United States History Flashcards - Unit 7

Civil Rights Movement Goals

• Bring an end to racial segregation.
• Establish racial equality.
• Establish protections for African Americans' right to vote.

Types of Segregation

De Facto Segregation

• Segregation by unwritten custom or tradition.

De Jure Segregation

• Segregation imposed by law.

Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas)

• Supreme Court declared the "separate but equal" doctrine unconstitutional in public education.
• Chief Justice Earl Warren: Segregation based solely on race deprives minority children of equal education opportunities.
• Officially overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement

• MLK preached nonviolence and civil disobedience, urging peaceful protests against racial policies.
• Non-violent approach gained public support in the 1960s.
• Notable organizations:
  • Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC): Advocated civil disobedience, largely led by ministers.
  • Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC): Dedicated to nonviolent protests against segregation, mainly college students.

Civil Rights Events

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Protest against racial segregation in Montgomery, Alabama's bus system.
• Sparked by Rosa Parks' arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger.
• Boycott called for African Americans to refuse using buses until segregation policies changed.
• Lasted 15 months; in 1956, Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional.

Sit-Ins

• Protesters seated themselves and refused to move until served.
• Disrupted normal business and impacted profits.
• Targeted restaurants and department stores.
• Protesters faced physical and emotional abuse, and arrest.

Freedom Rides

• Activists rode buses through southern states to test compliance with the ban on interstate bus segregation.
• Met with violence and arrests in the "Deep South."
• Forced Kennedy administration to intercede, compelling federal action.

Birmingham Campaign

• MLK targeted Birmingham, Alabama, known as the most segregated city in the South.
• Protests led to numerous arrests and violence.
• MLK wrote "Letters from Birmingham City Jail," defending civil disobedience against unjust laws.
• Actions against protesters were televised, appalling the American public and changed public opinion.

March on Washington

• 1963 demonstration with over 250,000 people rallying for economic equality and civil rights.
• Peaceful, orderly, and festive despite massive numbers.
• Called for "jobs and freedom" for African Americans.
• Notable moment: MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Media Impact

• Coverage of racial violence altered public opinion and increased public support for the Civil Rights Movement.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Dixiecrats

• Southern Democrats who opposed civil rights legislation.
• Split from the Democratic Party in opposition to Truman’s integration of the military and other civil rights actions.
• Goal: protect states' ability to maintain racial segregation.

Filibuster

• Tactic in the U.S. Senate to delay or block a vote by preventing debate from ending; "talking a bill to death."
• Filibuster against the Civil Rights Act lasted over 80 days, driven by Dixiecrats.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Details

• Faced strong opposition in Congress.
• Passed by the House but faced a filibuster in the Senate.
• Passed with support from both Democrats and Republicans after ending the filibuster.
• Outlawed segregation in public places and employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin.

Freedom Summer

• 1964 effort to register African American voters in Mississippi.
• Volunteers met with violent resistance from the KKK and law enforcement.
• News coverage of violence, false arrests, and murder drew international attention, increasing awareness of voter discrimination, leading to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Selma March

• Effort to register African American voters in Alabama.
• Protesters marched 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery, confronted with violence.
• Under National Guard protection, marchers reached Montgomery.
• Television coverage of violence outraged the nation; President Johnson called for a strong federal voting rights law.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Federal law that banned literacy tests and intimidation and empowered the federal government to oversee voter registration.
• Aimed to reduce barriers to African American voting by increasing federal authority to register voters.

24th Amendment

• Banned the poll tax in federal elections.

Black Power

• Militant ideology of the 1960s and 1970s, urging African Americans to create their own economic, social, and political power rather than seek integration.
• Stokely Carmichael coined the term "black power."
• Beginnings ushered in with the Watts Riots in Los Angeles, California.

Black Separatism

• Movement to create separate institutions for people of African descent in societies dominated by whites.
• Implied that black people should organize based on their shared experience of oppression.
• Believed African Americans cannot advance in a white-majority society and should maintain a distinct black identity.

Malcolm X

• Minister of the Nation of Islam, spreading black nationalism.
• Gained many followers through fiery rhetoric in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
• Advocated black self-empowerment, self-reliance, cultural and racial pride.
• In 1964, stepped away from the Nation of Islam, creating an organization emphasizing internationalization of the black freedom struggle and black self-determination and self-defense.
• Shot to death in February 1965; three members of the Nation of Islam were charged.

Black Panthers

• Organization of militant African Americans in 1966, founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.
• Demanded freedom, employment, and an end to police brutality.
• Organized armed patrols to protect people from police harassment.
• Provided community services: free breakfast for children, free medical clinics, and child care centers.
• Militancy led to violent confrontations with police; the FBI launched a counter-intelligence program against the Black Panther Party.

Impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on Minorities

• Prohibited discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin.
• Women and other minorities gained legal protection against discrimination.

Women’s Movement

Feminism

• Theory that women and men should have political, social, and economic equality.
• Civil rights struggle prompted women to examine societal discrimination, inspiring them to demand gender equality.

Betty Freidan’s The Feminine Mystique

• Tapped into the dissatisfaction of American women, addressing discontent with ingrained sexism that limited their opportunities.
• Encouraged women to question if being a wife/mother/homemaker was the only possibility for a woman.
• Marked the second wave of feminism in the U.S.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

• Proposed amendment for legal equality of the sexes.
• Fell three states short of ratification.
• Conservative opposition, notably Phyllis Schlafly, deemed it undesirable, fearing a moral decline from changed traditional roles.
• Schlafly defended women's right to be in the home as wives and mothers.

Title IX

• Legislation prohibiting federally funded educational institutions from discriminating based on sex.
• Key issues: recruitment, admissions, financial assistance, athletics, sex-based harassment, treatment of pregnant students, discipline, single-sex education, and employment.
• Legislation states: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance

Griswold v. Connecticut

• Supreme Court ruling establishing a married couple’s constitutional right to privacy.
• Struck down a state law banning contraception for married couples.
• Led to the legalization of birth control.

Loving v. Virginia

• Supreme Court case that struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriage, violating the 14th Amendment.
• Chief Justice Earl Warren: "Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the state."

Roe v. Wade

• Supreme Court case effectively legalizing abortion across the United States.
• Held that a woman’s right to an abortion was implied in the right to privacy protected by the 14th Amendment.
• Reversed in 2022, declaring that the constitutional right to an abortion no longer exists, giving states the authority to legislate abortion.

Latino Rights

Chicano Civil Rights Movement

• Social and political movement by Mexican Americans in the U.S. during the 1960s.
• Focused on achieving civil rights, better conditions, educational equality, and land rights.
• Promoted Chicano cultural pride and identity, leading to a rise in Chicano art and literature.
• Notable figures: Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta.

United Farm Workers (UFW)

• Labor union of farm workers that used nonviolent tactics, including a workers’ strike and a consumer boycott of table grapes, organized by Cesar Chavez.
• In 1975, California passed a law requiring collective bargaining between growers and the union, providing a legal basis to ask for better working conditions.

Changes in Latino Rights in the 20th Century

• Greater protections for legal and nonlegal workers.
• Students provided greater opportunities, regardless their ability to speak English.
• Gains in bilingual education.
• Protection and expansion of voter protections for non-English speakers.

Native American Rights

American Indian Movement (AIM)

• Militant movement of Native Americans addressing demands such as economic independence, revitalization of traditional culture, protection of legal rights, autonomy over tribal lands, and restoration of lands illegally seized.

Changes in Native American Rights in the 20th Century

• Native American activism spurred legislation providing tribes greater control over resources and education on reservations, as well as regaining land, mineral, and water rights.
• In United States v. Wheeler, the Supreme Court declared that Indian tribes possessed a "unique and limited" sovereignty, subject to the will of the Constitution but not to individual states.

Great Society

Definition

• President Johnson’s series of policies, legislation, and programs designed to end poverty, reduce crime, abolish inequality, and improve the environment.
• LBJ believed this to be an extension of the New Deal.

Impact on National Government

• The Great Society expanded the role and spending of the federal government.
• Opposition to these changes gave rise to a resurgence of conservatism.

Notable Programs

• Medicare (health care for the elderly) and Medicaid (health care for children and disabled).
• Head Start (preschool program for low-income children), Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aid to schools to poorer communities), and increased funding for Indian, inner city, and Mexican American schools.
• Water Quality Act and Clean Water Restoration Act (improved water and air standards).
• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – oversee the nation’s housing needs and to develop and rehabilitate urban communities.

Warren Court

Significance

• The Supreme Court of the 1960s under Chief Justice Earl Warren whose decisions supported civil rights of citizens by safeguarding their constitutional rights against the power of the government.

Notable Decisions

• Gideon v. Wainwright – suspects in criminal cases who could not afford a lawyer had the right to free and legal aid.
• Miranda v. Arizona – a suspect must be warned of his/her rights before being questioned.
• Baker v. Carr – state legislative districts had to be divided on the basis of “one man, one vote”.
• Mapp v. Ohio – evidence seized illegally cannot be used in trial.
• Engel v. Vitale – compulsory school prayer was a violation of the 1st Amendment.

Counterculture

• Movement challenging the values of mainstream American society, advocating peace, love, and freedom; known as hippies.
• Rebelled against long-standing customs in dress, music, and personal behavior.
• Hoped to bring a new age of harmony and understanding.
• Members valued youth, spontaneity, and freedom of expression.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• Agency created in 1970 charged with protecting the natural environment from damage by industrial pollution, preventing further damage, and raising public awareness about environmental issues.
• Environmentalism became prominent after the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.
• Goals: protect people and the environment from health risks, conduct research, and develop and enforce environmental regulations.

New Left

• Radical political movement active during the 1960s and 1970s, composed largely of college students and young intellectuals.
• Goals: racial equality, de-escalation of the arms race, nonintervention in foreign affairs, and other major changes in the political, economic, social, and educational systems.

Affirmative Action

• Policies and practices aimed to improve opportunities for groups discriminated against in the past.
• Goal: eliminate unlawful discrimination, address the effects of past discrimination, and prevent future discrimination.
• Critics believe it has become a form of racism or discrimination against other groups; reverse discrimination.
• Example: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke – preference in admissions could not be given to any group, minority or majority, on the basis of ethnic or racial identity alone.

LGBTQ Rights

• Gay Rights movement centered on the fight against the criminalization of homosexuality and to organize the gay community.
• Stonewall Riots of 1969 – several-day riot in response to a police raid on a gay club – played a key role in sparking the modern Gay Liberation Movement.

Domino Theory

• Belief of Cold War containment policy holding that if one country turned Communist, other surrounding countries would soon follow.
• Convinced many that resisting Communist aggression in Vietnam was necessary to save all of Southeast Asia.

U.S. Involvement in Vietnam Conflict

• U.S. foreign policy of containment led to military and political involvement in Asia, notably Vietnam, to manage the growing threat of communism and stabilize American interests.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• Congressional resolution authorizing President Johnson to commit U.S. troops to South Vietnam and fight a war against North Vietnam.
• On August 4, 1964, LBJ received reports that North Vietnamese gunboats had fired on two American destroyers patrolling in the Gulf of Tonkin; later proven exaggerated or false.
• Gave the president the power to “take all necessary measures to repel” attacks against U.S. forces.
• Provided the president the power to commit troops and fight a war without a congressional declaration of war.

Vietnam War as a “Poor Man’s Fight”

• The U.S. instituted a draft to man the war effort in Vietnam.
• Draft process often allowed the middle and upper classes to avoid service, while the lower classes were left with filling much of the soldiers needed.
• African Americans served in large numbers in the war.

Tet Offensive

• Communist assault on a large number of South Vietnamese cities/targets in 1968 during Tet (Vietnamese lunar New Year).
• Communists thought the attacks had a good chance of ending the war; however, American and South Vietnamese forces repelled the attacks.
• Demonstrated that the communists had not lost their will or ability to fight on.
• Americans began to express reservations about involvement in Vietnam.

Media's Role in the Vietnam War

• The Vietnam War was the first “living-room war”; Americans watched on nightly newscasts.
• Marked the first time American citizens were provided coverage of the war without strict government censorship.
• Media displayed the horrors of the war to the people, turning many Americans against the war.

Credibility Gap

• Phenomenon occurring when the public sees evidence that elected officials, military leaders, and others providing false information.
• Led Americans to question the role of the United States in the Vietnam War.

Richard Nixon's Role in Escalating the Vietnam War

• In 1970, Nixon extended the war by attacking Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
• The U.S. captured large stockpiles of weapons and supplies but was unable to break the stalemate.
• Nixon’s actions brought chaos and civil war to Cambodia and antiwar protests at home.

Kent State Massacre

• Tensions between antiwar activists and law-and-order supporters reached a boiling point in 1970, especially after the US invasion of Cambodia.
• Students at Kent State vandalized the town and burnt down the ROTC building.
• Student attacks on the National Guard resulted in the death of four students.
• These attacks horrified Americans, leading to a deeper divide in the nation over the war.

Opposition to the Vietnam War

Percentage\ \text{ of People Against U.S. Involvement}

The graph shows the percentage of people against the U.S. involvement increased between 1965 and 1973. First U.S. combat troops were in Vietnam in 1965. Tet Offensive was in 1968. First withdrawal of U.S. troops happened approximately around 1969. Cease-fire signed by 1973.

Vietnamization

• President Nixon’s plan for the gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces in Vietnam by transferring responsibilities to South Vietnamese troops.
• Hoped the policy would prepare the South Vietnamese to act in their own defense, but the policy of was deeply flawed.
• As the U.S. scaled back on ground troops, the U.S. dropped more bombs on communist targets in North Vietnam and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Pentagon Papers

Definition

• Classified U.S. government study that revealed American involvement in Vietnam, as well as the mistakes that were made.
• Significance: leaders intentionally involved the United States in Vietnam without fully informing the American people and occasionally lying to Congress.
• Leaked by the New York Times in 1971.

New York Times v. United States

• The government attempted to prevent the publication, arguing significance to national security.
• The Supreme Court decided against the government in The New York Times Co. v. United States, defending the 1st Amendment right of free press against prior restraint.

Lasting Impact

• Relevations shocked the public and led to a growing distrust of the government.

Outcome of the Vietnam War

• In January 1973, the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Vietcong signed the Paris Peace Accords, agreeing to a cease-fire and the removal of U.S. troops.
• Vietnam would remain divided until a political settlement could be reached.
• In April 1975, the North Vietnamese would defeat South Vietnam, uniting Vietnam under Communist control.
• The Vietnam War marked a failure in the U.S. containment policy in Southeast Asia.

Cultural Impact of the Vietnam War

• Called American values in question.
• Example: the My Lai Massacre.
• The use of napalm and “Agent Orange” were destructive to the environment.
• “Fragging” [the term was most commonly used to mean the assassination of an unpopular officer of one's own fighting unit] and drug use.
• Mistreatment of returning veterans.
• Distrust between generations and between the people and their government.

Richard Nixon's 1968 Presidential Election Win

• In 1968, LBJ declared he would not seek reelection; the Democratic Party struggled with a nomination.
• Early frontrunner Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June.
• VP Hubert Humphrey, an advocate of social justice and civil rights, won the nomination.
• Republicans nominated Richard Nixon: advocated law and order, ending the war in Vietnam, and limiting the Great Society and the enforcement of civil rights laws.
• Public opinion of the Vietnam War influenced Middle America to support Richard Nixon for stability.

“Silent Majority”

• Reference to Americans who held traditional views but did not draw attention to themselves, unlike many radicals and flamboyant members of the counterculture.
• The emergence of the ultra-conservative 1980s strongly suggests an undercurrent of traditional beliefs and values existed during the apparent liberal 1970s America.

“Southern Strategy”

• Nixon’s reelection campaign strategy designed to appeal to conservative whites in the historically Democratic South.
• Stressed “law-and-order” issues and noncommittal on civil rights.
• Typified the regional split between the two parties as white Southerners became increasingly attracted to the Republican Party after the Civil Rights Movement.

Détente

Definition

• The relaxation in political tensions between nations.
• Marked a “cooling off” period during the Cold War.

Era

• The 1970s.

Foreign Policy Changes

• The United States adopted flexible diplomacy with the communist countries of the Soviet Union and China.
• China:
  • Recognized the People’s Republic of China as the official government of China.
  • Ended the 21-year embargo with China.
• Soviet Union:
  • Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) – freezing of the deployment of intercontinental ballistic missiles and placed limits on anti-ballistic missiles.

End of Détente

• Ended in late 1979 with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• The diplomatic relationship between the U.S. and the Soviet Union would dissolve, leading to an escalation of the Cold War during the 1980s.

Watergate Scandal

Definition

• Scandal that unfolded after the break-in at the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate building.
• Congressional investigations implicated Nixon as being involved, which ultimately led to the resignation of President Nixon in 1974.

United States v. Nixon

• During the investigation, Nixon was discovered to have taped all conversations in the Oval Office.
• Investigators demanded the tapes; Nixon provided heavily edited transcripts.
• The Supreme Court ruled that Nixon must turn over the tapes.
• Crucial minutes of the tape were erased; regardless, there was enough information to pursue an impeachment as this constituted a clear example of deliberate obstruction of justice.

Outcome

• On the verge of impeachment, Nixon resigned in 1974.
• Gerald Ford became president and pardoned Nixon for any possible involvement in the scandal.

Lasting Impact

• Vietnam War and the Watergate Scandal = American trust in the government had been undermined.
• Distrust contributed to the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976, a Washington outsider.

War Powers Act

• Law passed by Congress restricting the president’s war-making power.
• Requires the president to consult with Congress before committing American forces to a foreign conflict.
• Designed to limit a President’s ability to involve the United States in foreign conflicts without receiving a formal declaration of war from Congress.
• This legislation was the direct response to American involvement in the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

Stagflation

• Term for the economic condition created by high inflation combined with stagnant economic growth and high unemployment.
• Crippled the economy in the late 1970s.

Factors Contributing to Economic Issues in the 1970s

• Expanding federal budget deficits caused by Cold War conflicts and Great Society programs.
• Rising foreign industrial competition, which cost thousands of Americans their jobs.
• Rapid increase in the price of oil and the economic impact of oil embargos.
• Nixon’s failed attempt to stabilize the economy with a wage and price controls = worsened the economy.

United States Oil Crisis in the 1970s

• In 1973, as a result of U.S. support of Israel in their war against Arab countries, OPEC placed an oil embargo on the United States.
• The U.S. depended on oil imports for 1/3 of their energy; the embargo raised oil prices by 400%.
• The oil embargo lasted until the spring of 1974, resulting in gas lines at the pumps and unguaranteed availability.
• The U.S. suffered another oil crisis in the winter of 1976/1977.

Camp David Accords

• 1978 agreement brokered by President Jimmy Carter between Egyptian and Israeli leaders that made a peace treaty between the two nations possible.
• Under this treaty, Israel would withdraw from the Sinai peninsula, which they had occupied since 1967; Egypt would become the first Arab country to recognize Israel’s existence as a nation.
• This agreement was made possible by President Carter playing the role of peacekeeper.

Iranian Hostage Crisis

• Since the 1950s, the United States supported the rule of the Shah of Iran; in the 1970s, opposition to the Shah grew within Iran.
• Dying of cancer, the Shah fled Iran and sought medical care in the U.S. in 1979; fundamentalist Islamic clerics, led by Ayatollah Khomeini, took power.
• In response, Iranian radicals invaded the U.S. Embassy and took 66 Americans as hostages.
• After months of stalled talks, the Iranians agreed to release the hostages in early 1981