APUSH - 1960s

AP US History

Monday, April 28, 2025

Agenda

• Objective - I will be able to explain the causes and effects of the Vietnam War.
• Note Guide
• Vietnam War assignment
• The Great Society - Homework

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THe Vietnam War

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• Second longest war in US history
• Initially received public support but as it dragged on, opinions went south
• Not a conventional war
• Viet Cong blended with the native population
• Ambushed and often at night
• Massive bombing campaigns
• People would watch on TV
• Drafts were instituted and people found ways around them

How did the US get involved?

• After WWII Europe wanted to keep their colonial empires
• France wanted Indochina
• US permitted them to try to re-assert their authority but warned against it
• US wanted to end it all
• Only supported it once communism became a threat
• Truman – concerned about US naval and Air bases in Asia
• Saw the French in Vietnam as a fight against communism
• Provided $2 billion over 4 years; little war impact
• Dien Bien Phu
• French would use their garrison as bait then strike and crush their enemy
• Enemy had major artillery
• May 7, 1954 50,000 Vietnamese Communists defeated French forces
• Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh
• Heavy rain made it impossible for French to bomb them back
• Eisenhower not willing to commit to war – stayed out

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• Peace conference in Geneva, Switzerland
• French and Vietnamese agreed to divide Vietnam temporarily along the 17th parallel
• Communist North
• Non-Communist South
• Reunification pending elections in 1956
• Elections never took place
• South Vietnamese president refused to participate in elections
• Fear of losing
• Failure to fulfill Geneva Accords caused North Vietnam to distrust diplomacy
• 1955 – first military advisors arrive in Vietnam
• Eisenhower used Domino Theory justification
• If one country falls to communism then others will follow
• 1957 – South Vietnamese Rebels (Viet Cong) began attacking the S. Viet. Government
• 1959 – Hanoi (N. Viet. Capital) approved armed struggle against Saigon
• Kennedy’s presidency – commitment to Vietnam
• 18,000 advisors sent in
• Authorized use of napalm, defoliants, free fire zones and jet planes
• Became a crisis

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• 1963 – South Viet. Generals overthrew government
• Sanctioned by Kennedy
• November 23, 1963 – Kennedy was assassinated
• Lyndon B. Johnson to take over
• Johnson – reluctant to commit but feared US would look weak
• 1964 election – campaigned that he would not escalate the war
• He lied

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Next Steps

Please complete and submit The Great Society to blackboard by Tuesday at 8 pm

AP US History

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Agenda

• Learning Objective - I will be able to explain how and why various groups responded to calls for expansion of civil rights and how the government reacted from 1960 to 1980.
• Civil Rights Movement Reading

• Guided Notes

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Government Response toCivil Rights

• Truman
• Established Committee of Civil Rights in 1946
• Strengthened Civil Rights division of Justice Department
• Executive Order 9981 – desegregation of US armed forces
• Eisenhower
• Double V campaign – victory at war but also at home over racism and inequality
• Continued to desegregate armed forces and federal workforce
• Brown v. Board
• Appointed Attorney General Herbert Brownell (civil rights advocate
• Brownell suggested appointing Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
• Warren handed down the decision in the Brown v. Board case
• 1957 Civil Rights Bill – first legislation since Reconstruction
• Investigate civil rights violations
• Civils Rights division in Justice Department
• A.G. pursue violations of civil rights
• A.G. pursue violation of voting rights

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• Kennedy
• 1962 student barred entry from University of Mississippi
• Sent in national guard and federal troops
• 1963 2 students banned from entering University of Alabama by the Governor
• Sent national guard and forced governor to comply
• Civil Rights Act 1963 – would protect every American’s right to vote, end segregation in public facilities and require public schools to integrate
• Bill was stalled in debate in 1963
• Johnson
• Pushed to have Kennedy’s bill passed in Congress
• Civils Rights Act 1964
• Forbade discrimination in places of public accommodations
• Forbade discrimination in employment
• Created Equal Opportunity Employment Commission
• Withhold federal grants for places that practiced discrimination
• Strengthened voting right legislation
• Department of Justice authorized to initiate lawsuits to desegregate public schools and facilities
• 24th amendment passed in 1964 – abolished poll tax
• Voting Rights Act 1965 – banned literacy tests and provided registrars to ensure voting rights are not violated.

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Next Steps

Please be sure to get The Great Society assignment completed and submitted to blackboard by tonight at 8 pm

AP US History

Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Agenda

• Learning Objective - I will be able to explain how and why various groups responded to the calls for the expansion of civil rights from 1960 to 1980.
• Civil Rights Expansion Reading with questions
• graded google form

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Next Steps

Please complete and submit the Expansion of the Civil Rights Movement Google Form completed and submitted by Thursday at 8 pm

AP US History

Thursday, May 1, 2025

Agenda

• Learning Objective - I will be able to explain why and how opposition to existing policies and values developed and changed over the course of the 20th century.
• Crash Course Sixties
• Supreme Court Slide
• Tumultuous 1960s - graded

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Next Steps

Please be sure that your Tumultuous 1960s assignment by Friday at 8 pm

Friday's Assignemnt

Please complete and submit the US and the Environment assignment to blackboard by Friday at 8 pm

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