Unit 6 Lesson 5: Kendeny, Johnson, and Vietiam

Question 1

How did experience play a factor in why people did not want to vote John F Kennedy?

Answer 1

The election was a close contest. Many Americans voted against John F. Kennedy because they felt he did not have enough experience to be President.

Question 2

How did religion play a role in why people did not want to vote John F Kenndey?

Answer 2

Others worried about Kennedy’s religion, Catholicism. No Roman Catholic had ever been President. Many Americans feared that Kennedy might be more loyal to the Roman Catholic Church than to the country. Kennedy reassured voters that he believed in the separation of church and state.

Question 3

How did television turn the tide for Kennedy?

Answer 3

In the first televised debates ever held in a presidential campaign, Kennedy appeared youthful and confident. Nixon, recovering from a recent illness, looked tired and nervous. Kennedy won the election by a narrow margin.

Question 4

Who won the election of 1961?

Answer 4

John F. Kennedy took the presidential oath of office on January 20, 1961. At 43, he was the youngest man ever elected President and the first to be born in the twentieth century

Question 5

What is are superpowers?

Answer 5

superpowers—nations with enough military, political, and economic strength to influence events worldwide.

Question 6

What problem would Kendeny tackle during his presidency?

Answer 6

By the time Kennedy entered the White House, the United States and the Soviet Union had emerged as superpowers. As leader of a superpower, President Kennedy was given the task of negotiating the country’s way through Cold War crises.

Question 7

Who was Fidel Castro and what did he do in 1959?

Answer 7

In 1959, Fidel Castro led a revolution that set up a communist state in Cuba. Castro’s government took over private companies, including many owned by American businesses.

Question 8

Thousands of Cubans, especially those from the upper and middle classes, fled to the United States. Why?

Answer 8

Becasue of Fidel Castro and his comunisim

Question 9

Describe the Soviets relationship with Cuba? Why did it concern Americans?

Answer 9

The Soviet Union began supplying Cuba with large amounts of aid. The growing ties between the Soviet Union and Castro’s Cuba worried American officials. Cuba lies just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

Question 10

What did Kennedy do to try to overthrow Castro?

Answer 10

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy approved a plan to support Cuban exiles in an invasion of Cuba to overthrow Castro.

Question 11

What are exiles?

Answer 11

Exiles are people who have been forced to leave their own country.

Question 12

What was the battle like during the Bay of Pigs invasion?

Answer 12

A force of about 1,400 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba’s south coast. The invasion was badly planned. Castro’s forces outnumbered the invaders and quickly rounded them up and jailed them, killing about 100 of the invaders.

Question 13

What was the outcome of the Bay of Pigs invasion?

Answer 13

The Bay of Pigs invasion strengthened Castro in Cuba and embarrassed the United States.

Question 14

After the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Soviet Union gave Cuba more weapons. In October 1962, President Kennedy learned that the Soviets were secretly building missile bases on the island. If the bases were completed, atomic missiles could reach American cities within minutes. This resulted in Kennedy doing what?

Answer 14

Kennedy announced that American warships would be positioned around Cuba with orders to stop any Soviet ships carrying missiles.

Question 15

Kennedy announced that American warships would be positioned around Cuba with orders to stop any Soviet ships carrying missiles. How did the Soveits rspond to this?

Answer 15

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba. In turn, the United States promised not to invade the island.

Question 16

What was the outcome of the Cuban missle crisis?

Answer 16

Cuban missile crisis had shaken both American and Soviet officials. In all the years of the Cold War, the world never came closer to a full-scale nuclear war.

Question 17

Latin America had long faced severe social and economic problems. A huge gap existed between the wealthy few and the majority of people. In most countries, rural people lived in desperate poverty. When the poor migrated to cities seeking work, they were often forced to live in shacks without heat, light, or water. This lead a lot of people to see..

Answer 17

Many poor Latin Americans saw communism as a solution to their problems. Communists called for land to be distributed to the poor and for governments to take over foreign corporations. Some noncommunists also supported this view.

Question 18

Why did many American leaders want to help reform Latin America?

Answer 18

Many American leaders agreed with the need for reform. They hoped that American aid would help make Latin American nations more democratic, ease the lives of the people, and lessen communist influence.

Question 19

In 1961, President Kennedy created an ambitious aid program called the Alliance for Progress. What was the Alliance for Progress?

Answer 19

He urged Latin American countries to make reforms to improve the lives of their people. In return, the United States contributed aid to build schools and hospitals and to improve farming and sanitation services.

Question 20

What was the overall outcome of the Allicane for PRogress?

Answer 20

The Alliance brought a few improvements, but it did not end the causes of poverty.

Question 21

Kennedy also set up the Peace Corps. What was the Peace corps?

Answer 21

Under this program, American volunteers worked in developing countries as teachers, engineers, and technical advisers. Volunteers lived with local people for two years, teaching or giving technical advice.

Question 22

To battle communism, the United States also gave military aid to….

Answer 22

train and arm Latin American military forces. The United States spoke up for democracy and pressed governments to make reforms. Often, though, the United States ended up supporting military dictators because they opposed communism.

Question 23

What was Sputnik I.

Answer 23

When, in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the world’s first artificial satellite, Americans questioned whether Soviet rockets armed with atomic weapons could reach the United States.

Question 24

What was NASA made?

Answer 24

As both superpowers raced to send larger satellites farther into space, the United States under President Kennedy’s leadership set up the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Its mission was to direct an American space program to compete with that of the Soviets.

Question 25

What happened on November 22, 1963

Answer 25

John F. Kennedy died he was assinatied

Question 26

who was the new president?

Answer 26

That afternoon, Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as President.

Question 27

suspicions about the person who killed President Kendeny?

Answer 27

A stunned American people reacted with grief and confusion, but more drama followed. Police caught Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected gunman. However, after his arrest, Oswald himself was killed by another gunman.

Later a special government commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren concluded that a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, had murdered the President.

Question 28

Johnson had his own program. He called it the Great Society. What was the main goal of the Great Society?

Answer 28

It boldly aimed at creating a decent living standard for every American. In a first step, Johnson declared a “war on poverty.”

Question 29

How did the Great Society affect the health of Americans?

Answer 29

The Great Society had many programs. Under Medicare, the government helped pay hospital costs for senior citizens. Medicaid gave states money to help poor citizens with medical bills.

Question 30

How did the Great Society affect jobs?

Answer 30

A new Office of Economic Opportunity created job-training programs for the unemployed. It gave loans to needy farmers and to businesses in poor sections of cities.

Question 31

How did the Great Society affect hosuing? Why was the Department of Housing and Urban Development created?

Answer 31

Programs to build housing for low-income and middle-income families were also part of the Great Society. To carry out these programs, Congress established the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.

Question 32

Who was Robert Weaver?

Answer 32

Robert Weaver headed the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He was the first African American ever appointed to the Cabinet.

Question 33

Benifits and problems of the Great Society?

Answer 33

It aided the poor but at great cost to taxpayers. Government grew in size and intruded on people’s lives as never before. Corruption sometimes plagued antipoverty programs. Still, Medicare, Medicaid, and other reforms helped millions and became permanent parts of American life.

Question 34

Who was Ho Chi Minh? How did Vietnam gain indepedence from Frnace?

Answer 34

During the 1940s, Ho Chi Minh (hoh chee min), a Vietnamese nationalist and a Communist, had led the fight for independence. Ho’s army finally defeated the French in 1954.

Question 35

An international peace conference divided Vietnam into two countries. Who lead North Vietnam and who lead South Vietnam?

Answer 35

Ho Chi Minh led communist North Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem (noh din dyem) was the noncommunist leader of South Vietnam. In the Cold War world, the Soviet Union supported North Vietnam. The United States backed Diem in the south.

Question 36

Why was Diem losing support in South Vietnam?

Answer 36

Diem lost popular support during the 1950s. Many South Vietnamese thought that he favored wealthy landlords and was corrupt. He failed to help the nation’s peasant majority and ruled with a heavy hand.

Question 37

Who were the Vietcong, how did they influence comunism?

Answer 37

As discontent grew, many peasants joined the Vietcong—guerrillas who opposed Diem. Guerrillas (guh RIL uz) are fighters who make hit-and-run attacks on the enemy. They do not wear uniforms or fight in large battles. In time, the Vietcong became communist and were supported by North Vietnam. Vietcong influence quickly spread, especially in the villages.

Question 38

What was hte domino theory in Vietnam?

Answer 38

Vietcong successes worried American leaders. If South Vietnam fell to communism, they believed, other countries in the region would follow—like a row of falling dominoes.

Question 39

How did the Prisedents try to conserve democratic South Vietnam?

Answer 39

Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy sent financial aid and military advisers to South Vietnam. The advisers went to help train the South Vietnamese army. They did not go to fight the Vietcong. Diem, however, continued to lose support, and soon was assinated.

Question 40

Why was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution made?

Answer 40

In August 1964, President Johnson announced that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked an American ship patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. At Johnson’s urging, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

Question 41

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution allowed the President to do what?

Answer 41

It allowed the President “to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack or to prevent further aggression.”

Question 42

How did the role of Americans in the Vietnam war change?

Answer 42

Johnson used the resolution to order the bombing of North Vietnam and Vietcong-held areas in the south. With the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the role of Americans in Vietnam changed from military advisers to active fighters. The war in Vietnam escalated, or expanded. By 1968, President Johnson had sent more than 500,000 troops to fight in Vietnam.

Answer 43

The Vietnam War differed from other wars that Americans had fought. Rather than trying to gain ground, Americans attempted to destroy enemy positions.

Answer 44

• When Americans found an enemy stronghold, the guerrillas disappeared into the jungle. When the Americans left, the Vietcong returned. As a result, Americans found themselves going back again and again to fight in the same areas.
• Worse still, American soldiers often could not tell which villagers were Vietcong. The enemy might be the old woman cooking rice outside her hut or the man walking down a village path.

Question 45

What was the Tet offensive?

Answer 45

In January 1968, the Vietcong launched surprise attacks on cities throughout South Vietnam. Guerrillas even stormed the American embassy in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. The attack became known as the Tet Offensive because it took place during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year’s holiday.

Question 46

What was the overall outcome of the Tet offensive?

Answer 46

In the end, American and South Vietnamese forces pushed back the enemy. Still, the Vietcong had won a major political victory. The Tet Offensive showed that even with half a million American troops, no part of South Vietnam was safe from Vietcong attack. Many more Americans began to protest the war.

Question 47

How was the draft unfair?

Answer 47

To build up troops, the United States expanded the draft, or system of mandatory enlistment into the armed forces. The draft affected American youth unequally. Many young middle-class men found ways to avoid the draft, such as attending college. As a result, many of the draftees sent to Vietnam were poor. A large number were African American and Latino.

Question 48

What led to the antiwar movement?

Answer 48

As more and more young men were sent to fight in the Vietnam War, an antiwar movement gained strength. Protesters staged rallies, burned draft cards (notices that a person has been drafted), and refused to serve in the military. Many of the largest demonstrations took place on college campuses

Question 49

Who were hawks and who were doves?

Answer 49

By the mid-1960s, the country split between “hawks” and “doves.” Hawks supported the Vietnam War as a battle against communism. Doves opposed it. They saw it as a civil war involving the Vietnamese only.

Question 50

What were protesters agrument on the war?

Answer 50

Protesters charged that American lives and money were being wasted on an unjust war. The South Vietnamese government, they said, was corrupt and brutal, and the United States should not support it. They wanted the huge sums being spent on the war to be spent on social programs at home.

Question 51

What was the counterculture movement in America?

Answer 51

Many young Americans joined the counterculture movement. They criticized competition and the drive for personal success. Instead of going to college, they “dropped out.” Instead of traditional families, they lived together in groups or communes. Many listened to new forms of rock music. Some “turned on,” or experimented with illegal drugs.
Inspired by the civil rights movement, counterculture protesters called for peace, justice, and social equalit