LESSON 31

CIVIL RIGHTS, VIET NAM, & the 1960's

Kennedy initiated a series of tariff negotiations with foreign governments- the “Kennedy Round”- in an effort to stimulate American exports. He began to consider an expanded use of Keynesian fiscal and monetary tools- culminating in his 1962 proposal for a substantial federal tax cut to stimulate the economy. The death of President Kennedy was one of several traumatic public episodes in national history that have left a mark on all who experienced it. In later years, when Americans looked back at the optimistic days of the 1950’s and early 1960’s and wondered how everything had subsequently seemed to unravel, many would think of November 22,1963 as a day of change. Why did many Americans think of this day as a day of change?

Why was Johnson considered to be highly qualified for the Presidency? What were some of the Great society measures passed by Congress?

What was behind the population shift to the sun belt? What is the importance of the Space Race? How did the Viet Nam War affect Johnson's Presidency?

What caused the riots at the 1968 Democratic convention?

TERMS

Robert Kennedy

Bay of Pigs

Malcolm X

Soviet Union

Martin Luther King Jr.

Vietnam

The Quagmire

Voting Rights Act1965

Sit –in

Civil Rights Act 1964

Tet offensive

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

escalation

wage-price-freeze

George Wallace

AP EXAM QUESTIONS

2000 PART C

Question 5

Discuss, with respect to TWO of the following, the view that the 1960's represented a period of profound cultural change.

Education

Gender roles

Music

Race relations

2002 FORM A, PART C

Question 5

How did the African American Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's address the failures of the Reconstruction?

2004 FORM B, PART C

Question 5

"Between 1960 and 1975, there was great progress in the struggle for political and social equality." Assess the validity of this statement with respect to TWO of the following groups during that period.

African Americans

Asian Americans

Latinos

Native Americans

Women

2007 FORM B, PART A

Question 1

In what ways did the administration of President Johnson respond to the political, economic, and social problems of the United States? Assess the effectiveness of these responses.

(Use the documents at http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/history_us/samp.html?ushist and your knowledge of the period 1960 to 1970 to answer the question.)

READING TO CONSIDER

1)      1. What was the main focus of the first civil rights act?

2)     2. What did public outrage demand President Johnson do once they saw police brutally attacking unarmed marches in 1965?

3)     3. “Give me Liberty or give me death” is promising what to every citizen?

JOHNSON

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,..." Declaration of Independence, 1776