9. From the JFK’s arrival to the twenty-first century

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What was the significance of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile Crisis?

The Democratic administration was determined to resist pro-Soviet uprisings. The Bay of Pigs invasion was a CIA’s plan in order to invade a Cuba which was a Communist enclave nearest from the USA´s coast, which constituted as a threat as a potential exporter of pro-Soviet revolution to the rest of Latin America .

The Cuban missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. It marked the end of the peaceful coexistence between USA and USRS. USA and the USSR reinforced their status as leaders of their respective blocks, and both, took decisions directly without consulting its allies on (France and UK where U.S. and China and even CUBA in the Soviet case). After the crisis ended, Kennedy and Khrushchev signed an agreement to ban nuclear testing in the atmosphere. This marked the beginning of what seemed to be a new willingness to cooperate and communicate between both countries. The months after the Cuban crisis showed significant progress toward JFK´s goal of "a world of law and free choice, banishing the world of war and coercion." His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world.

2. How did the civil rights movement develop on the Kennedy Years?

Kennedy’s arrival in the White House opened an era of profound social changes. After dissatisfactions that appeared in the late 1950´s, JFK accelerated the transformations with a call for self-sacrifice. Kennedy made it clear in his speeches that he was a supporter of civil rights. He had promised in his campaign to act swiftly (rápidamente) if elected. He introduced civil rights legislation in June 1963, and by that time, African-Americans were pushing the movement in new directions They fought to force the desegregation of lunch counters and restaurants in the South. In the following year, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized the first “freedom rides,” in which both blacks and whites rode buses throughout the South to integrate bus terminals and to demand the enforcement of the Supreme Court decision banning segregation from interstate transportation .What did Kennedy do to advance the cause of civil rights?. For example, JFK put pressure on federal government organizations to employ more African Americans in America’s equivalent of Britain’s Civil Service. Any who were employed were usually in the lowest paid posts and in jobs that had little prospect of professional progress. Kennedy appointed his brother (Robert) as Attorney General which put him at the head of the Justice Department. Their tactic was to use the law courts as a way of enforcing already passed civil rights legislation. The Justice Department brought law suits against local officials for obstructing African Americans who wished to register their right to vote. Kennedy created the CEEO (Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity). Its job was to ensure that all people employed with the federal government had equal employment opportunities; it also required all those firms that had contracts with the federal government to do the same if they were to win further federal contracts. However, the CEEO was only concerned with those already employed (though it did encourage firms to employ African Americans) and it did nothing to actively get employment opportunities for African Americans.

Thousands of young Americans worked for civil rights at home. Yet the movement for change was also accompanied by resistance, turmoil, and often-deadly violence.

3. What were the major features of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society?

Johnson took office determined to secure the measures that Kennedy had sought. Immediate priorities were bills to reduce taxes and guarantee civil rights. Soon Johnson addressed other issues as well. By the spring of 1964, he had begun to use the name "Great Society" to describe his reform program.

Under Johnson's leadership, Congress enacted Medicare, a health insurance program for the elderly, and Medicaid, a program providing health-care assistance for the poor.

Similarly, Johnson succeeded in the effort to provide aid for elementary and secondary. The measure that was enacted gave money to the states based on the number of their children from low-income families. Funds could be used to assist public- and private-school children alike.

The Great Society reached even further. A new housing act provided rent supplements for the poor and established a Department of Housing and Urban Development. An immigration measure finally replaced the discriminatory quotas set in 1924. Federal assistance went to artists and scholars to encourage their work.

The Johnson administration also addressed transportation safety issues.

In all, the Great Society was the greatest burst of legislative activity since the New Deal. But support for the Johnson administration policies began to weaken as early as 1966. Some of Johnson's programs did not live up to expectations; many programs went underfunded. Still, the Great Society achieved some reductions in poverty.

4. What were the main reasons for the increased American involvement in Vietnam?

We may say that the main reasons for the American involvement in Vietnam were stopping the communist expansion and defending from attacks.

First of all, Kennedy thought that it was vital to American interests to defend the anti-Communist government of Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam, assuming that the Soviets and Chinese were backing Ho Chi Minh's drive to "liberate" the South. Thus the United States sent a small advisory force to Vietnam and initiated limited clandestine actions against the North, but after he sent additional troops, making a total of 17,000 by November 1963, to support the South Vietnamese war effort.

After Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson followed the involvement in Vietnam and developed attacks in North Vietnam due to a previous attack on American’s destroyer in 1964. He was supported by The House of Representatives.

Full scale involvement began in 1965 to prevent the North Vietnam victory which would have meant communist victory.

5. How successful was Nixon's policy of détente? And Why?

By applying détente, Nixon tried to reduce tensions with the Communist world, slowing the nuclear arms race, and not participating in any armed intervention where the United States' vital interests were not at risk. He achieved the former by agreeing to negotiate an arms control pact with the Soviets, also known as The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT).

The SALT agreements played an important role as they were seen as a symbolic first step towards control of the nuclear arms race. They signified that the United States and Russia were trying to achieve a settlement of their differences by peaceful means. They reduced the use of missiles.

The second of his plans would be more focused on the Vietnam War where Americans troops were considerably reduced, allowing the South Vietnamese troops taking the combat role. Negotiations with Hanoi were finally successful as in 1972 both sides of the conflict were near agreement.

Thus Nixon’s policy of détente was successful as after eight years of fighting, more than 57,000 Americans killed, and more than $150 billion spent, Vietnamese war was over.

6. What were Ford’s main achievements in foreign policy?

In foreign affairs, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger continued his shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, achieving disengagement of forces in the Sinai and on the Golan Heights. Ford sent US marines to retake the American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, seized — according to American intelligence — by Cambodian forces in international waters. Though it later emerged that the Cambodians were about to release the crew (rendering unnecessary the American casualties sustained in the operation) the action was popular, and Ford's popularity ratings took a sudden, though temporary, upswing. Furthermore, in the final days of the Vietnam War, he ordered an airlift of anticommunist Vietnamese refugees, most of whom came to the U.S.

Ford had to fight to restore the CIA’s prestige because it had been involved in plot to assassinate foreign leaders. He appointed George Bush as its director and assassination as an instrument of American foreign office was outlawed.

7. How did Carter show conservatism at home and idealism abroad?

Inflation, oil crises, withdrawal from Vietnam, and the Iranian revolution made Jimmy Carter feel that the way forward was in conservation, energy independence and acceptance of the fact that the United States could no longer bend the world to its will. Carter said: "All the traditions of our past, all the lessons of our heritage, all the promises of our future point to another path, the path of common purpose and the restoration of American values."

As president, Carter created two new cabinet-level departments: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. He established a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. He declared that the energy situation was the moral equivalent of war.

In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II), and returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama.

Throughout his career, Carter strongly emphasized human rights. Carter came to the White House determined to make human rights considerations integral to U.S. foreign policy. In part, this desire stemmed from practical politics: Carter's promises during the 1976 campaign that his administration would highlight human rights proved popular with the voting public. But as the most important thing, Carter's emphasis on human rights was consistent with his own beliefs on the necessity of living one's life in a moral way.

The Carter administration's human rights record was mixed. The President and his advisers denounced human rights violations by the Soviet Union and its East European allies. In addition, American allies like South Korea also came under tough criticism for repressing democratic dissent. Moreover, the United States took tangible actions—including the suspension of military or economic aid—to protest the human rights practices of the governments of Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Uganda. On the other hand, the Carter administration toned down its human-rights based criticisms of the Soviet Union after the Brezhnev government threatened to end arms control talks. Moreover, Carter refused to halt the sale of military supplies to Iran, whose government violently repressed its opponents, even though some of his advisers urged him to do so.

Carter’s most successful foreign affairs were the Camp David Accords, the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II) and the Panama Canal Treaties and the subsequent return of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama.

8. What were Reagan’s major achievements in office and what prices did the country pay for them?

Reagan won the 1980 election after drawing support from a vast majority of Americans who believed that in order to restore the economic growth of the country it was necessary to cut state spending. When President Reagan took office, he tried to reduce inflation by limiting the role of the government in welfare, education and, most significantly, in the economic regulation.

He cut spending on a variety of social welfare programs like federal subsidies for child-care and for low-income families at the same time he cut taxes to stimulate investment. With these policies he managed to lower the deficit from a 5% to a 3% but, in practice, it only benefited those who were already rich, while the other struggled to make ends meet.

The most important achievement Reagan made, though, concerned foreign policy. Under his administration, the country defense measures were increased with new weapons and more than a hundred ships but even more relevant was the advantage Reagan took from the change of leadership in the URSS.

Mikhail Gorvachev wanted to improve relations with the USA, which he thought essential to carry out changes in the country’s economy. Reagan and Gorvachev met three times and agreed to destroy intermediate –range missiles.

9. What were the main characteristics of Clinton’s foreign policy?

Clinton’s main interest focused on domestic affairs and his foreign policies during his office related, basically, to human rights. He helped negotiate a peace agreement in Northern Ireland and mediated negotiations between Palestine and Israeli leaders that led to a historic declaration of peace in September 1993.

The USA under Clinton’s government also played a very important role in the former Yugoslavia crisis. The president proposed an arms embargo to the Serb lines and when this proved inefficient threaten to bomb Serb targets. This war, which was not approved by the UN ended in 1999 when the Serb forces withdrew from Kosovo.

10. What were the domestic repercussions of the September 11 attacks?

The attacks had immediate and overwhelming effects upon the United States population. People began rallying around the popularized phrase, "United We Stand," in hopes of being resilient and keeping the American spirit alive in the face of a devastating attack. Many people joined together to help the victims. Blood donations saw a surge in the weeks after 9/11.

The pulverized concrete which filled the streets with voluminous dust has led through time to serious lung and cardiovascular disorders. Although at the time of the tower collapses it was advised that there was no danger from air contamination, it has subsequently come to light that toxic fumes were very much in evidence. Two major public reactions to the attacks were a surge of public expressions of patriotism not seen since World War II, marked most often by displays of the American flag; and an unprecedented level of respect, sympathy, and admiration for New York City and New Yorkers as a group by Americans in other parts of the United States.