kennedy & johnson - springfield public schools...tet offensive •jan. 1968 was supposed to be a...
TRANSCRIPT
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Kennedy & Johnson
Chapters 38 & 39
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Kennedy’s Presidency• Young, inspirational, refreshing• Young Cabinet
– Sec. of Defense - Robert McNamara– Attorney General - Robert Kennedy
• Wanted to target organized crime and civil rights violations
• Peace Corps - volunteers inunderdeveloped countries
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New Frontier
• Helped expand the House Rules Committee– Decides the rules for new programs and how
effective they might be– Had been dominated by conservatives
• Went after big businesses and later decidedon a tax cut
• Promoted the idea of landing a man on themoon
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Problems in Europe• JFK met with Krushchev in 1961
– Krushchev was very belligerent andthreatened to cut off West Berlin
• Back off and built the Berlin Wall• To keep people in East Germany• Became THE symbol of the Cold War
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Foreign Flare-Ups & FlexibleResponse
• Southeast Asia– Laos - was a civil war where there was the
threat of communism• JFK decided not to send troops• Brinksmanship left little room for choice for
dealing with smaller Cold War threats
• JFK & McNamara come up with FlexibleResponse– A larger number of military options– Nukes…Navy Seals…. Green Berets
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Vietnam• Flexible Response proved dangerous
because it led to easier involvement– Could then lead to escalation
• Diem was in control of a shaky S.Vietnam– JFK ordered a # of military advisors there– Kennedy’s Adm. Eventually encouraged a
coup against Diem in 1963• Led to the political disintegration of the country
• At this time it was still “their war,” but wewere becoming more involved
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JFK & Cuba• 1961 - JFK creates the Alliance for Progress
– Marshall Plan for Latin America– Not as effective
• JFK inherited the plans for the Bay of Pigsinvasion from Ike– Plan to oust Castro by training and supporting
Cuban refugees to overthrow his govt.– Was a disaster from the start and JFK decided
against helping– Pushed Castro closer to the Soviets
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Cuban Missile Crisis• Spy photos above Cuba revealed that the
Soviets had given Castro nuclear weapons– 90 miles / 5 minutes (via ICBM)
• JFK decided on a “quarantine” of Cuba (ablockade)– Went on for a week and no one was backing down– Eventually a deal was made to not invade Cuba
and we would remove our missiles from Turkey• In 1991, we found out how bad it could have
been
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Aerial Photosof Missiles inCuba
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JFK’s Assassination• JFK is assassinated by Lee
Harvey Oswald in Dallas in1963– A few days later he is killed
by a man named Jack Ruby– Is an investigation by the
Warren Commission• Lyndon Johnson becomes
the new President
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Lyndon Johnson• Former Senate Majority Leader
– Good with Congress and dealing• Arrogant and concieted• Fought for JFK’s initiatives when he took over
– Civil Rights Act of 1964• Banned racial discrimination in public
facilities– Created the Equal Employment Opp.
Commission
• Need to win office in his own right
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Election of 1964• Dems nominate LBJ• GOP nominate Barry Goldwater, Sen.
From Arizona– Attacked income tax, Social Security, the
TVA, civil rights leg. And the nuclear testban treaty
– Followers said “In your heart you know he’sright.”
– LBJ’s supporters said “In your guts youknow he’s nuts”
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Election of 1964- LBJ Wins
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War on Poverty & Great Society
• Office of Economic Opportunity– $ for Appalachia
• Dept. of Housing & UrbanDevelopment– Robert Weaver - first black cabinet sec.
• Created the National Endowmentfor the Arts
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War on Poverty & Great Society
• Created Medicare– Health insurance for the elderly– 1/2 of those over 65 had no health ins.
• Medicaid– Health insurance for low-income families
• Head Start - early reading program• Civil Rights Legislation
– Voting Rights Act, 24th Amendment
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Gulf of Tonkin Incident
• A U.S. destroyer, the Maddox, wasattacked by N. Vietnamese gunboatswhile in international waters– A second ship, the C. Turner Joy later
attacked• LBJ asks Congress for ability to protect
U.S. forces and allies
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Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Passed with 2 dissenting votes in the Houseand 1 in the Senate
• Allowed the Prez to “take all necessary steps,including the use of force, to assist anymember…. Of the SEATO requestingassistance in defense of communism”
• Allowed LBJ to escalate in Vietnam
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Johnson & Vietnam
• After an attack against U.S. forces inPleiku LBJ launches air strikes
• “Operation Rolling Thunder”– Massive bombing of N. Vietnam
• Soon took over the war from S. Vietnam– Worried about the “domino theory”– Escalation continued
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U.S. Troops on Vietnam
Vietnam
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Opposition to Vietnam
• Allowed the Soviets more influenceelsewhere while we were busy
• Anti-war demonstrations grew at home -especially at colleges
• Lots of protest to the draft• Horrible images coming back from the
war did not help
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Images from Vietnam
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Credibility Gap
• Was always talk of success– When the bombing stopped it seemed like no
advantage had been gained• Dropped more bombs in one year than during all of WWII
– Constantly told success was around the corner -just need more troops
– Constant talk about high number of Vietcong andN. Vietnamese casualties but no signs of winning
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Tet Offensive• Jan. 1968 was supposed to be a cease-
fire for the Tet holiday• Vietcong and N. Vietnamese were
supposed to be near defeat– Instead they launched a huge offensive– A military defeat for the Vietcong, but a big
political victory• Highlighted the credibility gap
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Tet Offensive
Massivecoordinated attacks
all over SouthVietnam… sign of
an army on theverge of defeat?
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PR Nightmare
• Walter Cronkite came back fromVietnam - had been there for the TetOffensive– Declared the Vietnam
War “unwinnable”• "If I've lost Cronkite,"
Johnson reportedly told an aide, "I've lost middle America."
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Trouble for LBJ• LBJ, a sitting President, was being
challenged for the GOP nomination byEugene McCarthy– Almost lost to him in the NH primary– A sign he had lost the public’s confidence– Robert Kennedy also joined the race
• LBJ announces he would not seek asecond term
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Election of 1968• Dems nominate Hubert Humphrey
– RFK assassinated during the campaign• Because of his stance on Israel and the 1967 Arab-Israeli
war (Sirhan Sirhan)– Dem convention in Chicago was a mess
• Lots of protests that turned violent thanks to mayor Daley -hurt the party
• GOP nominates Richard Nixon– “law & order, “silent majority”– “honorable peace” in Vietnam
• Close, but Nixon Wins– George Wallace polls well - segregation
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Election of 1968
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1960s Cultural Upheaval
• More and more money being spent in Vietnam -less for Great Society projects
• Protest grew against the war, poverty, racialconflict
• Protest movement among the young grew• “hippie” movement (drugs, counter-culture)• “patriotism” became a dirty word• Sexual Revolution
– “The Pill” and “free love” (with no thought aboutconsequences or STDs)