Unit 11
REASONS AND OUTCOMES FOR U.S
INVOLVEMENT
• Vietnam
– Reasons
• Support of the Potsdam Agreements
• Create stable environment for growth and recovery of
Japan, France, and Britain
• Continued change in American political environment
(different presidential personalities and national goals)
• Domino Theory and containment – the idea that the
spread of communism was unacceptable
• Growing economic interest in Asia
– Outcomes
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The decline of colonialism (British and French)
Lasting effect on U.S. military policy and employment
Distrust of the U.S. press
Realignment of U.S. balance of powers
The spread of communism into South Vietnam
Beginning of the realities for the U.S. maintaining
promises of support
MAJOR ISSUES AND EVENTS OF THE
VIETNAM WAR
• Tet Offensive – full-scale offensive by regular, North Vietnamese
Army and irregular forces to attack the command-and-control
centers of the South Vietnamese, U.S., and other allies. The intent
was to create a general uprising and overthrow the Saigon
government.
• Escalation – increase of U.S. forces by President Lyndon B. Johnson
• Vietnamization – change in U.S. Military policy in Vietnam by
President Nixon. This policy focused on equipping, training, and
giving more responsibility for combat actions to local South
Vietnamese forces. At the same time, U.S. ground forces started to
be drawn down and transitioned to more of an advisory role.
• Fall of Saigon – pivotal moment at the end of the Vietnam War; U.S.
forces had been ordered out of the country; after their withdrawal,
the North Vietnamese Army marched into Saigon and took control
of the country
RESPONSES TO THE VIETNAM WAR
• Draft – in response to an increase of U.S. military
presence in Southeast Asia, the draft was reinstituted
during the war.
• 26th Amendment – reduced the voting age from 21 to
18. This gave the young men being drafted to fight in
Vietnam a way to influence policies that affected them.
• Role of the media – the media irrevocably showed that
it could be used to aid American National Strategy or
used against it. Highlighted media coverage turned
public opinion against the armed forces and promoted
the counterculture environment of the 1960s
• Credibility gap – refers to the public's skepticism over
President Johnson’s administration’s statements and
policies on the Vietnam War
• Silent majority – term coined by President Nixon to
represent the large number of Americans that were
overshadowed by the large number of protestors
against the Vietnam War, the counterculture, and by
the more vocal minority in the media of the 1960s
• Anti-war movement – peace movement of the 1960s
advocating the withdrawal of U.S. troops from
Vietnam. These advocates were usually known as
Doves.
ECONOMIC IMPACT OF DEFENSE
SPENDING
• Cold War fueled businesses, especially high
tech industries and research and development
(e.g., Rand Corp.) and steadily increased
government defense spending.
• Cold War led to creation of a huge national
security apparatus
• Military Industrial Complex and weapons of
mass destruction, NASA, Space Race
• NDEA – National Defense Education Act
ACTIONS OF GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE SECTOR TO EXPAND
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND THE UNINTENDED
CONSEQUENCES OF EACH
• Great Society – set of domestic programs
designed to eliminate poverty and racial
injustice
• Affirmative Action – means positive steps
taken to increase the representation of
women and minorities in areas of
employment, education, and business from
which they have been historically excluded
Title IX – "No person in the United States shall, on the
basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied
the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under
any education program or activity receiving Federal
financial assistance..." Title IX is best known for its impact
on high school and collegiate athletics.
Other examples
Federal Housing Authority – improve housing
standards and conditions; insurance of mortgages
Head Start and Upward Bound – foster healthy
development of young children from low income
families
DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN U.S.
INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICIES AND FREE
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM
• OPEC – organization consists of 12 member
countries (primary goal is to stabilize the oil
market by balancing supply and demand); 1960
to the Present
• GATT– General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(encouraged free trade between member nations
by regulating and reducing tariffs); 1947 to 1993
• NAFTA – North American Free Trade Agreement
(free trade agreement between Canada, the
United States, and Mexico); 1994 to the Present
CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES RAISED BY FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT POLICY CHANGES DURING TIMES OF
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
• 1960s – the debate regarding the Gulf of
Tonkin incident caused the creation of the
War Powers Act, which placed restrictions on
the executive branch’s ability to send
American troops into combat
IMPACT OF EVENTS
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and War Powers Act
deal with presidential war powers.
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave President
Johnson authorization (without formal
declaration of war by Congress) to use
conventional military force in Southeast Asia.
• War Powers Act (1973) limits the ability of the
President to send troops into combat areas
without congressional approval
EFFECTS OF LANDMARK U.S. SUPREME
COURT DECISIONS
• Landmark cases
– Tinker v. Des Moines(1969) – The U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that students had the right to wear
armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. It
defined the constitutional rights of students
(freedom of speech protected by the 1st
Amendment)
• Example of Effects: opened opportunities for
interpretation of free speech to also mean freedom of
expression
HISTORICAL REASONS WHY THE
CONSTITUTION HAS BEEN AMENDED
• 25th – presidential succession and disability
• 26th – right to vote changed from age 21 to
age 18 (draft age was at 18 and many feld
disenfranchised because during the Vietnam
War they were drafted but not allowed to
vote)