Cold War: 1960s: Social

Movements & the Vietnam War

SSUSH20-25

Conservative Movement
From 1930-1952Democrats dominated the
White House & Congress
As a result, the Republican Party developed 2
branches:
1. Republicans who went along with the New Deal
policies
2. Conservative wing of the Republican Party

1955 Conservative Movement was reborn

Key Belief govt should not be the vehicle
for solving social & economic problems
(poverty, discrimination, etc.)
. Conservatives believed that these problems should
& could be solved w/in the private sector w/ little
govt influence (private businesses, etc.)

Conservative Candidates in the 1960s

Barry Goldwater
Ran against Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 election
Strong anti-union & anti-communist
1960 Conscience of a Conservative (book)
Democrats made him look like he would possibly
get the U.S. involved in a nuclear war w/ the Soviet
Union

Richard M. Nixon
Ran against Kennedy in 1960 (lost)
1968 2nd time running for president (now against
Democrat Hubert Humphrey)
Strong anti-communist, against racial integration,
& promised to return order & stability in America
He said once elected, he would pull U.S. troops out
of Vietnam & focus on dtente (relaxed tensions
b/t U.S. & Soviet Union/other Cold War enemies)

Social Changes of the

1960s

United Farm Workers Movement

Csar Chvez fought for better working conditions & wages for
farm workers in California
son of poor, Mexican-American farm worker
determined to better the lives of his & other Hispanic workers families
Founded the 1st agricultural labor union in California (National Farm
Workers Association)
Primary tactic Unionize (politically organize in order to influence
elections)

Dolores Huerta founder of Community Services Organization

created this organization after she witnessed the effects of poverty
on the Hispanic children she taught in California
Chvez & Huerta combined their efforts to create the UFW
UFW (United Farm Workers)organization of farm workers in
California
Used non-violent tactics of the Civil Rights movement

1965 Delano Table Grape Strike

Grape growers refused to recognize the farm workers union
Chvez launched a nationwide boycott of the companies grapes
Union sent farm workers across the U.S. to convince supermarkets &
shoppers not to buy California grapes
1970 grape company & the UFW reached negotiations
Union workers would finally be guaranteed higher wages & other benefits

Womens Movement
Feminism belief that women should have economic,
political, & social equality w/ men
Womens movement re-awakened w/ this belief in the 1960s
Womens movement gained strength w/ the passage of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964which prohibited discrimination
based on race, religion, national origin, & gender and
created the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) to handle discrimination claims
Some women argued that the EEOC didnt adequately
address womens complaints
1966 NOW (National Organization for Women) was
created by Betty Friedan & 300 others
NOW pushed for
Creation of child-care facilities that would allow mothers to pursue
jobs & education
No gender discrimination in hiring
Employers could no longer refuse to hire women for traditionally
male jobs (doctors, CEOs, etc)
Repeal of all abortion laws

 Gloria Steinem Ms. magazine (1972)

Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique

(1963)

Rachel Carson & Silent

Spring
Carson was an ecologist
& naturalist
Called the Mother of the Modern
Environmental Movement
Wrote about nature for the U.S. govt during
the Great Depression
Concerned over the effects of the widespread
use of synthetic pesticides during WWII, she
wrote Silent Spring to warn the public about
the effects of pesticides in nature
Her study prompted local communities to
study the effects of aerial spraying or dusting
for harmful insects
Her work was also instrumental in founding
the modern environmental movement
leading to govt action to protect the
environment

Creation of Earth Day

(April
1970)
Earth Day movement was created by
Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin
Nelson wanted to start an environmental
movement
April 22, 1970 20 million Americans
held demonstrations all over the U.S. in
streets & parks protesting that we need a
healthy, sustainable environment
Massive support for environmentalism
brought on by Rachel Carsons Silent
Spring & Nelsons protests led to the
creation of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) & the passage
of the Clean Air, Clean Water, &
Endangered Species laws

Vietnam War

Vietnam: Background Info & Causes

French colony since the late 1800s
During WWII (1940s) Japanese took over the region
Vietnamese people had organized a resistance group
(Vietminh)fought against the French & Japanese
Vietminh were dominated by Communists & led by
Ho Chi Minh
WWII ended (1945) French assumed that they would
regain control of the region
Vietminh resisted the takeover & defeated the French in
1954
United Nations attempted the creation of new nations in
what had been French Indochina
Cambodia & Laos were 2 new nations

However, the people of southern Vietnam did not want

to be ruled from Hanoi in the north & didnt want to be
communist
The U.N. divided the nation at the 17th parallel (south
line of latitude) & planned for an election to decide the
unification of north & south Vietnam

 South Vietnamese govt didnt want an all-Vietnam election b/c a

communist-backed guerilla movement (Vietcong) had already
begun attacks in the south
Vietcong targeted village chiefs, school teachers, & govt officials
South Vietnam requested & received U.S. military support in the
form of training for its armed forces
U.S. believed that a communist takeover of South Vietnam would
lead to further expansion of communism in Asia
Pres. Eisenhower created the policy-- Domino Theory (when
one country falls to communism, so do others)
In keeping w/ the U.S. policy of containment, the U.S. began its
involvement in Southeast Asia
U.S. increased aide, but remanded largely in an advisory role
under Pres. Kennedy
Howeverin 1963, the U.S. assisted in a coup (takeover)
against the perceived weak South Vietnamese govt
Unfortunately, the communist forces gained strength over the
South Vietnamese govt

Escalation in Vietnam
(1964-1968)
U.S. Navy in the Gulf of Tonkin had
been supporting the South Vietnamese
Marine & Naval units as they staged a
series of raids into North Vietnam
Aug. 2, 1964 North Vietnamese ships
were accused of attacking the U.S.
Navy destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy
Pres. Johnson responded by ordering an
air attack on North Vietnamese naval
bases
**Prior to the U.S. attack, Johnson requested
Congress approvalCongress issued the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (gave the
President authorization to conduct military
operations in SE Asia w/o a formal
declaration of war)

 Meanwhile, the Vietcong had attacked the

U.S. support base at Pleiku, Vietnam
Pres. Johnson responded by sending ground
troops into combat in South Vietnam (change
in U.S. policy)
U.S. sent troops to Vietnam to protect its military
bases

Increase in troop strength gradually increased

to more than 500,000 men by 1968
Growth of U.S. military influence in the region
led the Soviet Union & the Peoples Republic
of China to give North Vietnam military aid

http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history
/videos/the-road-to-war

The Practice of War

U.S. fought primarily against the Vietcong in a guerillastyle war
U.S. & North Vietnamese army did occasionally engage
in direct combat
However, the U.S. had a decisive technical advantage
in artillery, air support, & air mobility which spelled
disaster for North Vietnamese units
Missions in the Vietnam War typically involved antiguerilla warfare throughout the country in an effort to
destroy the Vietcong & North Vietnamese units
Communists units were supplied from the North by
using the Ho Chi Minh Trailalong the border of
Cambodia & Laos
American air units tried to stop the flow of supplies
along the Ho Chi Minh Trail & supply networks in North
Vietnam
South Vietnamese civilians, at times, were caught in
the middle of these fights & suffered heavy causalities

Tet Offensive (1968)

U.S. forces were unable to totally
destroy communist forces in the South
However, communist forces lacked the
ability to drive out the Americans

U.S. commander, Gen. William

Westmoreland, was under the
impression that the communist forces
were on the verge of collapse
(according to his enemy body counts)
So, he urged Congress to authorize an
additional 200,000 men to finish off
the North Vietnamese Army & the
Vietcong once & for all!

 Westmoreland was wrong...

The communist forces were not defeated, but had just
withdrawn to their bases in Cambodia & Laos to rebuild
& train
Gen. Gip (commander of the North Vietnamese forces)
decided to stage a massive offensive in South Vietnam in
order to shatter the morale of the U.S. & South
Vietnamese units
Gip struck 100 cities in South Vietnam during the
traditional Lunar New Year festival
Although initially caught off guard, the U.S. & South
Vietnamese soldiers rallied together & counter-attacked
causing severe causalities on the Vietcong
Televised scenes of heavy street fighting in Saigon & Hue
played out against Westmorelands earlier report that
the North Vietnamese Army & the Vietcong were
diminishing

http://www.history.com/
topics/vietnam-war/viet
nam-war-history/videos/
tet-offensive

Growing Opposition to
the
War
Some Americans didnt
think we should have been involved in
the first place
As early as 1964, there were mass student protests in San
Francisco & NYC
As Congress instituted the draft systemsome students
burned their draft cards to show their protest against the war
& the draft
Johnsons administration showed only positive news reports
on the Vietnam War
TV news reports seen nightly by millions of Americans seemed to
believe the positive image of the war

By 1968, the Tet Offensive had broken the faith of many

Americans in the truthfulness of the U.S. govt
Protests escalated as draft rules tightened & more and more
young men were drafted & sent off to Vietnam
Growing opposition to the war led Pres. Johnson to not run for
re-election in 1968.

Turmoil of 1968
January Tet Offensive
marked the beginning of the
end of the Vietnam War
March 19th First Black Power
demonstrations were held at
Howard Universitymarked the
beginning of an increased
separation from the SCLCs
non-violent tactics
March 31st Johnson declared
that he would not run for reelection

 April 4th Martin Luther King, Jr. was

assassinated in Memphis, TN; riots irrupted;
Kings death further split the Civil Rights
movement
June 5th Robert F. Kennedy was
assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan (Palestinian
immigrant who was angered over
Kennedys support of Israel)
August Democratic National Convention
in Chicago was interrupted by various antiwar groups; Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley
used police & National Guard units to
violently suppress groups who were
attempting to disrupt the convention;
confrontations b/t the police &
demonstrators were broadcast live on
national TV; most Americans supported the
strong reaction of the police to keep order

Nixon Becomes President

Nixons campaign goal to end
the Vietnam War
However, once Nixon becomes
president, the U.S. involvement in
Vietnam escalates...

1970 anti-war protests

increased even more when
Nixon ordered the U.S. invasion
of Cambodia

Anti-Vietnam War Protests

Several protests during the Vietnam War that turned
violent
Columbia University ROTC buildingarson attack

Ultimately, the publishing of the Pentagon Papers

caused the American public & Congress to lose respect
for the Presidency
Pentagon Papers secret study commissioned during Johnsons
presidency whose findings concluded that a war was unwinnable
in Vietnam & the U.S. should avoid a conflict
Papers revealed that Johnsons administration had lied about the
reasoning for fighting in Vietnam (Gulf of Tonkin)

So, Nixons administration was viewed in the same way

b/c Nixon had promised an end to the warand now it
seemed to be escalating
Vietnam anti-war movement was a decisive factor in the
U.S. withdrawal from SE Asia
1973 Nixon announced the end of the war