The American Pageant 17th Edition Key Terms and People Chapter 36

Civil Rights Act of 1964

This act made racial, religious, and sex discrimination by employers illegal and gave the government the power to enforce all laws governing civil rights, including desegregation of schools and public places.

Affirmative Action

A policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities

Great Society

President Johnson called his version of the Democratic reform program the Great Society. In 1965, Congress passed many Great Society measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

a resolution adopted by Congress in 1964, giving the president broad powers to wage war in Vietnam

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

law that changed the national quota system to limits of 170,000 immigrants per year from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 per year from the Western Hemisphere

Freedom Summer

1964 effort to register African American voters in Mississippi

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

Group that sent its own delegates to the Democratic National Convention in 1964 to protest discrimination against black voters in Mississippi

Voting Rights Act of 1965

1965; invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the vote and authorized federal examiners to register voters in states that had disenfranchised blacks; as more blacks became politically active and elected black representatives, it rboguth jobs, contracts, and facilities and services for the black community, encouraging greater social equality and decreasing the wealth and education gap

Watts Riots

1964 riots which started in an African-American ghetoo of Los Angeles and left 30 dead and 1,000 wounded. Riots lasted a week, and spurred hundreds more around the country.

Black Panther Party

A group formed in 1966, inspired by the idea of Black Power, that provided aid to black neighborhoods; often thought of as radical or violent.

black power

A slogan used to reflect solidarity and racial consciousness, used by Malcolm X. It meant that equality could not be given, but had to be seized by a powerful, organized Black community.

Six Day War

(1967) Short conflict between Egypt and her allies against Israel won by Israel; Israel took over the Golan Heights , The West Bank of the Jordan River; and the Sanai Peninsula.

Tet Offensive

1968; National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), which was defeated after a month of fighting and many thousands of casualties; major defeat for communism, but Americans reacted sharply, with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war sentiment

Stonewall Riots

- New York city - Triggered activist protests among gays and lesbians - police raided gay bar - people fought back - became symbol of oppression of gays, began the gay pride movement

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Students for a Democratic Society-an antiestablishment New Left group, founded in 1960, this group charged that corporations and large government institutions had taken over America; they called for a restoration of "participatory democracy" and greater individual freedom

Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)

The largest student political organization in the country in the 1960s; its conservative members defended free enterprise and supported the war in Vietnam.

Vietnamization

President Richard Nixons strategy for ending U.S involvement in the vietnam war, involving a gradual withdrawl of American troops and replacement of them with South Vietnamese forces

Nixon Doctrine

During the Vietnam War, the Nixon Doctrine was created. It stated that the United States would honor its exisiting defense commitments, but in the future other countries would have to fight their own wars without support of American troops.

Silent Majority

A phrase used to describe people, whatever their economic status, who uphold traditional values, especially against the counterculture of the 1960s

Kent State University

An Ohio university where National Guardsmen opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War on May 4, 1970, wounding nine and killing four

Pentagon Papers

A 7,000-page top-secret United States government report on the history of the internal planning and policy-making process within the government itself concerning the Vietnam War.

Miranda Rights

A list of rights that police in the United States must read to suspects in custody before questioning them, pursuant to the Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

an independent federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment

War Powers Act

Passed by Congress in 1973; the president is limited in the deployment of troops overseas to a sixty-day period in peacetime (which can be extended for an extra thirty days to permit withdrawal) unless Congress explicitly gives its approval for a longer period.

Malcolm X

1952; renamed himself X to signify the loss of his African heritage; converted to Nation of Islam in jail in the 50s, became Black Muslims' most dynamic street orator and recruiter; his beliefs were the basis of a lot of the Black Power movement built on seperationist and nationalist impulsesto achieve true independence and equality

Eugene McCarthy

(1916-2005) Liberal antiwar senator from Minnesota who rallied a large youth movement behind his presidential campaign in 1968. Challenging sitting President Johnson in the New Hampshire primary, McCarthy captured 41 percent of the vote and helped ensure that Johnson would quit the race.

George Wallace

Alabama governor best known for his pro-segregation attitudes during the Civil Rights Movement.

Henry Kissinger

The main negotiator of the peace treaty with the North Vietnamese; secretary of state during Nixon's presidency (1970s).

Warren E. Burger (1907-1995)

Chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1969 to 1986. Burger was responsible for bringing the Court somewhat back to the right after the Earl Warren years. He presided over major cases involving abortion, affirmative action, the death penalty, and school desegregation.

My Lai

Vietnamese village that was the scene of a military assault on March 16, 1968, in which American soldiers under the command of 2nd Lieutenant William Calley murdered hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mostly women and children. The atrocity produced outrage and reduced support for the war in America and around the world when details of the massacre and an attempted cover-up were revealed in November 1969.

détente

From the French for “reduced tension,” the period of Cold War thawing when the United States and the Soviet Union negotiated reduced armament treaties under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter. As a policy prescription, détente marked a departure from the policies of proportional response, mutually assured destruction, and containment that had defined the earlier years of the Cold War.

Philadelphia Plan

Program established by Richard Nixon to require construction trade unions to work toward hiring more black apprentices. The plan altered Lyndon Johnson’s concept of “affirmative action” to focus on groups rather than individuals.

Earth Day

International day of celebration and awareness of global environmental issues launched by conservationists on April 22, 1970.

southern strategy

Nixon reelection campaign strategy designed to appeal to conservative whites in the historically Democratic South. The president stressed law and order issues and remained noncommittal on civil rights. This strategy typified the regional split between the two parties as white southerners became increasingly attracted to the Republican party in the aftermath of the civil rights movement.

primary elections

For much of American history, party leaders chose presidential candidates. But reforms to the nominating process in the late 1960s and early 1970s required presidential hopefuls to run popular campaigns to garner their party’s support. The shift to primary elections weakened the traditional political parties and opened opportunities for newcomers and “outsiders” to enter the political arena.

All-Volunteer Force (AVF)

Disenchantment with the Vietnam War led Congress to end conscription in 1973, causing the U.S. military to rely solely on volunteers. The resultant shift away from a “citizen’s army,” which had been in place since World War II, to an army of full-time professionals resulted in a leaner force that could be deployed in overseas conflicts with less political cost.

Rachel Carson

(1907-1964) American conservationist whose 1962 book Silent Spring galvanized the modern environmental movement that gained significant traction in the 1970s.

George McGovern

(1922-2012) Liberal senator from North Dakota who lost a landslide election to Richard Nixon in 1972. He eventually lost his Senate seat in the conservative revolution that swept Ronald Reagan into the White House in 1980.