U.S HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT REGENTS REVIEWPOWER POINT 9

Civil Rights, Vietnam, Watergate

Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement

• President Truman issued and executive order banning segregation of the military

• The Warren Court: Activist court– Decisions gave more rights to citizens– Strengthened the rights of the accused

• Brown v. Board of Education: segregation in schools is unconstitutional

• Little Rock, AK: Eisenhower used his power as commander in chief to enforce integration

• Montgomery Bus Boycott: – after Rosa Parks was arrested for sitting in the white section on

a bus, AA refused to ride the buses– This boycott hurt white businesses– Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public transportation

was illegal

Civil Disobedience

• Purposely breaking a law and peacefully accepting the consequence to prove the law’s injustice

• Proposed by Martin Luther King, Jr.– Sit-ins: AA and white supporters sit at lunch counters

in restaurants refusing to leave until they were served– Freedom Rides: AA and white supporters rode on

buses in white sections refusing to change seats• March on Washington, June 1963– MLK, Jr delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech

Civil Rights Legislation• Civil Rights Act 1964– Protects voting rights of all Americans– Ends segregation in all public facilities– Protects equal job opportunities for all Americans

(including women)• 24th Amendment– Abolished poll tax

• Voting Rights Act 1965– Ends literacy tests– Allows federal gov’t to intervene in states that refuse

to register AA voters

Women’s Rights Movement

• Women who worked in factories during WWII lost their jobs to returning soldiers

• The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan: Women were forced out of the workplace; not every women was happy just being a housewife

• Civil Rights Act eliminates discrimination based on sex as well as race

Women’s Rights Legislation

• Equal Rights Amendment: approved by Congress; not ratified by enough states

• Equal Opportunity Act (Equal Pay Act) 1972: equal pay for equal work

• Roe v. Wade: woman’s body is her own private property, therefore abortion is constitutional

• Affirmative Action: women and AA given preference in job placement and educational admission

Social Improvements

• JFK’s New Frontier– Space Program– Peace Corps: US volunteers sent to developing

nations to provide aid and education; offset communism

• LBJ’s Great Society: goal was to address widespread US poverty– VISTA: like the Peace Corps; works in US cities– Medicare: health insurance for poor and elderly

JFK and the Cold War• Latin America

– Bay of Pigs Invasion: US supported Cuban exiles invading Cuba to overthrow Castro; unsuccessful

– Cuban Missile Crisis: USSR creates nuclear base in Cuba; JFK orders blockade (quarantine) of Cuba; USSR agreed to remove missiles• Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: US and USSR agree to limits on testing

nuclear weapons• Europe

– Berlin Wall erected in 1961– Prevents movement in and out of US controlled West Germany

• Asia– JFK sent advisors to Vietnam to work with S. Vietnamese leader

Diem

The Vietnam War

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: – LBJ given complete power to repel attacks against US

near Vietnam– LBJ sends US troops to S. Vietnam– Goal: Prevent S. Vietnam’s fall to communism– US believed their superior technology would allow

them to quickly win the war• Public opinion of the war was not favorable– College Protests– Draft Resisters

Effects of Vietnam War• US withdrew troops in 1973, heeding public

opinion• S. Vietnam fell to communism• 26th Amendment: lowers voting age to 18; helps

justify draft• War Powers Act 1973– Passed over Nixon’s veto– Places restrictions on President’s power as

commander in chief– Response to LBJ’s usurpation of too much power in

the beginning of the Vietnam War

Détente

• The easing of tensions between nations• China: Nixon opened relations with China for

the first time since 1949• USSR: Nixon visited USSR (first presidential

visit since WWII)– SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks): limits

nuclear weapons in each country

The Watergate Affair• Nixon campaign aids broke into Democratic headquarters

to bug the office• Caught by security guards and linked back to Nixon• Although Nixon claimed to have no knowledge of the plan,

he ordered a cover-up of the scandal (this is where he went wrong)

• After much investigation, Nixon was to be impeached (there were tapes that proved his participation in the cover-up)

• He resigned before the impeachment process began• Nixon was later pardoned by Gerald Ford Teapot Dome Scandal (1923), Watergate, Iran Contra: all

diminish public faith in the executive branch