60s Political Environment + Vietnam War Flashcards
What major event do historians argue impacted/influenced US politics and public opinion throughout the 1960s?
Vietnam War
List the 3 Presidents who were in office throughout the 60s.
- John F Kennedy
- Lyndon B Johnson
- Richard M Nixon
Give the 3 key areas looked at within the 60s.
- Liberalism
- Conservative Realism
- Counter-Culture: Hippies + Student Protests
What was Kennedy’s description of a liberal?
Hint: 4 things
- Forward thinking
- Flexible
- Concerned about welfare
- Less suspicious abroad
Give the stereotype of a liberal.
- Educated
- Middle class
- Wealthy
List 3 liberal beliefs.
- Equality
- Civil Rights
- Prepared to limit individual liberties to help those in need.
Define positive discrimination.
Preferential treatment in employment, education… given to minority groups that have suffered from discrimination to readdress inequality.
List 3 achievements of a liberal congress in the late 1960s.
Increase in support for liberal measures:
- Civil Rights
- Legalising abortion
- Equal opportunites were increase e.g civil rights act + voting act
What were conservative beliefs? What were they shocked by?
Bewildered by counter-culture + wanted traditional values.
Summarise Nixon and the New Right.
- Campaigned for president on New Right policies.
- Wanted to restore law and order and traditional values.
- Nixon gained support from people who found the campaign promise of uniting society appealing.
What was the Christian Right?
- Relgious groups that held campus campagins.
- These groups campaigned to keep laws against homosexuality and to remove office people found to be homosexual.
What happened in the 1970s with the Religious Right Movement?
They campaigned for a return to tradtional family values.
Summarise the hippy beliefs.
- Peace
- Want for a simply way of life
- Want to live in a communal soceity
- Rejected hard work
What was the hippy lifestyle?
- Smoked dope + mind altering drugs
- Wider sexual freedom than marriage
What was Woodstock? When was it? What happened?
15 - 18 August 1969
400,000 - 500,000 arrived to music festival; there were freely available drugs and sexual freedom.
What does SDS stand for?
Hint: Counter-culture; Student Protests
Students for a Demcratic Society
What were the beliefs of the SDS?
- Rejected all forms of racism + communism.
- Protested, often violently, against the Vietnam War.
What does FSM stand for?
Hint: Counter-culture; Student Protests
Free Speech Movement
What was the FSM? What did they do?
A radical group that led a campaign on Berkley campus; used sit-ins + peaceful protests to push free speech on campus.
Summarise the student violence on May 4, 1970?
- Ohio guardsmen shot 4 unarmed students at a protest against the Vietnam War.
- Small groups planted bombs at militons targets e.g 24 August 1970, killed 1 researcher and caused $60 million in damage.
By the end of the Vietnam War, around how many Americans had been killed?
Over 58,000
How many Vietnamese civilians were killed during the war?
2 million
Vietnam was part of which European empire?
France’s Indochina
What is Domino Theory?
If one country turned to communism, the ones around it also would.
Along what line was Vietnam split?
17th parallel
What was the ratio of Vietnam deaths to American deaths?
10:1
Why did the Tet Offensive begin on January 31 1968?
It was the first day of the Vietnamese Luna New Year.
