A. Patrician background--Bush's father was an investment banker and senator from Connecticut. Bush, like his father before him--and his sons afterward--attended Philips Andover Academy and Yale University.
B. Public Service and Private Gain--the Bush family, more so than most, was able to make a great deal of private gain from their public service, mainly through connections made with business people.
1. Marriage and college--Bush's education was interrupted by his service, which he entered soon after graduating from Philips in 1942. Bush survived being shot down in the Pacific, and on his return to the US at the close of the war Bush married Barbara Pierce that year; the first child, George, as born in 1946.
2. George Bush, oilman--Bush used family connections to make a great deal of money in the oil business in Texas during the 1950s and early 1960s, so that he was able to retire at the age of 40 from the oil business.
3. Bush the politician--used family connections to finagle one of the few "safe" Republican seats in Texas in the mid-1960s. Bush was not driven by any ideology to get into politics; although he voted against the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he later moderated his position on this issue. For Bush, policy positions were merely a means to get elected.
4. 1980 Presidential election--After he was defeated in a reelection bid in Texas, Bush served as Director of the CIA under Nixon, envoy to China (before formal ties were established with that country), and Chairman of the Republican National Committee. In 1980 he initially ran for president against Ronald Reagan, deriding Reagan's advocacy of "voodoo economics. After agreeing to run as vice-president, however, Bush bit his tongue over any criticism of "supply-side" economics--which proved to be, indeed, voodoo economics.
5. 1988 Presidential campaign--Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis was, at heart, a technocrat, and his no-nonsense approach made him seem lacking in empathy; his explanation that the court system should not be used for personal revenge in answer to a question of how he would react if his wife or daughter were raped made this ad particularly effective;
6. First Gulf War--although a serious diplomatic misstep gave Saddam Hussein what he thought was a green light to invade neighboring Kuwait, diplomatic overtures to European allies created a sizable coalition to fight the Iraqi army, and Operation Desert Storm was a military success.
a. Coalition troops on the Saudi peninsula, home to the two most important holy sites for Muslim, caused consternation among the most devout among them, including a man named Osama bin Laden and those around him--and the group, after the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, set their sites on forcing the US from the Arabian peninsula
b. Bush's popularity--as a result of the success of Operation Desert Storm, George H.W. Bush's popularity soared to over 90 percent.
II. The Clinton Presidency
A. 1992 Election--with Bush's popularity soaring in early 1991, the Democratic Party had difficulty in even persuading viable candidates to run. The candidate who emerged, William Clinton of Arkansas, was the candidate from the new "center" of the Democratic Party, those political leaders who attempted to reconcile the liberal heritage of the New Deal with the political reality (as they saw it) of the post-Reagan years.
1. "It's the economy, stupid!"--Bush's popularity plummeted from its high largely because of the recession that began in late 1991 and continued into early 1992. Bush made a series of political missteps, and seemed to lack resolve on foreign issues even with the success of the Gulf War (Tiananamen Square, the Fall of the Berlin Wall), Clinton was able to attack Bush as being "out of touch" with the common man.
2. The Perot Factor--a third party candidate, running as an independent, attracted a number of voters who would have stayed home, as businessman Ross Perot financed much of his campaign with his own money. For the first time since 1972, election turnout surpassed 55 percent.
3. Clinton and the Venomous Right--Clinton's move to the center stirred a huge resentment among political figures on the political right, who perceived this political posture as besmirching the Reagan legacy. By 1994, after the defeat of the Clinton health care reform plan (head by his wife, Hilary Rodham Clinton), Republicans in the US House of Representatives, under the leadership of the Minority Whip Newton Gingrich, issue a policy statement called the "Contract on with America," which promised to cut spending and taxes. When the political battle with Clinton led to the shutdown of government services, however, the American people put out a contract on Republicans who signed this pledge. Clinton won re-election with just under 50 percent of the popular vote.
4. Clinton and Scandal--Clinton aided and abetted much of this opposition with his personal conduct (where he allowed his "little head to do the thinking--see the John Hiatt video above for an explanation), culminating in the sordid Monica Lewinsky affair that led to his impeachment.
III. Bush the Lesser
A. The Fortunate Son--failed as a Texas Air National Guard pilot, failed as a politician (initially), failed in a number of oil business ventures. Bush junior's luck changed when he was hired to be the public face of the Texas Rangers baseball team during his father's term in office, where he discovered that he excelled at superficial contact with people. After convincing the city of Arlington, Texas, to build the team a new luxury stadium, Bush and his associates were able to sell the team to a numbskull Texas businessman at an inflated price, making Bush a hefty profit on his "investment" (for which Bush put up no money).
B. Texas politics--Bush parlayed this newly developed "good ole boy" persona into political success, defeating the populist Ann Richards and then going on to win a second term.
C. Compassionate conservatism--taking a page from the Clinton political playbook, Bush move toward the center after winning the Republican nomination. His Democratic opponent, Albert Gore, was tainted by the various Clinton scandals, undermined by the mainstream press' dislike for him, and his own stolid demeanor--and still won more popular votes than George W. Bush
1. Bush v. Gore--in an unprecedented move, the activist Rehnquist court voted 5-4, along party lines, to halt the Florida recount that would have given Al Gore the election.
2. The Prejudice of Low Expectations--Many people, particularly those in the media who had seen Bush up close, had low expectations for his accomplishments--and when he was able to somehow exceed those expectations, they confused this with competence.
3. August 6 Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB)--each morning, the President is given an intelligence briefing by his National Security Administration staff. The subject of the August 6 briefing, given while Bush was on vacation at his "ranch" in Texas, was "Osama bin Laden Determined to Strike in US." He told briefer after hearing the report, "Okay, you've covered your ass. Now get out of here."
Is globalization stoppable (and is it desirable to stop if it is)? What effect have economic and terrorist challenges had on American society? How did values change in this era
Weekly Assignment 15a
Was the Vietnam War necessary? Was it a tragic blunder, a noble cause, or a disguised form of anti-democratic imperialism? How did it affect the American people and the American presidency?
Weekly Assignments 13, 14, 15
The questions below constitute the next three weekly assignment options. You may choose to complete one, two, or all three assignments.
Weekly assignment #13: What was more important in bringing about fundamental changes in the way African Americans were treated in the United States during the modern Civil Rights Movement era: transcendent African American leadership, the changed role the United States played in world leadership—or a third factor, that thousands of African Americans decided that the second half of the 20th century was the time to act? You may consider how all of these factors played a part in this change.
Weekly assignment #14: Did the sixties, on balance, create a more liberal or more conservative America? Which changes initiated in the sixties are still with us today?
Weekly assignment #15: Youth in the 1960s were fired by the passion and belief that they could make a difference in American society. How did they come to this belief? Did any of the protests in the sixties result in significant change? What change occurred? What was left unchanged?
Weekly Assignment 11
Dr. Strangelove is an iconic piece of film making, but it is also a document of history. The film was shot and produced just a year after the United States and the Soviet Union reached the brink of nuclear war with the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film reflects the concern that some Americans felt over the arms race, and what its continuation meant for the United States--and the world. For this week's assignment, I would like you to reflect on the issues the film raises. What was the effect of the Cold War on American society? What changed in American society as a result of the perceived threat from the Soviet Union?
If you would like to tackle a longer project for this week's assignment, you may write a 3-5 page review of the movie Dr. Strangelove
Weekly Assignment 8
Why was there a great debate in the 1920s about the future? Who won this debate, the modernists, or the fundamentalists? Would your answer be the same in 1930 as it is in 2010? What has changed about the results of the debate?—or what hasn’t changed? What does this tell us about the nature of such debates?
Weekly Assignment 7
Progressives such as Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt supported American entry into the war. But other progressives, like Senator Robert La Follette, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, and activist Jane Addams bitterly opposed it. How did the war further the Progressive agenda, and how did the war undermine it?
Weekly Assignment 6
What was Progressivism? Was it an inspirational movement to further the nation’s democratic ideals, or was it an attempt at social control by self-important, moralistic busybodies?
Combo Assignment 3, 4, 5
Below you will find three separate questions dealing with the assigned reading the past two weeks. The first two deal with chapters 3 and 4, respectively, while the last paragraph asks you to compare the two chapters, and look for things in common and differences. You may choose any combination of the three (that is to say, choose to respond to one, two, or all three questions). This assignment is due Friday, September 24, at the beginning of class.
The week three readings dealt with the questions of immigration and industrialization. It was said at the time that “Not every immigrant is a workman, but every workman is an immigrant.” Conditions for these workmen were undergoing drastic changes during this time period as well, and led to a great deal of conflict between workers and management. In what ways did workers resist the forces of industrialization and attempt to shape the terms of their own lives?
The week four readings dealt with the questions of imperialism and world power. How could a nation with democratic values, where the people have the right of self-determination, fight a colonial war? What rhetoric or reform aspirations made this undertaking palatable for the American people? Did democratic values stop at the water’s edge—or were their people considered not ready to govern themselves?
The readings in weeks three and four dealt with both problems created by the immigration of other people to the United States, and how the United States dealt with people in their own land. Are their common themes that you can discern in how these problems were dealt with? If so, what were they—and if their were no commonalities, what were the differences?
Weekly Assignment 2
“Westerns” (in both novel and movie form) told generations of Americans “how the West was won”—how individuals were able to triumph over adversity to forge a new life for themselves and their families. From the readings you have done for class, and the class lectures and discussions—plus the snippet of a Western movie that you viewed in class (which is available at http://themesinamericanhistory.blogspot.com), who true was this story for those who lived through it? If there were disparities, what caused them? Who benefited most, and who the least? Your answer to these questions should come in the form of a 2-3 page reaction paper (or longer, if you would like to get that requirement out of the way), double-spaced with appropriate attribution, if necessary
Weekly Assignment 1
he 14th Amendment defines citizenship, and since its ratification in 1868 has become perhaps the most cited amendment in cases argued before the Supreme Court. It remains very much under contention to this day, as litigants, lawyers, and judges argue its intents and effects. Why has this amendment remained so controversial? In a 2-3 page paper, examine its merits and failings. You should refer to the document itself, the essays in Major Problems in American History, and the discussions in class (a synopsis of which can be found below on the blog).
A)Election of Ronald Reagan – two bit actor, former president of the Screen Actors Guild, became spokesman for the vehemently anti-union General Electric Company in the 1950s, and began a rapid rightward descent.
1)Presidential policies
(a)Cut taxes – for the rich, anyway; Reagan got Congress to cut taxes for the rich from 73% to 28%,but taxes for the poor actually went up, because they were hit with an increase in state and local taxes to make up for the shortfall as a result from the decline in federal tax revenue
(b)Cut social programs – Reagan cut much spending on social programs, like welfare
(c)Increase defense spending – corporate welfare for selected industries, fed boom on the West and East coasts (see below)
(d)Results – federal tax revenues plummetedby $750 billion, and generated staggering federal deficits of $150 billion and $200 billion, which kept the prime interest rate in double digits.
B) Reagan the Cold Warrior--Reagan's foreign policy during his first administration was almost entirely shaped by his view of the necessity to continue the Cold War. To that end, he increased the size of the military budget, and moved the military swiftly into conflicts abroad.
1. The Evil Empire--in one of Reagan's first presidential addresses, he referred to the Soviet Unions as "the evil empire"--a perjorative term the Soviets (naturally), and resulted in increased tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States for much of Reagan's first term in office.
2. Support of Anti-communism--the Reagan administration supported several movement that they saw combating the spread of communism in the western hemishpere.
a. The invasion of Grenada
b. Support for the Contras--after the Sandinista revolution in Nicaraugua, the communist element came to power through an election. Believing that only a counter-revolution could effect regime change, the Reagan administration supported a disaffected Sandinista faction known as the "contras"--secretly, because Congress had passed an act forbidding direct US aid to this group.
3. "The enemy of my enemy..."--under Reagan, support was also given to a group in Afghanistan fighting against the Afghan government and the Soviet Army, the muhahideen, who attract Islamic fighter from around the globe, including a scion of a weathy Saudi Arabian family by the name of Osama bin Laden, to fight in a "jihad" against the "infidels" in that country. After their victory over the Soviets, they re-constiture themselves as the Taliban.
C)Reagan boom – the Reagan years were beneficial for a small, select group of people, but the era was one of increasing disparity between the few rich, and the increasing number of poor
1)Growing disparity – between 1977 and 1990, the income of the richest fifth of the population grew by one-third, and that of the top one percent almost doubled; but the total income of the bottom 60 percent of Americans actually fell, and the incomes of the poorest Americans fell most sharply.
II)Reaganomics and its Effects on Working People
A)Undermining of Unions – perhaps the greatest effect of Reaganomics was that it undermined the financial security of working-class people, by undermining the unions that represented their unions.
1)The Reagan Recession (1981-1983) – one of the first effects of supply-side economics, or “Reaganonimics,” as it came to be called, was one of the worst recessions of the post-war era.
(a)Demand from corporations for give-backs – corporations in financial trouble went to unions and its workers, and demanded concessions to remain in business.Competitors then went to their unions and workers, to demand concessions to remain competitive.The cumulative effect of this was at best to freeze the wages of working-class, and at worst to undermine the wage structure.
2) Professional Air Traffic Contollers Association (PATCO)--complaining of overwork that PATCO argues endangered air safety, the union went on strike, illegally. Reagan responded by firing all PATCO members who refused to return to work, and using military air traffic controllers as scabs (replacement workers). Although there were numerous unreported near misses, the fact that a major air accident did not occur meant that the Federal Aviation Administration was able to hire permanent replacement workers and break the union. The larger consequence for American workers was that companies, emboldened by Reagan's action, moved against their own unions.
B)Workers in Decatur, Illinois – Decatur is a small town in central Illinois, rising out of the prairie, which had a diversified (for the Midwest) manufacturing base, but which witnessed the full aftereffects (or aftershock, to use a nuclear analogy) of Reaganomics.
1)A.E. Staley – locally-owned agricultural goods manufacturer, manufactured corn starch, corn syrup, soy products.This company resisted buyouts through the early 1980s, but by the end of the decade was bought out by a London-based food processor.
(a)Demand for 12 hour, rotating shifts – in order to more “efficiently” use its workers, management wants its workers to work twelve hour shifts, and do away with shift pay differentials; it also wants workers to move from one shift to another every other month (describe havoc this plays with lives of workers with families)
2)Firestone – the tire industry was one of the largest casualties of the merger-mania of the 1980s, and Firestone was bought by Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone.
(a)Demand for twelve-hour, rotating shifts; do away with annual pay increases—instead, have cost of living increases and productivity incentives.
(b)Provoked strike – this strike proved costly not only to many workers (who lost their jobs, some temporarily, to strikebreakers), but ultimately to the company, as well—the replacement workers manufactured the AT Wilderness tires that went on Ford Explorers.
3)Caterpillar – the industry leader in the production of heavy equipment at the time it provoked a strike by UAW members over concessions that it wanted in its contract—namely, a six-year contract, complete control over production decisions.In the end, this company handed the UAW the worst defeat in its history.
I.Rise of the New Right – built on the ashes of the Goldwater fiasco in 1964, the Republican Party targeted white suburbanites, and particularly those suburbanites living in the South and West
A)Watergate and Its Aftermath—Although apologists for Nixon point out that—rightly—that Nixon was not the first president to abuse the power of his office to strike back at his enemies. But Nixon was the first to do this in a systematic fashion, and to use the powers of his office to attempt to subvert a criminal investigation into the attempt on the part of his campaign to fix a national election.
1)The Watergate break-in—the so-called “third-rate burglary” was an attempt to plant illegal listening devices at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.
B)Tax revolts – conservatives were able to use the growing distrust against government to feed a movement to choke off funds for the government, namely taxes.
1)California Proposition 13 – sold the idea that taxes merely funded wasteful government spending, particularly for things like education, welfare, and other social programs
2) Tax Revolts in the Midwest--Richard Headlee, a Republican party operative in Michigan, led the fight there to amend the state constitution to limit the state's taxing and spending authority.
3)Rise of “code” language – while it became unacceptable to use racial slurs in the 1970s and 1980s, this did not mean that race disappeared as an issue in American politics—only that these references to race were now used in a “code” language, like “welfare queens” and “drug lords.”
C)Christian coalitions
1)Southern Christian academies – with the implementation of Brown v. Board of Education, white Christian academies opened as a way for parents to avoid sending their children to integrated schools.The Carter administration tried to end the tax breaks these led to these various groups organizing to resist this
2)Southern televangelists – preachers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson used the technology of television to expand the scope (and number of contributors to) their “mission.”
3)Reactions to gender politics
(a)Abortion – Roe v. Wade linked control of reproductive rights to a woman’s constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy.To social conservatives, this upset gender roles and traditional patriarchy, and was considered an attack on “the right of a husband to protect the life of the child he fathered in his wife’s womb.”
(i)Opposition of Catholic Church – while the Church may not speak for all of its female members on this issue, it was able to mobilize a great deal of opposition to the decision.
(b)Opposition to the Equal Rights Ammendent – as the long sought-after ERA got closer to passage by the states, political opposition to the Amendment got more heated; this amendment would have simply recognized legally the changes that had largely already taken place in the United States.Right-wing politicians like Phyllis Schafly, Jerry Falwell were able to distort its effects and change (by comparing it to the perceived slights whites received under Affirmative Action programs) and sway public opinion about ERA enough to prevent its passage.
(c)Gay Pride movement – the Stonewall Riot in Greenwhich Village New York signaled that gays would no longer accept the harassment and stigmatization that they had received previously.As gays “came out of the closet,” however, they met increasing opposition from politicians on the Right.
D)Right turn of the Democratic Party – after the McGovern disaster of 1972 (who many party members felt was too liberal), and Carter’s victory in 1976 (who was certainly more conservative than many of the voters who voted for him), the Democratic Party became increasingly more conservative in its movement toward “the center.”
1)Disenchantment of the poor – rather than mobilize voters who had historically made up their voter base (minorities, blue collar workers, and the poor), Democrats began to compete for the same suburban voters that Republican candidates were pursuing—white suburbanites
(a)Decline of trade unions and urban machines – unions and machine politics had traditionally mobilized Democratic voters, and as these institutions declined, so did their effectiveness
E)Election of Ronald Reagan – two bit actor, former president of the Screen Actors Guild, became spokesman for the vehemently anti-union General Electric Company in the 1950s, and began a rapid rightward descent.
1)Presidential policies
(a)Cut taxes – for the rich, anyway; Reagan got Congress to cut taxes for the rich from 73% to 28%,but taxes for the poor actually went up, because they were hit with an increase in state and local taxes to make up for the shortfall as a result from the decline in federal tax revenue
(b)Cut social programs – Reagan cut much spending on social programs, like welfare
(c)Increase defense spending – corporate welfare for selected industries, fed boom on the West and East coasts (see below)
(d)Results – federal tax revenues plummetedby $750 billion, and generated staggering federal deficits of $150 billion and $200 billion, which kept the prime interest rate in double digits.
F)Reagan boom – the Reagan years were beneficial for a small, select group of people, but the era was one of increasing disparity between the few rich, and the increasing number of poor
1)Growing disparity – between 1977 and 1990, the income of the richest fifth of the population grew by one-third, and that of the top one percent almost doubled; but the total income of the bottom 60 percent of Americans actually fell, and the incomes of the poorest Americans fell most sharply.
II)Reaganomics and its Effects on Working People
A)Undermining of Unions – perhaps the greatest effect of Reaganomics was that it undermined the financial security of working-class people, by undermining the unions that represented their unions.
1)The Reagan Recession (1981-1983) – one of the first effects of supply-side economics, or “Reaganonimics,” as it came to be called, was one of the worst recessions of the post-war era.
(a)Demand from corporations for give-backs – corporations in financial trouble went to unions and its workers, and demanded concessions to remain in business.Competitors then went to their unions and workers, to demand concessions to remain competitive.The cumulative effect of this was at best to freeze the wages of working-class, and at worst to undermine the wage structure.
B)Workers in Decatur, Illinois – Decatur is a small town in central Illinois, rising out of the prairie, which had a diversified (for the Midwest) manufacturing base, but which witnessed the full aftereffects (or aftershock, to use a nuclear analogy) of Reaganomics.
1)A.E. Staley – locally-owned agricultural goods manufacturer, manufactured corn starch, corn syrup, soy products.This company resisted buyouts through the early 1980s, but by the end of the decade was bought out by a London-based food processor.
(a)Demand for 12 hour, rotating shifts – in order to more “efficiently” use its workers, management wants its workers to work twelve hour shifts, and do away with shift pay differentials; it also wants workers to move from one shift to another every other month (describe havoc this plays with lives of workers with families)
2)Firestone – the tire industry was one of the largest casualties of the merger-mania of the 1980s, and Firestone was bought by Japanese manufacturer Bridgestone.
(a)Demand for twelve-hour, rotating shifts; do away with annual pay increases—instead, have cost of living increases and productivity incentives.
(b)Provoked strike – this strike proved costly not only to many workers (who lost their jobs, some temporarily, to strikebreakers), but ultimately to the company, as well—the replacement workers manufactured the AT Wilderness tires that went on Ford Explorers.
3)Caterpillar – the industry leader in the production of heavy equipment at the time it provoked a strike by UAW members over concessions that it wanted in its contract—namely, a six-year contract, complete control over production decisions.In the end, this company handed the UAW the worst defeat in its history.
III)The Reagan Hangover – is suffered by working people in this country, of course.
A)1964 Election – despite Johnson’s landslide victory over Barry Goldwater, the strategy that the Republican Party had followed for the past 37 years was established; undermine Democratic support in its former stronghold in the South, but appear moderate enough on issues to retain support in the Southwest and West.
1)Barry Goldwater – only senator outside of the South to vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ostensibly because it undermined the constitution.
B)1968 Election – Nixon’s southern strategy undermined by the candidacy of George Wallace, and it nearly undermined enough of Nixon’s support to cost him the election. However, Humphrey’s campaign caught fire too late (after he had virtually turned over the running of the campaign to the AFL-CIO), and Nixon was elected
1)Internal dissension of Democratic Party – liberal coalition coming apart as a result of the War in Vietnam.
2)Southern Strategy -- – Nixon saw racial conflict as a means to divide the Democratic Party and ensure a Republican majority
(a)Kevin Phillips and The Emerging Republican Majority – pointed out that the South and Southwest were the two areas of the country growing the fastest, and were largely conservative; and that blue-collar ethnics were becoming disaffected with the racial policy of the Democratic Party.
(b)Benign neglect of problems of African Americans – they would never vote Republican in large number for the foreseeable future, anyway.
(c)Delaying tactics on court-ordered desegregation of schools -- allowing the problem to fester allowed the blame to be place on Democrats, and heightened anxieties.
3) Nixon and the Politics of Resentment--Nixon, like George C. Wallace, was an aficionado of the politics of resentment. Nixon struggled his entire adult life against what he perceived as cliques of "the haves" who attempted to thwart people of ability but no connections--like himself--from achieving the greatness they deserved. It was the reason Nixon had to settle for attending Duke Law School instead of Harvard, the reason he had to humiliate himself with the "Checkers" speech, the reason he lost the 1960 election. Nixon's political genius was that he was able to perceive this kind of resentment in others, and use to to his advantage.
C) Nixon's First Term
1) Inflation--during Nixon's first term, inflation became a serious problem; unions and management would no sooner conclude contracts, then inflation would wipe out wage gains. In part, the economy was super-heated because of the increased borrowing to finance the Vietnam War. Nixon attempts to control the economy with a wage and price freeze, but that effort was unsuccessful. The rate of inflation began a steady rise until 1974 (the year Nixon resigned because of the Watergate affair), when it jumped to over 11 percent.
2)Affirmative Action – Nixon administration transforms Affirmative Action into set asides for minorities.
(a)Philadelphia Plan – proposed by Secretary of Labor George Schultz; executive order which stipulated that workforce on government contract jobs had to reflect racial make-up of the area; this alienated a number of white blue-collar workers in the building trades, who had long benefited from family and friend connections to gain building trades jobs—to the exclusion of minorities
3) Busing--Court-ordered desegregation of public schools increased racial tensions among whites, particularly in the north because this meant the children were bused outside of the school district they lived in back into urban districts their families sought to escape just years before.
4) The Vietnam War--Nixon inherited an unpopular war, and like Johnson he vested much of his reputation on attempts to end the war short of surrender.
a) Vietnamization--after the disastrous year of 1969 (second most deadly for US troops), the Nixon Administration began a "draw-down" of US troops in 1970, allowing (or forcing) the South Vietnamese army to commit more troops to the field. To discourage the North Vietnamese Army and the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) from taking advantage of this situation, however, the fighting was secretly expanded into previously "neutral" Cambodia, to take away the NVA and NLF base camps there. When word leaked out that the Nixon Administration was expanding the war when it was expanding it into Cambodia caused an explosion of protests on college campuses in the United States--including state schools that had witnessed few protests to this time, like Kent State.
C)1972 Election
1) The Pentagon Papers--Robert McNamara, while Secretary of Defense, commissioned a secret study of the US involvement in the war in Vietnam. Daniel Ellsberg, by 1971 an opponent of the war, knew of the study, and on a long weekend he and his friend and co-worker Anthony Russo photocopies the 47 volume work. Ellsberg then gave a copy to a New York Times reporter, and the fact that a succession of American presidents, beginning with Truman and going through Johnson (the study covered the years from 1946-1967), and lied to the American people about the involvement of the US government in that conflict.
2) White House plumbers--Nixon was initially little concerned with the story, since it made his predecessor, rather than himself, look bad. Henry Kissinger convinced him that this leak made a bad precedent, however, and Nixon and his Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, put together a group of men that included former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt and former FBI agent and lawyer G. Gordon Liddy. One of the earliest tasks of the "plumbers" (plumbers stop leaks--get it?) was to burglarize the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist. With the 1972 election looming, the plumbers were also assigned to investigate and neutralize "enemies" of the Administration, which led to a third-rate burglary attempt at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.
3)Watergate – While the Nixon Administration was able to "stonewall" the investigation long enough to win the 1972 election in a landslide, the truth slowly leaked out over the next year and a half, leading to joint congressional hearings and Nixon's resignation just steps ahead of articles of impeachment in 1974
A) Gulf of Tonkin – the USS Maddox was allegedly “attacked” while offshore from North Vietnam, in disputed seas (North Vietnam claimed the area as sovereign territory, while the US maintained that the waters were international waters).
1) Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – after the alleged attack, President Johnson asked Congress for, and received, authorization from Congress to “take all necessary measures to repel armed attacks against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”
(a) Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed unanimously in the House, and only two dissenters in the Senate (both of whom lost in the next election that they faced.
B) Da Nang
1) USMC – on March 8, 1965, a large force of Marines landed at Da Nang to reinforce an airfield there; by March 13 the Marine expeditionary force was joined by 40,000 other troops, and by late June of that year the Army commander in Vietnam, Gen. William Westmoreland, had received authorization to commit American forces to battle wherever he saw fit.
C) The Undeclared War – as more troops were committed, soldiers and Marines from the United States began to assume more of the responsibility of the fighting in this undeclared war
1) Search and destroy missions – troops from the US forces engaged in the small troop tactic of so-called Search and Destroy missions, where platoons ventured into the jungles of Vietnam, looking for enemy to engage and hopefully kill, or at least locate so that air support could be called in. Most of the time, these patrols found nothing. The fault of these tactics was, of course, that the enemy only engaged their pursuers at the time and place of their choosing
2) The Air War – the US dropped four times the amount of bombs in Southeast Asia than were used by all belligerents during World War II; but this bombing campaign was relatively ineffective against an enemy that was fighting a low tech war anyway—there simply was not much infrastructure to destroy.
3) Weekly body count – each Friday, the military released figures of casualties, which was how the “score” was kept. Each week, the total number of casualties for the North Vietnamese Army and the National Liberation Front, which inevitably were higher than the combined totals for the United States and the ARVN—so we were winning the war, right?
4) Selective Service – because of college student deferments, the burden of service in this war fell inordinately upon the working-class; in fact, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton (the three premier universities in the country) between them only had one alumnus die. George W. attended Yale, drank his way through four years, and then conveniently “served” in the Air National Guard; Albert Gore, Jr. graduated from Princeton, and served in Vietnam—as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, the newspaper written for members of the military.
D) Tet – Tet is the name for the Vietnamese New Year; after 1968 the word Tet is associated with the beginning of the end of US involvement in the war in Vietnam.
1) “The light at the end of the tunnel” – in January 1968, Gen. Westmoreland declared that the end of the war, now three years along in the involvement of US forces, was at hand, that officers there were confident that they were able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
2) The Tet Offensive – just after Westmoreland made his observation about the end of the war, the National Liberation Front launched its Tet Offensive. This offensive caught the US and South Vietnamese forces completely by surprise, and NLF forces captured several cities in the south (including the center of religious life in Vietnam, Hue), and threatened to capture Saigon. The NVA had coordinated an attack at a Marine camp called Khe Shanh at this time, and held it under siege for several weeks.
3) Result – the effect of the Tet Offensive, from a military view, was a crushing defeat for the NLF and NVA; the US forces eventually defeated the combined force, and retook all of the lost territory; the NLF in particular was decimated.
II. The War and Domestic Politics
A. Democratic Party 1968--The commander-in-chief, Lyndon Baines Johnson, had just won an overwhelming victory less than four years before, had just persuaded Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act, and had begun to create the "Great Society" that promised to create a more equitable American society.
1. LBJ--the war consumed Johnson, "that bitch of a war on the other side of the world" in his words--and eventually that war would cost him a second full term as president
2. Hubert H. Humphrey--LBJ's vice-president who, after the contentious Chicago convention, became the Democratic Party candidate
3. Eugene McCarthy--the initial anti-war candidate, and first to challenge Johnson for the Democratic candidacy; his near-defeat of Johnson in the New Hampshire primary led to Johnson dropping out of the race
4. Robert F. Kennedy--entered the race after Johnson withdrew, became the leading primary vote getter in the Democratic primaries in 1968 before he was murdered after winning the California primary
B. The Republican Party--benefited from the disarray of the Democratic Party, and the frustration that many people felt over the direction the country seemed to be heading--what Richard Nixon, the party's presidential candidate, called the "Silent Majority."
1. Richard Nixon and the Southern Strategy--Nixon, seeing the success that Barry Goldwater had making inroads into the formerly solidly Democratic South in 1964, courted Southern whites with coded language, promising to "get tough on crime." Nixon also promised "peace with honor" in Vietnam.
a. US war dead in Vietnam between 1965-1968--36,152
b. US war dead in Vietnam between 1969-1974--21,041
To speak of a "beginning" of the Civil Rights Movement is something of a misnomer; for African Americans, the "beginning" of the civil rights movement dates from the end of slavery, when agitation for the extension of poltical rights began. This struggle moved on and off the radar screen of white historians
A) New Deal – from 1935-1936, African Americans were an important part of the “New Deal Coalition,” which demanded, like other members of that coalition (white ethnics, labor, etc.) made demands upon the government which they expected would be met.
B) 1943 March on Washington – although this march never really took place, the fact that the President (FDR) reacted by creating the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) was a victory for African American activists.
C) NAACP – from the outset of the New Deal, the NAACP had been pursuing a number of lawsuits in order to overturn the practice of “separate but equal” that had been institutionalized since Plessy v. Ferguson.
1) Brown v. Board of Education – in 1954, the Supreme Court handed down a decision in a case in which an African American parent had sued the Topeka (KS) board of education over the maintenance of separate schools for white and black students. The Court agreed with plaintiff Brown that separate school systems were inherently unequal, and directed that the practice be ended with “all deliberate speed.”
II) Southern White Reaction – Brown v. Board of Education has long been held as the beginning of the of the modern civil rights movement; but what the decision really signaled was the recognition on a part of some whites in government that African Americans should be accorded full rights as citizens. Not all whites were willing to recognize this fact, however, inside or outside of government.
A) Massive Resistance – the vow on the part of most southern white politicians to resist any and all efforts on the part of the federal government to integrate southern institutions.
1) Little Rock Arkansas – one of the earliest integration efforts was at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Central High School was, to this point, attended largely by white working-class students (the integration of working-class schools is a practice that would be repeated around the country—including places like Boston). The governor of Arkansas, Orville Faubus, promised to resist the federal government order to integrate Little Rock schools. A huge crowd of whites turned out to jeer and threaten and throw rocks at the ten African American students who attempted to enter the school the first day. Reluctantly, President Eisenhower called out the 101st Airborne Division to ensure that students in Little Rock could attend school.
2) University of Mississippi – rioting broke out, with whites going on a rampage that again had to be quelled by the 101st Airborne, when James Meredith attempted to enroll at the University.
3) University of Alabama – George C. Wallace proclaimed that he would stand in the school house door to prevent any African American students from enrolling at the university—which he did, although he quickly stepped aside once his point had been made.
III) African American Action – the white reaction of massive resistance did not come mainly from government action, but from the pressure that African Americans, mainly young people (college and high school students), placed on the government to live up to the promise of equal opportunity.
A) Lunch counter sit-ins
1) Greensboro, NC – Greensboro was a city that prided itself on its progressive race relations; when 4 North Carolina A & T freshmen—Ezell Blair, Jr., David Richmond, Joseph McNeil, and Franklin McCain—decided to sit at the Woolworth’s lunch counter on February 1, 1960. The next day, these four were joined by twenty more; and eventually hundreds more (including a contingent of white female students from the nearby North Carolina Women’s College)
(a) Inspired black students throughout the south to similar actions.
2) Nashville, TN – led by students from the American Baptist Theological Seminary and Fisk University like John Lewis, Marion Berry, and Diane Nash, who were in turn led by a northern born black minister named James Lawson, who was committed to using Gahndian non-violent methods to foster social change.
3) Atlanta University – the “Black Ivy League;” led by Lonnie King and Julian Bond, who attempted to integrate public facilities in Atlanta; group was quickly arrested and they spent most of the day in jail—but this action turned middle-class blacks into freedom fighters.
B) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) – at a meeting on April 16, 1960 in Raleigh, NC SNCC was formed; decided to remain independent from other civil rights organizations like NAACP, CORE, and SCLC.
C) Freedom Rides (1961)
1) Nonviolent confrontations – attempt to integrate interstate bus transportation
(a) Birmingham, AL –1st bus was allowed to leave but the KKK firebombed the bus on the highway, and the passengers were beaten as they tried to escape the inferno, until the US Marshall accompanying them drew his pistol and fired it into the air; 2nd bus of riders was set upon the group of whites at the bus station in Birmingham, and were allowed to beat passengers for five minutes before police showed up (by pre-arrangement).
(b) Mississippi – less violence then in Alabama, but the passengers were arrested and charged with “inflammatory riding,” saddled with high bails and eventually with unreasonably long jail terms (some even served time at Parchman Farm)
D) Montgomery bus boycott (1955)
1) Rosa Parks – Mrs. Parks was much more than the popularly portrayed old woman who was tired from a day at work; she was secretary of the local NAACP chapter, and had had regular run-ins with the Montgomery Bus Company over her treatment on the buses.
2) E.D. Nixon – Nixon was an official in the local chapter of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and the president of the NAACP chapter; at the beginning of the boycott, he sought out all the local black ministers to lead the boycott, feeling that this would make it seem less radical to other blacks; he first asked the new minister at the Third Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, who declined; after all other ministers also declined, Nixon was able to persuade King to assume the responsibility.
(a) Nixon and others coordinated the car pool service, which replaced the bus service in the black community; many of the drivers were college students who stayed home to provide the service
3) Martin Luther King, Jr. – feared about maintaining his new pastorate, with this high-profile task, and about the safety of his family (rightly, as it turned out, since shortly after his assuming leadership of the boycott his home was firebombed)
(a) After nearly a year, the Montgomery Bus Company capitulated, and agreed to remove the boards that segregated the riders.
(b) Result of the success of the boycott guided King into a new role
E) Albany (GA) Movement (1962) – an attempt by local African Americans to integrate public facilities, and to open bi-racial talks; the movement was led by SNCC until a local group called in King, which led to a sometimes bitter internal struggle. Albany police chief Laurie Pritchett restrained his officers from publicly abusing the protesters; the lack of conflict led to an overwhelming defeat.
F) Birmingham – after the lesson of Albany, King realized that he for nonviolent tactics to be successful, he needed a foil that would be more physically active than Pritchett.
1) Television – the violence of the Birmingham police, and their attack dogs and high-pressure hoses, repulsed much of the nation—and won a great deal of sympathy for the civil rights movement
2) Youth join the Movement – as more adults were arrested in Birmingham during the protests, King okayed the use of teenagers (and younger children) who faced Bull Connors’ police and dogs and fire hoses, which increased the impact for viewers on television.
3) “Letter from Birmingham jail” – King’s most famous writing distilled the aims of civil rights movement.
G) March on Washington – King’s “I have a Dream” speech, which was predated by a much angrier speech by SNCC leader John Lewis (which was less angry then it was originally intended, because the UAW’s Walter Reuther threatened to pull the union’s funding from the March).
H) Civil Rights Act (1964) – LBJ’s greatest moment, despite the rift it caused with former Senate colleagues.
I) Freedom Summer (1964) – the program created by SNCC to register black Mississippians to vote; recruited black and white college students, who were trained in nonviolent tactics at Miami University in Oxford in the spring of 1964.
1) White volunteers – SNCC first recruited a large number of white volunteers in 1963, in an early voter registration drive.
2) 1964 – more whites joined the effort; the hope of SNCC leaders was that by having prominent whites involved (including the son of California governor Pat Brown—Jerry Brown) there would be less danger for all involved
3) “Mississippi Burning” – three SNCC volunteers—one black and two whites—were kidnapped and murdered by the KKK
(a) Inordinate attention paid to the deaths of the white volunteers, which caused resentment among SNCC members; from this point white members are asked to leave the organization, and the black pride attitude becomes more prevalent.
J) Voting Rights Act (1965)
1) Selma – home to another reactionary racist, Sheriff Jim Clark; the police chief Wilson Baker maintained peace in the city early on—which hindered the voting rights campaign greatly.
(a) Decided to begin marching registrants to the Dallas County Courthouse, which Clark found provoking; Clark responded by ordering his deputies to beat protestors, despite the presence of television cameras
(b) “Bloody Sunday” – March 7, 1965; Hosea Williams and John Lewis led marchers, who were met at the Pettis bridge by the combined force of the Dallas County deputies an the Alabama State Troopers, who descended upon the marchers with a rebel yell and club all marchers they could reach senseless; ABC interrupted the movie “Judgment at Nuremberg” (the trial of another group of racists) to broadcast footage of the carnage.
(c) Presidential address – LBJ addressed a joint session of Congress calling for the passage of the Voting rights act, and quoted the famous song of the Movement “We Shall Overcome.”
(d) March 21—march to Montgomery resumes; Wallace was called to Washington and given the “Johnson treatment.”
A. Marion Wright--the head of the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund suggested to King that only by providing more economic opportunities to poor people would true equality be achieved. King had himself been thinking in this same vein, and from this came the idea in late 1967 to launch the Poor People's Campaign. King planned for an initial group of 2,000 poor people to descend on Washington, D.C., southern states and northern cities to meet with government offïcials to demand jobs, unemployment insurance, a fair minimum wage, and education for poor adults and children designed to improve their self-image and self-esteem.
B. Memphis Sanitation Strike (1968)--although the ostensible reason for the strike was the deaths of two sanitation workers in the previous weeks, sanitation workers in Memphis--all African American--suffered from discrimination, dangerous working conditions, and low pay--but for workers, it was also a struggle for simple human dignity
1. I AM A MAN--the strike began on February 11, 1968, and quickly attracted a number of veteran civil rights workers, including by early April Dr. Martin Luther King
2. Early morning, April 4--After giving a speech in Memphis in support of the strike, King returned to the Lorraine Motel, and was standing on the balcony at 6:00pm when he was shot and killed by James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary.
C. Failure of the Poor People's Campaign
1. African American reaction to King's assassination--125 riots broke out in the days immediately following Dr. King's assassination--including Washington, D.C. and Chicago--but is also significant to note the cities that rioting did not take place.
2. Resurrection City--with King's right-hand-man taking over leadership of SCLC, the decison was made to go ahead with the campaign, but much of the momentum was lost with King's assassination--and what little momementum there was was lost when Robert Kennedy was himself was assassinated just after midnight on June 5, 1968.
