History 102 – Ch. 27 & 28 The Age of Affluence & The Liberal Consensus

1. History 102 – Ch. 27 & 28The Age of Affluence & The Liberal Consensus

2. Chapter 27The Affluent Society and the Liberal Consensus1945-1965 The Economic Record • Pax Americana – U.S. Corp./banking dominated world economy • Global institutions created to stabilize prices, get rid of trade barriers, encourage flexible domestic markets, and promote fixed exchange rates – World Bank, IMF (International Monetary Fund), and GATT (1st general agreement on Tariffs & Trade) • Millions of new jobs created – white collar • White society flocked to suburbs & minorities and other disadvantaged groups populated inner cities

3. Suburban Explosion • Americans left older cities in North/Mid-west for ones in South & West • Mass production techniques applied to home construction (sub-divisions) • Automobiles essential to growth of suburbs; 1950’s guzzlers symbol of status • New prosperity of 50’s due to dramatic increase in consumer credit

4. John F. Kennedy & the Politics of Expectation 1960 Election – JFK w/ LBJ vs. Nixon Kennedy called for civil rights leg., health care for elderly, urban renewal, expanded military & space programs, containment of communism in his platform called “The New Frontier” Kennedy – new political style; emphasized youthful charisma, style, personality over issues Television = powerful medium for politics; Nixon/Kennedy debates put Kennedy as winner for TV viewers & Nixon winner by radio listeners

6. Activism Abroad • Kennedy – proposed flexible response measures to deter direct attacks by Soviets; expanded military industrial complex – doctrine of counterinsurgency adopted & Green Berets were born (U.S. Army special forces trained to repel guerilla warfare • Other programs designed to repel communist influence included: Peace Corps, the Agency for International Development, & the Alliance for Progress • Castro overthrew Batista in Cuba (1959) & relations w/ Washington deteriorated when Castro nationalized American owned banks, industries; U.S. declared embargo on Cuban exports; Cuba turned to Soviets for economic & military support

7. Bay of Pigs • Early 1961, Kennedy tried to launch an anti-Castro uprising call the Bay of Pigs (location of attack); the CIA invaders were crushed by Castro’s troops • Operation = disaster (poorly executed) humiliation for Kennedy Admin.

9. U.S./Soviet Relations • Soviets built Berlin Wall to stop East Germans from leaving; Wall remained symbol of Cold War until 1989 • Cuban Missile Crisis - Oct., 1962 – American spy planes flying over Cuba photographed Soviet-built bases for intermediate range ballistic missiles • Kennedy announced he would impose a quarantine on all offensive military equipment intended for Cuba • After 13 days of tense negotiations both Kennedy and Khrushchev made concessions; U.S. would not invade Cuba & Soviets would dismantle missile bases • 1963 – Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed by U.S., Soviets, and Great Britain

11. Civil Rights Kennedy Admin. – reluctant to act on Civil rights Brown vs. Board of Education – 1954 – desegregated schools 1956 – Rosa Parks – Montgomery Bus Boycott; bus segregation = unconstitutional 1957 - Little Rock, Ark.–Central High School integration challenged; 9 African American students wanted admittance into all white high school; Ark. Gov. Orval Faubus does not allow students to enter school; so Eisenhower sent National Guard to escort students into high school MLK Jr –1957 founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta; SCLC & NAACP laid organizational groundwork for civil rights movement of 1960’s SCLC organized Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee to facilitate sit-ins by blacks demanding end to segregation; Congress of Racial Equality organized freedom rides on bus lines in South to call attention to segregation

12. Civil Rights cont’d • Birmingham Protest in 1963 revealed mistreatment of protesters on TV • MLK organized March on Washington in 1963; culminated in famous, “I have a Dream Speech.” • Nov. 22, 1963 – JFK assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald • 1964 Civil Rights Act passed – outlawed discrimination in employment on basis of race, religion, sex, national origin – forced desegregation of public facilities throughout south; Civil Rights campaign known as Freedom Summer conducted voter reg. drive; white southern response was swift/violent – 15 civil rights workers ere murdered & only 1200 black voters registered • Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed – suspended literacy tests & other measures many southern states used to discourage blacks from reg. to vote • 24th Amendment – outlawed fed. poll tax, plus Voting Rights Act, allowed millions of blacks to reg. to vote for the 1st time

14. “I have a Dream …”Martin Luther King Jr., 1964

16. LBJ & the Great Society Great Society programs emphasized enhancement of quality of life “War on Poverty” expanded welfare programs & public works Elementary & Secondary Education Act helped impoverished children; Higher Education Act provided federal scholarships for college students National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities Highway Beautification Act of 1965

17. LBJ & the Great Society Immigration Act of 1965 – eliminated quotas Office of Economic Opportunity – started programs like Head Start, Job Corps, Upward Bound Johnson Admin. Put issues of poverty, justice, & access at center of national political life After 1965, the Vietnam War siphoned funding away from domestic programs; In 1966 the gov. spent $22 billion on the war and 1.2 billion on the War on Poverty

19. Chapter 29War Abroad and at Home:The Vietnam Era1961-1975

20. Into the Quagmire, 1945-68 • America in Vietnam: From Truman to Kennedy • Vietnam part of French Colony (French Indochina) - occupied by Japan during WWII; Ho Chi Minh & Vietminh proclaimed Vietnam independent after Japanese surrender • 1950 –Soviets & Chinese recognize Ho Chi Minh’s Republic in Vietnam; because France = NATO ally the U.S. & U.K. recognized French installed gov. of Bao Dai

21. Into the Quagmire cont’d • Truman & Eisenhower provided military support to French in Vietnam; domino effect – justification • 1954 (March – May) Battle @ Dien Bien Phu: city in Vietnam where French forces lost fierce battle to Vietnamese (Vietminh) • 1954 – Geneva Accords: partitioned Vietnam at 17th parallel & committed France to withdraw forces north of that line • Eisenhower made sure a pro-American gov. took over under leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem after French left • Reunification elections put off until 1956 by Ngo Dinh Diem; U.S. supported

22. JFK & Vietnam Vietnam considered part of the Cold War struggle to contain communist threat to free world JFK saw Vietnam as ideal testing ground for counterinsurgency techniques North Vietnam organized opponents in So. Vietnam into Nat. Liberation Front (NLF) Kennedy increased military advisors to So. Vietnam, but no line troops Anti-Diem protestors flourished among Buddhists, who charged gov. w/ religious persecution

23. JFK & Vietnam • Kennedy decided to remove Diem & he was assassinated by South Vietnamese leaders (w/ U.S. help) • After Kennedy’s assassination JBJ’s top military advisors argued full scale deployment was necessary to prevent defeat of So. Vietnam; 1963 – Amer. Troops in Vietnam 16,000 • 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin incident provided justification (U.S. ship shot at by No. Vietnamese patrol boats)

25. Escalation: The Johnson Years Johnson admin. Americanized war w/ Operation Rolling Thunder, a protracted bombing campaign that used 3 x’s as many bombs that had fallen in WWII The flow of North Viet. Troops & supplies to So. Vietnam continued through the bombing as the No. Viet. Quickly rebuilt roads, bridges, & moved munitions underground & built networks of tunnels & shelters 1965 – U.S. troops in Vietnam @ 200,000

26. Escalation: The Johnson Years • 1968 – No. Vietnamese launch TET offensive & catches U.S. military off guard; Vietcong took key cities in South, including Saigon; eventually U.S. & So. Viet. Retook areas; but considered a political & psychological victory for North • 1968 – My Lai Massacre; Charlie Comp. Enter village of My Lai – carried out “search & destroy” against village of old men, women, & children • 1969 – U.S. troops in Vietnam @ 500,000

28. Nixon & Vietnam • 1969 - Nixon promised to end war; carried on secret bombing campaign in Cambodia to destroy communist supply routes & base camps • 1969 - Vietnamization policy adopted by Kissinger; objective = shift the burden of defeating Communists on to South Vietnamese Army • 1970 - Anti-war demonstrators protested bombing of Cambodia at Kent State Univ. – National Guardsmen open fire; 4 students died & 8 injured in incident; Jackson State College – Guardsmen killed 2 student protestors

29. Sandra Scheuer Jeff Miller Allison Krause Bill Schroeder

31. Nixon’s War • 1972 Election – Nixon sends Henry Kissinger to Paris to begin peace talks; Kissinger accepted cont’d presence of North Vietnamese troops in Vietnam • On Jan. 27th, 1973, North & South Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Accords • In March, 1975, North Vietnam launched a final offensive & took over South Vietnam • Vietnam was reunited as a Communist country & Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City

33. Effects of Vietnam Significance: a.) Vietnamese allies lost jobs & property b.) Cambodia taken over by dictator Khmer Rouge, who murdered 1.7 million of his people & drove country backwards economically, politically, & socially c.) United States had 58k casualties, 300k wounded, & spend $150 billion + internal wounds & lost confidence in America’s political leaders d.) In Geo-political terms, defeat in South Vietnam did not = Communist victory as the Hanoi regime was no one’s satellite.