MW

The 1960s and Vietnam

JFK elected in 1960

  • seen as young, modern, forward-thinking

    • catholic

Cuban Missile Crisis

  • 1959 - communist Fidel Castro took over Cuba

    • ousted President Batista

      • corrupt, supported by the US

    • some non-communist Cubans left for the US

  • diplomatic ties broken and an embargo applied by 1961

    • the CIA recruited Cuban expats

    • invasion at Bay of Pigs = a military failure and embarrassment

  • Castro aligned himself and Cuba with the SU

    • the SU placed missiles in Cuba

      • in reaction to American missiles in Turkey

    • US spy planes found this, creating the Cuban Missile Crisis

      • threat of nuclear war

    • ended when the SU withdrew ships and missiles from Cuba in exchange for the US removing missiles from Turkey

Civil Rights

  • forced desegregation through:

    • Woolworth’s lunch counter sit in

    • Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

    • Freedom Rides - to integrate interstate buses

    • Ole MIss Black students enrolled

    • Riots

JFK Assassination - November 1963

  • civil rights legislation continued under LBJ

    • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    • Voting Rights Act of 1965

  • Great Society

    • War on Poverty

      • inspired by the New Deal

      • included Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Head Start

Vietnam

  • a remnant of decolonization

    • after WWII, Japan withdrew and France sought to retain control

      • after China became communist, the US supported France in Indochina

        • part of The Domino Theory

  • Ho Chi Minh

    • after WWII, Ho Chi Minh became a part of the Viet Minh

      • a nationalist group fighting for independence from JApan and then France

        • used communism as a vehicle to become economically and then politically independent

    • 1946-54 until French loss at Dien Bien Phu

      • the UN divides Vietnam at the 17th degree parallel

    • the US supported various corrupt SV presidents

      • through advisors