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Ho Chi Minh
One of the nationalist leaders in Vietnam. Born Nguyen That Thanh, became known as Ho Chi Minh, meaning "He Who Enlightens." After President Wilson declined to meet him at the Paris Peace Conference, he joined the French Communist Partty. Continued to work for Vietnam's independence and to study communism. Came to believe that a Communist revolution was a way Vietnam could gain freedom from foreign rulers. -
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Thurgood Marshall
Joined an NAACP campaign to attack the concept of "separate but equal." Knew firsthand the effects of discrimination in education because he was denied admission to law school because of his race. Chipped away at the 1896 Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. -
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Lyndon B. Johnson
Historical Theme: Domestic Policy. Designed his signature "Great Society" legislation which included laws upholding civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, environmental protection, aid to education, and the abolition of poverty. Signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1968 and passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Higher Education Act. Created programs to tackle poverty such as Head Start, food stamps, and Work Study. -
NAACP
Would become a powerful voice in the struggle to improve the legal rights of African Americans. Also fought to bring an end to racial violence. -
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Richard Nixon
Historical Theme: Domestic and Foreign Policy. Fought cancer and illegal drugs, imposed wage and price controls, enforced desegregation of Southern schools, and introduced legislation to reform healthcare and welfare. Escalated America's involvement in the Vietnam War, but ended US involvement through Paris Peace Accords. Involved in the Watergate Scandal shortly after his 2nd term election. Cost him much political support, led to his resignation in the face of almost certain impeachment. -
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Rosa Parks
One of the first women to join the local NAACP chapter. Had experience protesting discrimination on the city's buses. In 1943, her protest of mistreatment on a bus resulted in the driver forcefully removing her from the bus and led to the Montgomery bus boycott. Became the first woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol rotunda, a tribute only given to the most significant national leaders. -
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John F. Kennedy
Historical Theme: Foreign Policy. Continued support to West Berlin after the Berlin Wall, famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech in 1963. Signed off on the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. Faced down Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Asked Congress to create the Peace Corps, in which Americans would volunteer to help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care, and construction. -
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Malcolm X
A fiery minister who offered a message of hope, defiance, and black pride. Member of the Black Muslims, one of the largest and most influential groups expressing the ideas of Black Power. At first, Malcolm X was critical of King and nonviolence. Later, while he continued to preach Black Power he began cooperating with other civil rights leaders and called for racial harmony. Assassinated by Black Muslims who considered him a traitor to their cause. -
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Martin Luther King Jr.
An ordained minister known for his powerful speaking abilities. Shared Gandhi's views. Elected to lead the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Leaded the Montgomery bus boycott, which boosted him to leadership in the civil rights movement and in 1964 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in civil rights. -
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Pentagon Papers
Collection of secret government documents that traced the history of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam since the Truman years. Revealed that government officials had been misleading the American people about the war for years. Leak angered and embarrassed President Nixon. Government lawyers failed to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to suppress their publication. -
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Brown v. Board of Education
A combination of cases of school segregation. The Supreme Court heard arguments over a two-year period. All nine justices agreed that separate schools for African Americans and whites violated the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection of the law. -
Domino Theory
The belief that communism would spread to neighboring countries. -
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Geneva Conference
Representatives from France, Vietnam, Cambodia, Great Britain, Laos, China, the Soviet Union, and the United States gathered in Geneva, Switzerland. The goal was to work out a peace agreement and arrange for Indochina's future. A cease-fire was worked out, and Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th parallel. Vietminh forces would control the northern part of Vietnam and the French would withdraw from the country. General elections would be held in July 1956. -
Civil War in Vietnam
By the late 1950s, Diem's opponents in South Vietnam were in open revolt. The Vietminh in S. Vietnam forced the National Liberation Front (NLF). Their military forces were called Vietcong, meaning Vietnamese Communists. Not all members were Communists, but they were united in the goal of overthrowing Diem's regime.In 1960 Ho Chi Minh expanded the effort to reunify N. and S. Vietnam. President Eisenhower intervened in 1955 by supplying S. Vietnam with money, weapons, and military advisers. -
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Vietnam War
A long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. Resulted in a North Vietnamese victory, the withdrawal of American-led forces from Indochina, Communist governments take power in South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and South Vietnam is annexed by North Vietnam. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
When NAACP member Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on the bus, the NAACP recognized the opportunity her arrest presented. The organization called for a one-day boycott of the city bus system. When 90 percent of African Americans stayed off the bus, the boycott continued. As the boycott continued, court challenges to segregation of city buses also moved forward. The Supreme Court finally ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Aka the SCLC. Elected Martin Luther King Jr. as leader. A new group that would organize protest activities taking place all across the region. Heavily influenced by the Christian faith, but was open to people of all races and faitths. At its heart was a commitment to mass, nonviolent action. -
The Little Rock Nine
Nine African Americans who tried to attend a white high school of which the governor violated a federal court order to integrate. The governor ordered the Arkansas National Guard to keep them out. Later, Eisenhower sent U.S. soldiers with fixed bayonets to end the standoff. The events in Little Rock revealed to many Americans just how strong racism was in some parts of the nation. -
Sit-in movement
A direct, nonviolent method to confront discrimination and racism. "As long as those who seek a change... seek it in a peaceful manner, their power (and their haunting image on the white man's conscience) will not diminish." -
The Great Debates
Four Kennedy-Nixon debates in late 1960. Increased the average American's interest in politics, but probably did not change the outcome of the election. Also set the standard for modern election campaigns. -
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Bay of Pigs
The CIA believed an invasion of Cuba would inspire its people to rise up against Castro. When the CIA assured Kennedy the invasion would succeed, he gave the go-ahead. the New York Times reported the plan a week before the invasion, then poor planning and lack of U.S. air cover doomed the invasion to failure. -
Freedom Riders
A direct, nonviolent method to confront discrimination and racism. Freedom Riders would travel on a bus through the South and try to go into the whites-only waiting rooms or use facilities such as restrooms and lunch counters at each stop. "We felt we could count on the racists of the South to create a crisis so that the federal government would be compelled to enforce the law." When a bus was firebombed, the bus company refused to sell Freedom Riders tickets and the Freedom Ride disbanded. -
Space Program
Came to symbolize the New Frontier. Khrushchev claimed the Soviet lead in space showered the superiority of communism. Paired with the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, American morale was low. Kennedy made a bold proposal to Congress to restore America's world prestige. These proposals made the space race as much a part of the Cold War as the conflict over Cuba. -
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Berlin Crisis
The president hoped to ease tensions with the Soviet Union in a 1961 meeting with Krushchev, but instead felt bullied when Krushchev demanded the U.S. and its allies recognize Communist East Germany as an independent nation and that the U.S. withdraw from West Berlin. Krushchev later closed the crossing points between East and West Berlin with a high concrete wall to block further escapes to freedom. -
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Albany Movement
SNCC began a sit-in in Albany's bus station because local officials were ignoring the Interstate Commerce Commission's new integration rules. Local civil rights leaders brought national attention to the situation by inviting Martin Luther King Jr. to lead more demonstrations. The nine-month movement was a major defeat for King, but proved to be an important experience. King vowed that the SCLC would organize its own campaigns rather than aid campaigns begun by others. -
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Voting Rights Reform
In Baker v. Carr (1962), the Court declared this situation denied urban voters the equal protection of law required by the Fourteenth Amendment. In Westberry v. Sanders (1964) and Reynolds v. Sims (1964), it truled that legislative districts must have equal populations. This reform guaranteed that each citizen's vote has equal weight, a principle known as "one person, one vote." -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
Soviets denied charges they were placing offensive missiles in Cuba, instead claiming they were defensive. Photos taken from a U-2 plane proved the Soviets had lied. In a letter, Khrushchev offered to remove the missiles if the U.S. pledged to never invade Cuba. In a 2nd letter, Khrushchev demanded the U.S. remove its missiles from Turkey. Kennedy ignored the second letter and accepted the offer in the first. Khrushchev announced he would dismantle the mission. -
Birmingham Campaign
King raised several hundred thousand dollars to fund a campaign against Birmingham's segregation laws. Began with sit-ins and marches. Because fewer adult African Americans were willing to risk losing their jobs by going to jail, King was urged to use children instead. More than 900 children ages 6-18 were arrested and jailed.After hundreds of demonstrators had been jailed, federal negotiators succeeded in getting city officials to agree to many of King's demands. -
March on Washington
Successful in pressuring the administration of John F. Kennedy to initiate a strong federal civil rights bill in Congress. It was here when Martin Luther King delivered his memorable ''I Have a Dream'' speech. -
War on Poverty
In his first State of the Union Address, Johnson declared "unconditional war on poverty." To launch the War on Poverty, he asked Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act, which Congress granted. The Economic Opportunity Act funded new antipoverty programs such as the Job Corps which offered work-training programs for unemployed youth and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) which provided help to poor communities in the United States. -
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The Great Society
Phrase used by Johnson that became the term for the domestic programs of his administration. Peak years were 1965 and 1966. -
Twenty-fourth Amendment
Amendment banned states from taxing citizens to vote. Applied to only elections for president or Congress so it increased hopes that change was on the way. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Banned discrimination in employment and in public accommodations. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Enabled the president to take "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the United States." Johnson and his advisers now had authority to expand the war. -
Kennedy Assassination
While riding in an open car of a motorcade through Dallas to the site where he was to deliver a speech, the president was shot and fatally wounded. -
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Operation Rolling Thunder
A bombing campaign over North Vietnam intended to weaken the enemy's ability and will to fight, as well as to assure South Vietnam of Johnson's commitment to its independence. Communist forces were able to withstand the bombing because they received massive support from the Soviet Union and China. One unintended effect of the American bombing campaign was that it led many South Vietnamese to join the Vietcong. -
Johnson Doctrine
Guideline for intervention to stopping the spread of communism. -
Antiwar Movement - Protests
Broad range of people including students, civil rights workers, doctors, homemakers, retirees, and teachers. One of the most vocal antiwar groups was Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Had members on 124 college campuses across the country. Led the first national anti-war demonstration in which more than 20,000 people marched to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where they delivered a petition to Congress demanding that lawmakers "act immediately to end the war." -
Medicaid/Medicare
Congress authorized funds for states to set up Medicaid, a program that provides free health care for poor people. At the same time it created Medicare, a health care program for people over age 65. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Proved to be one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation ever passed. Gave the federal government powerful tools with which to break down longstanding barriers to African American voting rights. African American candidates were soon elected to state and local offices, helping to break the long-held political power of those who supported segregation. -
Black Power/Black Panther Party
While many critics believed the Black Power movement was a call to violent action, it was African Americans' dependence on themselves to solve problems. The Black Panther Party rejected nonviolence and called for violent revolution as a means of African American liberation. Confrontations between Black Panthers and the police in the late 1960s led to several shootouts resulting in deaths on both sides. -
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Tet Offensive
A series of massive coordinated attacks throughout South Vietnam. Caused 1968 to become a critical year in the Vietnam War. In previous years, the opposing sides took a cease-fire during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, with many S. Vietnamese soldiers going home to celebrate. The Vietcong and N. Vietnamese took advantage of this to launch an offensive. Some 84,000 Communist soldiers attacked 12 U.S. military bases and over 100 cities across South Vietnam, as well as the U.S. Embassy. -
MLK Jr. Assassination
While in Tennessee to aid African American sanitation workers who were on strike against discrimination in the city's work and pay policies, MLK Jr. was shot and killed by James Earl Ray, a white sniper with a high-powered rifle. Within hour, rioting erupted in over 120 cities as enraged African Americans responded to the assassination. In 3 weeks, 46 people were dead, some 2,600 were injured, and over 21,000 were arrested. -
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Aka the Fair Housing Act. Banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. -
Twenty-Sixth Amendment
Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. -
War Powers Act
Reaffirms Congress's constitutional right to declare war. Sets a 60-day limit on the presidential commitment of U.S. troops to foreign conflicts without a specific authorization by Congress or a declaration of war.