Unit 18 The Vietnam Era

Main Idea Questions

1. What impact did President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society legislation have on America?
2. What were John F. Kennedy's methods to contain communism?
3. Why did Kennedy and Johnson push America deeper into Vietnam?
4. What impact did the Tet Offensive have on American politics?
5. What mistakes were made in Vietnam, in your opinion, that if changed, might have altered the war?
6. What do you believe was the single most important factor that led to the success of the Civil Rights Movement?

Terms

1. 1960 Election
2. Bobby Kennedy
3. Bay of Pigs
4. Cuban Missile Crisis
5. Lee Harvey Oswald
6. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committeee
7. Freedom Riders
8. James Meredith
9. Birmingham Children's March
10. Martin Luther King
11. Freedom Summer
12. Bob Moses
13. Fannie Lou Hamer
14. Malcolm X
15. Great Society
16. Civil Rights Act 1964
17. Voting Rights Act 1965
18. Tonkin Gulf Resolution
19. Tet Offensive
20. silent majority
21. Rolling Thunder
22. Ho Chi Minh Trail
23. Ia Drang Valley

1960 Election - John F. Kennedy

Once Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower served two terms, it was time to elect a new president in 1960. The Democrats nominated John F. Kennedy to run against Republican Richard M. Nixon. The 1960 election was the first election with all fifty states and was the first televised presidential election.

John F. Kennedy was a wealthy Catholic senator from Massachusetts. Kennedy's older brother was groomed from birth to be the president of the United States by the Kennedy's overbearing and rich father. When his brother was killed in WWII, the father put his focus on John F. to become president. John F. Kennedy was turned down medically by the army for service in WWII but the Navy took him and he became a highly decorated naval officer during the war. During the election of 1960 many members of the Democratic Party were concerned that since Kennedy was Catholic it would hurt his chances to be president, but those fears proved to be false when he defeated Republican Richard M. Nixon.

John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon

During his time as president, Kennedy would become most known for his role in containing communism and his involvement in Cold War events such as the Berlin Wall, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam. John F. Kennedy chose his brother, Bobby (a senator from New York), to become his Attorney General during his presidency. Bobby Kennedy gave his brother advice and made civil rights a bigger issue than his brother did. Years later in 1968 while running for president, Bobby was assassinated.

Bobby Kennedy

Bay of Pigs & Cuban Missile Crisis

In the late 1950s, communist Fidel Castro gained control of Cuba and began transforming it into a communist nation. Kennedy, not wanting to see the spread of communism so close to home, had the CIA finance and direct a landing operation by former Cuban exiles to gain control and oust Fidel Castro. They were to land at the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast Cuba. At a cost of over 13 million dollars, the attack failed because word had leaked to Castro of the proposed invasion. This failure made Kennedy look weak and was not good for his reputation.

To make matters worse, in October of 1962, the Soviet Union placed missiles on the island of Cuba, fearing that nuclear warheads could be placed so close to Florida, Kennedy had to do something about it.

Kennedy Assassination

Lee Harvey Oswald

Civil Rights - 1960s

February 1, 1960 - Four College students took a stand against segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina at a Woolworth's lunch counter by sitting in the white section of the eating place. Every day more people arrived and joined in at the sit-in. Many were arrested. Began a boycott of all businesses in Greensboro, eventually they caved and served the four original protesters. This caused more sit-ins to occur throughout the country. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was formed to organize college students in the Civil Rights Movement.

May 4, 1961 - 13 "Freedom Riders" seven black and six white activists boarded a Greyhound bus in Washington, D.C. embarking on a journey through the South to challenge segregation in bus terminals. The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that interstate transportation facilities would be desegregated. On Mother's Day at Anniston, Alabama, mob took over the bus and bombed them. Robert and John F. Kennedy negotiated with the governor of Alabama to ensure their safety the rest of the way through Alabama. The group was attacked again in Jackson, Mississippi and arrested. The federal gov't again stepped in and reversed the arrests. Feds said that force would be used if Southern states did not comply with interstate transit desegregation.

June 1963, NAACP Mississippi Director, Medgar Evers was assassinated entering his home late at night by Byron De La Beckwith. It wasn't until 2001 that Beckwith was finally convicted and sent to prison for the crime, he was 80 years old.

August 1963 - 200,000 marchers gather at Washington, D.C. for a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, where he made his "I have a dream speech."

Freedom Summer - 1964 - Northern College students led by Bob Moses go to Mississippi in order to get rural Mississippians to register to vote. With help of Fannie Lou Hamer, thousands of poor Mississippians are registered to vote. June 21, 1964 - Civil Rights workers Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner were murdered by the KKK, the national attention motivates the nation and more get involved.

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

James Meredith, a black Mississippian and Air Force veteran got his degree at the all black college Jackson State and then attempted several times to enroll at the University of Mississippi Law School. He sued based on the Board v. Brown of Education Supreme Court case, Robert Kennedy ordered federal troops to Ole' Miss to make sure Meredith was protected. He graduated in 1963. In 1966, he began his March against fear march from Memphis to Jackson, Miss., along the way he was shot by sniper, but survived.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 - forbade discrimination based on race, included work place, and gender.
Voting Rights Act of 1965 - Outlawed Southern laws that kept blacks from voting. Ended Jim Crow.

James Meredith

Bob Moses

Fannie Lou Hamer

Great Society Legislation - designed by President LBJ to introduce poverty, racial injustice, reduce crime, etc. Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, Urban Renewel, Welfare. Wanted it to be his legacy.