Chapter 29
War Abroad, War At Home
AP United States History
West Blocton High School
Mr. Logan Greene
Chapter Objectives
• How did the national consensus of the 1950s
and early 1960s unravel?
• What challenges did American cities face in
the late 1960s and 1970s?
• Why did America’s view of the war in
Vietnam change in 1968?
• What was the legacy of Richard Nixon’s
presidency?
• How was Jimmy Carter’s idealism a
frustration to his success as president?
The End of Consensus
• Essentially the country had little discourse
during the 1950s and early 1960s.
• However, as Civil Rights escalated and the
Vietnam conflict intensified the country saw
the consensus turn to disagreement and
protest
Vietnam
• Under Johnson the US entered a controlled
escalation of hostilities in Vietnam to avoid
all out war
• The issue became the fact that the US did
not understand this new kind of war, a war
against an entire society
• Reaching a maximum level of 543,000 troops
in 1969 the US was fully involved in the war
attempting “search and destroy” or finding
enemy locations with small units then using
air and sea power to destroy them
Dissent
• As the war worsened citizens at home began
to question the intention of the war
• Much of the anger was focused on the
Selective Service Agency which ran the
draft
• For the first time the protests were
spearheaded by a youthful grouping of
college students with support from radical
politicians
Community Activism
• The 1960s activism was interesting due to
its grass roots approach
• These reformers pushed for better urban
areas, an end to selective service, reduction
of racism, and several other improvements
• This was democracy from the ground up
instead of politicians suggesting items
Feminism
• Feminism made a return in the 1960s as
women focused on unfair working conditions
(wages were sharply unequal)
• As well the idea of the women’s liberation
movement took hold as women desired rights
to child bearing and the ideas of access to
things like contraceptives
Counterculture
• Millions of young people became “hippies” in
the 1960s, reveling in new music, drugs, and
the idea of the counter culture
• Counter culture advocates pushed for drug
legalization and the idea that psychedelic
drugs opened doors for people
• Despite this the hippie culture rarely
affected politics as this was left more for
the intellectual new left
Cities Under Stress
• During the 1950s cities were the place to be
and place for families to go
• However, with the growth of dissent and also
the changing of the economy cities changed
in the perception of Americans to a place of
squalor and danger
Urban Crisis
• Essentially the issue with cities was while
affluent middle and upper class families
worked in the cities they lived in suburbs
• Only lower class, welfare level families in the
cities themselves
• Ghettos emerged with racial groups
specifically inhabiting areas in a city
• Rioting soon broke out as the economic
frustrations pushed groups to the edge
Minorities
• As tension grew some in minority groups
threw off assimilation and the idea of
togetherness for separation from whites
• The Black Power movement emerged calling
for direct political influence and economic
and political power for African-Americans
• Out of this grew the Nation of Islam based
around the Muslim faith and the Black
Panther movement that was para-military
and was notoriously violent
1968
• 1968 was one of the most turbulent years in
the history of America
• Americans turned against Vietnam in 1968 as
the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive broke
out proving to many that the war was simply
not winnable
• As the war spiraled out of control Johnson
announced he would not seek reelection
Red Spring
• Numerous student protests occurred during
the spring as the country split along Vietnam
• Violence and assassinations also occurred:
– April 4: Martin Luther King assassinated
– June 5: Robert Kennedy assassinated
– August 26-29: Riots at the Democratic National
Convention
• In the end former Eisenhower VP Richard
Nixon won the election
Nixon
• Nixon immediately began to lower the
amount of troops in Vietnam
• The Nixon doctrine gave more weapons and
money to the South Vietnamese but reduced
the amount of US troops
• By 1973 the US was out of Vietnam and
watched as 6 months later the Communist
North Vietnamese overwhelmed the South
Vietnamese
Nixon and the World
• Nixon did have some impressive foreign
policy accomplishments
• Nixon became the first US President to visit
China and opened the door to diplomatic
talks with the now Communist country
• Nixon presided over the SALT (Strategic
Arms Limitation Treaty) talks that reduced
the amount of nuclear weapons
• As well, Nixon began détente, or the easing
of hostilities with the USSR
Nixon at Nome
• At home Nixon battled crippling inflation, a
holdover from LBJ
• In addition to the inflation, OPEC
(Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries) sharply increased oil prices
sending the US into a gas rationing crisis
• Nixon was powerless as the US economy
stagnated
• However, he did create the EPA to protect
the environment
Nixon’s Downfall: Watergate
• Nixon won reelection in 1972 but everything
unraveled quickly
• The Pentagon Papers were leaked showing the
dirtiness of America’s involvement in Vietnam
• Nixon was quickly caught up in the Watergate
scandal
• This showed Nixon had broken into opponents
offices during his reelection, as well as taping
meetings in his offices
• Nixon was forced to resign amid guarantees of his
impeachment
Gerald Ford
• Ford took over as President as Nixon
resigned
• Basically he did very little past the Helsinki
Accords which increased commerce between
democratic and communist countries
Carter: Idealism without Substance
• A Georgia peanut farmer Jimmy Carter was
elected President in 1976
• Carter had incredibly idealistic goals dealing
with energy independence and environmental
improvements
• Unfortunately he did not have the
experience nor the political chops to get
them done
• His presidency was mired in a bad economy
and political squabbling
Chapter Objectives
• How did the national consensus of the 1950s
and early 1960s unravel?
• What challenges did American cities face in
the late 1960s and 1970s?
• Why did America’s view of the war in
Vietnam change in 1968?
• What was the legacy of Richard Nixon’s
presidency?
• How was Jimmy Carter’s idealism a
frustration to his success as president?