History Final 2

Baby Boom

The baby boom increased demand for houses, schools, clothing, food, toys, and other consumer goods. Because families were growing so quickly, businesses had a steady market and the economy expanded.

Pentagon Papers

When newspapers released government documents about Vietnam, Americans learned that several presidents had lied to the public about the war’s progress and America’s real involvement in Vietnam. This made many people more skeptical of the war and increased distrust in the federal government.

Vietnamization

Gradually pull troops out of Vietnam and strengthen SVN army. Short term→ reduced number of U.S. troops in Vietnam and helped Nixon calm antiwar anger at home. Long term → South Vietnamese remained weak and could not survive on their own, U.S. pulled out, South Vietnam collapsed to the North in 1975

Escalation

U.S. sent more troops and used heavy bombing campaigns to defeat North Vietnam. That gave the U.S. more military strength in the short term → More military strength. Long term → failed to win the war and led to antiwar protests, and distrust in the government.

Overthrow Mossadegh

Short term→Got rid of a leader they did not trust and kept Iran anti-communist. Long term → Iranians thought America was interfering with their country and ruining the government.

Continued Support for Shah

backed the Shah’s government with money, weapons, and political support. Short term→ Continued to be strong allies with Iran. Long term→ Ppl grew to hate the Shahs dictatorship and started long term resentment towards American amungst the people.

Stagflation

In the 1970s due to the Oil Supply and deficit spending from the government Stagflation Rose. a combination of high inflation, slow economic growth, and unemployment that was difficult for the government to solve. This led to poverty and economic hardship for many citizens.

Government Spending

through programs like the GI Bill which was a bill which helped veterans return to regular civilian life after World War 2. Veterans used government benefits to buy homes and attend colleges which boosted economic growth.

Consumer Spending

After World War II, many Americans had savings, stable jobs, and rising wages, which allowed them to buy houses, cars, televisions, and other household goods. This consumer demand helped businesses grow and created a strong economy

Civil Rights TV

especially scenes from Birmingham and Selma, where peaceful Black protesters were attacked by police dogs, fire hoses, and state troopers. Seeing this violence on television shocked many Americans and increased support for civil rights legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Vietnam Footage

which showed Americans graphic footage of combat, destroyed villages, and wounded or dead soldiers. Because the war was shown on nightly news broadcasts, many Americans began to question whether the war was worth continuing.

Tet Offensive

Even though the United States and South Vietnam eventually pushed back the attacks, the fact that the Viet Cong could launch such a massive offensive made it seem like the war was far from being won. As a result, many Americans stopped believing the Johnson administration’s optimistic claims about progress in Vietnam.

School Segregation

Both showed how strongly whites opposed desegregation. even after the Supreme Court ruled segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. In Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, nine Black students attempted to attend Central High School, but angry white crowds and Governor Orval Faubus tried to block them from entering, showing direct Southern resistance to integration. In Boston during the 1970s, white residents in neighborhoods such as South Boston violently protested court-ordered busing plans that were meant to integrate schools, proving that racial resistance to desegregation was not limited to the South.

Required Federal Intervention

President Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect the Little Rock Nine, while in Boston, federal judge Arthur Garrity ordered the busing plan and the courts forced the city to obey. However, there were also important differences between the two events.

De jure vs De Facto

Little Rock involved de jure segregation, meaning it was tied to the South’s openly segregated school system, while Boston dealt more with de facto segregation, caused by neighborhood housing patterns and unequal school districts rather than explicit Jim Crow laws.

Scale of Events

Finally, the scale of the crises was different: Little Rock focused on nine students integrating one high school, while Boston’s busing crisis affected thousands of students across an entire city school system. Together, these events showed that even though the law increasingly supported integration, many Americans still fiercely resisted it in practice.