EOC Test Preparation:Transformational Years

The Civil Rights Movement

• Segregation still practiced in the south by law

• Segregation still practiced in the north despite no law enforcing it

• Discontent over treatment and oppression lead to the Civil Rights Movement– Fighting for constitutional

rights

The Civil Rights Movement• Brown v. Board of Ed

(1954)– 1950s NAACP sued

board of ed. In Topeka, Kansas because Linda Brown was not allowed to attend the all-white school

– Supreme Court reversed Plessy v. Ferguson (“separate but equal”); meant segregation in schools was unconstitutional• Chief Justice Earl

Warren

The Civil Rights Movement• Heart of Atlanta Motel,

Inc. v. United States (1964)– Supreme Court continued

dealing with segregation– Court ruled that Congress

could regulate interstate commerce to outlaw segregation in privately owned businesses

White Resistance to CRM

• Southern political leaders maintained segregation despite Court rulings

• Arkansas and the Little Rock Nine– Governor wouldn’t allow

segregation in the high school– National Guard called to prevent

students from entering– Eisenhower had to send in 101st

Airborne to enforce Court’s ruling

White Resistance to CRM

• University of Mississippi and James Meredith– Governor tried to prevent

him from being admitted– JFK sent federal authorities

to handle the situation• AL Governor George Wallace

– Prevent integration at Univ. of Alabama

– Federal authorities sent to intervene

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolence

• Montgomery Bus Boycott– Rosa Parks, Dec. 1,

1955– NAACP and Dr. MLK

Jr. lead a boycott of city buses• City lost lots of $$$• Made MLK Jr. a

national figure

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolence

• MLK-Leader of the CRM• Civil disobedience- non-violent refusal to obey

unjust laws– Gandhi

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolence• Sit-ins– Feb. 1, 1960 – Greensboro NC– Nonviolent, remain seated until served or arrested– Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolence

• Freedom Rides– Blacks and whites

took buses from the north to south to test court’s decision on interstate travel

– CORE: Congress of Racial Equality

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nonviolence

• CR protests continued in the South 1962-63

• August 28, 1963: March on Washington– Meant to put

pressure on JFK to pass CRs legislation

– 200,000 people showed up in support

Malcolm X and Black Militant Movement

• Malcolm X– Gain rights by “any

means necessary” – Started as a more

militant individual, through Islam he became less militant

– Viewed by some as a traitor

– Killed in Feb. 1965 at a rally

Malcolm X and Black Militant Movement

• Black Power-pride in African heritage, separate black economic and political institutions, self-defense against white violence, potentially violent revolution

• Black Panthers-1966 – Positive and negative impact– Pushed to rebuild ghettos in

big cities

Legal Changes

• Lyndon B. Johnson urged Congress to pass CRs laws that JFK had proposed prior to his assassination– Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Prohibited segregation in public places• Prohibited discrimination in education and employment

• 24th Amendment-1964, protected blacks’ voting rights by making the poll tax illegal

• Voting Rights Act-1965– Suspended literacy tests for voter registration– Led to huge amounts of African Americans to register to

vote and running for political office

Civil Rights and the Cold War

• Both the US and USSR sought countries all over the world to form alliances with

• The fact that the US was slow to enforce equality among all people didn’t help the cause

Civil Rights and the Media

• Power of the media– Many people in the US owned TVs and were able

to watch what was happening in the CRM– Ideas spread quickly

Johnson, Nixon, Vietnam• Lyndon B. Johnson,– “Great Society”-CRs, social

programs (“War on Poverty”)

– Was able to get Congress to pass a lot of legislation that helped the poor and urban areas

– Medicare/caid– Head Start (education for

low-income families)– Department of Housing

and Urban Development– Loosened immigration laws

Johnson, Nixon, Vietnam

• Vietnam was a colony of France, but following WWII they began fighting for independence– Nationalists had ties to communism

• Geneva Accords-conference in Switzerland, 1954, called for Vietnam to be divided into 2 nations– North=communist under Ho Chi Minh– South= democratic under Ngo Kinh Diem

US Involvement in Vietnam

• Eisenhower and Kennedy (and the US) feared the spread of Communism

• Viet Cong-Communist rebels in South Vietnam– US sent military to help South Vietnam fight

communist North and VC– Diem’s gov. was corrupt in the South

• Kennedy assassinated (Lee Harvey Oswald), Johnson now in office, will not lose Vietnam to Communism

US Involvement in Vietnam• Johnson won the presidency

in 1964 by making his opponent seem (literally) on the warpath against Vietnam– However, Johnson was

completely supportive of military involvement

• Gulf of Tonkin-North Vietnamese had attacked US ships– Had they really???– Johnson used the event to

pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution• Gave him the power to take

military actions against Vietnam w/o Congressional approval

US Involvement in Vietnam• VC power continuing to

spread as poor Southern Vietnamese supported the cause

• Operation Rolling Thunder– US wanted to cut off North

Vietnam’s support of VC (through supplies)

– Johnson ordered intense bombing campaign• Bridges, supply lines,

villages• Careful not to bomb areas

that might incur wrath of USSR and China

Viet Cong and Guerilla Warfare

• Not the traditional style of warfare– Strategies involving surprise

attacks and then fleeing• Tet Offensive– Jan. 30, 1968– Heavy fighting– Proved that the

Communists could launch a serious military attack on US forces• US citizens begin to question

the war

Attitudes in the US

• Divided attitudes• US as the criminal?• Anti-war movement– Mostly on college

campuses– Some peaceful, some

violent• Johnson looks bad, does

not run for re-election

Nixon and Vietnam

• Jan. 1969, vowed to get US out of Vietnam

• Vietnamization: – South Vietnamese soldiers

to take the place of the US soldiers in Vietnam

– Still nervous about Communism…began bombing raids against NV, Cambodia, Laos

– Invaded Cambodia and destroy Communist training camps

End of US Involvement

• Paris Peace Accords– Withdrawal of US troops

within 60 days– Release of POWs– All parties involved would end

military activities in Laos and Cambodia

– 17th parallel would still divide N and S Vietnam

End of US Involvement

• Fall of Saigon– After US left Vietnam, fighting

resumed– North Vietnamese surrounded

South Vietnamese at Saigon– US tried a last evacuation

mission on April 29th

– April 30th Saigon fell and Vietnam became a Communist country

War Protests

• Kent State University– Anti-war protest turned

violent– Students attacked

businesses and burned army ROTC building on campus

– Governor of OH sent in troops• Opened fire when students

began throwing rocks/objects• 4 dead, 9 injured

War Protests

• Pentagon Papers– 1971– NY Times published a

gov. study on US involvement• Executive branch

(president) had lied to Congress– Secret decisions– Unapproved military

actions

War Protests

• Media and Vietnam– Nightly news showed

horrors of war and even listed the death tolls each night

– Huge negative impact on citizens’ views of the war

Social Revolution

• “Baby Boomers” were now in college and challenging the ideals of society

• Woodstock– 1969– Peace, music, drugs, “immoral” behavior– counterculture

• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)– “New Left”– Rejected traditional views concerning

social issues– Radical change

Social Revolution

• Migrant Workers– United Farm Workers– 1962– Cesar Chavez– Supported rights of migrant farm

workers– Non-violent protests, hunger

strikes

Social Revolution• Women’s Movement– “women’s lib”; equality between

sexes– Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique– Phyllis Schlafly• Against Equal Rights Amendment• Women should stay home and take care

of family, pursue a career later

Social Revolution• Women’s Movement– Equal Rights Amendment-sexual discrimination

illegal (1972)• Was not ratified

– Roe v. Wade-1973, Supreme Court ruled state laws restricting a woman’s right to an abortion during first 3 months was unconstitutional

Nixon Presidency

• Détente– Nixon wanted to ease tensions between US and

foreign nations through diplomacy• Domestic Policies/Issues– New Federalism: give power back to states, cut

gov. support– Wanted a “middle road” when it came to CRs

Nixon Presidency• Domestic Policies/Issues– Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Ed

(1971)• School busing and racial integration

Nixon Presidency

• Oil Embargo– Fuel crisis, 1973– OPEC placed an embargo (refused to sell) to US

b/c of support for Israel• Exposed us dependency on oil

Nixon Presidency

• Environmental Protection– Environmental Movement– Resources were not limitless• Conservation

– EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

Nixon Presidency• Watergate

– 1972 presidential election– Nixon was concerned he would

lose • Officials loyal to him wiretapped

phones at DNC headquarters• Attempt failed, police arrested 5

men involved• Nixon didn’t know about the

break-in, but he participated in cover-up

– Supreme Court ruled that he had to deliver the tapes, but 18. 5 minutes was suspiciously missing

– He was the only president in history to resign• Would’ve been impeached

otherwise

EOC BOOKWORK

• P. 222-224– #s 1-10 multiple choice