EOC Test Preparation:
Transformational Years
The Civil Rights Movement
• Segregation still
practiced in the south
by law
• Segregation still
practiced in the north
despite no law enforcing
it
• Discontent over
treatment and
oppression lead to the
Civil Rights Movement
– Fighting for
constitutional rights
The Civil Rights Movement
• Brown v. Board of Ed
(1954)
– 1950s NAACP sued
board of ed. In
Topeka, Kansas
because Linda
Brown was not
allowed to attend
the all-white school
– Supreme Court
reversed Plessy v.
Ferguson
(“separate but
equal”); meant
segregation in
schools was
unconstitutional
• Chief Justice Earl
Warren
The Civil Rights Movement
• Heart of Atlanta Motel,
Inc. v. United States
(1964)
– Supreme Court
continued dealing with
segregation
– Court ruled that
Congress could regulate
interstate commerce to
outlaw segregation in
privately owned
businesses
White Resistance to CRM
• Southern political leaders
maintained segregation despite
Court rulings
• Arkansas and the Little Rock
Nine
– Governor wouldn’t allow
segregation in the high school
– National Guard called to prevent
students from entering
– Eisenhower had to send in 101st
Airborne to enforce Court’s
ruling
White Resistance to CRM
• University of Mississippi
and James Meredith
– Governor tried to prevent
him from being admitted
– JFK sent federal authorities
to handle the situation
• AL Governor George
Wallace
– Prevent integration at Univ.
of Alabama
– Federal authorities sent to
intervene
Martin Luther King, Jr. and
Nonviolence
• Montgomery Bus
Boycott
– Rosa Parks, Dec. 1,
1955
– NAACP and Dr.
MLK Jr. lead a
boycott of city
buses
• City lost lots of
$$$
• Made MLK Jr. a
national figure
Martin Luther King, Jr. and
Nonviolence
• MLK-Leader of the CRM
• Civil disobedience- non-violent refusal to obey
unjust laws
– Gandhi
• Sit-ins
–
–
–
–
Martin Luther King, Jr. and
Nonviolence
Feb. 1, 1960
Greensboro NC
Nonviolent, remain seated until served or arrested
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Martin Luther King, Jr. and
Nonviolence
• Freedom Rides
– Blacks and whites
took buses from
the north to south
to test court’s
decision on
interstate travel
– CORE: Congress of
Racial Equality
Martin Luther King, Jr. and
Nonviolence
• CR protests continued
in the South 1962-63
• August 28, 1963:
March on Washington
– Meant to put pressure
on JFK to pass CRs
legislation
– 200,000 people
showed up in support
Malcolm X and Black Militant
Movement
• Malcolm X
– Gain rights by “any
means necessary”
– Started as a more
militant individual,
through Islam he
became less
militant
– Viewed by some as
a traitor
– Killed in Feb. 1965
at a rally
Malcolm X and Black Militant
Movement
• Black Power-pride in
African heritage, separate
black economic and
political institutions, selfdefense against white
violence, potentially
violent revolution
• Black Panthers-1966
– Positive and negative
impact
– Pushed to rebuild ghettos
in big cities
Legal Changes
• Lyndon B. Johnson urged Congress to pass CRs
laws that JFK had proposed prior to his
assassination
– Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Prohibited segregation in public places
• Prohibited discrimination in education and employment
• 24th Amendment-1964, protected blacks’ voting
rights by making the poll tax illegal
• Voting Rights Act-1965
– Suspended literacy tests for voter registration
– Led to huge amounts of African Americans to register
to vote and running for political office
Civil Rights and the Cold War
• Both the US and USSR sought countries all
over the world to form alliances with
• The fact that the US was slow to enforce
equality among all people didn’t help the
cause
Civil Rights and the Media
• Power of the media
– Many people in the US owned TVs and were able
to watch what was happening in the CRM
– Ideas spread quickly
Johnson, Nixon, Vietnam
• Lyndon B. Johnson,
– “Great Society”-CRs,
social programs (“War on
Poverty”)
– Was able to get Congress
to pass a lot of legislation
that helped the poor and
urban areas
– Medicare/caid
– Head Start (education for
low-income families)
– Department of Housing
and Urban Development
– Loosened immigration
laws
Johnson, Nixon, Vietnam
• Vietnam was a colony of France, but following
WWII they began fighting for independence
– Nationalists had ties to communism
• Geneva Accords-conference in Switzerland,
1954, called for Vietnam to be divided into 2
nations
– North=communist under Ho Chi Minh
– South= democratic under Ngo Kinh Diem
US Involvement in Vietnam
• Eisenhower and Kennedy (and the US) feared
the spread of Communism
• Viet Cong-Communist rebels in South Vietnam
– US sent military to help South Vietnam fight
communist North and VC
– Diem’s gov. was corrupt in the South
• Kennedy assassinated (Lee Harvey Oswald),
Johnson now in office, will not lose Vietnam to
Communism
US Involvement in Vietnam
• Johnson won the
presidency in 1964 by
making his opponent seem
(literally) on the warpath
against Vietnam
– However, Johnson was
completely supportive of
military involvement
• Gulf of Tonkin-North
Vietnamese had attacked
US ships
– Had they really???
– Johnson used the event to
pass the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution
• Gave him the power to take
military actions against
Vietnam w/o Congressional
approval
US Involvement in Vietnam
• VC power continuing to
spread as poor
Southern Vietnamese
supported the cause
• Operation Rolling
Thunder
– US wanted to cut off
North Vietnam’s support
of VC (through supplies)
– Johnson ordered intense
bombing campaign
• Bridges, supply lines,
villages
• Careful not to bomb
areas that might incur
wrath of USSR and China
Viet Cong and Guerilla Warfare
• Not the traditional style
of warfare
– Strategies involving
surprise attacks and then
fleeing
• Tet Offensive
– Jan. 30, 1968
– Heavy fighting
– Proved that the
Communists could launch
a serious military attack
on US forces
• US citizens begin to
question the war
Attitudes in the US
• Divided attitudes
• US as the criminal?
• Anti-war movement
– Mostly on college
campuses
– Some peaceful, some
violent
• Johnson looks bad, does
not run for re-election
Nixon and Vietnam
• Jan. 1969, vowed to get
US out of Vietnam
• Vietnamization:
– South Vietnamese
soldiers to take the
place of the US soldiers
in Vietnam
– Still nervous about
Communism…began
bombing raids against
NV, Cambodia, Laos
– Invaded Cambodia and
destroy Communist
training camps
End of US Involvement
• Paris Peace Accords
– Withdrawal of US troops
within 60 days
– Release of POWs
– All parties involved would end
military activities in Laos and
Cambodia
– 17th parallel would still divide
N and S Vietnam
End of US Involvement
• Fall of Saigon
– After US left Vietnam, fighting
resumed
– North Vietnamese
surrounded South
Vietnamese at Saigon
– US tried a last evacuation
mission on April 29th
– April 30th Saigon fell and
Vietnam became a
Communist country
War Protests
• Kent State University
– Anti-war protest turned
violent
– Students attacked
businesses and burned
army ROTC building on
campus
– Governor of OH sent in
troops
• Opened fire when students
began throwing
rocks/objects
• 4 dead, 9 injured
War Protests
• Pentagon Papers
– 1971
– NY Times published a
gov. study on US
involvement
• Executive branch
(president) had lied to
Congress
– Secret decisions
– Unapproved military
actions
War Protests
• Media and Vietnam
– Nightly news showed
horrors of war and even
listed the death tolls each
night
– Huge negative impact on
citizens’ views of the war
Social Revolution
• “Baby Boomers” were now in
college and challenging the ideals of
society
• Woodstock
– 1969
– Peace, music, drugs, “immoral”
behavior
– counterculture
• Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS)
– “New Left”
– Rejected traditional views concerning
social issues
– Radical change
Social Revolution
• Migrant Workers
– United Farm Workers
– 1962
– Cesar Chavez
– Supported rights of migrant farm
workers
– Non-violent protests, hunger
strikes
Social Revolution
• Women’s Movement
– “women’s lib”; equality between
sexes
– Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique
– Phyllis Schlafly
• Against Equal Rights Amendment
• Women should stay home and take care
of family, pursue a career later
Social Revolution
• Women’s Movement
– Equal Rights Amendment-sexual discrimination
illegal (1972)
• Was not ratified
– Roe v. Wade-1973, Supreme Court ruled state laws
restricting a woman’s right to an abortion during
first 3 months was unconstitutional
Nixon Presidency
• Détente
– Nixon wanted to ease tensions between US and
foreign nations through diplomacy
• Domestic Policies/Issues
– New Federalism: give power back to states, cut
gov. support
– Wanted a “middle road” when it came to CRs
Nixon Presidency
• Domestic Policies/Issues
– Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Ed
(1971)
• School busing and racial integration
Nixon Presidency
• Oil Embargo
– Fuel crisis, 1973
– OPEC placed an embargo (refused to sell) to US
b/c of support for Israel
• Exposed us dependency on oil
Nixon Presidency
• Environmental Protection
– Environmental Movement
– Resources were not
limitless
• Conservation
– EPA (Environmental
Protection Agency)
Nixon Presidency
• Watergate
– 1972 presidential election
– Nixon was concerned he would
lose
• Officials loyal to him wiretapped
phones at DNC headquarters
• Attempt failed, police arrested 5
men involved
• Nixon didn’t know about the
break-in, but he participated in
cover-up
– Supreme Court ruled that he
had to deliver the tapes, but 18.
5 minutes was suspiciously
missing
– He was the only president in
history to resign
• Would’ve been impeached
otherwise
EOC BOOKWORK
• P. 222-224
– #s 1-10 multiple choice