1. America’s History Seventh Edition
James A. Henretta
Rebecca Edwards
Robert O. Self
America’s History Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 28
Uncivil Wars: Liberal Crisis and Conservative Rebirth,
Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. I. The Great Society: Liberalism at High Tide
John F. Kennedy’s Promise-”torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans”-Peace Corps was formed under JFK
Lyndon B. Johnson and the Liberal Resurgence
1. War on Poverty-LBJs greatest priority-social programs p885
2. The 1964 Election-LBJ vs arch conservative Goldwater(supported by Reagan) agenda? p886
3. Great Society Initiatives-chart p887
4. Assessing the Great Society-medicare, Head Start, medicaid, inspiration for the Womens Movement
The Great Society: Liberalism at High Tide
John F. Kennedy’s Promise (Embodied expectations and inspiration for many Americans; assassinated November 22, 1963, in Dallas, TX; “Kennedy mystique” developed from JFK’s youthful image and his assassination; reality of JFK’s life [a womanizer in poor health] masked by the promise that his image portrayed to the nation, then destroyed by his death.)
Lyndon B. Johnson and the Liberal Resurgence
War on Poverty – one-fifth of Americans lived in poverty; LBJ made ending poverty a priority in 1964; Economic Opportunity Act of 1964: to address problems of the poor, included Head Start (nursery schools), Job Corps, and Upward Bound (job training and employment), Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA, a Peace Corps-type program for urban areas); Community Action Program encouraged the poor to be vocal in their needs to city and state governments (unpopular with Democratic state governments).
The 1964 Election – LBJ ran against Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), archconservative who campaigned against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and advocated a vigorous Cold War agenda; LBJ won in a landslide with a clear mandate to govern.
Great Society Initiatives – successfully broke congressional deadlock on education and health care; Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) gave $1 billion in federal funds for teacher training and education programs; Higher Education Act (college scholarships); proposed Medicare (fund for the elderly) and Medicaid (health insurance for the poor); environmental reform programs; creation of Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); new rapid transit in Washington, DC, and San Francisco; creation of National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities; Immigration Act of 1965 (eliminated quotas that favored northern Europeans).
Assessing the Great Society – mixed results; percent of Americans living below poverty level dropped from 20% to 13% by 1968; improved quality of life and care for the elderly and children, increased racial diversity; segregation in urban areas remained problematic, bottom 20% of Americans continued to suffer with little help from programs.

5. I. The Great Society: Liberalism at High Tide
The Women’s Movement Reborn
1. Labor Feminists-working moms struggle for equality in workplace
2. Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women-(NOW)” The Feminine Mystique”-persuaded middle class women that they needed an education and a career-radical for the time
The Great Society: Liberalism at High Tide
The Women’s Movement Reborn
Labor Feminists – working women who belonged to unions; fought for workplace equality; by % of women working outside the home; concept of a “double day”: earning a paycheck and doing the majority of domestic labor.
Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women (NOW) – The Feminine Mystique (1963) targeted white, middle-class, college-educated women who felt stifled by marriage and family responsibilities; Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (created 1961) published 1963 report on job and education discrimination against women; “sex” added to Civil Rights Act of 1964; NOW founded 1966, modeled after the NAACP with 15,000 members by 1971.

6. II. The War in Vietnam,
Escalation under Johnson-inherited Vietnam from JFK (who inherited it from Eisenhower)
1. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Gave LBJ power to escalate war in Vietnam after 2 alleged attacks by North Vietnamese p891
2. The New American Presence-”Americanization” of Vietnam War-included ground troops and bombing North Vietnam by Operation Rolling Thunder( 1965)had the opposite effect on which it was intended
The War in Vietnam,
Escalation under Johnson
Gulf of Tonkin – August 1964 LBJ received reports that North Vietnamese torpedo boats fired on U.S. destroyer Maddox; small amount of damage on first attack, second attack misread radar sightings; perceived attack led to congressional action at the request of LBJ; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed, gave LBJ freedom to conduct the war without further congressional approval.
The New American Presence – deployment of American ground troops: first Marines at Da Nang, March 1965; bombing campaign: Operation Rolling Thunder dropped twice as many bombs on Vietnam as had been used by the Allies in both Europe and Asia during World War II; bombing had only minimal effect on North Vietnam.

9. II. The War in Vietnam, 1963-1968 Public Opinion and the War
1. Television-Vietnam was first TV war-evening news broadcast violence daily
2. “Credibility Gap”-LBJ viewed as not being honest about Vietnam-continued to tell public that America was winning the war and that there was” light at the end of the tunnel”
The War in Vietnam,
Public Opinion and the War
Television – opinion polls supported LBJ in 1965 and 1966; television coverage showed war dead and wounded.
“Credibility Gap” – journalists began to question the official version of the war as they witnessed it firsthand in Vietnam, arguing that the administration was hiding bad news; financial commitment to the war was increasing the deficit (up to $23b in 1967); growth of a diverse antiwar movement critical of U.S. policy in Vietnam and the goal of an anti-Communist South Vietnam. 9

10. II. The War in Vietnam,
Rise of the Student Movement-1964 SDS-rejected War and Consumer culture
1. The New Left-anti-war demonstrations and sit ins-burning of draft cards, draft dodging
2. Young Americans for Freedom-conservative, religious, supported war
3. The Counterculture-rebel against authority and the war with hippie hair and clothes, recreational drugs, music, Summer of Love 1967-defining moment was Woodstock August 1969
The War in Vietnam,
Rise of the Student Movement
The New Left – formation of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at University of Michigan (1960); Port Huron Statement rejected Cold War foreign policy, consumer culture, and the growing disparity between rich and poor; New Left activists sought to distinguish themselves from 1930s-1940s communists and socialists (Old Left); Free Speech Movement (fall 1964) at UC-Berkeley was evidence of students’ desire to protest university policies and the actions of politicians in U.S. (civil rights and Vietnam); January 1966 Selective Service System (“the draft”) abolished automatic student deferments; led to increased activism against the war by men of college age.
Young Americans for Freedom – conservative students who emphasized “God-given free will”; YAF became largest student organization in U.S.; supported U.S. policy in Vietnam; founding document: “Sharon Statement” (1958).
The Counterculture – revolt against authority and middle-class ideals; “hippies”; first celebrated folk music (Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez); later to popular music (The Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, the Doors); recreational drug use increased in late 1960s (marijuana, LSD); 1967 “Human Be-In” brought 20,000 people to the Golden Gate Park (San Francisco) for Summer of Love; media coverage made it appear that all American youth was participating, though many did not.

11. III. Days of Rage, 1968-1972 Blood in the Streets-1968
1. The Tet Offensive-Vietcong attack on Vietnamese New Year against South-turning point of war-demoralized US and escalated protests-LBJ announces he wont run for re election in 1968
2. Political Assassinations-MLK April RFK June of 1968
Days of Rage,
Blood in the Streets
The Tet Offensive – death rate for Americans reached several hundred per week by 1968; January 30, 1968, Vietcong launched offensive in South Vietnam at Tet (Vietnamese New Year); focused on five major cities, including Saigon; heavy losses for the VC but psychologically damaging for the U.S. as media coverage again hurt LBJ’s credibility; Americans began to believe the war was unwinnable (even if they did not support the peace movement); LBJ did not run for reelection, fearing challengers from his own party.
Political Assassinations – 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4 in Memphis); Robert Kennedy (June 4 in Los Angeles).

12. III. Days of Rage,
The Antiwar Movement and the 1968 Election
1. Democratic Convention-Chicago-radical demonstrators clashed with police-made Democrats look bad-backlash allowed Republican (Nixon) to win
2. Richard Nixon-Republican targeted Southern whites and blue collar Northerners for votes
3. George Wallace-segregationist Governor of Alabama-ran 3rd party 1968
4. The Southern Strategy-Nixon had support of Thurmond(Dixiecrat turned Republican) told South he would go easy on civil rights
Days of Rage,
Divisions Deepen: The Antiwar Movement and the 1968 Election
Democratic Convention – divisions within the party took over the convention; “Siege of Chicago”: activists came to the city seeking to influence the party’s platform, disrupt the convention, and/or protest the war; Mayor Richard J. Daley ordered police to break up demonstrations; rioting occurred, some of it televised.
Richard Nixon – northern blue-collar voters (many Catholics) turned to the Republican Party because of the domestic chaos; Nixon sought these voters who feared both communism and the counterculture.
George Wallace – Governor of Alabama; ran as a third-party candidate and segregationist; called for “law and order.”
The Southern Strategy – Nixon sought to attract southerners with a more subtle view than Wallace; promised southern politicians he would not force civil rights issues; argued against the antiwar movement and for the “quiet voice” of the majority of Americans who had been forgotten; won 43.4% of vote. 12

14. III. Days of Rage, 1968-1972 The Nationalist Turn
1. Chicanos-charged that the Vietnam draft was biased against the poor-Cesar Chavez
2. Black Power-protested black involvement in Vietnam
Women’s Liberation-younger college educated-veterans of anti war and civil rights protests
1. “Sisterhood”-womens rights activists protested womens role as sexual objects and helpmates ex. Miss America pageant protest 1968
2. “Sexual Politics”-fought for reproductive rights, and against sexual harassment in the workplace greatest achievement of the era was Title IX
Days of Rage,
The Nationalist Turn
Chicanos – antiwar organization “Chicano Moratorium Committee”; “Viva la Raza, Afuera Vietnam” (“Long live the Chicano people, Get out of Vietnam”); August 1970 attracted 20,000 people to a rally in Los Angeles led by Cesar Chavez.
Black Power – Black Panthers and the National Black Antiwar Antidraft League protested the war; Muhammad Ali resisted the draft and lost his heavyweight title.
Women’s Liberation
“Sisterhood” – a new call for “women’s liberation”; young, college-educated feminists, well-versed in New Left ideology; terms sexism and male chauvinism became more commonly used; feminists defined key goals: child care, equal pay, abortion rights; African American and Latina women remained on the periphery of white-led women’s rights organizations.
“Sexual Politics” – campaigning for reproductive rights increased, as did awareness of sexual assaults and harassment in the workplace; increase in the number of universities that accepted women; Title IX (1972) prohibited colleges and universities who accepted federal funds from discriminating on the basis of sex.

15. Have your students consider this image and the following image together.
1. Examine the clothing worn by the women in these two images. How might men and women of their parents’ generation have reacted to the styles seen here?
(Answer: students could discuss skirt and hair length, nearly sheer panty-hose, masculine shirt, jeans and boots, woman smoking; to people of older generations these styles were difficult to accept because they either reveal much of the young woman’s body or appear masculine.)
2. Civil rights activism by black Americans enlivened women’s political activism in the 1960s. In your opinion, is either of the women in these photographs engaged in political action through her choice of clothing?
(Answer: students might consider not only the dress by the surrounding environment of the young woman dressed in jeans: smoking, conditions of home are in sharp contrast to what was perhaps desired by her parents in the 1950s/early 1960s; living in a commune.)

16. Have your students consider this image and the previous image together.
1. Examine the clothing worn by the women in these two images. How might men and women of their parents’ generation have reacted to the styles seen here?
(Answer: students could discuss skirt and hair length, nearly sheer panty-hose, masculine shirt, jeans and boots, woman smoking; to people of older generations these styles were difficult to accept because they either reveal much of the young woman’s body or appear masculine.)
2. Civil rights activism by black Americans enlivened women’s political activism in the 1960s. In your opinion, is either of the women in these photographs engaged in political action through her choice of clothing?
(Answer: students might consider not only the dress by the surrounding environment of the young woman dressed in jeans: smoking, conditions of home are in sharp contrast to what was perhaps desired by her parents in the 1950s/early 1960s; living in a commune.)

17. III. Days of Rage, 1968-1972 Stonewall and Gay Liberation
1. “Come Out!”-civil rights movement inspired gays to come out as homosexual and fight for equality-”We’re here We’re Queer”
2. Stonewall Inn-became the defining moment of Gay Rights
Days of Rage,
Stonewall and Gay Liberation
“Come Out!” – inspired by black power and women’s liberation, many men and women “came out” by identifying themselves as homosexuals.
Stonewall Inn – Greenwich Village (NY) bar raided by police in summer 1969; gay, lesbian, and transsexual patrons rioted for two days; gay liberation movement gained momentum. 17

18. IV. Richard Nixon and the Politics of the Silent Majority
Nixon’s War in Vietnam-withdraw of Americans(peace with honor) increased secret bombings
1. Vietnamization and Cambodia-Nixon bombs neutral Cambodia because of Ho Chi Minh Trail-Kent State protest
2. My Lai Massacre-terrible war crimes by American soldiers against innocent civilians exposed-increased anger over war-American soldiers labeled as baby killers
3. Détente-Nixon successful foreign policy(SALTI)agreement with Soviets to limit nukes and trip to China-first US President to visit
4. Exit America-appeased North Vietnam with compromise then continued bombing-Saigon fell to North 1975-Vietnam unified under Communism
1972 Election-Nixon wins second term appeals to “silent majority”
1. Democrats in Disarray-split on issues of Vietnam and civil rights-creates first realignment of political parties since the New Deal
2. George McGovern-anti war Democratic candidate 1972
Richard Nixon and the Politics of the Silent Majority
Nixon’s War in Vietnam
Vietnamization and Cambodia – Nixon insisted he would achieve “peace with honor”; Vietnamization brought a decrease in the number of American troops in Vietnam as the responsibility for fighting on the ground shifted to the South Vietnamese; U.S. casualties fell but the war continued; antiwar movement intensified; April 30, 1970, U.S. invasion of Cambodia resulted in massive protests in U.S.; Kent State University (OH) National Guardsmen fired into an antiwar rally (4 students killed).
My Lai Massacre – public learned of 1968 killings of approximately 500 South Vietnamese by U.S. Army troops.
Détente – Nixon sought better relations with the USSR and China; signed Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) with USSR; traveled to China, February 1972, the first U.S. president to visit the nation.
Exit America – April 1972 B-52 bombings of the North, including ports; peace talks continued; Nixon accepted an end to hostilities with northern troops allowed to stay in South Vietnam; January 27, 1973, peace treaty signed; war continued; Saigon collapsed April 1975; U.S. suffered 58,000+ deaths, 300,000 wounded; war cost U.S. $150 billion.
1972 Election
Democrats in Disarray – Party fell into disarray following loss to Nixon in 1968; now women, blacks, and younger delegates ruled the convention.
George McGovern – Senator from SD; liberal; poor campaigner; lost to Nixon in every state but Massachusetts and District of Columbia.

19. IV. Richard Nixon and the Politics of the Silent Majority
Watergate and the Fall of a President-Nixon –Abuse of power ,paranoia, wiretaps,
1. “Plumbers”-worked for CREEP-broke into Democratic headquarters-goal was to wiretap phones and steal info to help Nixon get re-elected
2. Impeachment-Nixon cover up exposed by secret recordings-Obstruction of Justice-resigned in disgrace 1974-only president to resign-effect was to combine with Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers to destroy Americas trust in their government
Richard Nixon and the Politics of the Silent Majority
Watergate and the Fall of a President
“Plumbers” – June 17, 1972: break-in at the Watergate Complex in Washington, DC, home of the Democratic National Committee; two of the guilty party were from the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP); “plumbers”: secret group of men who worked for Nixon plugging leaks and protecting the president through non-legal methods; Nixon arranged hush money, instructed the CIA to stop FBI investigation of break-in.
Impeachment – 1973 investigation by Washington Post reporters led a trail to the White House; secret taping system discovered; House Judiciary Committee began to consider articles of impeachment; August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned; Congress passed a series of laws to control presidential power, including War Powers Act (1973), Freedom of Information Act (1974), Ethics in Government Act (1978), Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (1978).