Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Chapter 21The Civil Rights Movement

Chapter 22The Vietnam War

Final Exam Review

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Explain the significance of the 1896 court ruling in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson?

What court case overturned Plessy? • The Supreme Court ruled that the “separate but

equal” law did not violate the 14th Amendment, which guarantees all Americans equal protection under the law.

• Allowed states, especially in the South, to pass Jim Crow laws aimed at separating the races.

• Brown v. Bd. Of Educ. Of Topeka, 1954.

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Who started the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

• Rosa Parks• NAACP• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

In the 1960s, thousands of white college students went south to support 2 major parts of

desegregation. What were these 2 parts?

• To pressure the federal government to enforce the Supreme Court ruling ending segregation of interstate busing.

• Freedom Riders(1961)

• To promote passage of a federal voting rights act.

• Freedom Summer (1964)

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

What events led to the desegregation of Birmingham, Alabama?

• Daily demonstrations• Arrest of Dr. King and

others• King’s “Letter form a

Birmingham Jail”• Police violence against

peaceful demonstrators• Economic boycott of

city businesses

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Why did civil rights organizers ask their supporters to march on Washington DC?• To spur passage of the

civil rights bill

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Explain the meaning of…

• the Civil Rights Act of 1964– Prohibited discrimination

because of race, religion, national origin, and gender.

– It gave all citizens the right to enter libraries, parks, washrooms, restaurants, theaters, and other public accommodations.

• the Voting Rights Act of 1965– Eliminated literacy tests– Enabled federal examiners

to register voters denied suffrage

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Explain the meaning of “de facto” segregation and give an example.

• Exists by practice and custom.

• Harder to fight because it requires changing people’s attitudes rather than repealing laws.

• Ex., paying rent to landlords who did not obey housing and health ordinances

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

How were civil rights problems in Northern cities similar to those in the South?

• Experienced poverty and inferior schools

• Demands for civil rights were met with white anger, violence, and police brutality

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

What were some of the causes of urban rioting in the 1960s?

• De facto segregation• Police brutality• Rundown communities

and schools• High unemployment

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Why did some Americans find Malcolm X’s views alarming?

• He blamed black poverty and social inferiority on whites and advocated armed resistance to white oppression

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

How were the Black Panthers different from those people that believed in

Martin Luther King’s message? • Stop recruiting whites to the cause• Focus on African–American pride• Advocated self-sufficiency– Established day care centers– Free breakfast programs– Free medical clinics– Help for the homeless

• Preached self-defense

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Explain the purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1968?

• Ended discrimination in housing

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

What is “affirmative action” and why has it been challenged in the court system?

• Special efforts are made to hire or enroll groups that have suffered discrimination

• Colleges and companies doing business with the federal government adopt this program

• This program is “reverse discrimination” and deprives whites of opportunities

• Regents of the U. of California v. Bakke (1978)– Court ruled that racial quotas

were unconstitutional, but that schools could still consider race as a factor in admissions.

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

How and why did the US support France’s efforts to regain Vietnam?

• The US supplied France with economic and military aid

• Goals:– Keep France as an ally

opposed to Soviet expansion in Europe

– Keep communism from spreading in Asia

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Explain the domino theory

• Eisenhower compared countries on the brink of communism to a row of dominoes waiting to fall one after the other

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Which president was responsible for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution?

What was the Tonkin Gulf resolution?

• Lyndon B. Johnson• While not a

declaration of war, it granted Johnson broad military powers in Vietnam.

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Who was the US commander in Vietnam?

• General William Westmoreland

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Why did US forces have difficulty fighting the Vietcong?

• The VC’s guerilla tactics– Ambushes– Hit-and-run attacks– Booby traps– Hid among the civilian

population

• Their superior knowledge of the terrain– Use of elaborate tunnel

system

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

What was the Ho Chi Minh trail and why was it hard for the US to combat it?

• Network of jungle paths running north to south along the Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia borders that supplied VC forces

• Laos and Cambodia were neutral countries and the VC used them as a sanctuary or safe haven from American forces

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

In what way did the US underestimate the Vietcong?

• Believed that a war of attrition (inflicting massive casualties) would eventually force the VC to surrender.

• The US viewed the war as a military struggle, the VC saw it as a battle for their very existence, willing to pay any price.

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

What factors led to the low morale of US troops?

• Frustrations of guerilla warfare

• Miserable jungle conditions

• Continuing instability and corruption of the South Vietnamese government

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

What led to the growing concern in America about the war?

• Mounting American casualties

• Graphic TV coverage• Johnson’s growing

“credibility gap”

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Why did Dr. King call African Americans’ fighting in Vietnam an “irony”?

• They were fighting and dying for a country that still discriminated against them.

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

What was the easiest and most common way to avoid the draft in the early days of the war?

• Go to college• Other ways:– Sympathetic doctors

granting medical exemptions

– Joined the National Guard or Coast Guard

– Leave the country, expatriation

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Why did support for the war change after the Tet offensive?

• The enemy appeared stronger and more numerous than previously believed

• TV images showed the enemy everywhere, including the American embassy

• Contradicted Westmoreland’s and Johnson’s analysis that the war was near an end = widening credibility gap

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Why did President Johnson decide not to run again?

• He believed seeking a second term would cause further turmoil and divisiveness with the Democratic Party

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Who were the hawks and doves? Who was the doves’ favorite candidate in the 1968

election? Who actually won? • Hawks wanted the US

to unleash the full fury of our military on the enemy to win.

• Doves felt the war was morally unjust and that we had no business there.

• Eugene McCarthy• Richard Nixon

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

What was the impact of Vietnamization on the US?

• Reduced our involvement in the war and gradually brought American troops home.

• Replaced US troops with South Vietnamese troops

• Provided a political escape from the war, “peace with honor”

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

What is the significance of the Pentagon Papers?

• 7,000 page document revealing America’s diplomatic secrets in Vietnam dating back to the 1950s.

• Supported the accusations of the anti-war movement that the government was not being honest with the American people.

Mr. Homan, American Cultures, NPHS

Explain the War Powers Act…

• In 1973, Congress passed legislation requiring the president inform them within 48 hours of sending US troops into hostile areas without a declaration of war.

• It also mandated that troops can not remain in hostile areas longer than 90 days without Congress’ approval or a declaration of war.

• Reverses the Tonkin Gulf resolution by greatly limiting the president’s war-making powers.