Unit 6 Part 2: CIVIL RIGHTS AND VIETNAM WAR Flashcards
Unsuccessful military invasion of Communist Cuba in 1961 by U.S. sponsored troops. The invasion was a major embarrassment for U.S. foreign policy. Although this project started during Eisenhower’s presidency, Kennedy was president in 1961 and took the blame.
BAY OF PIGS
Founded in the first decade of the 20th century to increase job opportunities for African Americans.
NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE
Formed in the 1940s by James Farmer and other African Americans. Influenced by Gandhi’s nonviolent methods in India. Goal was to protest segregation and racism with nonviolent means.
CONGRESS OF RACIAL EQUALITY
Founded by Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, and other ministers to fight for racial equality by using nonviolent means. Plan was to use churches as a base and stage protests and demonstrations throughout the South.
SOUTHERN CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
National student protest group formed in 1960. Following earlier models (CORE), they staged sit-ins (African Americans sitting at segregated lunch counters and refusing to leave until they were served -sit-ins) at whites-only lunch counters throughout the South.
STUDENT NONVIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE (SNCC)
Organized by CORE in 1961 - interracial groups of volunteers that rode two buses through the South in an effort to push for the enforcement of the federal law banning segregation on interstate bus routes and terminals. In many cities they were greeted by armed mobs that attacked them or arrested by hostile police. U.S. marshals were eventually sent to protect them as they finished their ride.
FREEDOM RIDERS
Prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, ethnicity, or gender. Cut off federal aid to segregated schools. Established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964
Black Muslims – believed that whites were the cause of the African American condition. Wanted to create their own separate state since cooperation with whites was impossible.
NATION OF ISLAM
Militant group formed in CA to patrol black neighborhoods to protect the residents from police violence. Soon expanded their mission (published a newspaper, provided free breakfast for poor black children, provided free medical clinics, etc.) and spread to other cities (10,000 members by 1969). Had a ten-point program asking for full employment, decent housing, and an exemption from military service among other demands.
BLACK PANTHERS
Segregation existed, and FL led the South in lynchings in proportion to the population. There was a bus boycott in Tallahassee 1956, sit-ins in Miami as early as 1959, and rioting in St. Augustine in 1964. Two important African American Floridians: A. Philip Randolph – pushed for ending of discrimination in the military. Helped organize March on Washington. B. Harry T. Moore – helped organize FL’s NAACP, filed civil rights lawsuits.
CIVIL RIGHTS OF FLORIDA
Plessy v Ferguson – separate but equal Brown v. Board of Education – overturns Plessy v Ferguson Gideon v Wainwright – criminal courts must provide legal counsel to those who cannot afford it Regents of UC v Bakke – upheld affirmative action: schools could take race into account to have greater diversity, but could not have a quota system. Roe v Wade – women have the right to choose an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy.
LANDMARK SUPREME COURT CASES
Geneva Conference (1954) split Vietnam in two – Communists in the North, Vietnamese Emperor in the South. The U.S. replaces France as the South Vietnamese chief supporter. Why? - fear of communism, belief in democracy, example to the allies, and underestimating the enemy. Kennedy sends troops to support S. Vietnam against N. Vietnam; Johnson continues/tries for peace; Nixon continues/works out a peace treaty. Ford does nothing when N. Vietnam takes control of all of Vietnam – uniting the country under communism. Contributes to Americans’ lack of faith in the government.
VIETNAM WAR
Idea that the countries on the brink of communism were like dominoes set up in a line. If one went over, they would all go.
DOMINO THEORY
An alliance of the U.S. and other countries similar to NATO, but in Southeast Asia. Felt obligated to protect South Vietnam from communist aggression.
SOUTHEAST TREATY ORGANIZATION
Alleged attack of U.S. ships by North Vietnamese ships in the Gulf of Tonkin (off N. Vietnam’s coast) that prompts President Johnson to ask for and get broad military powers (“all necessary measures”) in Vietnam. Later information reveals the U.S. had been conducting secret raids against N. Vietnam, and Johnson had prepared his request to Congress months beforehand – this information begins to lead to American distrust of the government.
GULF OF TONIKIN INCIDENT
Surprise attack by the Vietcong in many South Vietnam cities. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces eventually re-gain control, but this attack and the subsequent fighting changes U.S. public opinion. Many (including the media) become critical of the war.
TET OFFENSIVE
President Nixon’s plan to gradually turn over control of the war to the South Vietnamese while slowly withdrawing U.S. troops.
VIETNAMIZATION
Cease-fire agreement (January 1973) with the North Vietnamese based on removal of all U.S. troops. U.S. was still allowed to provide military and economic aid to South Vietnam.
PARIS PEACE ACCORDS
13 day confrontation over the Soviet Union building missile bases in Cuba. The United States decided on a military blockade - they would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba. U.S. and Soviet Union came to an agreement to avoid nuclear war – often considered as Kennedy’s greatest foreign policy success.
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
The proximity of Cuba meant Florida was a focal point during the Cold War – prepared for the Bay of Pigs invasion in FL, many Cuban refugees settled in FL, used radio stations to broadcast into Cuba. Also, the space race impacted FL – all of the American rockets launched into space took off from Cape Canaveral.
FLORIDA DURING THE COLD WAR
President Johnson’s ambitious program to end poverty and racial injustice. Congress passed 206 of his measures including Medicare, Medicaid, Project Head Start, Immigration Act 1965, Civil Rights Act 1964, Voting Rights Act 1965, etc. These programs did help, but led to a growing budget deficit, and soon these programs were overshadowed by the Vietnam War.
GREAT SOCIETY
