America During Its Longest War, 1963-1974 © 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved. Chapter 29.

America During Its Longest War, 1963-1974

© 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved.

Chapter 29Chapter 29

The Great Society

• Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1969)– Consummate legislative horse trader– Helped transform Texas economy with his

power in Congress– Wanted to expand that transformation to all of

America

(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved

Closing the New Frontier

• Economic Opportunity Act (1964)– Office of Economic Opportunity– VISTA– Job Corps

• Civil Rights Act (1964)– Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)– Title VII

• “Freedom Summer”• Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party


The Election of 1964

• Barry Goldwater– Militant anti-communism– Anti-Civil Rights Act– “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice”

• Johnson wins spectacularly• Goldwater’s campaign energizes future

Conservative leaders– George Wallace– Ronald Reagan– William Rehnquist


Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society

• Medicare and Medicaid• Department of Housing and Urban Development

(HUD)• Voting Rights Act (1965)• "War on Poverty"• “Model Cities Program”• Head Start• Community Action Program


Evaluating the Great Society

• Johnson’s dramatic extension of Washington’s power rekindled debates about government’s role

• Conservative opponents– George Wallace– Barry Goldwater

• Charles Murray Losing Ground (1984)• Great Society: did not redistribute wealth in America• Great Society: first significant investment of federal

money in domestic social programs since the New Deal


Escalation in Vietnam

• Escalation of the war overseas demanded the administration’s energy and resources

• Vietnam war – alienated many Americans, especially the

young – divided the nation


The Tonkin Gulf Resolution• Gulf of Tonkin

– Maddox– Turner Joy

• Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964)

• South Vietnam’s government was ineffective and chaotic

• Johnson’s advisors give conflicting advice

• Johnson’s decision: "Rolling Thunder“


The War Widens

• Intervention in the Dominican Republic• William Westmoreland• "Search and destroy"• Operation RANCHHAND• Johnson’s “light at the end of the tunnel” mindset• “Pacification"• “Strategic hamlet"


The Media and the War

• Television war coverage: a “living room war”

• “Hawks” v. “doves”

• J. William Fulbright


The War at Home

• Millions of Americans eventually opposed the war in Vietnam

• By 1968, years of tensions reached a critical point


A New Left• Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

– “Port Huron Statement”– "New Left”– Civil Rights– Vietnam– Domestic economic deprivation

• Berkeley “student revolt”• Burning draft cards• “Teach-ins”


The Counterculture• “Hippies"

• Bob Dylan

• Grateful Dead

• Rolling Stones and Beatles

• Easy Rider and the “new Hollywood”

• Ford Mustang

• March on the Pentagon (1967)– Abbie Hoffman


American Attitudes Toward the Vietnam War– Responses to the question: “Do you think that the United States made a mistake in

sending troops to fight there?”


From Civil Rights to Black Power

• King and Selma march• Watts (1965)• "Black Power"• Nation of Islam

– Malcolm X– Elijah Muhammad

• Stokely Carmichael• Black Panthers• Civil Rights Act of 1968• Fair Housing Act


1968: The Violence Overseas

• "Tet Offensive“

• Westmoreland asks for 206,000 more troops

• Clark Clifford

• "Vietnamization“

• Eugene McCarthy


1968: The Violence at Home• Devastating Assassinations in 1968:

– Martin Luther King, Jr.• James Earl Ray

– Robert Kennedy

• Nixon promises restoration of “Law and Order”

• Chicago Democratic National Convention– “Police riot”– Hubert Humphrey



• Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974)• Hubert Humphrey• George Wallace

– American Independent Party– Anti-”tax and spend” Washington bureaucracy– Curtis Lemay– “Bombsey twins”

• Nixon victory– “Forgotten Americans”


The Nixon Years, 1969-1974

• Political background– House of Representatives (1946)– Senate (1950)– Vice-President (1952)

• Preoccupied with settling old scores and confronting new enemies

The Economy• Staggering decline in the economy

– Costs of war in Vietnam– Deteriorating trade balance– Rising inflation– Soaring unemployment

• “Stagflation”– Economic stagnation coupled with price inflation

• 90 day wage and price freeze• Floating exchange rates


Social Policy

• Daniel Patrick Moynihan and the Family Assistance Plan (FAP)

• “New federalism”– Block grants

• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

• “Indexing” of Social Security benefits


Social Welfare Spending, 1960-1990


Environmentalism

• Preservationist legislation• Environmentalism

– Rachel Carson Silent Spring (1962)

– Earth Day (1970)

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)• Clean Air Act of 1970• Endangered Species Act of 1972• Environmental impact statements

Controversies over Rights• Warren Court and Miranda v. Arizona (1966)• Burger Court and Dandridge v. Williams (1970)• Ralph Nader

– Unsafe at Any Speed (1965)

• Occupational Safety Act (1973)• National Organization for Women (NOW)

– Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

– Phyllis Schlafly’s “Stop ERA”

– Roe v. Wade (1973)


Foreign Policy Under Nixon and Kissinger

• Henry Kissinger, National Security Adviser– National Security Council– 1973-1977: secretary of state– Engineered grand strategies of foreign policy

• Soviets, China, disengagement in Southeast Asia


Détente

• Easing of tensions with Soviets and Communist Chinese

• Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I)

• People's Republic of China


Vietnamization• "Nixon Doctrine"• Cambodia (1970)

– Jackson State College– Kent State University

• My Lai– William Calley

• Christmas bombing• Vietnam Veterans Against the War

– "how do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake” John Kerry April 1971

• Paris Peace Accords (1973)• Collapse of Saigon


The Aftermath of War

• 1960-1973: 3.5 million men and women served in Vietnam– 58,000 died– 150,000 wounded– 2,000 missing

• Politicians and citizens alike struggled with the conditions and outcome of the war

• “No more Vietnams”


The Nixon Doctrine

• Kissinger: the U.S. would not dispatch troops to oppose revolutionary insurgencies but would give assistance to anticommunist regimes or factions

• Early 1970s, America supported staunch anticommunist powers with dictatorial governments– Iran, South Africa, Brazil– Covert CIA operations: Chile, 1970

• Senator Frank Church


The Wars of Watergate• Nixon’s paranoia

– White House secret intelligence unit

• Daniel Ellsberg– "Pentagon Papers"



• CREEP (Committee to Re-Elect the President)

• “Dirty tricksters"

• George McGovern, Democratic candidate

• Twenty-sixth Amendment, 1971– Lowered legal voting age to 18 years


Nixon Pursued

• Watergate• John Sirica• Sam Ervin• White House tapes• “Executive privilege”• Spiro Agnew• Twenty-fifth Amendment• Gerald Ford, named Vice-President


Nixon’s Last Days• Archibald Cox

• "Saturday Night Massacre”

• Leon Jaworski

• U.S. v. Nixon (1974)

• Impeachment

• “Smoking gun”

• President Gerald Ford

• Nixon pardoned(c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved

Conclusion

• Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society”

• Escalation in Vietnam– Consumed the nation and hurt the economy

• Richard Nixon– Abuse of power and Impeachment

• Generation and racial conflict

• Conflicting definitions of patriotism


http://history.wadsworth.com/murrin_LEP4e/

America During Its Longest War, 1963-1974 © 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved. Chapter 29.

Documents

Transcript of America During Its Longest War, 1963-1974 © 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved. Chapter 29.