Unit 8 cold war and civil unrest 1945 to 1980

Unit 8: Cold War and Civil Unrest 1945-1980

Section 1: Fear, Family and Innocence Lost: The Long 50’s

Essential Questions

• Were methods used by the U.S. to contain communism (both at home and abroad) justified?

• How did Cold War anxieties affect Americans’ lives? What were we afraid of?

• Was the “long ‘50s” an age of affluence for all Americans? What social and economic conflicts were bubbling under the surface?

WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL: THE STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

Section 2

Essential Questions

• Was the civil right movement a success or a failure? Did it end?

• Was it inevitable that the multifaceted civil rights movement was met with stern and sometimes violent opposition?

• Why did some civil rights activists reject nonviolent civil disobedience in favor of a more aggressive stance?

The term “civil rights” includes the equality of rights for the following minorities in varying degrees:

RACE

Gender

ETHNICITY

RELIGION SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Civil Rights applied to whom?

“Civil Rights” came about as a result of what contentious & “peculiar” institution in America’s history?

• 1954:Supreme Court ruled that separate was not equal and that public schools must be desegregated.

• Chief Justice Earl Warren: “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” => impact?

Brown v. Board of Education:

Major Turning Point in Civil RightsWhat major Court ruling changed the course for Civil Rights?

Supreme Court reversed Plessy v. Ferguson=> and put a legal end to ”separate but equal”

Thurgood Marshall argued against the continuance of school segregation in a

class action suit before the Court

Was that the end of segregation?

Brown v. Board of Education II:

• States- especially in South, resisted…– In response: Court ordered an end to segregation with

“All deliberate speed”

• South’s reaction?– ? resistance

• Federal Government’s Response?– 1957 Little Rock High School

• Ike activates National Guard to enforce Court’s order

– 1962 University of Mississippi• JFK sends in 82nd Airborne & Federal Marshalls

to enforce Court’s order

– 1963 University of Alabama • JFK sends in US Marshals & forces Governor Wallace to back down

• It would take 15 yrs from Brown I to de-segregate11

The Civil Rights Movement• Movement’s Strategy: – Non-violent protest of segregated American society

• Movement’s tactic: Civil disobedience

• Key illustrations of Movement’s Strategy & Tactics:– “Lunch counter sit-ins” beginning Feb 1960 in Greensboro, NC– CORE Freedom Rides – summer of 1961=>

• Escalating violence erupts throughout the South– MLK & Birmingham protest march => more violence– Voter registration drives in South => still more violence

• Tactics serving strategy: – Non-violent protesters attacked with water canon and police

dogs viewed by America on national TV– Nation’s reaction (disgust & guilt) => impact on Congress?

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Congressional Response • Civil Rights Acts (1957-1960) => – Mostly symbolic and short of the mark

• JFK’s assassination => major impact on public & Congress• Guilt and momentum & LBJ’s support =>– Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Voting Rights Act of 1965 (significance?)• Legal protection for minority suffrage

• Voting Rights Acts (follow-up & expansion) of 1968,1974,1991

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HOUSE BURNING DOWN: VIETNAM AND LIBERALISM’S DESCENT

Section 3

Essential Questions

• Why were we in Vietnam? Could the war have been avoided?

• Did LBJ keep his promises to the American people? Was the “Great Society” a far-fetched idea?

Where is Vietnam?

Why Did the United States Fight a War in Vietnam?

• Basically to hold the line against the spread of world Communism. America paid for the war the French fought against Communist Vietnam as a part of the Truman Doctrine (1947) “to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against … totalitarian regimes.” In the 1950’s, America became involved again.

Longest and Most Unpopular War (Until Iraq)

• The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular war in American history. During the war:– 58,000 Americans lost their lives.

• The oldest man killed was 62 years old; the youngest, 16.

• 61% of the men killed were 21 or younger.

– 304,000 were wounded.– 75,000 were severely disabled. – The United States spent over $200

billion dollars on the war.

The Domino Theory• American policymakers developed the “Domino

Theory” as a justification for the involvement. This theory stated, “If South Vietnam falls to the Communist, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, India and Pakistan would also fall like dominos. The Pacific Islands and even Australia could be at risk”.

WHO CAN WE TRUST? SCANDAL, STAGFLATION, & A CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE

Section 4

Essential Questions

• Should Richard Nixon have resigned the Presidency? Should Gerald Ford have granted him a pardon?

• Why was Jimmy Carter unable to retain the Presidency? Should he have acted differently?

Nixon’s Conservative Backlash wins in 1968.

• Inflation, rising prices, and funding for Great Society, cost of living tripled.

• Stagnant economy and an unpopular war. • Nixon “Vietnamizes” the war in 1973.

(540,000 troops)• My Lai and the Cambodia attacks create a

negative image and protests.

First Term and Re-election

• Twenty-sixth Amendment (vote @ 18)• Détente (better relations with China and the Soviet

Union), SALT, and Henry Kissinger (national security advisor).

• 1972 Democrat George McGovern was a liberal dove alienated the working class.

• With a “peace is at hand” statement, Nixon won with a landslide in 72: 520 electoral votes to 17.

Watergate and Impeachment

• Nixon’s paranoia led him to create the “Plumbers” unit of CREEP. June 17, 1972 five men arrested in Democratic headquarters with “bugging” equipment.

• Secretive, unethical, unlawful use of FBI, CIA, IRS, the enemies list, Vice President Agnew, and many resignations.

• Gerald Ford is appointed Vice President.• The White House tapes, impeachment, resignation

on August 8, 1974. Ford takes oath as the first un-elected President.

Another End to the War!

• Secret bombings in Cambodia against Pol Pot and his regime.

• 1975 North Vietnamese move South and take over South Vietnam. Evacuation of remaining US citizens and 140,000 S. Vietnamese.

• Later some 500,000 S. Vietnamese arrive in the US• 56,000 U.S. deaths, 300,000 injuries, and $118

billion.

Mr. Carter• Bicentennial election with Ford (R) versus Carter (D).

Carter won with a narrow victory.• Positive diplomacy: peace between Israel and Egypt,

canal ownership to Panama, and relations open with Soviets.

• Negative diplomacy: Cuban/Soviet troops in Africa, US supported Iranian government overthrown, SALT II talks halted because of Khomeini and the anti-American Muslims attack on the US embassy (hostages), Soviets attack Afghanistan (Soviet’s Vietnam).