff after the Cuban Missile Crisis meant top
military officials were not part of the war's policy process.
g. No evidence exists that LBJ intentionally sought to escalate the war.
4. Decision to escalate
a. As situation unraveled, initial objective of S. Vietnamese stabilization no longer viable.
i. The further U.S. got in, the harder it was to get out
ii. Military demanded more bombing & escalation
-- Key cabinet officials advised escalation; Ike also
iii. Domino theory continually cited despite China turning inward during
its Cultural Revolution and Soviet desire to promote negotiations.
b. Under advisement, Johnson considered escalation w/o assurances that it would
succeed. This was the fatal flaw in U.S. policy.
5. Operation Rolling Thunder
a. 6 months after G of T incident (Feb. 1965), US base at Pleiku was attacked and
8 Americans died, over 100 injured.
b. LBJ made fateful decision to escalate the war on March 2, 1965
c. LBJ ordered the 1st bombing of N. Vietnam which went nonstop for 3 years.
i. Bombing aimed at bases, roads, and railways in North Vietnam.
ii. Also targeted the "Ho Chi Minh Trial," a tangled network of dirt roads and
muddy trails along which soldiers and supplies flowed from N. Vietnam
through Cambodia and Laos into South Vietnam.
iii. Raids failed to cut off N. Vietnamese aid to the NLF.
iv. S. Vietnam still suffered heavy losses from the Vietcong.
6. Increase of US troops
a. March 1965, two battalions begin arriving at Da Nang (1 mo. after Pleiku)
b. 1965 -- 184,000; 1966 -- 385,000; 1967 -- 485,000; 1968 -- 538,000
-- Increases in US troops matched by increased numbers of North Vietnamese
soldiers fighting with the Vietcong and increased aid from USSR and China.
c. Annual bill more than $30 billion.
7. US forces initially but falsely optimistic about a short successful war effort
a Tenacity and devotion of the N. Vietnamese was greatly underestimated.
b. Ho Chin Minh had warned the French "you can kill ten of my men to one of
yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.
II. Fighting the Vietnam War
-- General William C. Westmoreland, American military commander in Vietnam.
A. Air War
1. Air strikes were preferred because it cost less US lives.
2. By 1967, US had dropped more bombs on Vietnam than the Allies dropped during
all of WWII.

3. Vietcong dug 30,000 miles of tunnels to ship supplies and escape bombing.
B. Ground War
1. Search and destroy missions to combat guerrilla tactics was common
a. Westmoreland constantly urged significant escalation of U.S. ground troops.
b. Just finding the enemy was difficult
c. "The guerrilla wins if he does not lose, the conventional army loses if it
does not win"; by definition, US was losing.
d. Dense, humid, hot hostile jungle terrain
e. Westmoreland?s attrition strategy relied heavily on firepower e.g. napalm (incendiary)
and Agent Orange (a defoliant).
2. Vietcong knew the terrain and had much better peasant support.
3. "Pacification" programs -- Villages were uprooted by US and people moved to cities.
4. Average age of US soldier in Vietnam was 19 (26 in WWII);
C. Tet Offensive in 1968 ? beginning of the end to U.S. involvement in Vietnam
1. Westmoreland & other officials had been claiming the war?s end was "coming into view"
2. Tet New Year, Jan 30. 1968, massive coordinated strike by North Vietnam
a. 67,000 Vietcong attacked 100 cities, bases, and embassy
b. Offensive lasted approx. one month.
c. Thousands of casualties on both sides.
3. Tet Offensive not militarily successful for Vietnam but psychologically destroyed
American hopes.
III. Critics of US policy
A. New Left
1. Massive student protests began focusing on the Vietnam war.
a. Many occurred at university campuses.
b. SDS became more militant, used violence & turned to Lenin for its ideology.
2. New Left lost political influence after it abandoned its original commitment to
democracy and non-violence.
B. Antiwar movement
1. Starts with 1965 bombing escalation; antiwar sentiment explodes.
2. Religious, anti-nuke, women, civil rights groups all joined in the anti-war effort.
3. Draft the biggest cause for protest
a. Small campus "teach-ins" in 1965 escalated to enormous public protests.
b. NY and San Francisco saw hundreds of thousands of marchers yelling
"Hell no, we won?t go," and "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"
4. Draft numbers increased from 5K per month in 1965 to 50K per month in 1967.
a. Poor were twice as likely to be drafted as middle class (until lottery in 1970)
b. Thousands of draft registrants fled to Canada; others burned their draft cards
5. Millions of Americans felt pinch of war-induced inflation. (1966 - costs $2 billion/yr)
C. Press
1. Technology allowed Vietnam to brought into American?s living rooms with very
little censoring of the press.
2. Walter Cronkite -- "What the hell is going on. I thought we were winning the war. It
seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience in Vietnam is to end
in a stalemate. The only rational way out is to negotiate."
-- Johnson: "If I?ve lost Walter, then it?s over, I?ve lost Mr. Average Citizen"
3. Editorials in Newsweek, Time, and Wall Street called for negotiated settlement.
4. Military assessments and data was questioned.
-- Body counts did not account for guerrilla war; McNamara defended them since
U.S. was fighting a war of attrition.
5. Public support for the war eventually plunged from 40% to 26%.
D. Senator Fulbright of Arkansas headed the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
1. Staged a series of widely viewed televised hearings in 1966 and 1967 during
which prominent commentators aired their largely antiwar views.
2. Public came to feel it had been lied to about the causes and "winnability" of the war.
-- Increase in antiwar "doves"
E. Hawks and Doves argued over US role.
1. Hawks defended president?s policy and drew on Truman?s containment policy.
-- John Birch Society (formed in 1958)
i. Radical Right organization est. to combat what was perceived to be
communist infiltration into American life.

ii. Advocated the impeachment of Earl Warren, perhaps the most

liberal Chief Justice in U.S. history.
2. Doves argued war was a civil war in which U.S. should not get involved.
a. Argued South Vietnam?s gov?t not democratic, opposed large-scale aerial
bombings, use of chemical weapons, and the killing of civilians.
b. Rejected the domino theory pointing out increased losses of American lives
and the economic cost of the war.
3. Most Americans neither but disturbed by the war and protests.
4. Tet changed public opinion dramatically
-- Hawks -- 62% to 22% from Jan 1968 to March 1968; Doves from 22% to 42%
F. Democratic party challengers for 1968 nomination
1. Johnson?s popularity dropped from 48% to 36%
-- McNamara?s departure rocked Johnson?s confidence of his political support.
2. Eugene McCarthy, liberal from Minnesota, ran an antiwar campaign in New
Hampshire and nearly got 1/2 the vote on March 12; inspired Robert Kennedy to run.
3. March, Robert Kennedy launched antiwar based campaign.
4. March 31, 1968 -- Johnson announced he would not seek another term
a. "I have decided that I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of
my party for another term as your President."
b. Tet, McCarthy, and RFK contributed to LBJ?s decision.
c. Vietnam had claimed a presidency
IV. Election of 1968
A. Nominees
1. Robert F. Kennedy assassinated after winning CA primary over Eugene McCarthy.
a. Assassin a Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan
b. Assured Vice President Hubert Humphrey of the Democratic nomination.
-- Riot occurred in Democratic convention in Chicago between police and
anti-war activists; Nation and the world watched as riot was televised
2. Republicans nominated Richard M. Nixon
a. Spiro Agnew v.p. running mate, aimed to appeal to Southern voters.
i. Agnew tough on African Americans and dissidents in his state of Maryland.
ii. Part of Nixon?s "Southern strategy"
b. Nixon committed to continuing war until enemy settled for "honorable peace."
-- Similar to Humphrey?s position
3. Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama: American Independent Party.
a. Appealed to fears generated by protesters and big government.
b. Had attempted to block segregation in Little Rock in 1963 when he stood
in the doorway to prevent two blacks from entering the U of Alabama.
c. Advocated putting blacks back into their place while bombing North
Vietnam "back to the Stone Age."
B. Result
1. Nixon d. Humphrey by 1% of popular vote but by 301 to 191 in electoral votes.
2. Congress remained Democratic
3. Democrats won 95% of the black vote.
4. Nixon a minority president with no clear mandate to do anything.
-- Owed his victory to the divisions caused by the war and protest against the
unfair draft, crime, and rioting.
V. Nixon and Vietnam
A. 1969, Nixon publicly claimed he had a secret plan for ending the war.
-- He didn?t; it went on for 4 more years at the cost of thousands of American lives.
B. "Nixon Doctrine"
1. "Vietnamization"
a. Nixon called for a withdrawal of US troops in South Vietnam over a period of time.
b. South Vietnam would receive US money, weapons, training, and advice so that they
could gradually take over the burden of fighting the Vietcong.
-- By 1973, number of US soldiers reduced from 500K to 25K.
c. Henceforth, Asians and others would have to fight their own wars without the support
of significant numbers of U.S. ground troops.
2. Expansion of the war by stepped-up bombing and ground attacks
C. Continuing protests

1. Doves wanted an immediate withdrawal that was complete, unconditional, and

irreversible.
2. October 1969, 2 million people across the U.S. protested Nixon?s policies.
3. November 3, Nixon televised his appeal to the great "silent majority," who presumably
supported the war.
-- Appeal became divisive as Nixon and Agnew verbally attacked the protesters and
those who did not support the government?s policies including the media.
4. Mylai Massacre, 1968 (revealed to public in 1969)
a. Lt. William Calley massacred 350 civilians in the village of Mylai
b. Calley court martialed, convicted of murder, & sentenced to life in prison.
c. Calley claimed to follow direct order; sentence lowered to 10 years
d. Public outraged and hundreds of thousands protested
D. Negotiations in Paris
1. Talks had begun in 1968 between US supported Thieu gov?t and the North Vietnam
supported Vietcong.
a. US position: all N. Vietnam forces should withdraw from S. Vietnam and Thieu gov?t
should remain.
b. N. Vietnam: US troops withdraw; coalition gov?t including Vietcong should replace
Thieu
2. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger began secret negotiations with North Vietnam
-- Negotiations were kept secret from public, press, even Nixon?s own cabinet.
E. Bombing of Cambodia -- The Secret War
1. Nixon ordered secret bombing of Cambodia, Laos, & N. Vietnam in March, 1969.
a. Purpose was to cut off communist supply lines but ultimately failed.
b. Wasn?t made public until 1973.
2. April 1970, Nixon announced on TV he was sending troops into Cambodia to clear
out communists who ignored Cambodian neutrality and disrupt Ho Chi Minh Trail
-- invasion would be limited to 60 days.
F. Protests over Cambodia
1. New wave of protests sparked by US activities in neutral Cambodia.
2. Kent State incident (May 3, 1970)
a. Students at Ohio?s Kent State protested; burnt down ROTC building.
b. National Guard fired into crowd killing 4 (innocent bystanders) &wounding 11.
3. Jackson State incident, May 1970 (all black school in Mississippi)
a. One week after Kent State, rioting in downtown Jackson prompted National
Guard to be called out.
b. 2 dead, 12 wounded; both dead were innocent bystanders.
4. Several hundred colleges closed down by student strikes; moderates joined radicals.
5. Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
6. Protests wane after Cambodian climax
G. "Pentagon Papers" -- 1971
1. Former defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked government documents in regard to
war effort during the Johnson years to the New York Times.
2. Classified documents revealed that the government had misled the Congress and the
American people regarding its intentions in Vietnam during the mid-1960s.
a. Primary reason for fighting was not to eliminate communism but to "avoid a
humiliating defeat."
b. Gulf of Tonkin truth revealed.
3. White House tried to block publication
-- Supreme court overruled Nixon..
4. Government?s credibility received another heavy blow.
VI. Ending the War
A. South Vietnamese proved unable to defeat communists despite billions in training money
B. American forces were withdrawn from Cambodia in early 1972 but with increased bombing.
C. Spring 1972, North Vietnamese equipped with foreign tanks burst through the DMZ
separating the two Vietnams.
1. March 1972, Nixon ordered massive bombing of North Vietnam and mining of its ports.
2. Nixon?s diplomacy with China and USSR paid dividends as neither retaliated.
3. North Vietnamese offensive ground to a halt.
D. October 1972, Paris Peace Talks reopened.
1. North Vietnam dropped demand that a coalition gov?t replace Thieu.

2. US would allow North Vietnamese troops to remain in South Vietnam.

3. Draft agreement included a cease-fire, return of American POW?s, and US
withdrawal from Vietnam.
4. With election of 1972 approaching, Nixon wanted a settlement.
-- November -- Kissinger announced "peace is at hand"
5. Settlement fell apart as Thieu wouldn?t sign the treaty.
E. Christmas Bombings: Hanoi and Haiphong
1. Dec. 18, Nixon orders intense bombing of North Vietnam?s major cities of
Hanoi and Haiphong -- most massive bombing of the war
F. Paris Accords (1973)
1. North Vietnam returned to bargaining table and agreed to same deal reached in October
of 1972.
a. North Vietnam retained control over large areas of the South.
b. Agreed to release US POWs within 60 days.
c. US would withdraw its forces after prisoners were released.
2. Thieu agreed because Nixon promised him US would back him if there was trouble.
3. Nixon: "Peace with honor"
4. Critics: "Could have come to this agreement 4 years earlier."
5. March 29, 1973, the last American combat troops left South Vietnam
G. Fall of Saigon to communists occurs in April 1975
1. South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam.
2. Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
H. Costs of the War
1. 58,000 dead Americans, 300,000 wounded; MIA?s -2,583
2. Over 2 million Vietnamese dead; MIAs - 300,000
3. $150 billion spent on the war rather than on social programs.
4. A large percentage of Americans came to distrust their government (even more so
after Watergate Scandal)
I. 1973, Nixon abolished the draft and established an all-volunteer army.
J. 26th Amendment (ratified in 1971)
-- Voting age lowered from 21 to 18 years of age.
K. July 11, 1995, President Clinton formally recognized Vietnam
THE 1970s (and 1980s highlights)
I. Foreign policy issues during Nixon's presidency
A. Detente: shift in U.S. policy toward communism
1. Sec. of State Henry Kissinger traveled to China and the Soviet Union for secret
sessions to plan summit meetings with the communists.
2. Nixon believed USSR and China clashing over their interpretations of Marxism could
give U.S. opportunity to play off one against the other.
3. Nixon also hoped to gain their aid in pressuring North Vietnam into peace.
4. Nixon and Kissinger?s policies
a. realpolitik: Nation should pursue policies and make alliances based on its national
interests rather than on any particular view of the world.
b. Balance of power -- "It will be a safer world and a better world if we have a
strong, healthy, United States, Europe, Soviet Union, China, Japan -- each
balancing the other." -- Nixon in 1971
-- d nte was the key to this balance.
B. China visit, 1972
1. February 1972, Nixon and Kissinger went to China to meet with Mao Zedong
and his associates.
2. Recognition of China
a. U.S. agreed to support China?s admission to the United Nations and to pursue
economic and cultural exchanges.
b. Reversed U.S. policy of not recognizing the Chinese revolution in 1949.
c. China officially recognized by U.S. in 1979.
C. Soviet Union and d nte
1. Czechoslovakia invaded (1968) by Soviets seeking to squash student reform movement.
a. Czechoslovakia became one of strictest govt?s in E. Europe for two decades.
b. U.S., preoccupied with Vietnam, could do little to aid Czech reformers

2. Nixon?s Moscow visit -- May 1972, Nixon played his "China card" with the Kremlin.
a. Soviets wanted U.S. foodstuffs and feared intensified rivalry with a US-backed China.
b. Chairman Leonoid Brezhnev approached Nixon about nuclear reduction talks.
-- Nixon flew to Russia to sign the historic arms treaty.
c. Nixon?s visit ushered in an era of relaxed tensions called d nte.
i. Policy sought to establish rules to govern the rivalry between the U.S.
and the Soviet Union and China.
ii. Resulted in several significant agreements.
iii. Agreements significant as they were made before US withdrew from Vietnam.
3. SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) signed in May, 1972.
a. U.S. and USSR agreed to stop making nuclear ballistic missiles and to reduce
the number of antiballistic missiles to 200 for each power.
b. Treaties moot by U.S. development of "MIRVs" (Multiple Independently Targeted
Reentry Vehicles) -- 1 missile could carry many warheads
c. Both U.S. and Soviets had nearly 20,000 warheads by 1990s!
4. Grain deal of 1972 -- 3-year arrangement by which the U.S. agreed to sell at least
$750 million worth of wheat, corn, and other cereals to the Soviet Union.
5. D nte evaluated
a. Successful overall as U.S. checkmated and co-opted the two great Communist
powers into helping end the Vietnam War.
b. Did not end the arms race
D. Energy Crisis, 1973 (sometimes called "Oil Crisis")
1. Yom Kippur War of 1973 resulted in bitterness among Arabs toward Western nations
for their support of Israel.
2. Arab Oil Embargo
a. Arab states established an oil boycott to push the Western nations into forcing
Israel to withdraw from lands controlled since the "Six Day War" of 1967
b. Kissinger negotiated withdrawal of Israel west of the Suez Canal and the Arabs
lifted their boycott.
3. OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) inc. Venezuela, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran, raised the price of oil from about $3 to $11.65/ barrel in
an attempt to force U.S. to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and
support other Arab demands.
a. U.S. gas prices doubled and inflation shot above 10%.
b. Nixon refused to ration gasoline and an acute gasoline shortage ensued.
II. Nixon?s Domestic Policy
A. "New Federalism"
1. Revenue sharing --Congress passed in 1972 a five year plan to distribute $30 billion
of federal revenues to the states.
2. Nixon proposed bulk of welfare payments be shifted to the states and a "minimum
income" be established for poor families, but did not push the program through Congress.
B. Civil Rights
1. Nixon sought to block renewal of the Voting Rights Act and delay implementation of
court ordered school desegregation in Mississippi.
2. Supreme Court ordered busing of students in 1971 to achieve school desegregation.
-- Nixon proposed an anti-busing bill but Congress blocked it.
3. Nixon furthered affirmative action by establishing goals and timetables for companies to
hire women and minorities.
C. Appointed Warren E. Burger, a conservative, as Chief Justice of Supreme Court
1. Although more conservative than Warren court, Burger court declared the
death penalty, as used at the time, as unconstitutional in 1972.
2. Row v. Wade, 1973 -- Struck down state anti-abortion legislation.
D. Congressional Legislation (none of the following supported by Nixon)
1. 18 year olds given the right to vote in 1970
a. 26th Amendment in 1971
b. Congress reasoned a person old enough to die for his country should have right to vote.
2. Social Security benefits and funding for food stamps increased in 1970.
3. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) -- 1970
-- Agency would monitor worker safety conditions.
4. Federal Election Campaign Act: would reduce campaign contributions
E. Environmentalism

1. Earth Day, April 22, 1970 seen as beginning of the nation?s environmental era.
2. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) est. by Nixon in 1970 (to stall
the environmental movement)
a. Its inception climaxed two decades of environmentalism
-- Rachel Carson?s Silent Spring (1962) exposed poisonous effects of pesticides.
b. Eventually the EPA stood on the front line of the battle for a clean environment.
c. Progress made in subsequent decades on reducing automobile emissions and
cleaning up polluted rivers and lakes.
d. Nixon & Ford opposed to environmental legislation during their terms due
to conservative perceptions of over-regulation of businesses & increased costs.
3. Toxic Waste
a. Example: Love Canal, NY
i. Soil and groundwater so polluted EPA declared town unfit for habitation.
ii. Residents evacuated, homes boarded up, community sealed off by
a tall chain-link fence.
b. Superfund established in 1980 by President Carter (law aimed at cleaning toxic dumps)
-- Impact: Release of selected toxic chemicals down 46%
4. Protest over nuclear power
a. Three Mile Island -- March, 1979 in Harrisburg, PA
i. Worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history; core released radioactive water and steam.
ii. Officials feared massive radiation release but it never came.
iii. reactor shut down for 6 years.
iv. 100,000 residents evacuated.
b. Environmental groups stepped-up their protests but the powerful nuclear
power lobby prevented any significant change.
5. Endangered Species Act, 1973
a. Area of protected land and water increased 300%
b. Recovered species include bald eagle, peregrine falcon, gray whale.
c. Criticism: Wetlands regulations and Endangered Species Act imposed
unconstitutional restrictions on landowners. Too much valuable land taken out
of production and off the tax rolls.
F. Economic Problems and Policy
1. 1969, Nixon cut spending and raised taxes. Encouraged Federal Reserve Board to
raise interest rates but the economy grew worse.
2. Unemployment climbed to 6% in 1970 while real gross national product declined in
1970. U.S. experienced a trade deficit in 1971.
3. Inflation reached 12% by 1971
-- Cost of living more than tripled from 1969 to 1981; longest and steepest inflationary
cycle in U.S. history.
4. Price and wage controls
a. 1970, Congress gave president the power to regulate prices and wages
b. 1971, Nixon announced a 90-day price and wage freeze and took
the U.S. off the gold standard.
c. At end of 90 days, he est. mandatory guidelines for wage and price increases.
d. 1973, Nixon turned to voluntary wage and price controls except on health
care, food, and construction.
e. When inflation increased rapidly, Nixon cut back on government expenditures,
refusing to spend funds already appropriated by Congress (impounding).
5. Why did the U.S. economy stagnate?
a. Federal deficits in the 1960s during "Great Society" and Vietnam War
b. International competition especially from Germany and Japan
i. U.S. losing its economic hegemony since the days following WWII.
ii. U.S. complacent; saw little need initially to modernize plants and
seek more efficient methods of production.
c. Rising energy costs esp. due to situation in the Middle East.
d. Increase in numbers of women and teenagers in the work force took part-time jobs
and were less likely to develop skills in the long-term.
e. Shift of the economy from manufacturing to services where productivity gains were
allegedly more difficult to achieve.
f. Military and welfare spending during 1960s inflationary (in the absence of off-setting
taxes) because they give people money without adding to the supply of
goods those dollars can buy.

6. Stagflation by mid-1970s (plagued Ford and Carter presidencies)

1. Slowing productivity and rising inflation -- rare.
2. Industry slowed down in the 1970s while inflation hit 11% in 1974
3. Unemployment hit over 9% in 1975
III. Election of 1972
A. Nominees
1. Democrats nominated George McGovern
-- McGovern hampered by a party divided over the war and social policies as
well as his own relative radicalism.
2. George Wallace ran again as the American Independent candidate
-- Shot on May 15 and left paralyzed below the waste.
3. Richard Nixon and Spiro T. Agnew renominated by the Republican party.
a. Emphasized that he had wound the "Democratic War" in Vietnam down
from 540,000 troops to 30,000.
b. Candidacy received boost 12 days before election when Kissinger announced
"peace is at hand" in Vietnam and an agreement would be reached within days.
-- No agreement occurred and the war lasted almost another year.
B. Results
1. Landslide victory for Nixon: 520-17; pop. majority of 47.1 million to 29.1 million.
2. Republicans suffered losses in both houses of Congress
-- Reduced Nixon?s mandate for his policies.
IV. Watergate -- biggest presidential scandal in U.S. history (forced Nixon to resign)
A. Nixon sought to secretly attack political opponents.
1. Nixon surrounded himself with people who almost always agreed with him, thus
protecting himself from criticism and making him more isolated.
a. "H.R." Haldeman, Chief of Staff: Nixon's closest aide.
b. John Erlichman, chief domestic policy advisor
2. 1971, Nixon's men gathered list of 200 individuals and 18 organizations that the
administration regarded as enemies.
a. Included Edward Kennedy, McGovern, entire black leadership in the House of Reps,
college presidents, actors such as Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, and 57
members of the media.
b. Nixon asked FBI to spy on these individuals and try to discredit them.
c. Ordered the IRS to harass them with tax audits.
d. FBI blocked an illegal Nixon plan for secret police operation to combat antiwar
movement. Would have included FBI, CIA, NSC, & military intelligence.
-- Nixon feared antiwar movement might undo him like it did Johnson.
B. CREEP -- Committee to Re-Elect the President
1. Nixon worried about the outcome of the 1972 elections.
a. Republican party failed to regain control of either House in congressional
elections of 1970.
b. Past losses to JFK in 1960 and California Gov. Pat Brown in 1962 haunted Nixon.
c. Nixon's attorney general set up CREEP and began a massive illegal fund-raising
campaign.
-- Money was set aside in a special fund to pay for "dirty tricks" operations against
Nixon?s Democratic opponents.
2. White House "plumbers" instructed to stop anti-Nixon leaks to the press.
a. New York Times published "Pentagon Papers" stating Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
had been based on a lie and discredited Johnson's motives for continuing the war.
-- Nixon feared leaks of classified documents damaging to his administration.
b. CREEP?s special investigations unit, "the plumbers," targeted Daniel Ellsberg, Defense
Dept. analyst who leaked "Pentagon Papers."
-- Broke into office of Ellsberg?s psychiatrist but found nothing embarrassing.
3. Watergate Break-In, summer 1972
a. Burglars hired by CREEP caught breaking into Democratic Nat?l Headquarters at the
Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C.
b. Nixon and his aids denied any involvement in the break-in and embarked on a massive
coverup while the public initially believed them.
C. Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein, young Washington Post journalists, broke the story.
1. Investigations revealed that two of the Watergate burglars and a White House aide

involved in the burglary were employees of CREEP.

-- Also discovered other illegal activities conducted by the president?s advisors.
2. "Silence money": Nixon secretly authorized payment of more than $460,000 in CREEP
funds to keep the Watergate burglars quiet about White House involvement.
D. 1973, Watergate trial and Senate hearings revealed Nixon and other White House officials
had covered up their involvement & pressured defendants "to plead guilty and remain silent."
-- Nixon announced resignations of his three closest aides who were involved in Watergate.
E. Watergate Tapes
1. Senate committee and prosecutor Archibald Cox called on Nixon to surrender tapes of
conversations that might pertain to the Watergate break-in.
2. Nixon refused and claimed executive privilege and stating release of the tapes would
endanger national security.
3. Saturday Night Massacre: Nixon fired two of his men for refusing to fire special
prosecutor Archibald Cox before a third Nixon aide finally fired Cox.
-- Public outraged
F. Spiro Agnew resigns (October, 1973)
1. Agnew pleaded no contest to charges of income tax evasion and accepting bribes
while governor of Maryland and resigned the vice presidency.
2. Nixon nominated Gerald R. Ford, the popular conservative House Minority Leader
G. In a non-related matter, Nixon was forced to pay back taxes for tax evasion ($500,000)
-- Also accused of using public funds for improvements to his private residencies in CA & FL
H. Nixon releases edited transcripts of some tapes but most incriminating portions are erased,
especially critical 18 minute gap.
1. When Nixon refused to release unedited tapes, special prosecutor took case to Supreme
Court.
2. U.S. v. Nixon:Court ruled unanimously that President Nixon had to release the tapes.
I. Impeachment proceedings
1. July 30, House committee voted to recommend impeachment of President Nixon on
three counts:
a. Obstructing justice by trying to cover up the role of the White House in the
Watergate burglary.
b. Violating the rights of U.S. citizens by using the FBI, CIA, and IRS to
harass critics.
c. Defying congressional authority by refusing to turn over the tapes.
2. August 5, Nixon handed over the tapes which revealed a White House cover up
-- Impeachment charges seemed certain.
J. Nixon resigns as President (August 7, 1974)
1. Following day, Gerald Ford sworn in as president.
2. 25th Amendment (1967) -- made Presidential Succession Act of 1947 an amendment
a. In case of removal of the president from office or death or resignation, the
vice president shall become President.
b. Successor to vice-president provided by presidential nomination and
confirmation by a majority of both houses.
K. Ford Pardons Nixon in September for any crimes he may have committed while president.
1. Many Americans outraged that Nixon escaped justice.
a. Questioned if a deal had been made between Nixon and Ford.
b. In light of Vietnam, Americans grew even more skeptical of their gov?t.
2. 31 Nixon administration officials were convicted and went to prison for Watergaterelated offenses.
3. The pardon probably cost Gerald Ford the presidential election of 1976.
V. The "Imperial Presidency"
A. World War II on, presidents gradually gained more power that belonged to Congress.
1. FDR
a. "Court packing" scheme sought to strengthen FDR at expense of Supreme Court.
b. WWII: FDR made treaties with foreign nations without the advice or consent or the
Senate (Destroyer-Bases deal, Atlantic Charter, Yalta Conference, etc.)
2. Truman fought war in Korea without formal declaration of war by Congress
3. Johnson sent troops into Vietnam without a formal congressional declaration of war
B. Nixon took the trend to the next step.
1. Impounded funds for federal programs he opposed, defying the constitutional mandate
that Congress control spending.

2. Ordered U.S. troops to invade Cambodia without seeking congressional approval.

3. Used FBI and IRS against political opponents
4. Watergate scandal: tried to sabatoge Democratic Party in 1972
5. By 1970s, some critics called the constitutional presidency "the imperial presidency."
C. Congress takes back power from the presidency in light of Vietnam and Watergate
1. War Powers Act (1973): Required the president to consult with Congress before
sending troops into action for 90 days or more.
2. 1974, Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act prohibited impounding of
federal money by the president. (response to Nixon's impounding of funds)
3. Federal Election Campaign Act of 1972 set limits on campaign contributions (response to
CREEP)
4. Privacy Act (Extended the Freedom of Information Act (1966) -- (response to Nixon's
abuse of the FBI powers)
a. Allowed citizens to have prompt access to the files that the government may have
gathered on them.
b. Required gov?t to prove its case for classification when attempting to withhold
information on grounds of national security.
5. Ronald Reagan: Iran-Contra Scandal (1987) -- continuation of "imperial presidency"?
a. Diverted money from secret sale of weapons to Iran to Nicaraguan "Contras"
-- Congress had expressly forbidden U.S. money be sent to "Contras"
b. Became biggest scandal of Reagan administration and weakened Reagan's influence.
VI. Gerald Ford?s Presidency
A. Pardon of Nixon brought immediate controversy in September, 1974
-- Nixon accepted offer yet admitted no wrongdoing; had not yet been charged with a crime.
B. Economy plagued with "stagflation"
1. Ford called for voluntary restraints on inflation and asked citizens to wear WIN
(Whip Inflation Now) buttons.
-- Inflation did drop from 12% to 5% in 1976 but drop was temporary.
2. Ford asked for tax cuts to stimulate business and argued against spending for
social programs.
-- Vetoed more than 50 bills during his brief presidency.
C. Helsinki Conference (July, 1975) -- 34 countries present
1. One group of agreements officially ended World War II by finally legitimizing the
Soviet-dictated boundaries of Poland and other East European countries.
2. In return, Soviets guaranteed more liberal exchanges of people and information
between East and West and the protection of certain basic "human rights."
-- Yet, the Soviets reneged on their pledges.
3. U.S. angry that USSR continued to send huge quantities of arms and military technicians
to pro-Communist forces around the world.
4. Ford maintained policy of d nte but U.S. and USSR relations were deteriorating.
D. South Vietnam (Saigon) fell to North Vietnam in April 1975
1. Ford had failed to get from Congress approval to provide more arms for South Vietnam.
2. To many Americans it appeared U.S. involvement in Vietnam had been tragically in vain.
E. The Mayaguez
1. May 12, 1975, Cambodia, seized by communists 2 weeks earlier, seized the American
merchant ship Mayaguez in the Gulf of Siam.
2. After demanding the ship and crew be freed, Ford ordered a Marine assault on
Tang Island, where the ship had been taken.
3. Ship and crew of 39 released but 38 Marines were killed.
VII. Election of 1976
A. Nominees
1. Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination.
-- Ford plagued by his pardon of Nixon and seeming denial of Soviet domination
of Eastern Europe.
2. Democrats nominated Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia, and peanut farmer.
a. Ran as an outsider from Washington (like Reagan did in 1980)
-- Emphasized integrity & lack of Washington connections; born-again Baptist; "I?ll
never lie to you"

b. Carter a conservative Democrat who questioned affirmative government and

welcomed increased role of religion in public life.
B. Result
1. Carter d. Ford narrowly 297 to 240; 51% of the popular vote.
a. Swept every state except Virginia.
b. 97% of blacks voted for Carter.
2. Large Democratic majorities in both houses
VIII. Jimmy Carter?s presidency: Domestic policy
A. Domestic achievements
1. Amnesty -- Pardoned 10,000 draft evaders during Vietnam era (campaign pledge)
2. Created the Department of Education (and the Department of Energy -- see below)
3. Placed the civil service on a merit basis and reduced Civil Service System
4. Environment: created Superfund
B. Energy
1. 1977, created Dept. of Energy at the cabinet level (in light of recent energy crisis)
2. Proposed raising the tax on gasoline and taxing autos that used fuel inefficiently
in order to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
-- Got only a small portion of this bill through Congress.
3. 2nd fuel shortage in 1979 exacerbated the nation?s energy woes.
-- Spurred by the Iranian Revolution and demise of the Shah.
C. Economy (stagflation continued)
1. Convinced Congress to pass an $18 billion tax cut in 1978.
2. 1978, proposed voluntary wage and price guidelines to combat inflation
a. Somewhat successful but did not apply to oil, housing, and food.
b. By 1980 inflation was 12%
3. Federal Reserve Board tightened money supply in order to reduce inflation but interest
rates soared to 20%!.
-- Sales of automobiles and houses suffered which increased unemployment.
4. By 1980, unemployment reached 7.5%
D. Environment
1. Created "superfund" for the cleanup of chemical waste dumps.
2. Established controls over strip mining
3. Protected 100 million acres of Alaskan wilderness from development
4. Three-mile Island nuclear accident occurred in 1979
E. Deregulation
1. Air Transportation Deregulation Act (1978): Ended government regulation of airline
fares and routes
2. Action symbolizes Carter as a conservative Democrat. (Perhaps the most conservative
since Grover Cleveland)
F. Peacetime Draft Registration: 18 year-olds required to register with the Selective Service
System to prepare the nation militarily; no one actually drafted.
IX. Foreign policy under Carter
A. Humanitarian diplomacy -- sought to base foreign policy on human rights but
was criticized for inconsistency and lack of attention to American interests.
1. Verbally lashed out at Cuba and Uganda for human rights violations.
2. Cut foreign aid to Uruguay, Argentina, and Ethiopia.
3. Championed black majority in South Africa and denounced Apartheid.
4. Did not punish South Korea or Philippines -- too vital to U.S. security.
-- Some saw this as hypocritical.
5. Humanitarian diplomacy ultimately ineffective.
B. Panama Canal treaty: Provided for transfer of ownership of the Canal to Panama in 1999
and guaranteed its neutrality.
C. Camp David Accords (September 17, 1978) -- perhaps Carter's greatest accomplishment
1. Another conflict imminent between Egypt and Israel.
2. Carter invited President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin
of Israel to a summit conference at Camp David.
3. After 13 days, Carter persuaded them to sign an accord that seemed to
place the two countries on a solid road toward peace.
4. Palestinian Liberation Front (PLO) led by Yasser Arafat would use
terrorism to protest the existence of Israel.

5. Sadat eventually assassinated by Muslim extremists.

D. Recognition of China
1. Carter ended official recognition of Taiwan and in 1979 recognized the
People?s Republic of China.
2. Conservatives called the decision a "sell out"
3. UN had recognized Communist China in 1972 as a member of UN Security Council
E. Cold War politics
1. SALT II
a. SALT I treaty due to expire in late 1977.
-- Carter called for a renewing of the SALT accords and extending them to
include real reductions in nuclear armaments.
b. 1979, Carter signed SALT II with the USSR.
c. Not ratified by the Senate in light of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
2. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (end of d nte) -- December 1979
a. Carter?s proclaimed U.S. would "use any means necessary, including force,"
to protect the Persian Gulf against Soviet aggression.
b. Stopped shipments of grain and certain advanced technology to the USSR
c. Withdrew from SALT II from the senate
d. Boycotted the 1980 summer Olympics held in Moscow.
-- In retaliation, Moscow boycotted 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
e. Soviets met stiff resistance in Afghanistan and the war became "Russia?s
Vietnam"; Soviet forces pulled out a decade later
F. Iran Hostage Crisis: biggest crisis of Carter's presidency and cost him election of 1980.
1. The Iranian Revolution
a. In 1978, a revolution forced the Shah of Iran to flee the country.
b. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a religious leader, became Iran?s leader.
-- Reversed many of Shah?s western reforms and established conservative
Islamic social order.
c. Revolutionaries called the U.S. "the Great Satan" for its support of money and
arms to the Shah of Iran.
-- CIA had put the Shah in power in 1953 after it overthrew Moussadegh supported
the Shah?s regime until his ouster.
2. American hostages
a. Carter allowed the Shah to come to the U.S. for medical treatment in Oct. 1979 after
Shah was in exile.
b. In response, about 400 Iranians (many of them students) broke into the U.S.
embassy in Tehran on November 4, taking the occupants captive.
-- Demanded Shah be returned to Iran for trial and that his wealth
be confiscated and given to Iran.
c. Carter froze Iranian assets in the U.S. and est. a trade embargo against Iran.
d. Iranians eventually freed the black and women hostages but kept 52 others.
e. April 1980, Carter ordered a Marine rescue attempt but it failed after several
helicopters broke down and another crashed, killing 8 men.
f. Carter perceived as weak, indecisive, and ineffective and suffered for it in
the 1980 elections.
3. Release of the hostages after 444 days.
a. After extensive negotiations with Iran Carter released Iranian assets and the hostages were
freed on January 20, 1980.
b. As a final insult to Carter, hostages were released after Reagan took his inaugural oath so
that Carter could not solve the crisis during his presidency.
X. Election of 1980
A. Nominations
1. Democrats nominated Jimmy Carter after a challenge from Senator Edward Kennedy.
-- Kennedy?s Chappaquiddick affair killed his candidacy
2. Republicans nominated Ronald Reagan of California
a. The leading spokesman for American conservatism
b. Became a B-grade movie star in the 1940s and was a New Deal Democrat until
he became a spokesman for General Electric in 1954 (during "red scare")
-- President of the Screen Actor?s Guild in the 1950s and helped purge
Communists from the film industry.
c. California governor from 1966 to 1974

3. John Anderson, an Independent Congressman , ran on a third party ticket.

B. Campaign
1. Reagan called for reductions in government spending and taxes, shift in power from
the federal gov?t to the states, and advocated "traditional American values" -- family,
religion, hard work, and patriotism.
a. Blasted the Soviets for their aggression and vowed to rebuild the U.S. military.
b. Received vigorous support from the "New Right" incl. evangelical Christian
groups like Jerry Falwell?s Moral Majority.
i. Denounced abortion, pornography, homosexuality, the ERA, and esp.
affirmative action.
ii. Championed prayer in schools and tougher penalties for criminals.
c. Reagan denounced the activist gov?t and failed "social engineering" of the
"Great Society" in the 1960s.
d. Promised to get the government off people's backs.
2. Carter defended his record, but was uninspiring in style.
a. Inability to control "double digit" inflation especially damaging.
b. Iran crisis also damaging.
c. Charged that Reagan was a war-monger who might push the country into
nuclear war.
C. Results: Reagan d. Carter 489 to 49
1. Reagan got over 51% of vote; Carter 41%; Anderson 7%.
2. Carter first elected president to be unseated by voters since Herbert Hoover.
3. Republicans gained control of the Senate for first time in 25 years.
4. Ushered in the conservative "Reagan Revolution" that would continue into the
mid-1990s.
XI. Reagan and the Cold War
A. Reagan?s early rhetoric vis- is Soviet Union harsh.
1. U.S. concerned about Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979
2. Sought to deal with Soviets from a position of strength by embarking on a
massive new round to the arms race.
-- American?s could better bear the burden of the expense while the Soviets couldn?t.
3. October 1981, Reagan seemed to endorse the concept that the U.S. might fight the
Soviets in a "limited" nuclear war on European soil.
-- Western Europeans horrified
B. Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) -- "Star Wars"
1. March 1983, Reagan announced his intention to pursue a high-technology missiledefense system.
a. Plan called for orbiting battle stations in space that could fire laser beams or other
forms of concentrated energy to vaporize intercontinental missiles on lift-off.
b. Reagan claimed SDI offered a nuclear umbrella over American cities.
c. Most scientists viewed SDI as impossible and it became the cause of much ridicule
in the scientific community.
2. Diplomatically, Reagan sought to use SDI to scare the Soviets.
3. NUTS vs. MAD
1. SDI upset four decades of strategic thinking about nuclear weapons.
2. Nuclear Utilization Theory (NUTs) advocated the winning of a nuclear war.
-- Reagan?s staff drew up estimates of so-called reasonable losses in the event
of a nuclear war -- some as high as 40%.
3. Hitherto, Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), had assured a "balance of
terror" for 4 decades.
4. Reagan?s dramatic increase in defense spending placed enormous pressures on the
Soviet economy.
a. When Gorbachev came to power in 1985, he would try to reform the Soviet
system rather than outcompete the U.S.
b. Some historians today credit Reagan's aggressive policies as winning the Cold War
and forcing the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.
C. "Solidarity" movement in Poland (1982) sought reforms but was ultimately stopped by
Polish military that was intimidated by Soviets to restore order.
1. Reagan imposed economic sanctions on Poland and Russia.
2. U.S. grain sales not cut off since it would hurt U.S. farmers.
D. KAL 007, September 1983

1. Soviets blew from the sky a Korean airliner carrying hundreds of civilians including
many Americans.
--Plane had accidently veered into Soviet airspace.
2. By end of 1983, all arms-control negotiations with Russians were broken off.
3. "Evil Empire" speech -- Reagan called the USSR "the evil empire" and the "focus of
evil in the modern world."
-- Justified his military build-up as necessary to thwart aggressive Soviets.
E. Middle East foreign policy challenges
1. Lebanon
a. Reagan sent Marines to Lebanon in 1983 as part of an international peacekeeping
force after Israeli attacks against Palestinian strongholds in Lebanon caused chaos.
b. October 23, 1983, a suicide bomber crashed his truck into a U.S. Marine
barracks killing 241 Marines.
i. Reagan soon pulled remaining American troops while suffering no political
damage from the attack.
ii. Opponents called him a "Teflon president" to whom nothing hurtful could stick.
2. Bombing of Libya
a. Reagan ordered the bombing of Libya in 1986 in retaliation for an alleged
Libyan-sponsored bombing of a West Berlin discotheque that killed a U.S. serviceman.
b. Col. Mommar Qaddafi had long been a sponsor for terrorism against the West.
3. Iran-Iraq War
-- U.S. backed Iraq and its leader Saddam Hussein as Iran and the U.S. had
become bitter enemies since 1979 Iranian Revolution.
F. Western Hemisphere foreign policy challenges
1. Nicaragua
a. "Sandanistas" were socialist revolutionaries who made practice condemning
capitalism and U.S. policies in Latin America; supported by Cuba.
b. Reagan accused Sandanistas of turning their country into a forward base for
Soviet and Cuban military penetration of all of Central America.
c. Reagan sent covert aid including CIA-led mining of harbors to the "contra"
rebels ("freedom fighters") opposing the anti-U.S. gov?t in Nicaragua.
-- Resulted in the Iran-Contra Scandal
2. El Salvador
a. Reagan sent military "advisors" to prop up pro-U.S. (anti-communist) gov?t of
El Salvador as well as gaining congressional approval for $5 billion in aid.
b. Public opinion soured after news of gov?t "death squads" eliminating
hundreds, perhaps thousands of opposition.
3. Grenada
a. In 1983, Reagan sends 6,000 troops to tiny Grenada in the Caribbean where a
military coup had killed the prime minister and brought a Marxist regime to power.
b. U.S. forces successfully overran the island
XII. The End of the Cold War
A. Mikhail Gorbachev
1. 1985, Gorbachev became a reform-minded leader of the Soviet Union.
-- Allowed for free-speech, capitalist economic reforms, and some democracy.
2. Gorbachev courts the West
-- Stated Soviets would cease deployment of intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF)
targeted on Western Europe if the U.S. agreed to their elimination.
3. INF Treaty signed in Washington, D.C. in December 1987 (after 2 years of negotiations)
a. All intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe banned.
b. Significant break through in the Cold War.
c. Reagan & Gorbachev: "Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought"
B. "Iron Curtain" fell in 1989
1. Costs of maintaining satellite countries, both politically and economically, were too much
of a burden for the Soviets too handle.
-- Gorbachev's political reforms opened the floodgates for the democratization of Eastern
Europe and the decline of Soviet influence.
2. Solidarity prevails in Poland in August 1989
-- Wave of freedom spread through eastern Europe.
3. Hungary in October
4. Berlin Wall torn down in November; Germany reunited in October 1990

5. Bulgaria in November
6. Czechoslovakia ("the velvet revolution") in December
7. Romania in December (most violent of the 1989 European revolutions)
C. Reduction of nuclear weapons
1. President George Bush & Gorbachev agree to dramatic cutbacks in ICBMs in 1990s.
2. START -- strategic arms reduction treaty.
a. Would cut 10% of U.S. nuclear weapons and 25% of Soviet nukes and
limit ICBM warheads to 1,100 each.
b. Later treaty called for 50% reductions within a few years.
3. American analysts began discussing possible "peace dividend" which could be used
for social programs, rebuilding infrastructure, and reduction of national debt.
D. Fall of the Soviet Union (December 25, 1991) resulted in end of Cold War
III. Reagan?s domestic policy -- 1st term
A. Assassination attempt in March 1981 nearly killed Reagan
-- White House Press Sec. James Brady shot in the head and debilitated for years after.
B. Reaganomics -- Supply-side economics
1. Reagan cut taxes on the "trickle down" idea that if the people had more money, they
would invest rather then spend the excess on consumer goods.
a. Results would be greater production, more jobs, and greater prosperity
b. Gov?t revenues would increase despite lower taxes.
2. Economic Recovery Tax Act, 1981
-- Congress granted Reagan a 25% cut, spread over three years.
3. Reagan enacted large budget cuts in domestic programs inc. education, food stamps,
public housing, and National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities.
-- Reagan said he would maintain a "safety net" for the "truly needy"
focusing on those unable to work because of disability or need for child care.
4. Defense budget increased by $12 billion.
5. Result: huge budget deficits that resulted in rise in national debt from $1 trillion in 1980
to $3 trillion in 1988
a. Taxes had to be implemented in 1984 in order to make up for budget deficit.
b. In mid-1980s, U.S. became a debtor nation for 1st time since WWI.
C. Recession
1. By Dec. 1982, economy in recession due to Federal Reserve?s "tight money" policy.
a. 10% unemployment.
b. Deficit of $59 billion in 1980 reached $159 billion by 1983.
2. Yet, inflation fell from 12% in 1979 to 4% in 1984.
-- Helped by lower demand for goods and oversupply of oil.
3. Federal Reserve Board began to lower interest rates which together with lower
inflation and more spendable income due to lower taxes, resulted in an increase
in business.
-- Unemployment fell to less than 8%.
D. Deregulation (begun under Carter)
1. Reagan and Congress deregulated AT&T, airline, and trucking industries.
-- Consolidation resulted with many smaller companies going under.
2. S & L bailout
a. In 1982, many savings and loan institutions were threatened with insolvency.
b. Reagan pushed for deregulation of the savings and loan industries paved the way
for banks to make riskier loans and for shady administrators to bilk millions.
i. Third World countries unable to repay risky loans.
ii. Wave of mergers, acquisitions, and leveraged buyouts (LBOs)
left companies saddled with heavy debt.
-- Bankruptcy became a convenient way to escape debt and became
a hefty tax write-off.
c. Starting in 1989, the gov?t was forced to bail out over $500 million worth of bank
failures; the taxpayers covered the bill.
E. Air Traffic Controllers strike
1. August 1981, federally employed air traffic controllers entered an illegal strike.
2. Reagan fired 11,400 of them after they refused to follow his order to return to work.
-- Began training replacements and used military controllers during the interim.
3. Air traffic controllers? union destroyed
F. Women and minorities

1. Reagan appointed Sandra Day O?Connor as the first female associate justice to the
Supreme Court in U.S. history.
2. Yet, Reagan gave fewer appointments to women and minorities than the Carter
administration.
3. Reagan opposed "equal pay for equal work" and renewal of the Voting Rights Act of
1965.
G. Election of 1984
1. Democrats nominated Walter Mondale, former v.p. under Carter and former senator
a. Geraldine Ferraro nominated as first female v.p. nominee in U.S. history.
b. Mondale criticized Reagan for his budget deficits, high unemployment and interest rates,
and reduction of spending on social services.
2. Ronald Reagan and George Bush renominated by the Republican party.
3. Reagan d. Mondale 525 to 13 and gained 60% of popular vote.
a. Democratic coalition from the days of FDR consisting of industrial workers, farmers,
and the poor broken apart.
-- Only blacks remained as a Democratic voting block.
IV. Reagan?s Domestic Policy -- 2nd Term
A. Tax Reform Act of 1986
1. Lowered tax rates, changing the highest rate on personal
income from 50% to 28% and corporate taxes from 46% to 34%.
2. Removed many tax shelters and tax credits.
B. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
1. Attempted to deal with problem of illegal immigration
a. Escalated penalties on employers hiring undocumented workers
b. Increased resources of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to enforce the law.
2. Offered resident alien status to any individual who proved they had been living in
the U.S. continually since 1982.
3. Result: Reduced flow of immigration until global recession of early 1990s.
C. Iran-Contra Scandal (see "Imperial Presidency" above)
D. Mergers
a. Encouraging by deregulation under Carter and Reagan as well as emerging int?l
economy, and fueled by funds released by new tax breaks, mergers became a
widespread phenomenon in the 1980.
b. Multinational corporations began to dominate the international economy.
E. Black Monday, October 19, 1987
a. Stock prices had soared in the early 80s due in part to Reagan?s easing of controls on the
stock market, brokerage houses, banks, and savings and loan institutions.
b. October 19, 1987, Dow Jones stock market average dropped over 500 points.
c. Fearing recession, Congress reduced 1988 taxes by $30 billion.
d. By the mid-1990s, stock market indexes doubled in light of a more stable economy.
F. Challenger explosion, February 1986 killed 7 astronauts (including 1st teacher in space)
-- Damaged NASA?s credibility and reinforced doubts about the complex
technology required for the SDI program.
G. Supreme Court -- Culture War?
a. Reagan sought to demolish two liberal cultural strongholds: affirmative action and abortion.
b. Effectively ended affirmative action in gov?t
c. Overturned desegregation laws
d. Ended voting districts based on race (North Carolina gerrymandering case)
H. Reagan?s economic legacy
a. Tax cuts and increased military spending created lost revenue of $200 billion per year.
b. National debt tripled from about 1 billion in 1980 to about 3 billion in 1988.
c. Deficts did not begin to diminish until Clinton's presidency in mid-1990s
d. Debt serendipitous for conservatives
-- Reduced growth of gov?t and led to cuts in social spending since less
money available for gov?t to spend
AMERICAN SOCIETY SINCE WWII
I. Demography and economics
A. GI Bill of Rights (Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944)

1. Response to fears of unemployment resulting from 15 million returning GIs from WWII.
2. Sent millions of veterans to school.
-- Majority attended technical and vocational schools.
3. Veteran?s Administration (VA) guaranteed about $16 billion in loans for veterans
to buy homes, farms, and small businesses.
4. Bill contributed to economic prosperity that emerged in late 1940s and into 1950s
B. Baby Boom
1. In the 1950s, population grew by over 28 million; 97% in urban and suburban areas.
2. Between 1946 and 1961, 63.5 million babies were born
3. Proportional growth in population unprecedented in American history.
C. Economic boom: 1950-1970 -- "The Affluent Society"
1. National income nearly doubled in 1950s; almost doubled again in 1960s.
a. Americans had about 40% of world?s wealth despite only 6% of population.
b. By mid-1950s, 60% of Americans owned their own homes compared with
only 40% in the 1920s.
c. Majority of postwar jobs went to women in urban offices and shops.
i. By 1990s, women would account for about half of total workers.
ii. Clash between demands of suburban domesticity and realities
of employment sparked the feminist revolt in the 1960s.
d. Economy largely fueled by the growth of the defense industry.
-- Accounted for over 50% of the national budget by 1960.
e. Cheap energy and increased supply of power facilitated growth.
f. Rising productivity (due to increases in education and technology) increased
the average Americans standard of living two-fold.
2. Consumerism mushroomed as Americans had more disposable income to purchase
on consumer goods (cars, TVs, refrigerators, vacations, etc.)
3. Middle class
a. 5.7 million in 1947; over 12 million by early 1960s.
b. Suburbs
i. Grew 6X faster than cities in 1950s.
ii. Resulted from increased car production, white flight from urban areas due to black
migration into Northern and Midwestern cities, and gov?t policies that insured both
builders and homeowners.
c. Cult of domesticity re-emerges
i. A few advocated that science supported the idea that women could only find
fulfillment as a homemaker.
ii. The concept of a woman?s place being in the home was widespread in magazines,
TV, and society in general.
d. Dr. Benjamin Spock: The Commonsense Book of Baby and Child Care
i. Sold an average of 1 million copies per year between 1946 and 1960.
ii. Argued that parents should create a nurturing environment for their children
and trust their instincts as parents.
4. Labor movement
a. 1950s was apex of labor movement.
b. Percentage of union workers has decreased from about 30% to below 18%
D. Sunbelt vs. Frostbelt (or Rustbelt)
1. Sunbelt is a 15-state area stretching from Virginia through Florida and Texas to
Arizona and California (includes all former Confederate states)
2. Advent of air-conditioning spurred enormous growth
a. Population increase twice that of the old industrial zones of the Northeast.
b. California which became most populous state by 1963.
3. War industries and high-tech industries attracted millions to the west coast.
4. Aerospace industry and huge military installations attracted millions to Texas and
Florida.
5. Traditional midwest industrial workers lost ground as many of their jobs were
shipped overseas.
6. "Rustbelt" states of the Ohio Valley angered at federal outlays for Southern
and Western states
-- South and West received $125 billion more than Northeast and Midwest.
7. Every president elected since 1964 has come from the Sunbelt.
8. Sunbelt?s representation in Congress has increased significantly.
E. The New Immigration

1. Immigration Act of 1965 spawned a flood of immigration from Latin America (especially
Mexico) and Asia (esp. Southeast Asia, Korea, and the Philippines) for the next three
decades.
2. Estimated undocumented aliens by 1985: 8 million
3. Sunbelt most impacted esp. California, Texas, and Florida; mostly Hispanic immigrants
a. By 1990, Hispanics accounted for 25% of population in Texas, Arizona, and California
(over 50% of Hispanic population was Mexican)
4. Resentment among native-born Americans resulted in political backlash against
immigrants in the 1990s, especially California
F. Shift from manufacturing economy to service economy after 1970
1. Large % of manufacturing jobs went overseas due to cheaper labor there.
2. "Stagflation" plagued the U.S. economy in the 1970s during the Ford and Carter
administrations.
-- Caused by energy crisis, inflationary spending during the 1960s, and a host of other
issues (see 1970s chapter)
3. Service industries grew significantly, especially retail.
4. "Information Age" emerged in the 1980s
5. Personal computer revolution hit in 1980s and continued into 21st century
-- Internet became widely available to the public in mid-1990s
G.1980s saw significant economic growth and low inflation under Ronald Reagan
1. Tax cuts coupled with increased defense spending stimulated the economy but resulted in
huge deficits and a tripling of the national debt by 1988.
II. Culture
A. Leisure
a. TV emerged as the most popular entertainment medium in the 1950s replacing radio (TV
hit the consumer market in 1947)
b. Some movie stars became icons to the younger generation in 1950s: James Dean, Marilyn
Monroe
B. Rock n? Roll: derived from African American blues (before Elvis it was known as "race"
music)
-- Elvis Presley burst on the scene in 1956 as brought rock n' roll to the masses
C. Art
1. Abstract expressionism (1950s)
a. Artists attempted spontaneous expression of their subjectivity using splattered paint and
color field painting.
b. Included Jackson Pollock, Willem deKooning, and Mark Rothko.
2. Pop Art in the 1960s
a. Andy Warhol -- Drew subjects from elements of popular culture (e.g.
advertising, comics, and hamburgers).
b. Also, Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg.
D. The Beat generation (beatniks) -- late 1950s
a. Group of young men alienated by 20th-century life.
-- Movement began in Greenwich Village, NY.
b. Jack Kerouac: On the Road became the "bible" for restless youth
c. Other prominent figures included Allen Ginsburg ("Howl" -- 1956)
d. Emphasized alcohol, drugs, sex, jazz, Buddhism, and a vagabond lifestyle.
E. Rise of the "New Left" and "counterculture"
1. Impact of baby boom generation
a. 1950 -- 1 million went to college; 1960 -- 4 million
b. Raised largely in economic security; 75% of college students came from families with
income above the national average.
c. Student protest movement only a minority of student population -- 10-15%
2. New Left
a. By mid-1960s majority of Americans were under age 30.
b. Universities became perceived as bureaucracies indifferent to student needs.
c. Students for a Democratic Society, headed by Tom Hayden called for
"participatory democracy."
d. Free Speech Movement
i. Students at U.C. Berkeley stated sit-ins in 1964 to protest prohibition of political
canvassing on campus.
ii. Came to emphasize the criticism of the bureaucracy of American society.

-- Police broke up a sit-in in December and protests spread to other campuses

3. SDS would become more militant during the Vietnam War.
4. Counterculture
a. Like New Left, felt alienated by bureaucracy, materialism, and the Vietnam War.
i. Turned away from politics in favor of an alternative society.
ii. In many ways, they were heirs of the Beats.
b. "Hippies"
i. Experimented with Eastern religions, drugs, and sex.
ii. Many involved in urban communes e.g. Haight-Ashbury district; others in rural areas.
iii. Leading spokespeople: Timothy Leary, Theodore Roszak
-- Charles Reich: The Greening of America
iv. "flower children"
v. Most unable to establish sustaining lifestyle.
c. Music of the counterculture
i. Music: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger
ii. Beatles became influenced by Americans counterculture
iii. Woodstock, August, 1969
-- Featured Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Santana.
-- Unrestrained drug use and sex
d. By early 1970s, counterculture was shrinking as a result of either its excesses or its
members re-entering the mainstream.
III. Changes in Society
A. The Sexual Revolution (began in early 1960s)
1. Birth control pill and antibiotics encourage freer sexual practices beginning in early
1960s.
2. Challenged traditional values of pre-marital sex as taboo.
3. Gay and Lesbian rights activists emerged in the 1960s and 1970s.
4. AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) became an epidemic in the 1980s
a. Initially received little attention as earliest victims were gay men and intravenous drug
users.
b. By end of 1980s, at least 600,000 were infected.
-- Many were heterosexual; nation became intensely alerted.
c. By mid-1990s drugs to prevent the onset of AIDS showed promise.
B. Breakdown of the family
1. Divorce rates doubled in decade after 1965
-- By 1990, 50% of marriages ended in divorce.
2. Proportion of adults living alone tripled between 1950 and 1980.
3. Children born to unmarried mothers
-- Whites = 1 out of 6; Hispanics = 1 out of 3; African Americans = 1 out of 2.
4. TVs came to replace many parents as average child watched up to 15,000 hours of TV
by age 16.
C. Fundamentalist resurgence -- "Religious Right"
1. Born-again Christians began to exert more political influence in late 1970s.
2. "Culture War": Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority allied with Ronald Reagan
during his presidency.
i. Denounced abortion, pornography, homosexuality, the ERA, and esp.
affirmative action.
ii. Championed prayer in schools and teaching of creationism in the public schools.
iii. Advocated tougher penalties for criminals and strong national defense.
3. Mid-eighties, Pat Roberston emerged as leading figure as head of Christian Coalition
-- Ran an unsuccessful bid the Republican nomination in 1988.
4. The "Religious Right" became an influential minority in the Republican Party
-- A significant portion of this group rested in the "Bible Belt" of the Old South.
D. Civil Rights
1. African American rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s
2. Women's Rights movement in the 1960s
3. Chicanos in the 1960s and 70s
4. Native Americans in the 1970s
5. Gays and lesbians after 1970