Pre-war attitudes see Drift towards World War II

Pre-war attitudes (see Drift towards World War II handout)

Isolationism Neutrality Act (1935)

Gradual shift toward involvement

Cash and Carry Destroyer Deal Lend-Lease Act (repealed Neutrality Act)

Relations with Japanese fears concerning resources, etc.

Pearl Harbor U. S. Enters War

The Home Front Some important wartime agencies

War Production Board Organized and coordinated industries to make quick, efficient transition to production of war materials. No consumer autos were built during war.

Office of War Information Responsible for maintaining morale – positive propaganda

Office of Price Administration Set prices, rationed goods, fought inflation and black market – assured military needs were met

War Labor Board Settled disputes between business and labor Avoided strikes and maintained morale

Fair Employment Practices Committee Prevented employer discrimination against workers Foundation for the civil rights movement of the 1950 s

Conduct of war Two front war for the U. S. Europe first (See War Strategy H/O)

World War II Allies Included Great Britain, Free France, the USSR, and nationalist China.

Conferences Casablanca, Cairo, Teheran: Planned war strategy Yalta: (1945) planned post -war strategies

Postwar Period Service men’s readjustment act of 1944 (GI Bill) The United Nations Post-War Organization favored big winners

The Cold War

The Truman Doctrine Pledged aid to Greece and Turkey Containment policy Intended to keep communism within its original borders

Marshall Plan Offered recovery assistance to all European countries Communist countries declined

Berlin Blockade Soviets block land access U. S. responds by air

NATO Designed to block or contain Communists, especially Soviet, expansion Ignored George Washington’s advice against permanent alliances Cold War

Communist victory in China Nationalists flee to Taiwan Government there recognized as China by the United States and the U. N. until Nixon

Korean War Communist North Korea attacks South Korea, the U. N. responds Armistice terms restore status quo

SEATO Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is the Pacific equivalent to NATO

France, Dien Bien Phu, and our involvement in Vietnam Antiwar demonstrations and Jane Fonda

Hungarian Revolt Soviets crush Hungarian revolution

Aswan Dam Soviets assist Egypt in building the dam U. S. and Britain offered first but withdrew the offer

Suez Canal seizure Egypt takes control, France, Britain and Israel invade, U. S. and Soviets stop them Superpower “diplomacy” at work

Eisenhower Doctrine Offers aid to Middle Eastern countries who feel threatened by communism

U-2 incident U. S. spy plane shot down over Soviet territory

Independence of African nations Civil Wars break out all over

Cuban Revolution Castro takes over, announces communist regime, relations with the U. S. deteriorate

Bay of Pigs Cuban refugees, backed by the United States fail to overthrow Castro

Berlin Wall Soviets seal off East Berlin with physical Wall

Cuban Missile Crisis Soviets attempt to place missiles in Cuba. The U. S. blockades

The “Hotline” Direct link between U. S. and USSR intended to divert nuclear disaster First used during six day war

Nuclear test ban treaty Allowed only underground testing

Outer Space treaty Banned the military bases weapons and weapons tests in outer space

Nuclear nonproliferation treaty Banned the spread of nuclear weapons among signatory nations

VIETNAM, 1946 -75 (the 10 000 Day War)

• PHASE 1 - A WAR OF COLONIAL INDEPENDENCE AGAINST THE FRENCH • Vietnam had been a French colony under the name of French Indochina (along with Cambodia and Laos) • Vietnam began to fight for its independence from France during WW II ( when France was preoccupied with European conflict) • the Vietnamese revolutionary leader was Ho Chi Minh, a Communist • wanted to be the leader of an independent, communist Vietnam; Ho received support from both the USSR and “Red” China

• this colonial war raged from 1946 -54, culminating in the French defeat at Dienbienphu • Fr. decided it wanted out and called a peace conference in Geneva, Switzerland (attended by France, Vietnam, the US, and the USSR) • the decision of the conference was to partition Vietnam into a communist North led by Ho and a “democratic” South Vietnam led by Ngo Dinh Diem • the settlement was an outgrowth of basic Cold War tensions between the Americans and Soviets and clearly reflected the US policy of containment with respect to Soviet communist expansionism • the US had come to see South Vietnam as a “domino” that they couldn’t afford to lose

PHASE 2 – AMERICAN ESCALATION AND MILITARY INVOLVEMENT • this phase originated with Ike” and JFK but was intensified under Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), who assumed the presidency after. JFK’s assassination • The U. S. never formally issued a declaration of war, but after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, where 2 American destroyers were apparently fired upon by the North Vietnamese, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions (August 1964)here Congress gave LBJ their support in sending American personnel and materiel

• in spite of ongoing escalation throughout the 1960 s, the US experienced a lack of success against the Vietnamese guerrilla forces in S. Vietnam (the Vietcong) as the US Army was unprepared for their tactics and mentality § The US was also never entirely successful in shutting down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a supply line that ran between North and South Vietnam via difficult jungle terrain, often underground and through neighboring nations like Cambodia

• the war definitely turned against the US in 1968, when the NVA’s General Giap began the Tet Offensive, a surprise offensive on a major Vietnamese holiday that saw attacks all over the country, including in Saigon itself • ongoing US casualties and losses saw an increase in antiwar sentiment on the American Home Front, in large part because Vietnam was a TV War where American audiences saw the brutality of war firsthand

• this included American atrocities at My Lai (Lieutenant Calley) • they also witnessed the usage of weapons like napalm and Agent Orange, which devastated the environment

• as the Counterculture gathered momentum (Hippies, Flower Children, etc. ), protests became widespread and began to polarize the nation • this was intensified after the Kent State Massacre – National Guardsmen opened fire on student protestors in Ohio, killing four, and by Senator William Fulbright’s (Chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee) admission that the war was a “mess”

• increasingly the American people came to perceive the “Credibility Gap”, i. e. they no longer believed that LBJ was telling them the truth about events in the war § in 1968, LBJ chose not to run for president, and Republican Richard M. Nixon was elected on a platform of “Peace with Honour”

• Nixon wanted the South Vietnamese to play a greater role in the war, a policy he labeled Vietnamization • in spite of that, he continues carpet bombing Hanoi and orders a secret invasion of Cambodia • He relied on the diplomacy of Henry Kissinger to achieve peace and/or an American withdrawal • the US does manage to extricate itself by Jan. 27, 1973

PHASE 3 – VIETNAMESE CIVIL WAR, 1973 -75 • the NVA easily defeated the South by 1975; the South had appealed to Nixon for aid, which had been promised, but by 1975 Nixon was embroiled in the domestic Watergate Crisis, and he was in essence a “lame duck” • 1975 – the US abandoned its embassy in Saigon, which was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in the newly unified and communist Vietnam

1969. Nixon’s visit to China Communist China had already become the U. N. member, now President Nixon’s visit opened new friendly relations with this huge nation

Detente 1972 -President Nixon visited Moscow and signed several agreements including the anti-ballistic missile treaty The Cold War eased

The Reagan Revolution The West wins the Cold War The Gorbachev influence The I. N. F. Treaty

1980 Election Issues Debates Hostage crisis

Reagan and Communism Evil Empire Nicaragua Latin America Granada

1988 Election Candidates and issues Bush policies Desert Storm and Middle East policy economics civil rights

William Jefferson Clinton All of this review to present will be done in the classroom

Civil Rights – rights guaranteed to all Americans by the constitution Civil Rights movement – struggle to achieve equal rights in the 1950’s through 1970’s by changing laws

Plessy vs. Ferguson – in 1896 Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” was ok, segregation is ok

NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded in 1909 by W. E. B. Du. Bois

Brown vs. Board of Education • In 1952 Oliver Brown sued the school so his daughter could go to a closer school

Went to Supreme Court • In 1954 Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” was not ok in the schools

1955 – Montgomery, AL • Rosa Parks arrested for not giving up her seat to a white passenger

1955 – Montgomery, AL • Rosa Parks arrested for not giving up her seat to a white passenger • African Americans boycotted Montgomery buses, very effective • Martin Luther King, Jr. arrested for blocking a bus

1960 – Greensboro, NC • Sit-in at Woolworth’s • 4 African American students were ignored sitting at the counter • Came every day from open to close to protest

1963 – Birmingham, AL • led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was put in jail • protests in stores, restaurants, and workplaces

1963 – Birmingham, AL • led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was put in jail • protests in stores, restaurants, and workplaces • police chief “Bull” Conner ordered fire hoses and police dogs to stop protest, the attacks were televised

1963 – Washington D. C. • 200, 000 people march to Washington • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gives “I have a Dream” speech

1964 Civil Rights Act 1965 Voting Rights Act