The Kennedy Presidency, LBJ’s Great Society, and the War in

Vietnam

Emily Lindsay and Jabari Cook Topic 6

Electing Kennedy-John F. Kennedy: came from wealthy background, was a war hero in WWII, very charismatic, telegenic

-Promised “New Frontier” in American democracy to “get this country moving again”

-Compared to his opponent Nixon, Kennedy looked very confident, poised

-Perceived as a celebrity figure – witty, graceful, tasteful

Kennedy at Home and Abroad • Rarely pressed for social legislation – New Frontier was

doomed. Domestically, Kennedy focused on economic growth and expanding the defense budget • Defense budget boosted by 20%, reaching height in 1963 –

increased nuclear stockpiles, est. Green Berets • Race to the moon as a way to prove American technological

superiority

• Believed that American security depended on superior force and a willingness to use it • CIA plan to invade Cuba – Bay of Pigs, Spring 1961 • Quarantine on Cuba to prevent the delivery of more Soviet

missiles – U.S. troops prepared to invade if Soviets threaten blockade

• Escalated the arms race

LBJ and the Great Society• Kennedy is assassinated in November 1963

• Lyndon Baines Johnson sworn in – then wins the election of 1964 in a landslide

• Johnson proposes his vision for a Great Society – a place of abundance and liberty for all • Quick passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a $10 billion

tax reduction bill • Declared the “war on poverty” • Medicare and Medicaid; legislation to protect the environment;

Immigration Act of 1965; Voting Rights Act

• Revolutionary liberal legislation, but underfunded by Congress – remains more a dream than a reality for most, as funds diverted to Vietnam War efforts

The Warren Court• Liberal Supreme Court,

headed by Earl Warren, is responsible for many revolutionary Court decisions and for supporting an activist government

• Miranda v. Arizona

• Engel v. Vitale – prohibited Bible reading in public schools

Vietnam Crusade: Origins❖ Containment: First proposed during the Truman Administration by George F. Kennan, containment was a

policy instigated by the U.S. during the Cold War to keep communism from expanding any further

❖ The Domino Theory: if one country succeeded to communism influences, its neighbors would follow ❖ Eisenhower and Kennedy were staunch believers in this theory

❖ Resulted in Eisenhower not signing the 1954 Geneva Peace Treaty ❖ Said that Vietnam would be split along the 17th parallel until the elections in Vietnam in 1956

❖ U.S supported France in its mission to regain control over Indochina and fight against Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh, 1954

❖ French surrender in May 1954, followed with Geneva Peace Treaty meeting

❖ 1954: The CIA installs Ngo Dinh Diem as Vietnamese Premier

❖ Most Vietnamese citizens opposed Diem due to his Catholic faith, given that the nation was primarily Buddhist.

❖ The National Liberation Front (Vietcong) staunchly opposed Diem’s leadership and led a coup against him

Vietnam Crusade: Kennedy and LBJ

❖ Kennedy Administration supports the coup against Diem ❖ Major increase in U.S. involvement in the war; saw communism as a “monolithic

force”

❖ Munich Analogy: belief that unchecked aggression would lead to wider, more devastating wars

❖ Kennedy assassinated a month after Diem is

❖ LBJ ❖ Can either choose to withdraw troops (which would lead to communism taking

over in Asia) or deposit more troops (which would result in a higher death toll); chose to send in more troops because it meant that there was less of a chance that communism would take over

❖ Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: 1964; Congress gives LBJ the authority to “prevent further aggression”; very broad language

❖ 1965: Operation Rolling Thunder-daily bombing of North Vietnam; failed to check aggression

❖ 1967: 485,000 more U.S. troops deployed to Vietnam

Vietnam Crusade: Nixon and the End of the War

❖ Nixon had three goals to end United States involvement in the war:

❖ Vietnamization: replace U.S. troops with South Vietnamese troops

❖ Secretly send Kissinger to negotiate with Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam

❖ Continue bombing North Vietnam and begin bombing Cambodia and Laos, forcing the communists to compromise

❖ Nixon Doctrine: 1969; U.S. is now a helpful partner to the Third World instead a protector

❖ Paris Peace Conference: began in 1968, finished in 1973 with the Paris Peace Accords

❖ U.S. promises no more involvement in the conflict

❖ U.S. looses the war

Nixon’s Foreign Policy ❖ Détente

❖ Negotiates SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) with the Soviet Union in 1972

❖ Was meant to instill “strategic equality” by freezing nuclear arms production for 5 years

❖ Creates relations with China after traveling to the country in 1972

❖ Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty: no missile defense systems in the United States and Russia

❖ Shuttle Diplomacy

❖ Flew between Middle Eastern capitals to pressure Israel to give back some Palestinian captured land and to persuade Palestine to end the embargo on oil

❖ Nixon-Kissinger “realpolitik” said that the U.S.’s willingness to give aid to countries was only on the basis of whether a country was willing to oppose communism or not

Vietnam Crusade: the Tet Offensive and Domestic Backlash ❖ Tet Offensive: January 31, 1968; Vietcong and North

Vietnam attack South Vietnam ❖ U.S. and South Vietnam are able to hold back the

attacks ❖ Many civilians, including women and children, die,

resulting in major outrage in the U.S. ❖ LBJ is hated

❖ Outrage on the domestic front ❖ Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam: 1967;

500,000 gather in New York and San Francisco to protest the war

❖ Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, and many others deplore the war

❖ “Hawks” vs. “Doves” ❖ Protest against companies creating chemical weaponry

such as Agent Orange and napalm bombs ❖ Aside from being outraged by the loss of innocent

life abroad, what else might have caused protest and opposition of the war at home?