Louis Pisha AP US History
Chapter 32: Reform and Revolt
The Thousand Days
Kennedy and the Cold War
The World of Diversity
Struggle for the Third World
Latin America: Crisis and Hope
Trouble in Southeast Asia
Deeper into the Quagmire
From “Massive Retaliation” to “Flexible Response”
Kennedy and Khrushchev
The Missile Crisis
Détente: 1963
Space
The New Frontier
The Black Revolution
Kennedy and America
The Johnson Years
The Great Society
Foreign Policy: Latin America
Vietnam: The War Americanized
The Johnson Rationale
“Hawks” and “Doves”
A Decade of Upheaval
Women in Revolt
The Black Revolution Turns Left
Black Power
Revolt on the Campus
The New Left
Rise of the Counterculture
The Social Fabric Unravels
The 1968 Election
▪ JFK: young, Catholic, Irish, legislative background, handsome, affirmative, high sense of Am’s responsibilities, idealistic
The Thousand Days
Kennedy and the Cold War
▪ JFK saw Cold War as geopolitical, not religious
▪ Khrushchev made a speech saying Soviets would support “national liberation wars” in 3rd World, but also reaffirmed views on nuclear coexistence, which China opposed—but each (US and China) read only the parts written for the other
▪ Kennedy responded by saying we will do anything in order to ensure survival of liberty—yet disdained arms race like Khrushchev and hated nuclear war
The World of Diversity
▪ Kennedy admitted not always an American solution to every problem
▪ Proposed proposal that each superpower should abstain from doing stuff which would piss the other one off enough to “react”
▪ Each country should solve its own problems in its own way, and that’s okay if it’s communism, just not everybody will eventually see the Communist light—“make the world safe for diversity”
Struggle for the Third World
▪ Kennedy though neutralism was an alternative for 3rd World—now Am resources went to aiding economies, not armies—Peace Corps
▪ Now to protect democratization process from Communist meddling, US had to persuade Rus to give up national liberation wars
▪ Idea to use “counterinsurgency”—Green Berets—supposed to be within context of social reform, but didn’t happen, so strengthened US belief we could and should intervene in foreign lands
Latin America: Crisis and Hope
▪ Kennedy inherited force of anti-Castro Cubans from Eisenhower, trained by CIA for invasion of Cuba—Kennedy gave go-ahead and April 17, 1961, Bay of Pigs Invasion on S coast of Cuba
▪ Invasion failed, Kennedy refused escalation and took the blame
▪ CIA developed Operation Mongoose to covertly encourage sabotage in Cuba, including assassination of Castro—“pinpricks” did little except to irritate Castro
▪ Kennedy relied on Alliance for Progress, US prog to US aid eco development and political reform in hemisphere, sometimes to dismay of US biz interests
▪ Conference at Punta del Este where Latin Am subscribed to goals of Alliance
▪ JFK tried to have good relations in hemisphere including insisting on democracy
Trouble in Southeast Asia
▪ JFK felt US overcommitted in SE Asia and neither superpower had much stake there either, so rejected intervention in favor of neutralization under Phouma
▪ Khrushchev concurred at Vienna and agreed on a neutralist coalition between Pathet Lao and pro-W—Viet Cong maintained presence there, CIA aided Phouma, de facto partition
▪ Kennedy sent small force of Green Berets to S Vietnamese, yet situation of Saigon government got worse
▪ JFK rejected recommendations he dispatch combat force or air strike, but did want to send Am military “advisers” and some US troops took limited part in fighting—urged Diem to enlarge political and eco reform but didn’t
Deeper into the Quagmire
▪ Viet Cong continued to gain—Diem’s brother Nhu urged him to greater repression—CIA urged Diem to get rid of his brother
▪ Washington divided—someone sent a cable to Saigon saying US would support a military coup, which then happened and Diem and Nhu murdered
▪ JFK accepted domino theory and would not let S Vietnam just fall to Commies, but rigorously opposed full Am involvement, and believed it was their war
▪ Kennedy beginning to want withdrawal, then publicly stated it, then privately said total withdrawal, but since hadn’t publicly said it, complicated our situation
From “Massive Retaliation” to “Flexible Response”
▪ JFK felt “massive retaliation” would lead to nuclear holocaust so Sec of Def McNamara began shift to “flexible response” which was designed to enable US to fight small wars w/o using nukes
▪ Also felt missile gap, so approved escalation of nuclear force (despite satellite photos disproving gap)
▪ Caused Soviets to worry about their missile gap, and they began building and testing
▪ Kennedy believed in second-strike capability, that is Mutual Assured Destruction that we would have capability to return any nuclear attack on US
▪ JFK brought plan to UN for permanent disarmament but fell on deaf ears so both superpowers proceeded to intensify arms race
Kennedy and Khrushchev
▪ Vienna meeting a failure, Khrushchev believed Kennedy irresolute b/c Bay of Pigs so adopted intransigent attitude
▪ Khrushchev told Kennedy planning to cut off W rights to Berlin—Kennedy said unacceptable—Khrushchev said fine, if you want war, nothing I can do
▪ Kennedy called out reserves, increased defense budget, set off panic program of fallout shelters—Khrushchev backed down and instead built the Berlin Wall
▪ Kennedy secured passage of Trade Expansion Act to negotiate tariff reductions for expanded Common Market expecting Br to join, but Fr vetoed Br membership, but tariff reductions helped anyway
The Missile Crisis
▪ Khrushchev decided to put missiles in Cuba, to protect Cuba from Am invasion, bargaining over Berlin, increase Soviet first-strike capability, show Soviets penetrate Am sphere of influence
▪ Kennedy warned him against this, and he denied he was doing it, then U-2 flights showed he lied
▪ 2 factions in Kennedy’s cabinet: surprise air destruction of bases, but might kill Russians and force them to retaliate—or naval blockade which would allow Moscow time—this was done
▪ Kennedy disclosed crisis, then stare-down which ended when Soviet missile ships began to turn back
▪ US got 2 letters from Khrushchev, first apologetic, second demanding removal of US missiles in Turkey—Kennedy responded to first letter, but eventually Turkish missiles also removed
Détente: 1963
▪ Kennedy wanted to make clear the message not to tamper with explosive balance of power
▪ Crisis brought both leaders against their hawkish defense bureaucracies—Kennedy urged rethinking of Cold War and limited arms
▪ “Hot Line” established between US and Moscow (teletype)
▪ Both sides settled for nuclear test ban treaty in atmosphere, under water, in space but not underground because inspectors (and US defense dept not willing to support treaty unless underground testing could continue)
Space
▪ Russians put first man into space orbit—Kennedy said we would put a man on the moon—done so on July 20, 1969
▪ Kennedy willing to cooperate with Russia in space, and recognized military importance
The New Frontier
▪ Kennedy wanted to get the country moving again, including economically—expansionist policies: investment tax credit, liberalization of tax depreciation allowances, worker training progs, general tax reduction
▪ “Wage-price guideposts” designed to keep wage increases inside prices—US Steel violated them and Kennedy forced them to retract action
▪ But contemporary poor were different from before—inherited and permanent poverty—so progs to help Appalachia
▪ Social reform statute blocked by conservative coalition—Medicare, fed aid to education, Dept of Urban Affairs—made speeches for public support
The Black Revolution
▪ Began by trying to balance blacks with S whites, but pressure grew—concentrated on right to vote as leading to other rights
▪ Sent troops into Oxford, Miss, to protect black student’s right to attend U Miss
▪ More radical black organizations—Congress of Racial Equality, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
▪ Police commissioner in Birmingham harassed King’s marchers—a governor tried to block admission of blacks to a state university—Kennedy went on TV and said segregation wrong
▪ King led ¼ mil march on Washington, and “I Have a Dream”—yet stirrings of blacks not believing in good faith of whites
Kennedy and America
▪ Kennedy shot in Dallas—portrayed as everything from Cold Warrior to dramatizer of major issues
▪ Didn’t have enough time in White House to do enough, but always growth
▪ Left a legacy of cautious optimism that nation could meet its responsibilities—carrier of American idealism
The Johnson Years
The Great Society
▪ LBJ had great career in Congress, S er, New-Dealer-turned-conservative, concerned for minorities
▪ Appointed commission under Warren to investigate Kennedy’s murder which came up with murdered by Oswald alone
▪ Tax cut bill, passed in remorse for Kennedy, speeded eco growth, Civil Rights Act also passed in memory of Kennedy, prohibited federal discrimination in funds, public places, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
▪ Johnson called his program Great Society which extended Kennedy’s New Frontier—became great issue in 1964 prez campaign
▪ Republicans nominated Goldwater, who was liked by his followers but too conservative—most decisive triumph since 1936 for Dems under Johnson, and also Dems in Congress
▪ Medicare and Medicaid enacted, low-income housing, rent-supplement program, Model Cities Act (for city planning), Voting Rights Act which allowed fed government to register those unregistered
▪ LBJ put in “affirmative action”—required people to make special efforts to employ women and blacks
▪ Also, abolished national origins quota for immigration, fed support for arts, public broadcasting, safety standards for cars + roads, clean air + water, (Housing and Urban Development) and (Transportation) departments
▪ Office of Economic Opportunity under Shriver, including Job Corps, Neighborhood Youth Corps, VISTA, Head Start, Upward Bound, and Community Action program for poor participation in antipoverty effort, which got opposition
▪ Composition of federal budget altered in “welfare shift”: nondefense spending a larger percentage of an increased federal budget as part of gross national product
▪ Great Society did little—most of that money shunted to old people—but poverty declined
Foreign Policy: Latin America
▪ Reshaped to be more acceptable to Am big biz and right-wing Latin Am governments—liquidated goals of Alliance for Progress, structural reform and political democratization
▪ US welcomed coup in Brazil for military dictatorship, Johnson sent 20,000 marines to Dominican Republic without consulting OAS and revived mistrust
Vietnam: The War Americanized
▪ Lack of public mention of war resulted from desire to run it without congressional interference
▪ Johnson started hit-and-run raids against N Vietnam—S Vietnamese raided Gulf of Tonkin—N V fired on Am ship—US ordered retaliatory bombing of N Vietnamese targets, got Congress to pass SE Asia resolution (Tonkin Gulf resolution) authorizing sending troops
▪ Viet Cong mortar attack killed Am advisers, so Johnson started bombing and then Rolling Thunder campaign of air war and then combat units
▪ N Vietnamese army began appearing in S—Johnson escalated troops
The Johnson Rationale
▪ Wanted to restore morale in Saigon by displaying Am determination—also hoped bombing would break N Vietnamese will and call off war—or even make cost prohibitive of N Viet infiltrating S
▪ Secret war in Laos developed alongside Vietnam, to resist Ho Chi Minh trail
▪ Also based on false assumption victory in Vietnam vital to US security—believed appeasement wouldn’t work and dominoes
▪ Administration said Vietnam was just one part of premeditated Sino-Soviet Commie expansion
▪ Also justified intervention with social evangelism—nation-building
▪ Didn’t believe war meant hostility to Rus—Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev—UN treaty for peace in space, meeting at Glassboro, nuclear nonproliferation treaty
“Hawks” and “Doves”
▪ Am troop escalations made little progress except for in death tolls
▪ Bombing increased also, and rent the country apart, but hardened resistance, not destroyed it—McNamara said air power had failed—nevertheless Johnson escalated it
▪ Negotiating efforts but went nowhere
▪ “Doves” included Fulbright, Robert Kennedy, Lippmann, Kennan, Morgenthau, Mailer, Lowell
▪ Students draft-dodging, burning draft cards, protesting
▪ Johnson’s domestic hopes suffered under increasing absorption in Vietnam
A Decade of Upheaval
Women in Revolt
▪ Students protested lack of control of college curricula—homosexuals, blacks, Asians, Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans, NAs all agitating for rights
▪ Men surprised that women felt they were still being subordinated, yet endured huge discrimination
▪ In ‘40s and ‘50s, tide turned had away from women activism, and their status therefore declined
▪ Friedan, Carmichael, women’s organizations (NOW), courses in women’s studies, all helped to raise consciousness
The Black Revolution Turns Left
▪ Center of agitation shifting north
▪ N blacks had nominal rights, but lived in ghettos and hostile to whites—nonviolence and religion less
▪ Black Muslims led by Malcolm X, who later broke with them and was assassinated by them
▪ Riots in 1965-7 in Watts, CA, Tampa, Cincinnati, Atlanta, New Brunswick
Black Power
▪ Meant not surrender to white values; but as expounded, meant separation and even vengeance on whites
▪ Older black leaders condemned violence, but new ones embraced it in some cases
▪ LBJ got open housing law, appointed Marshall (black) to Supreme Court, Prez Commission on Civil Disorders under Kerner
▪ King assassinated in Memphis—riots exacerbated by subsequent assassination of Robert Kennedy—yet most blacks still believed in nonviolence
Revolt on the Campus
▪ Campus stirred into action with Peace Corps, VISTA, civil rights, but war in Vietnam and Kennedy2’s assassination changed youthful idealism
▪ Militant young saw older generation as controlled by big government and biz—Students for a Democratic Society
▪ More and more going to college, and more protesting “multiversity”
▪ Student defiance increased—police called in—radicalization intensified
The New Left
▪ SDS and specifically Weathermen said only way to deal with American corrupt society was to destroy it—sociologist Mills gave them intellectual irrationale, apology for violence
▪ The “Establishment” disarmed dissent by absorbing it, beat it up, or brought it to court
Rise of the Counterculture
▪ Some dropped out of society, instead of fighting it—hippies gathered in communes
▪ Drugs
▪ Rock music reflected the trajectory of the young
▪ Then it evaporated—causes unclear, but include postwar baby boom, social conflicts, especially about war and race
▪ Yet most went into the world without protest, minority in counterculture—but made older people acknowledge the gap between their professed and actual ideals, and forced issues to top of the agenda