Transcript Chapter 29

OUT OF MANY
A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
Chapter 29
War Abroad, War at Home
1965 -1974
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Part One:
Introduction
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Chapter Focus Questions
Why did President Johnson escalate the war in
Vietnam?
How did campus protests shape national political
debate?
What were the goals of Johnson’s Great Society?
What divided the Democratic Party in 1968?
How did Richard Nixon win the presidential
election in 1968?
What is meant by the “politics of identity”?
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Part Two:
American Communities:
Uptown, Chicago, Illinois
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American Communities: Uptown,
Chicago, Illinois
In 1964, a small group of college students tried to help
residents in a poor Chicago neighborhood.
The activists were members of Students for a
Democratic Society.
Founded by white college students, SDS initially
sought reform and grew by 1968 to have 350 chapters
and between 60,000 and 100,000 members.
Efforts to mobilize the urban poor were unsuccessful,
but SDS members helped break down isolation and
strengthened community ties.
By 1967, SDS energies were being directed into
protests against the widening war in Vietnam.
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Part Three:
Vietnam: America’s
Longest War
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Johnson’s War
Although pledging not to send American
soldiers into combat, he manipulated
Congress into passing a resolution that was
tantamount to a declaration of war. When
bombing failed to halt North Vietnamese
advances, Johnson sent large numbers of
troops into Vietnam to prevent a Communist
victory.
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The massive bombing and
ground combat created huge
numbers of civilian casualties
in Vietnam. The majority killed
were women and children.
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Deeper into the Quagmire
Search-and-destroy missions combined
with chemical warfare wreaked havoc
on the people and the land.
LBJ was committed to a war of attrition
to wear out and destroy Vietnam.
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The Credibility Gap
Johnson kept his decisions from the American
public and distorted accounts of military actions.
News media increasingly questioned the official
descriptions of the war.
As casualties mounted, more Americans questioned
LBJ’s handling of the war.
In Congress, Democratic senators led by J. William
Fulbright opposed Johnson’s handling of the
conflict.
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Part Four:
A Generation in Conflict
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“The Times They Are A-Changin’”
People of all ages protested against the
war, but young people stood out.
Early campus protests at Berkeley centered
on students’ rights to free speech.
In 1967, San Francisco attracted thousands
of young people for the “Summer of
Love.”
Events like the Woodstock festival gave
witness to the ideals of the counterculture.
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The nationally acclaimed
photographer Peter Simon
was something of a hippie
himself in the 1960s and
took many photographs of
the “alternative culture.”
Here he captures a group of
hippies in the typically rural
setting of back-to-the-land
communes.
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From Campus Protests to Mass
Mobilization
College students organized protests that
questioned the war effort and universities’ roles
in war-related research.
Student strikes merged opposition to the war
and other community issues.
Public opinion polarized.
Massive anti and pro-war rallies occurred.
Nonviolent and violent protests erupted at draft
boards.
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On May 8, 1970, New York construction workers surged into Wall Street in Lower
Manhattan, violently disrupting an antiwar rally and attacking the protesters with
lead pipes and crowbars. Known as the “hard hat riots,” the well-publicized event
was followed later in the month by a march, 100,000 strong, of hard-hat workers
unfurling American flags and chanting “All the way U.S.A.”
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Teenage Soldiers
The cultural attitudes of protesters were even
found among their equally young GI
counterparts.
Working-class Latinos and African-American
young men made up a disproportionate share of
the soldiers.
Many soldiers grew increasingly bitter over
government lies about their alleged victories and
the inability of society to accept them once they
returned home.
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African American troops in Vietnam, 1970. Serving on the front lines in
disproportionate numbers, many black soldiers echoed the growing racial
militancy in the United States and increasingly chose to spend their off-duty time
apart from white soldiers.
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Part Five:
Wars on Poverty
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Wars on Poverty
Chart: Comparative Figures on Life
Expectancy at Birth by Race and Sex, 195070
Chart: Comparative Figures on Infant
Mortality by Race, 1940-70
LBJ called for “an unconditional war on
poverty.”
Chart: Percent of Population Below Poverty
Level, by Race, 1959-69
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FIGURE 29.1
Comparative
Figures on Life
Expectancy at
Birth by Race and
Sex, 1950–70
Shifting mortality
statistics
suggested that the
increased longevity
of females
increasingly cut
across race lines
but did not diminish
the difference
between white
people and black
people as a whole.
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FIGURE 29.2
Comparative Figures on
Infant Mortality by
Race, 1940–70 The
causes of infant mortality
such as inadequate
maternal diets, prenatal
care, and medical
services were all rooted
in poverty, both rural and
urban. Despite generally
falling rates of infant
mortality, nonwhite
people continued to
suffer the effects more
than white people.
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FIGURE 29.3
Percent of
Population
Below Poverty
Level, by Race,
1959–69
Note: The poverty
threshold for a
nonfarm family of
four was $3,743
in 1969 and
$2,973 in 1959.
SOURCE: Congressional
Quarterly, Civil Rights: A
Progress Report , 1971, p.46.
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The Great Society
Johnson established the Office of Economic Opportunity to
lead the war on poverty.
The Job Corps failed, but agencies focusing on education
were more successful.
Community Action Programs threatened to become a new
political force that challenged those in power. The Legal
Service Program and Head Start made differences in the
lives of the poor.
The Great Society was opposed to income redistribution.
Most social spending went to the non-poor through
Medicare.
A 1970 study concluded the war on poverty had barely
scratched the surface.
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Crisis in the Cities
Cities became segregated centers of poverty
and pollution with large minority
populations.
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Urban Uprisings
Urban black frustrations resulted in over 100 riots
in northern cities between 1964 and 1968.
Map: Urban Uprisings, 1965-1968
A presidential commission blamed the rioting on
white racism, poverty, and police brutality, and
recommended massive social reforms.
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MAP 29.1 Urban Uprisings, 1965–1968 After World War II, urban uprisings
precipitated by racial conflict increased in African American communities. In Watts in
1965 and in Detroit and Newark in 1967, rioters struck out at symbols of white control of
their communities, such as white-owned businesses and residential properties.
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1968
1968 proved much more turbulent than
previous years.
Many questioned why things had become so
violent.
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The Tet Offensive
Map: The Southeast Asian War
On January 30, 1968 the North Vietnamese
launched the Tet Offensive, shattering the
credibility of American officials who had
been predicting a quick victory.
Despite the military victory, media reports
triggered antiwar protests.
LBJ declared a bombing halt and announced
he would not seek reelection.
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MAP 29.2 The Southeast
Asian War The IndoChinese subcontinent, home
to long-standing regional
conflict, became the center
of a prolonged war with the
United States.
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King, the War and the Assassination
By 1968, Martin Luther King had broken
with LBJ on Vietnam and had announced a
massive Poor People’s Campaign.
He was assassinated in Memphis. Rioting
broke out in over 100 cities.
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The Democrats in Disarray
Polarization split the Democratic Party. Robert
Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy both sought the
anti-war vote.
Kennedy appeared unbeatable, but was
assassinated.
Hubert Humphrey won the nomination from a
bitterly divided party.
The Democratic convention was the scene of a
major confrontation between protesters and
police.
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In 1968, Richard J. Daley
had been elected mayor
of Chicago four times and
held power as a traditional
city boss. In December of
that year, the National
Commission on Violence
released a report that
concluded that Chicago
police, acting under Mayor
Daley’s orders, had been
“unrestrained and
indiscriminate” in their
attacks on demonstrators
at the National Democratic
Convention held the
previous August. In
response, Mayor Daley
brazenly announced a 22
percent salary increase for
members of the city’s
police and fire personnel.
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“The Whole World is Watching!”
The Democratic convention was the scene
of a major confrontation between
protesters and police.
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The Republican Victory
Map: The Election of 1968
In 1968, Richard Nixon’s campaign revealed
the increasing conservative leanings of white
voters.
Nixon narrowly defeated Hubert Humphrey
and George Wallace.
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MAP 29.3 The Election of
1968 Although the Republican
Nixon-Agnew team won the
popular vote by only a small
margin, the Democrats lost in
most of the northern states that
had voted Democratic since the
days of FDR. Segregationist
Governor George Wallace of
Alabama polled more than 9
million votes.
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Part Six:
The Politics of Identity
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Black Power
Generational divisions marked the civil rights
movement as younger African Americans turned to
Black Power.
Groups like the Black Panthers reflected the
growing militancy and the calls for community
autonomy.
Racial pride grew during the late 1960s, affecting
numerous segments of the African-American
community.
A renewed interest in African heritage and customs
arose.
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The war in Vietnam contributed
to the growing racial militancy in
the United States. African
Americans served on the front
lines in Vietnam in
disproportionate numbers, and
many came to view the conflict
as a “white man’s war.”
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Sisterhood is Powerful
During the early 1960s, many women began to demand equal
rights.
By the late sixties, the influence of civil rights and the New
Left appeared as women identified their movement as one of
liberation.
In thousands of communities, women formed small
consciousness-raising groups to examine the power dynamics
in their own lives.
A diverse and comprehensive women’s rights agenda
emerged, though the movement remained a bastion of white
middle-class women.
Chart: Women in the Workforce, 1940-80
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This is the Statute of Liberty
as it appeared after nearly
100 women from various
women’s liberation groups
demonstrated on the island,
August 10, 1970. The
demonstration was to show
support for the proposed
equal rights amendment
which was currently before
the Congress. Shortly after
noon, park rangers made the
women remove the banner
from the base of the statute.
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FIGURE 29.4 Women in the Workforce, 1940-80
SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of the Census.
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Gay Liberation
The gay community had gained visibility during
WWII and several openly gay organizations had
emerged.
The Stonewall Riot in New York City in 1968
galvanized a Gay Liberation Front.
Gradually, changes in public opinion led to more
accepting attitudes and a large minority of
homosexuals “came out” of the closet.
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The Chicano Rebellion
Mexican Americans articulated a sense of
Chicano pride and nationalism, initiating a
series of protests.
Throughout the Southwest, Mexican
Americans organized to push for land and
social reforms as well as political power.
Cesar Chavez successfully organized
Chicano agricultural workers into the
United Farm Workers.
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Labor activist Cesar Chavez
spearheaded the organization of
Chicano agricultural workers into
the United Farm Workers (UFW),
the first successful union of migrant
workers. In 1965, a strike of grape
pickers in the fields around Delano,
California, and a nationwide boycott
of table grapes brought Chavez and
the UFW into the media spotlight.
Like Martin Luther King Jr., he
advocated nonviolent methods for
achieving justice and equality.
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Red Power
Map: Major Indian Reservations, 1976
Indian activists, led by the American Indian
Movement, organized protests such as
taking over Wounded Knee.
An Indian Renaissance led to many new
books about Indian life.
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MAP 29.3 Major Indian Reservations, 1976 Although sizable areas, designated Indian
reservations represented only a small portion of territory occupied in earlier times.
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The Asian American Movement
Like Black Power and Latino activists,
Asian Americans embraced a nationalism
that emphasized ethnic pride and cultural
survival.
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Part Seven:
The Nixon Presidency
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Domestic Policy
Despite his conservatism, Nixon:
supported a guaranteed income to replace
welfare
imposed a wage and price freeze to hold down
inflation
He appealed to conservatives in his
opposition to school busing and Supreme
Court appointments.
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Nixon’s War
Nixon promised to bring “peace with honor” to Vietnam.
Nixon and National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger,
believed that a military defeat would destroy U.S. global
leadership.
Nixon spoke of a phased withdrawal of American troops, but
widened the war by invading Cambodia.
Massive protests led to four deaths at Kent State and two at
Jackson State.
Nixon accepted a peace settlement that led to the fall of South
Vietnam.
Chart: U.S. Military Forces in Vietnam and Casualties, 196181
Chart: Public Opinion on the War in Vietnam
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FIGURE 29.5 U.S. Military Forces
in Vietnam and Casualties,
1961–81 The U.S. government
estimated battle deaths between
1969 and 1973 for South
Vietnamese troops at 107,504 and
North Vietnamese and Vietcong at
more than a half-million. Although
the United States suffered fewer
deaths, the cost was enormous.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Defense, Selected Manpower
Statistics, annual and unpublished data; beginning
1981,National Archives and Records Service, “Combat
Area Casualty File ” (3-330-80-3).
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FIGURE 29.4
Public Opinion on
the War in
Vietnam By 1969
Americans were
sharply divided in
their assessments
of the progress of
the war and peace
negotiations. The
American Institute
of Public Opinion,
founded in 1935 by
George Gallup,
charted a growing
dissatisfaction with
the war in Vietnam.
SOURCE: The Gallup Poll:
Public Opinion,1935 –74 (New
York: Random House,1974), p.
2189.
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On Monday, May 4, 1970, after a weekend of antiwar demonstrations against the invasion of
Cambodia, Ohio National Guardsmen fired sixty-seven bullets into a crowd of students, killing four
and wounding nine others on the campus of Kent State University. As news of the killings spread,
students at hundreds of colleges and universities turned out in mass demonstrations to protest
widening the war in Southeast Asia and the increasing violence on campus. Approximately 5 million
students joined the national student strike, boycotting classes for the remainder of the week. As news
of the Kent State “massacre” spread to Vietnam, some U.S. troops refused orders to invade
Cambodia; others wore black armbands to demonstrate their solidarity with students at home.
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Seeing
History
Kim Phuc,
Fleeing a
Napalm
Attack near
Trang
Bang.
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Playing the “China Card”
Nixon opened relations with the Communist
government in China.
Relations with the Soviet Union improved as he
negotiated a grain deal and signed an arms control
agreement.
Nixon’s last diplomatic effort was to send
Kissinger to the Middle East where he negotiated a
temporary lull in the ongoing war.
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Foreign Policy as Conspiracy
Nixon’s foreign policy included a wide
range of secret interventions that propped
up or destabilized regimes in Asia,
Africa, and Latin America.
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Dirty Tricks and the 1972 Election
Domestically, Nixon formed an inner circle to keep
information from the public and to plug leaks.
In 1972, Democrats nominated George McGovern,
representing the liberal wing of the party.
The Nixon reelection committee ran a dirty-tricks
campaign to confuse the Democrats, including a breakin at the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate
apartment complex.
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Watergate: Nixon’s Downfall
The White House tried to cover up its
Watergate involvement, but two reporters
followed the evidence back to the Oval
Office.
Nixon fired the special prosecutor who
sought secret tapes Nixon had made of White
House conversations.
After a congressional investigation, Nixon
finally resigned to avoid impeachment.
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Richard Nixon bid a final farewell to his White House staff as he left Washington, DC, on
August 9, 1974. The first president to resign from office, Nixon had become so
entangled in the Watergate scandal that his impeachment appeared certain. He was
succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford. After taking the oath of office later that day,
President Ford remarked that the wounds of Watergate were “more painful and more
poisonous than those of foreign wars.”
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Part Eight:
Conclusion
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