US history 2

Plessy v. Ferguson

created separate but equal doctrine, ushered in Jim Crow era, Scotus ignores 14th and 15th amendments

Seperate but equal doctrine

allowed former confederate states to re-introduce black codes from 1866

Jim crow laws

Southern state/local laws that enforced segregation of the races after Plessy v. Ferguson

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

supreme court case that struck down Plessy vs. Ferguson and “seperate but equal doctrine” reaffirmed the reconstruction amendments

Civil Rights Act of 1964

federal law criminalized all discriminatory “Jim Crow” state and local laws (all become federal crimes carrying federal sentences)

Black Power Movement

black urban leaders who rejected Dr. King’s peaceful protests, preached violent revolution condemning white race as race of “devils”

Watts Riot (1965)

largest race riot since Tulsa 1921; 34 killed, 3438 arrested, $40 million damages; Signaled marked changes in how black americans felt about Civil Rights movement outside of south

Domino theory

assumption underlying U.S. policy toward Vietnam that if one country fell to Communism, all neighboring countries would fall too

Battle of Dien Bien Phu, 1954

Vietnam had been a French colony since 1950’s; Decisive defeat of France in Vietnam; 1500, French paratroopers surrounded and destroyed by communist Viet Minh

ARVN

Army of the Republic of Vietnam, U.S. allies in south Vietnam

Four big differences Between Korean War and Vietnam War

1. Vietnam serverely divided public opinion

2. U.S. fought the Vietnam war, not the U.N.

3. Vietnam war is Guerilla war

4. U.S. clearly lost Vietnam war and abandoned faithful allies

Battle of Ap Bac

vastly superior Vietnamese Army forces supported by helicopters and armored personnel carriers were defeated by a battalion of Vietcong, dramatic evidence of ARVN incompetence

Viet Cong

communist insurgents (guerillas) native to South Vietnam, NVA in north Vietnam

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

Congress Voted to give LBJ unlimited authority to escalate war in Vietnam without declaring war

Search and Destroy

failed attrition strategy; measured success by “body count”, saw U.S. troops constantly searching jungle for enemy troops then getting ambused

Battle of La Drang Valley, 1965

first major battle of the war between U.S. combat troops and soldiers of the North Vietnamese Army

College deferments

getting out of the war cause you’re going to college, 2% of college students get sent to war

The Tet offensive

surprise Viet Cong offensive against all U.S. bases in south Vietnam; VC wiped out; psychological defeat of U.S.; convinced majority of Americans that Vietnam war was unwinnable

Vietnamization

gradually reducing the number of U.S. troops; U.S. no longer seen as defenders of democracy; signals collapse of U.S. Army Leadership

Cambodian invasion (incursion)

U.S. wiped out NVA supply bases in cross border operation; Nixon blamed for widening the war; sparked wide-spread anti-war protests across U.S.

Kent State

Ohio National Guard troops opened fire on college students in anti-war protest killing 4, wounded 9

Pentagon papers, 1971

collection of Top secret documents revealed how JFK and LBJ administrations systematically deceived American voters about Vietnam

1973 Paris Peace Accords

final total withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Vietnam in exchange for 778 U.S. POWs held by the communists; U.S. promised continuing supplies

Jackie Robinson

first player to break MLB’s color barrier in 1947; player for Brooklyn Dodgers

Earl Warren

Led Brown VS. Board of education, and Miranda VS. Arizona, Chief Justice

Martin Luther King Jr.

leader of U.S. Civil Rights movement; Baptist preacher, PhD Boston University; shaped civil rights movement in fundamental teachings of christianity

James Earl Ray

KKK shooter in King Assassination

Wayne Morse

Democratic senator from Oregon one of only two senators to vote “no”

Lyndon B. Johnson

Vice president of JFK, took over after JFK got merc’d

Robert S. McNamara

Secretary of Defense under LBJ

William C. Westmoreland

senior U.S. Army commander in Vietnam from 1965-1968; originator of “search and destroy” strategy

Daniel Elsberg

former U.S. Marine officer; leaked “Pentagon Papers” to NY times

Henry Kissinger

Nixon’s national security advisor, advised Nixon to use operation LINEBACKER II (B-52) to bomb Vietnam “back to the peace talks”

U.S. sends $15 million to France opening U.S. involvement in Vietnam

1950

French paratroops surrender Dien Bien Phu, France begins withdrawal from Vietnam

1954

Viet Cong begin communist insurgency in South Vietnam

1956

JFK assassinated, More than 16,000 U.S. advisors now in South Vietnam

Nov. 1963

Tonkin Gulf Resolution passes almost unanimously, only two “no” votes in Senate

1964

Viet Cong launch Tet Offensive all over South Vietnam, U.S public support crumbles

Jan. 31, 1968

Nixon begins Vietnamization and U.S troops sent into Cambodia, Kent state students killed

1970

Paris Peace Accords signed ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam War, all U.S. troops withdrawn from Vietnam

1973

Dr. Spectors review of Andrew Krepinevich’s discovers that

1. Army failed because it ignored Counter-insurgency tactics and tried to fight a traditional war

2. Unexperienced / Bad leadership like Harkin’s and McGarr

3. ARVN suffers problems of Leadership, Morale and Motivation because of Politicization, Corruption and Nepotism