1. New Frontier: (pages 874-875)-
Identity-
President Kennedy's nickname for his domestic policy agenda. Supported by youthful optimism, the program included proposals for the Peace Corps and efforts to improve education and health care.
Historical Significance-
Kennedy's New Frontier served as the precedent for the "final frontier." The president promoted a multibillion-dollar project, dedicated to "landing a man on the
moon." And in July 1969, two astronauts landed on the moon and planted the American flag during the Apollo mission.
2. Cuban missile crisis [1962]: (pages 877-879)-
Identity-
A standoff between John F. Kennedy and Soviet plans to install nuclear weapons in Cuba.
Historical Significance-
After the crisis, Kennedy gave a speech at American University in Washington, D.C., in which he urged Americans to
abandon their negative view of the Soviet Union. Therefore, Kennedy tried to lay the foundation for a realistic policy of peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union.
3. Flexible response: (pages 876-877)-
Identity-
A policy adopted by the Kennedy administration to respond to the various "brushfire wars" in Africa and Southeast Asia. This policy moved the U.S. away from the idea of massive retaliation and
reliance on nuclear weapons.
Historical Significance-
Although the flexible response policy reduced the risk of using nuclear weapons, it also increased the temptation to send elite forces into combat over the globe.
4. Great Society: (pages 818, 885, 908, 915)-
Identity-
President Johnson's list of legislative achievements from 1963 to 1966, which was long and included new programs that would have
lasting effects on U.S. society.
Historical Significance-
Some say that the Great Society made unrealistic promises to eliminate poverty, creating a centralized welfare state, and was extremely costly. Others say that these programs gave vital assistance to millions of poor, disabled, and elderly Americans.
5. War on Poverty: (pages 885, 895, 908)-
Identity-
The Democratic Congress gave the President
what he wanted, creating the OEO and funding the antipoverty agency with a billion-dollar budget. They also sponsored a variety of self-help programs for the poor as well.
Historical Significance-
Johnson's programs, before being cut back to pay for the Vietnam War, the War on Poverty did significantly reduce the number of American families living in poverty.
6. Civil Rights Act of 1964: (pages 884-885)-
Identity-
This
act made segregation illegal in all public facilities, including hotels and restaurants, and gave the federal government additional powers to enforce school desegregation.
Historical Significance-
This act helped to set up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to end discrimination in employment on the basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin. It also encouraged the ratification of the 24th amendment.
7. Twenty-fourth Amendment: (page 888)-
Identity-
This amendment abolished the practice of collecting a poll tax, one of the measures that, for decades, had discouraged poor people from voting.
Historical Significance-
The following year, after the killings and brutality in Selma, Alabama, against the voting rights marches led by MLK, President Johnson persuaded congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
8. Escobedo v. Illinois: (page 903)-
Identity-
A court case that required the police to inform an arrested person of his or her right to remain silent.
Historical Significance-
The Escobedo case broadened the interpretation of the Constitution concerning the Sixth Amendment protections for those accused of crimes. It also extended the time frame during which suspects were entitled to have a lawyer present beyond the trial itself to the time of the
interrogation. The decision was widely criticized by police officers who depended on confessions for evidence. It also encouraged the establishment of due process.
9. Miranda v. Arizona: (page 903)-
Identity-
A court case that extended the ruling in Escobedo to include the right to a lawyer being present during questioning by the police.
Historical Significance-
This court case was praised by civil
libertarians as a victory for individual rights, the decision was attacked by conservatives as undermining the efforts of law enforcement officials. This case also established the importance of Miranda Rights being read to criminal suspects.
10. Yates v. United States: (outside resource)-
Identity-
A court case that said that the 1st Amendment protected radical and revolutionary speech, even by
communists, unless it was a "clear and present danger" to the safety of the country.
Historical Significance-
The Warren's Court defense of the rights of unpopular individuals provoked a storm of controversy. Critics called for Warren's impeachment. However, both supporters and critics agreed that the Warren Court profoundly changed the interpretation of constitutional rights.
11. Counterculture: (pages 873, 898, 899, 908)-
Identity-
Refers to a new culture, expressed by young people, in the form of rebellious styles of dress, music, drug use, and communal living.
Historical Significance-
As a result of experimentation with hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD or becoming adicted to other drugs many young people ruined their lives. The counterculture's excesses and economic uncertainties led to the fall of the 1970s.
12. Equal Rights Amendment: (pages 918-919, 922, 924)-
Identity-
This proposed constitutional amendment basically stated that Americans should not be judged by their gender, both men and women should be equal.
Historical Significance-
This amendment was defeated partly because of a growing reaction against feminism by conservatives who feared the movement threatened the traditional roles of women.
13. Tonkin Gulf Resolution: (page 886)-
Identity-
A resolution which basically gave the president, as commander-in-chief, a blank check to take "all necessary measures" to protect U.S. interests in Vietnam.
Historical Significance-
Critics later called the full-scale use of U.S. forces in Vietnam an illegal war, because the war was not declared by Congress, like the Constitution requires. Even if some people disagreed with this policy, Johnson was caught in a
political dilemma. He had to contain communism in South Vietnam and if he pulled out, he would be seen as weak and lose public support.
14. Tet offensive: (page 893)-
Identity-
On the occassion of their Lunar New Year (Tet) in January 1968, the Vietcong launched an all-out surprise attack on almost every provincial capital and American base in South Vietnam.
Historical Significance-
The U.S. military
counterattacked and inflicted much heavier losses on the Vietcong, and recovered the lost territory. The destruction viewed by millions served as a setback for Johnson's Vietnam policy. For Vietcong and North Vietnamese, Tet was a major political victory in demoralizing the American public.
15. Hawks and Doves: (pages 891, 893, 895, 901)-
Identity-
Hawks- are people who supported the war's goal. Doves-
were people who opposed the war.
Historical Significance-
The doves had many antiwar protests. Many students had sit-ins and marches. At some universities protesters took over buildings and destroy property. All of the antiwar protests fed a widespread spirit of rebellion. Due to this young people of the 1960's and 1970's did not follow the traditional American culture and values. They also did try using illegal drugs. This started a drug abuse in the United States.
16. Vietnamization: (pages 899-900)-
Identity-
The process of gradually withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam and giving the South Vietnamese the money, the weapons, and the training that they needed to take over the full conduct of the war.
Historical Significance-
Under this policy, U.S. troops in South Vietnam went from over 540,000 in 1969 to under 30,000 in 1972. Extending the odea of disengagement to other parts of
Asia, the president proclaimed the Nixon Doctrine, declaring that in the future Asian allies would receive U.S. support but without the extensive use of U.S. ground forces.
17. My Lai: (page 900)-
Identity-
The 1986 massacre of women and children by U.S. troops in the Vietnamese village of My Lai.
Historical Significance-
Further fueling the antiwar sentiment was the publication by the New York TImes
of the Pentagon Papers, a secret government history documenting the mistakes and deceptions of government policy-makers in dealing with Vietnam.
18. Détente: (pages 879, 902, 915-918, 927)-
Identity-
A deliberate reduction of Cold War tensions. The ultimate relaxation of tensions between the United States and its two major Communist rivals, the Soviet Union and China.
Historical Significance-
Even
Nixon's critics would admit that this policy of foreign conduct greatly enhanced world peace. In practical terms, détente led to formal agreements on arms control and the security of Europe. A clear sign that a détente was emerging was found in the signing of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1968. Then, in 1972, the first round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks yielded the Antiballistic Missile Treaty along with an interim agreement setting limits on the number of missiles each side
could develop.
19. Watergate; articles of impeachment: (pages 818, 911-914)-
Identity-
The scandal that resulted in the impeachment and public humiliation of Nixon and the imprisonment of 26 white house officials and aids. A group of men hired by Nixon's reelection committee were caught breaking into offices of the Democratic natl headquarters in the Watergate Complex in WA, DC. President Nixon appeared
to be interfering with the Watergate Investigation when he fired Archibald Cox. And he was impeached on the three grounds of: obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress.
Historical Significance-
The final outcome of the Watergate scandal proved that the U.S. constitutional system of checks and balances worked as it was intended to. Others thought that the scandal underlined the dangerous shift of power to the presidency that began with Franklin Roosevelt and had been
expanded during the Cold War. Caused a loss of faith in the federal government.
20. War Powers Act (1973): (page 906)-
Identity-
This law required Nixon and any future president to report to Congress within 48 hours after taking military action.
Historical Significance-
The War Powers Act was the first law passed intending to define and limit the powers the President of the United States possessed.
21. OPEC; oil embargo: (pages 865, 906, 927)-
Identity-
During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an embargo against the United States in retaliation for the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military and to gain leverage in the post-war peace negotiations.
Historical Significance-
The embargo caused a worldwide oil shortage
and long lines at gas stations in America. The U.S. economy suffered greatly from inflation, the loss of manufacturing jobs, and a lower standard of living for blue-collar workers.