Grade 11
Unit 9
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 1109
CONTEMPORARY AMERICA
CONTENTS
I. AMERICA IN THE 1960s ...............................................
2
America in the 1960s: Part 1 ........................................
3
America in the 1960s: Part 2 ........................................
7
The International Scene of the 1960s ........................ 10
II. AMERICA IN THE 1970s ............................................... 16
America in the 1970s: Part 1 ........................................ 17
America in the 1970s: Part 2 ........................................ 20
The International Scene of the 1970s ........................ 23
III. AMERICA IN THE 1980s AND 1990s .......................... 30
America in the 1980s: Part 1 ........................................ 31
America in the 1980s: Part 2 ........................................ 34
America in the 1990s...................................................... 38
The International Scene of the 1980s and 1990s ... 41
IV. America in the New Millennium................................. 48
America in the New Millennium’s First Decade .... 49
The International Scene in the New
Millennium’s First Decade ........................................... 52
Author:
Alpha Omega Staff
Editor:
Alan Christopherson M.S.
Illustrations:
Alpha Omega Staff
804 N. 2nd Ave. E., Rock Rapids, IA 51246-1759
© MM by Alpha Omega Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
LIFEPAC is a registered trademark of Alpha Omega Publications, Inc.
All trademarks and/or service marks referenced in this material are the property of their respective owners. Alpha Omega Publications, Inc.
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HISTORY 1109
CONTEMPORARY AMERICA
The United States of America reached its 200th birthday in 1976 and thirteen years later celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Constitution. These milestones came amid decades of change.
Technology put humans on the moon and gave us the ability to destroy our planet. The Cold War
between the United States and the Soviet Union alternated between icy coolness and thaw until it
ended in the 1990s. America was torn apart by an overseas war and its own moral drift. The strong
economy of the post-World War era was challenged by inflation and recession. It is these modern
decades of change which you will study in this unit.
The history of any contemporary subject is always incomplete. Many of the issues and problems
discussed in this unit are unresolved. Many will be the issues you and your friends will debate in your
adult years. Contemporary history is where the stream of life that began with Adam touches you.
Eventually, you will be a part of the history of America as it goes beyond your life into the future.
OBJECTIVES
Read these objectives. The objectives tell you what you will be able to do when you have successfully completed this LIFEPAC®.
When you have finished this LIFEPAC, you should be able to:
1.
Describe, compare, and contrast the domestic policies of the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford,
and Carter administrations.
2.
Describe, compare, and contrast the foreign policies of the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford,
and Carter administrations.
3.
Trace the development of United States foreign policy from the cold war diplomacy of the
1960s to the diplomacy of détente.
4.
Explain what actions were taken by black people to achieve social, political, and economic
equality after 1954.
5.
List the outstanding contributions of the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter
administrations.
6.
Outline United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
7.
Describe the significance of the Watergate scandal for the nation, especially the way in which
it tested the United States system of government.
8.
Describe, compare, and contrast the domestic policies of the Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and
Clinton administrations.
9.
Describe, compare, and contrast the foreign policies of the Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and
Clinton administrations.
10.
Outline United States progress in space exploration.
11.
List the outstanding contributions of the Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton administrations.
12.
Trace changes in United States foreign policy since the end of the Cold War.
13.
Describe the George W. Bush and Barack Obama presidencies.
14.
Explore the domestic and international challenges the United States faced in the new
Millennium’s First Decade.
1
Survey the LIFEPAC. Ask yourself some questions about this study. Write your questions here.
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I. AMERICA IN THE 1960s
The United States in the 1960s was a nation of turbulence. Black Americans organized to challenge
segregation laws and work for civil rights. Young Americans staged protests against the Vietnam War
and the draft. America lost a president, a presidential candidate and a civil rights leader to assassination. Internationally, this was the decade of the Vietnam War, America’s longest and most controversial conflict. America remained committed to the policy of containment first established by
President Eisenhower. Conflicts with Communism dominated American foreign policy as the Cold War
continued.
SECTION OBJECTIVES
Review these objectives. When you have completed this section, you should be able to:
1.
Describe, compare, and contrast the domestic policies of the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford,
and Carter administrations.
2.
Describe, compare, and contrast the foreign policies of the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and
Carter administrations.
3.
Trace the development of United States foreign policy from the cold war diplomacy of the 1960s
to the diplomacy of détente.
4.
Explain what actions were taken by black people to achieve social, political, and economic
equality after 1954.
5.
List the outstanding contributions of the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations.
VOCABULARY
Study these words to enhance your learning success in this section.
draft
containment
civil rights
segregation
command module
quarantine
To conscript for military service
U.S. policy to keep communism restricted to where it already existed
The rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution and the law, especially the protection of those for minorities
Separated from the majority
The section that held the astronauts in Mercury to Apollo space ships
A state of enforced isolation
Note: All vocabulary words in this LIFEPAC appear in boldface print the first time they are used.
2
AMERICA IN THE 1960s: PART 1
THE NATIONAL SCENE
The Kennedy administration. John
Fitzgerald Kennedy, the youngest man to be
elected president of the United States, was inaugurated on January 20, 1961. Kennedy was the
son of a wealthy businessman. He had a degree
from Harvard University and was decorated for
bravery for his service in the navy during World
War II. At the time of his election to the presidency, he was serving as a Senator from his home
state of Massachusetts.
Kennedy’s youth, wealth, good looks, and
poise gave an air of royalty to the presidency. His
tenure in office was often referred to as
“Camelot” (a reference to the mythical court of
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table). His public appearance served him well in
the 1960 campaign against Vice President Richard Nixon. The campaign involved the very
first televised debates between the national candidates. Kennedy shone against the more
awkward and less handsome Nixon. This public image became forever locked in the public
mind when Kennedy was assassinated in November of 1963.
In his inaugural address, he reiterated that America would do anything to assure that
liberty remained. His famous line, “Ask not what your country can do for you–ask what you
can do for your country,” was the beginning of Kennedy’s domestic program which he
termed the “New Frontier.” Very few of his proposals were actually passed by the Congress,
although many were later passed under the Johnson Administration. Congress did approve
an increase in the minimum wage and granted the president more power to reduce tariffs.
His proposals for civil rights reforms bogged down in the Congress until after his death.
One success in Kennedy’s program was the Peace Corps. This was a group of American
volunteers sent to underdeveloped nations as teachers, agricultural advisors, technicians
and mechanics. The program sent thousands of young people abroad to help other nations
raise their standard of living. It continues to be a successful program as of the early 2000s.
One of Kennedy’s greatest domestic achievements was the push he gave the American
space program. In April of 1961 a Soviet cosmonaut became the first person to orbit the
earth. On May 25, 1961 Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon by the end
of the decade. Congress approved funding for the program and America’s Cold War competitive spirit did the rest. Kennedy lived to see the first steps toward the moon. His death
made the challenge almost a sacred trust to many Americans.
The promise and potential of Kennedy’s administration abruptly and tragically came to
an end in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. President Kennedy, accompanied by his
wife, Jacqueline, and Vice President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson flew to Dallas, Texas. While
traveling in an open limousine from the airport, President Kennedy was shot in the head
and neck by a sniper. Governor John Connally, riding in the car with President and Mrs.
Kennedy, was critically wounded in the back. Kennedy was rushed to the hospital immediately and doctors worked frantically to save the president’s life; however, he died without
ever regaining consciousness. After returning to the airport and boarding the presidential
plane, Vice President Lyndon Johnson–flanked by his wife and Jackie Kennedy, still wearing her suit stained with her husband’s blood–was sworn into office as the country’s new
president.
Radio and television announcers informed a shocked nation of the president’s death. Lee
Harvey Oswald was arrested for the murder. The evidence against him was overwhelming,
but to this day many people still believe he was part of a yet unproven conspiracy. These theories are based on the fact that Oswald did not live to testify about what he had done. Two
days after the assassination, on November 24th, while Oswald was being transferred from
3
the Dallas city jail to the county jail. Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, stepped from the
watching crowd and shot Oswald at point-blank range, killing him, while the nation
watched on television.
President Kennedy’s funeral–which received world-wide radio and television
coverage–was attended by over ninety world leaders. The era of Camelot came to an end as the
nation mourned the death of its young president.
The civil rights movement. Black Americans had
been granted their freedom after the Civil War only to
find themselves denied equal rights with their lighterskinned fellow citizens. The right of black Americans to
vote was hampered by literacy tests, poll taxes and
intimidation by whites. By the 1960s blacks had long
faced segregation in schools, public facilities, churches
and even hospitals. An 1896 Supreme Court decision
permitted the government to establish “separate but
equal” facilities for whites and blacks. However, black
facilities were invariably of poorer quality than those
reserved for whites. In the case Brown vs. Board of
Education of Topeka in 1955, the Supreme Court ruled
that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional in the
schools and, by implication, elsewhere. In spite of the
ruling,
segregation laws remained in effect, especially in
Rosa Parks
the South.
The civil rights movement, which fought to end segregation and inequality, was born the
same year as the Brown vs. Board decision in Montgomery, Alabama. A black woman named
Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat in the front of a city bus to a white
man, as city law required. Black activists organized a boycott of the bus system and in 1956
the Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate its public transportation system. The
Montgomery boycott was organized and led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. King became the
leading figure in the fight for equal rights for black Americans.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was the son of a Baptist pastor. He had a degree in divinity from Crozer Theological
Seminary and a doctorate in theology from Boston
University. He was himself an American Baptist pastor
with a magnificent speaking style that he used to promote
the cause of his people. He advocated non-violent resistance against the white authorities that opposed equal
rights.
Using Dr. King’s methods, blacks all over the South
began to challenge segregation laws. They staged “sit-ins’’
at segregated restaurants, “pray-ins” at segregated churches and “wade-ins” at segregated beaches. They engaged in
peaceful protests against racial discrimination and were
all too often met with violence. In Birmingham, Alabama,
protesters were attacked by fire hoses, dogs and police
batons while the nation watched on television–but the violence did not stop them.
The high point of the movement came in August of
1963 at the “March on Washington” to urge more government action, especially passage of the stalled Civil Rights
bill proposed by Kennedy. About 200,000 demonstrators
peacefully marched and then heard Dr. King deliver a moving speech that defined the moral
basis of the civil rights movement. His “I have a dream’’ speech called for the United States to
fulfill the promises of its own Declaration of Independence and recognize that indeed all men
are created equal, no matter what their skin color.
4
The movement made notable strides in the mid-1960s. The
Civil Rights Act was finally passed in 1964 under President
Johnson, Kennedy’s successor. It prohibited racial discrimination
in public facilities, employment and education. That same year
Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. In
1965, Dr. King led a peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery
in Alabama that was forcibly broken up by the police. Johnson
took advantage of the shocked public reaction to gain passage of
the Voting Rights Act which ended all of the legal barriers used to
prevent southern blacks from voting.
Dr. King’s commitment to non-violence was repeatedly challenged
by bloody attacks on civil rights workers. Moreover, the slow pace of
change aggravated many blacks who urged the use of violence. From
Malcolm X
1965 on, the movement became less moderate as other leaders arose
who advocated “Black Power.” Some, like Malcolm X, a Black Muslim, advocated separation
from the whites. Others, like the Black Panthers, openly called for the use of violence to
achieve equality. The rising tensions contributed to riots in Watts (Los Angeles, California) in
1965; Newark, New Jersey and Detroit, Michigan (both in 1967).
In April of 1968 the violence was highlighted by the assassination of Dr. King in Memphis,
Tennessee. His death triggered riots that cost over forty lives. However, Martin Luther King,
Jr. left a legacy–a strengthened and entrenched civil rights movement.
Match the following vocabulary words with their definitions.
1.1
____ civil rights
a. sharp diplomatic conflict potentially leading to war
1.2
____ Cold War
b. a Russian trained to make space flights
1.3
____ containment
c. separated from the majority
1.4
____ cosmonaut
d. to choose for compulsory military service
1.5
____ draft
e. the act of keeping Communism from spreading
1.6
____ segregation
f. guaranteed by the 13th and 14th Amendments to
the Constitution and certain acts of Congress
Fill in the blanks.
1.7
The longest and most controversial war in American history was the
_______________________________________________ .
1.8
Kennedy’s term in office was also known as ________________________________ .
1.9
The domestic program of the Kennedy Administration was called the ___________________________ .
1.10
Kennedy’s challenge was to put a man on the moon by the end of the ___________________________ .
1.11
Unlike the Black Panthers, Dr. King used ________________________________ methods to protest
racial injustice.
5
True/False.
1.12
______ The objective of the Peace Corps is to send skilled volunteers to other countries to
help raise the standard of living there.
1.13
______ Gov. John Connally was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.
1.14
______ Brown vs. Board of Education was a hindrance to the civil rights movement.
1.15
______ Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white person.
1.16
______ Martin Luther King was an American Baptist preacher.
1.17
______ Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech was the high point of the civil rights
movement.
Choose one answer.
1.18
In 1967 Martin Luther King was awarded: _____ .
a.
b.
c.
the Pulitzer Prize
the Nobel Peace Prize
the Distinguished American Medal
Match the following items.
1.19
_____
Martin Luther King, Jr.
a. advocated violence in order to achieve equal rights
1.20
_____
John F. Kennedy
b. Dallas nightclub owner who shot Oswald
1.21
_____
Jack Ruby
c. advocated non-violent means to achieve equal rights
1.22
_____
Black Panthers
d. Black Muslim
1.23
_____
Lyndon Baines Johnson
e. assassinated on November 24, 1963
1.24
_____
Malcolm X
f. passed the Voting Rights Act
1.25
_____
Lee Harvey Oswald
g. assassinated on November 22, 1963
1.26
_____
Rosa Parks
h. arrested for sitting in the front of a bus
6
AMERICA IN THE 1960s: PART 2
The Johnson Administration. Lyndon Baines Johnson became president following the
assassination of John Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Johnson had worked his way through
Southwest Texas State Teachers’ College, earning a degree in 1927. He had a long career in
Washington, D.C. serving his home state of Texas. He was elected to the House of
Representatives in 1937, the Senate in 1948, Senate minority leader in 1953, majority leader
in 1955 and vice president under Kennedy in 1960. He was well known for his ability to persuade people to support his plans by a combination of pushing, prodding, compromise and
compliments. It was called “the LBJ treatment.”
The nation was stunned by the death of their
young, popular president. They quickly rallied
around Johnson. His successful legislative agenda
increased his popularity and he easily won the
1964 presidential election. However, increasing
problems in Vietnam over the succeeding years
caused his popularity to fall dramatically. He
decided not to run for office again in 1968.
Johnson was unusually successful at getting
his legislation through Congress. He pushed
through both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting
Rights Acts. He also put through a tax cut proposed
by Kennedy. His own legislative agenda was known
as the “Great Society.” It was highlighted by the
“War on Poverty.” This was a program to create jobs
and opportunities for the poor. Medicare–medical insurance for the elderly–was passed under
Johnson. Two new departments, Housing and Urban Development and the Transportation
Department, were created under him. Another Civil Rights Act in 1968 forbade discrimination in the sale or rental of homes. However, the Vietnam War began to cost more and more
as the nation expanded its role there. Eventually, Johnson had to scale back his Great Society
to pay for the war.
The War in Vietnam was Johnson’s greatest domestic problem as well as his greatest
foreign policy problem. “Hawks” urged him to take stronger action while ’’doves” wanted
7
peace immediately. Johnson adhered to the policy of containment and tried to win the war
by slowly escalating American involvement. As more Americans died and more American
money was spent with no end in sight, the public began to distrust the government. A “credibility gap” developed as Americans came to believe the government was lying about South
Vietnam being worth defending and the army’s ability to win the war. The country became
more and more divided over the issue of what to do.
Facing a divided party and a divided nation, Johnson decided not to run for re-election
in 1968. He also cut back American bombing and succeeded in drawing the North
Vietnamese to the negotiating table. However, it was clear the negotiations would move as
slowly as the war when the delegates started with a long argument over the shape of the
table around which they would negotiate.
The youth rebellion. The massive number of babies born after World War II, known
as the “baby-boomers,” became rebellious young adults in the 1960s. As a group they experimented with drugs, rejected traditional morality and found their cause in opposing the
Vietnam War. Protests against the draft and the war defined the “youth movement.”
Without such a strong common cause, the movement would have been more fragmented
and probably would not have affected society the way that it did. As it was, the youth movement of the 1960s destroyed traditional morality in America, exactly as it set out to do.
Many of the moral problems of our day can be traced directly back to the goals of the 1960s
youth rebellion. For example, the high divorce rate today grew from the so-called “sexual
revolution” of the 60s which rejected God’s ideal of one man, one woman, in marriage.
Disrespect for authority, especially in the military and the government, was rampant. This
philosophy lives on in schools and homes today. Bad seed was sown. The harvest has been
one of disintegration and despair.
Presidential campaign of 1968. There were three primary contenders for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. Senator
Eugene McCarthy was the darling of the anti-war group. However, he
was overshadowed by Robert Kennedy, brother of the late president
and a “dove” himself, and by Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s vice president. The doves’ best hopes ended when Robert Kennedy was assassinated in June of 1968.
The Democratic convention in Chicago that August was a visible
symbol of the division and turbulence in the nation. Antiwar protests
surrounded the convention site. Police battled demonstrators with
batons and tear gas when crowds threw debris and insults at them.
Humphrey won the nomination, loyally supporting Johnson’s policy of
fighting until a reasonable peace could be negotiated. However, the
spectacle at the convention gave the party a deeply tarnished public
Robert Kennedy image.
The Republicans nominated Richard Nixon, the vice president
under Eisenhower who had lost to Kennedy eight years earlier. A third
party, the American Independent Party, nominated George Wallace,
the former governor of Alabama. While Nixon and Humphrey agreed
that the war should be maintained at a minimum level until an honorable peace could be negotiated, Wallace wanted to escalate the war
and “bomb them back to the stone age.” Since none of the candidates
favored the “dove” position, many of the peace advocates did not even
vote. In the end, Nixon won with only 43.4% of the popular vote. He
faced the daunting task of trying to solve the Vietnam problem and
reunite the nation.
George Wallace
8
The space program. The American space program went through three phases in the
1960s. It began with the Mercury program which used a single-passenger spacecraft. The
second phase used a two-person craft and was called Gemini. The Apollo program which followed used a three-person craft and eventually reached the moon. Mercury astronaut Alan
Shepard became the first American in space during his sub-orbital flight on May 5, 1961.
He was followed by John Glenn who became the first American to orbit the earth in
February of 1962. The Mercury program ended in 1963.
MERCURY ROCKET
The first Gemini flight took place on March of 1965.
Gemini astronaut Edward White was the first American to
“walk” in space (leave the spacecraft). The Gemini missions
allowed the United States to try out techniques that would
be needed for the moon shot. These included changing the
spacecraft’s position in orbit (1965) and docking with another spacecraft (1966). Gemini flew only two years and had
eight successful missions during that time.
The first scheduled Apollo flight was a tragedy. Three
astronauts died on January 27, 1967 when a fire swept
through the command module during the ground test. The
program was delayed for over a year and a half while changes
were made to prevent further accidents. The first Apollo mission finally flew in October of 1968. The second Apollo mission, Apollo 8, (the numbers of the missions do not represent
the actual number of space flights) successfully flew around
the moon at Christmas time of that same year. Kennedy’s
vision became a reality on July 20, 1969 when Apollo 11
astronauts Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the
moon. Television coverage of the first moon walk was seen all
over the world. As he stepped from the spacecraft to put the
first footprint on the moon Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one
small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”
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THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE OF THE 1960s
The Bay of Pigs. Cuba, an island nation in the Caribbean,
became an increasing problem for the United States after a revolutionary named Fidel Castro overthrew the local dictator. The
United States originally supported Castro when he overthrew the
Cuban government in 1959. However, when he turned to
Communism, he became a serious thorn in the American side.
President Eisenhower had approved a plan to train an army of
Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro. The plan was ready to launch
when Kennedy became president. Kennedy approved the proposal to land the exiles at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. However, he
refused to give the exiles military aid.
The invasion was a fiasco. The invaders were quickly
pinned down and defeated by Castro’s army. A popular
uprising in support of the invasion never occurred. Kennedy
took full responsibility for the disaster in his public address to the nation. The attack
made Castro believe that an American invasion of his country was inevitable and he
began to plot to prevent it.
Berlin Crisis. Berlin, the divided capital of the defeated Third Reich, was still a major
point of contention between the Soviets and their former allies when Kennedy was president.
For several years Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had threatened to
sign a treaty with Communist East Germany that would formally end
World War II and grant that country complete independence. Such a
treaty would have given the East Germans control of the access routes
into Berlin, allowing them to harass or block traffic at will. The threat
was part of a Soviet effort to end the combined United States, British
and French control of West Berlin.
In July of 1961 Kennedy and Khrushchev met in Vienna to discuss
the problem. Khrushchev had been dominating the world news for
more than a year and he appeared tough and self-confident. Refusing
to bend on any point, the Soviet leader insisted on a settlement by the
end of the year. When Kennedy stated that the United States would
remain in West Berlin, Khrushchev replied, “I want peace, but if you
Khrushchev
want war, that is your problem.”
Shaken by Khrushchev’s stubbornness, Kennedy decided that the Soviet leader could
be influenced only by a show of force. He summoned army reserves to active duty and
ordered the mobilization of two army divisions and fifty-four squadrons. As tensions
increased, thousands of East Germans fled to the west, primarily through Berlin.
Instead of backing down, the Soviets took a totally unexpected step in August of 1961.
They built a wall between East Berlin and West Berlin to stop the flow of refugees. The exodus was a constant source of embarrassment to the Communist regime and was draining
the East of skilled workers. The Berlin Wall itself was a confession of weakness, but
Communist authorities seemed to think it was better than the depopulation of East
Germany. The “Wall of Shame,” as the Germans named it, also eliminated some of the need
for a treaty. In October, Khrushchev dropped his threat. However, the wall remained until
1989 as the most graphic symbol of the Cold War.
Cuban Missile Crisis. The tensest episode of the Cold War began October 14, 1962
when a United States U-2 spy plane taking routine photographs of Cuba discovered missile launching pads under construction. The missiles themselves were on their way to Cuba
from the Soviet Union. Nuclear missiles so close to the United States would give the Soviets
tremendous leverage in any future confrontations and were important to Castro as a means
of protecting his regime.
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Kennedy followed a tough line. He rejected the idea of bombing or an immediate invasion. Instead, he ordered that Cuba be placed under quarantine. The U.S. Navy would
intercept any Soviet vessel carrying missiles to Cuba. Kennedy announced that the United
States would consider the launching of missiles from Cuba to be an attack by the Soviet
Union itself, requiring full American retaliation. He called on
Khrushchev to recall the missiles and remove the launch pads. The
tension mounted as work continued on the launch pads. An immense
American invasion force slowly built up in Florida. At sea, the Navy
discovered twenty Soviet merchant ships moving toward Cuba. In
the war of nerves, the Soviets blinked first. On October 24th the
Soviet ships turned around and went home without ever challenging
the quarantine.
The incident was not over because the launch pads remained. On
October 26th Khrushchev sent a message to Kennedy expressing his
fear of nuclear war. He offered to remove the missiles if the United
States promised not to attack Cuba. The next day another message
arrived offering to remove the missile sites if the United States would
dismantle its missile sites in Turkey. Although Kennedy publicly
ignored the second offer and accepted the first, the United States did,
in fact, agree and dismantle the missile sites in Turkey. Khrushchev
began destroying the Cuban launch pads and the crisis was over.
Kennedy and the United States won wide approval for the successful conclusion of the crisis. Both sides were obviously impressed
with how close they had come to war and relations between the
super powers improved for a time. The primary example of the
nature of this Cold War “thaw” was the installation of a teletype “hot
line” between Washington and Moscow that allowed instant, clear
communications in the event of a crisis.
Nuclear ban. One result of the cooperation that followed the
Cuban Missile Crisis was the signing of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
In September of 1961, the Soviets had resumed testing atomic
weapons. The tests broke an unofficial test ban that had lasted nearly
three years. Shortly after the Soviets resumed their tests the United
States began testing as well. At first the American tests were conducted underground, which created no dangerous fallout. In July of 1963,
the Soviet Union and the United States signed a treaty banning atomic testing in the atmosphere, in outer space and underwater. The treaty avoided the issue of internal inspection,
which had deadlocked previous negotiations. The treaty was signed by many other nations as
well, many of which did not have nuclear weapons at the time.
Alliance for Progress. The Alliance for Progress was Kennedy’s attempt to improve
relations with the nations of Latin America. Most of those nations faced staggering social
problems of poverty, illiteracy and hunger. The small, wealthy upper classes were closely
associated with the United States by business and anti-Communist interests. As a result,
many of the lower-class Latin Americans became very anti-American, blaming the superpower for their living conditions. Communist agitators used and encouraged this viewpoint.
Kennedy proposed to send funds to these nations for social causes and to promote democratic institutions under the name of the Alliance for Progress. American money made little impact on the huge problems of Latin America, however. The ruling classes resisted any
meaningful changes and much of the money wound up in the hands of big businesses.
Violence in Panama. The United States owned a ten-mile wide zone of land around
the Panama Canal under the original 1903 treaty that allowed the canal to be built. The
people of Panama objected to this slice of America across their land and they wanted to control the canal themselves. In 1964, riots broke out that resulted in the deaths of four
11
Americans and twenty Panamanians. Panama cut off diplomatic relations with the United
States until Johnson agreed to negotiate a new treaty. After protracted negotiations, a new
treaty was signed in 1977. It stated that control of the canal would gradually be given over
to Panama until they gained full control in 1999.
Dominican rebellion. Rebels tried to overthrow the government of the Dominican
Republic in 1965. Fearful that Communists were gaining control of rebel forces, the
United States sent troops to help put down the rebellion. Order was restored, the troops
were withdrawn and elections were held. The incident did not improve relations with
Latin America, however.
True/False.
1.27
______
Lyndon Johnson had a distinguished career in Congress.
1.28
______
The 1968 campaign for the presidency demonstrated the serious division in the U.S.
1.29
______
Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey were presidential nominees in 1968.
1.30
______
Scott Carpenter was the first American in space.
1.31
______
Astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon.
1.32
______
No astronaut has died in the space program.
1.33
______
The Bay of Pigs invasion was very successful.
1.34
______
The Cuban Missile Crisis was over photographs taken by a U-2 spy plane of missile
sites being built in Cuba.
1.35
______
The U.S. Navy blockaded Cuba to prevent delivery of Soviet missiles.
1.36
______
The Cuban Missile Crisis resulted in the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
12
Choose the best answer(s).
1.37
Two of Johnson’s great legislative accomplishments were: _____ , _____ .
a. Civil Rights Acts
b. War on Poverty
c. The Great Society
d. Voting Rights Act
1.38
Johnson’s biggest problem was: _____ .
a. Congress
b. credibility
c. the Vietnam War
d. the Cambodian purges
1.39
Which of the following are considered negative aspects of the 1960s? _____ .
a. high divorce rate
b. sexual revolution
c. disrespect for authority
d. all of the above
1.40
Three phases of the space program were: _____ , _____ , _____ .
a. Gemini
b. Atlas
c. Rover
d. Mercury
e. Apollo
1.41
A new Panama Canal Treaty between the U.S. and Panama was signed in: _____ .
a. 1961
b. 1971
c. 1981
d. 1977
Fill in the blank.
1.42
The youths of the 1960s vigorously opposed the ____________________ .
1.43
The Bay of Pigs invasion was against the island country of ____________________ .
1.44
The Berlin Wall was built in ____________________ and was torn down in
____________________ .
1.45
Kennedy’s response to the Soviet missile sites was a ____________________ of Cuba.
1.46
The people of Panama were given full control of the canal in ____________________ .
Adult Check
___________________
Initial
Date
Review the material in this section in preparation for the Self Test. The Self Test will check
your mastery of this particular section. The items missed on this Self Test will indicate specific areas where restudy is needed for mastery.
13
SELF TEST 1
Match the following people with their descriptions (each answer, 2 points).
1.01
_____
Martin Luther King, Jr.
a. Dallas nightclub owner who shot Oswald
1.02
_____
John F. Kennedy
b. tried to install missile bases in Cuba
1.03
_____
Jack Ruby
c. arrested for sitting in the front of a bus
1.04
_____
Black Panthers
d. assassinated on November 24, 1963
1.05
_____
Nikita Khrushchev
e. passed the Voting Rights Act
1.06
_____
Lyndon B. Johnson
f. advocated violence in order to achieve equal rights
1.07
_____
Malcolm X
g. Black Muslim
1.08
_____
Lee Harvey Oswald
h. advocated non-violent means to achieve equal rights
1.09
_____
Fidel Castro
i. dictator of Cuba
1.010
_____
Rosa Parks
j. assassinated on November 22, 1963
Fill in the blanks (each answer, 3 points).
1.011
A Soviet spaceman is called a ____________________________________ .
1.012
The Berlin Crisis precipitated the building of the ______________________________ by East Germany.
1.013
The policy of keeping Communism from spreading is called _______________________________________ .
1.014
The ____________________________________ was a program that sent skilled volunteers to other countries to help raise the standard of living.
1.015
The Berlin Wall was built in ____________________ and torn down in ____________________ .
1.016
Panama was given full control of the Panama Canal in the year ____________________ .
True/False (each answer, 1 point).
1.017
______ Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
1.018
______ John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever to be elected president of the United
States.
1.019
______ Hubert Humphrey was elected president in 1968.
1.020
______ John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth.
1.021
______ The space program has had no fatalities.
14
Choose the best answer (each answer, 2 points).
1.022
The push by the black community for certain rights was called: _____ .
a.
b.
c.
d.
1.023
Education for Literacy
Civil Rights Movement
Equal Opportunity Movement
Free Speech Movement
In 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded: _____ .
a. the Pulitzer Prize
b. the Nobel Peace Prize
c. the Distinguished American Medal
1.024
The unsuccessful invasion of Cuba was at the: _____ .
a.
b.
c.
d.
Bay
Bay
Bay
Bay
of
of
of
of
Havana
Cuba
Santiago
Pigs
Match each of the following items with its best possible description (each answer, 2 points).
1.025
_____ hawks
a. favored stronger military action in Vietnam
1.026
_____ Gemini
b. program that orbited an American around the
earth
1.027
_____ doves
c. Johnson’s domestic program
1.028
_____ Vietnam
d. program in which an American first walked in
space
1.029
_____ Apollo
e. Johnson’s greatest domestic and foreign problem
1.030
_____ New Frontier
f. program that put man on the moon
1.031
_____ Great Society
g. Kennedy’s domestic program
1.032
_____ Mercury
h. favored an immediate peace in Vietnam
Score
Adult Check
54
68
15
_______________________
___________________
Initial
Date