The Sixties and Vietnam

The Times They are a Changin’

JFK and the “New Frontier

• JFK was the youngest president and he used his youth to try to influence a “New Frontier” to symbolize the idealism of America • The Space Race: JFK announced that the US would put a man on the moon - Alan Shepard-first American to travel into space- John Glenn- first American to orbit the Earth• Rights for Disabled: President’s Council on Mental Retardation and the

Special Olympics• Rights for Women: Equal Pay Act in 1963• Stalled Domestic Programs: Medicare, civil rights bill, immigration,

education (none of these passed under his presidency)

Kennedy Assassination

• On 11/22/1963 JFK was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald• Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren headed a commission

(Warren Commission) to investigate the murder and conclude Oswald acted alone

Lyndon B Johnson “Great Society”

• LBJ was the vice president and became president after JFK was shot • He had been a teacher and thought in a poor immigrant

neighborhood, this influenced him as president in his “War on Poverty”• He created the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and that created

Job Corps (job training to underprivileged youths) and VISTA (volunteers in Service to America)

Election of 1964

• LBJ went up against Barry Goldwater who was very conservative and was more open to nuclear warfare

• LBJ won and his democratic party won both houses of Congress, they were able to pass many ambitious projects

• “Great Society”- Medicare- health insurance to those over 65- Medicaid- health insurance to low income, disabled, single mothers- Federal Aid to Education-$1 billion, 140,000 scholarships Project Head Start – underprivileged

students between 3 and 5- Aid to Cities- Housing and Urban Development-billions of aid to help reconstruct and rental subsidies

for the poor- Appalachian Regional Development Act- create jobs and industries in Appalachia- Immigration Act of 1965- ended the “national origins” system which favored immigrants from Europe- The increased war in Vietnam ended the focus on the Great Society

Warren Court

LBJ wasn’t the only factor to social change, the Supreme Court began “judicial activism” in many cases

Freedom of Speech

• Yates vs US 1957-free speech for members of the Communist Party

Equal Representation

• Baker v Carr 1962- the Court ordered a reorganization of state legislatures “one man, one vote”

Freedom of Religion

• Engel v Vitale 1962-court outlawed the use of school prayers in public schools saying it violated the First Amendment, freedom of religion

Rights of Accused

• Gideon v Wainwright 1963- Gideon was too poor to afford a lawyer for an accused robbery. Under Florida law, a lawyer was given to a person only if the case involved the death penalty• The court saw the case and ruled in Gideon’s favor, he was appointed

a lawyer and won the retrial • Now you are able to have a lawyer for free for any criminal case• Miranda v Arizona 1966-courts will not admit confessions from

suspects if they had not been read their rights to remain silent and have an attorney present, this is known as your “Miranda” rights

Vietnam War

• Vietnam was behind the Civil War as the most socially divisive war in American history• Why were we involved in a distant Asian country• Why were we unable to achieve our goals there

Background to the Conflict

• Vietnam is located in Indochina, the large peninsula south of China• During the Era of Imperialism, late 1800s, The area of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia came

under French control• In the early 1900s a Vietnamese nationalist movement emerged led by Ho Chi Minh• He was a revolutionist who joined the French Communist Party and later the Communist

Parties of Russia and China• Japan took over Vietnam during WWII; after they surrendered to the Allies, Ho Chi Minh

declared Vietnam independent • France regained their country from the Nazis and disputed Vietnam’s independence• France began sending forces in 1946 and they clashed with the Vietnamese for nine years• Ho Chi Minh kept control of the North and the French controlled the South where they

put the old Vietnamese Emperor back in power

• The US viewed Ho Chi Minh as a Communist and therefore, through the Containment policy, helped the French• By 1954 the US was paying for most of the war, but not using any

troops• Vietnamese won a decisive battle in 1954 forcing the French to leave

Geneva Accords 1954

• Representatives from several nations met in Geneva, Switzerland to negotiate a peace• Laos and Cambodia became independent countries• Ho Chi Minh controlled North Vietnam • The Vietnamese Emperor was given control of the South• Free elections were to take place in 1956 to unite both sides

Reasons for American Involvement

• Fear of Communism- Domino Theory• Belief in the Benefits of Democracy• An Example to Allies, SEATO• Underestimation of the Enemy

Diem Government in South Vietnam 1954-1963• Ngo, Dinh, Diem, was the prime minister of the South and a Catholic

nationalist• He refused to hold election saying the North would not have free

elections• He began oppressing the South and began to discriminate Vietnamese

Buddhists

Vietcong Revolt

• When Diem refused elections, South’s Communist joined together to become an army called the Vietcong• The Vietcong began guerilla warfare-small groups of forces strike and

then disappear• JFK sent military aid and advisors to help Diem but he was overthrown

and murdered in 1963. JFK died a few weeks later

LBJ escalates war 1964-1968

• 8/1964- LBJ announced that the North had attacked American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin• The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution-Congress voted to give LBJ powers fight

the North• 1965 first combat troops are sent• By the end of 1965, 184000 troops were there• LBJ ordered bombing missions to destroy supply routes with the

North and the US dropped 3x more bombs than in WWII• It didn’t work and the resistance against the US was strengthened

Nature of Combat

• The US used napalm (gasoline mixed with a gel that sticks to skin as it burns)• Agent Orange-herbicide that destroyed the jungle forest• Helicopters• Jet Planes

Nature of Combat

• Vietnamese had advantages like:• The climate was very hot• The jungle provided cover for movements and supply routes• Guerilla warfare• Hiding within the population

• Because of the hiding, Americans could not distinguish between friendly locals and Vietcong• Sometimes they destroyed whole villages and killed women and

children like was done in the village of My Lai• Many people left villages and went for the big cities• The South Vietnam capital city of Saigon became full of refugees and

American soldiers • Corruption and bribery was very big in Vietnam and the government

had no clear leadership, this helped the North

Tet Offensive

• 1968, Vietnamese New Year, Jan 30th, Vietcong attacked cities, it showed America was not winning• The US commander asked for 200,000 more troops, but the

unpopularity of the war was taken its toll and LBJ refused

Paris Peace Talks

• LBJ and the North agreed to peace talks• By the end of 1968 500,000 troops were in Vietnam and it was costing

$25 billion a year

Why were Americans Unable to Win

• Ho Chi Minh and the communist had been fighting since 1946, they were willing to fight and lose troops to obtain their goals• They were able to get supplies from China and USSR• Destroying supply routes didn’t have an effect because they were

quickly rebuilt• We might’ve pulled out earlier but the US was afraid of its image to

Communist. • The war just dragged on

Nixon Continues the War

• Nixon wins the election 1968 and he promised “peace with honor” but he did not end the war, he did not want to be the first president to lose a war• He had a policy of “Vietnamization”, have the South Vietnamese

soldiers fight more and gradually withdraw US troops• He ended the “draft”

Cease-fire and American Withdrawal

• National Security Adviser Dr. Henry Kissinger continued secret negotiations with the North Vietnamese in Paris• In January 1973 the Paris Peace Accords set a cease-fire agreement

with the North based on all US troops leaving and be able to give aid like it did before• April 1975 South Vietnam fell to Communist leaders

Home Front

• Doves-people who wanted to withdraw from the war. The US had no business there or thought it was immoral like MLK• Hawks-people who believe it was important to stop the spread of

Communism, saw the war as defense of South Vietnam against an invasion from the North

News Media and the “Credibility Gap”• News reporters played a big role in the view of the war• This was the first televised war• CBS anchor Walter Cronkite turned against the war in 1967 and his

coverage reflected that• Political leaders were concerned, they twisted facts to make the war

look more favorable• The government would say things are fine and we did the right thing,

but the news would show the opposite, there was a “credibility gap”

NY Times vs US 1971

• Nixon attempted to prevent the NY Times from publishing the “Pentagon Papers”, a secret government study of American involvement in Vietnam• The supreme Court ruled against Nixon on the basis of freedom of the

press

Baby Boomers and Anti War Movement• The baby boomers were in the 20s by this time• They grew up on tv• More and more were going to college• They had high expectations and questions older social rules• Student for a Democratic Society (SDS) 1960• “Free Speech” movement at University California at Berkeley 1964• “youth culture” young people affected by rock music, drugs, fashion,

sexual freedom, hair and dress also set them apart, they were known as “hippies”

Draft

• They protested the compulsory military conscription “draft”• If they could prove they were conscientious objectors (opposed war

because of religion) they could stay, but not because of politics• Men protested by burning their draft cards or moving to Canada or

Sweden• In the beginning of the war, college students were deferred (able to

wait) until they finished school, this led to added tension over who was fighting

• Protest happened on many campuses• At Kent State University in Ohio, inexperienced Guardsmen fired and

killed four students

Consequences of the Vietnam War

• 58,000 Americans killed• 1.3 million Vietnamese killed• “Great Society” postponed and never reignited • American confidence in government lowered and people wanted

more isolationism• War Powers Act 1973-If a president sends troops to combat he must

ask Congress for authorization or they will be brought back within 60 days

Women

• 60’s brought the Women’s Liberations Movement• Baby boom women were dissatisfied with their roles as housewives• Betty Friedman’s book: The Feminine Mystique-women were not

happy with traditional roles• Women’s movement influenced by Civil Rights• National Organization for Women (NOW)• Sexual Revolution- birth control

Women

• Education- Equal Opportunity in Education Act 1972 (Title IX)- prohibited schools receiving federal aid from discriminating, including athletics, on the basis of sex• Girls allowed to go to P.E• Women used Affirmative Action to get hired• Employment-Equal Pay Act 1963-requiring companies to pay women

the same wages as men for the same work• Ms. Miss. Mrs.

Roe vs Wade

• Feminist contested in court that they had the right privacy of their own bodies• In Roe vs Wade the Supreme Court said women had the right to get

an abortion