UNIT 16

1960’s

TASK:

Research Election of 1960 Who were the candidates and for what political party did they run?

Who won the election? Why was it unique?

Define: Foreign Policy

KENNEDY’S FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES Bay of Pigs Invasion One of the US’s greatest blunders CIA led invasion of Cuba by Anti-Castro rebels 1400 rebels defeated by 14,000 Cuban soldiers Kennedy accepted responsibility – admitted it was a

costly mistake for the US

Task: Why was the US so worried about Cuba?Who was Fidel Castro?

Cuban Missile Crisis

After turning Communist– Cuba looked to USSR for economic and military assistance

Seeing an opportunity, USSR put nuclear missiles in Cuba – they said to defend Cuba from US invasion

US argued they were to close to US – JFK told USSR to get them out or else!

The crisis became the closest that mankind has ever come to destroying the planet. A nuclear war was close.

The USSR backed down – they removed the missiles US agreed to remove some missiles in Turkey USSR was embarrassed over the incident

Berlin Wall

Since the end of WWII, the division of Germany into Communist East Germany and a Democratic West Germany added to the Cold War tensions.

Kennedy (US)and Khrushchev (USSR) met in June 1961 to discuss relations

US ended up increasing military and financial commitment to West Germany

USSR responded by building a wall between East and West Berlin

Berlin Wall was meant to stop East Germans escaping to freedom in the West – became a symbol of tyranny

Peace Corps

Volunteers were sent to developing nations to help with the day-to-day activities in villages

Helped change the impression on other nations of the “ugly american”

Race to the Moon

Begun with Kennedy’s inaugural speech where he declared the US would get to the moon by the end of 1960’s

Money and support poured into NASA

Task: who was the 1st astronaut in space?

who was the 1st astronaut to orbit the moon?

THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION On a visit to Dallas, Texas in November 1963

President JFK was assassinated in downtown Dallas while riding in a motorcade

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination

Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald while he was being transferred at the police station

An extremely emotional event in American History

THE GREAT SOCIETY Lyndon B. Johnson took over as president after JFK was assassinated Johnson expanded Kennedy’s social programs and his plan became

know as “The Great Society” – goal was to close the gap between rich and poor

War on poverty Created the Office of Economic Opportunity - VISTA(Volunteers in Service of America) – work to help needy people in America The Elementary and Secondary Education Act – provided federal aid to education with

large amounts going to districts with low-income families Food Stamp Program – assistance for low-income families to purchase food Created Department of Housing and Urban Development

End of the Great Society – Politics in 1968 Younger people were disillusioned with the established norms of society Pollution was taking its toll The Vietnam War was lingering on and becoming a social issue as well as a political one The Democrats were divided and lost to a united Republican Party

THE VIETNAM WAR

Early US involvement: Containment– The US Cold War policy of trying to stop

the spread of communism in the world Domino Theory - belief that if South Vietnam fell to

Communism – then neighboring nations would also, and so on, and so on

JOHNSON’S WAR

Gulf of Tonkin

The incident: US naval ships were reportedly fired on by North Vietnamese patrol boats

Resolution: Johnson asked Congress for more authority to fight in Vietnam

Escalation: US soldiers were no longer just advisors to the South, they were fighting the war

Tet Offensive

January 1968– during the Vietnamese New Year Holiday known as “Tet”

Massive attack by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops against US forces

Turned many Americans against the war and changed the political scene in the US for the upcoming 1968 presidential election

Domestic TurmoilSome young people became disillusioned with traditional American values

- Draft Protest: demonstrations against the War increased heavily toward the end of the 1960’s-Draft Resisters: People unwilling to serve in the military looked for ways not to have to serve after being drafted -Student Protests: college campuses became centers of political protest against the war-Protest Marches: people of all ages joined in marches against the war – 1st huge march took place in Washington, DC in 1965

NIXON’S WAR

Vietnamization:-after being elected President Nixon announced his plan to switch the responsibility of fighting the war to South Vietnam-US would honor its treaty commitments to aid the military when asked-Slowly US troops would begin to withdraw

Pentagon Papers

Late in the war the government ordered a study of the US involvement

The report was top secret, but one of its writers leaked it to the press

The report was very critical of the US decision making and motivations

NY Times vs. United States: government tried to stop the printing of the “Pentagon Papers” (as the secret report became known as) by 6-3 vote the Supreme Court ruled against the government- citing freedom of the press

Task: What amendment protects freedom of the press?

Paris Peace Talks

Finally a cease fire agreement was reached in 1973

US agreed to recognize the nation of Vietnam and withdraw all troops

Vietnam agreed to release all POW’s (prisoners of war) and account for all MIA’s (missing in action)

Withdrawal:By April 1975, Communist forces took over all of South Vietnam and the war was over

Today there is 1 Vietnam

Definitions:New FrontierGreat SocietyVietnamization