Civilisation Américaine
From the very beginning, the USA welcomed all immigrants because there were not a lot of people. Most of the immigrants were from Europe. But restrictions were put on immigration, less people were welcomed. Most of the major changes were done after the civil war, major changes in number of immigrants, because it became easier and cheaper to cross the Atlantic, even for people who used to be too poor to cross the ocean. During colonial times, people had to work for a number of years to pay back the company who brought them to the country, they were indebted and were not paid for their work because their salary went to the company.
Technological advances made it possible for people to cross the ocean, and it was related to steam. Gradually, the first transatlantic ship using steam was the Great Western in 1837. Steamships replaced sailing ships, and it took some decades. By the end of the 19th century, it was common to use steamships to cross the Atlantic. Sailing ships were slower and it was impossible to know exactly how much time it would take. The first company which organized trips from England to America was Samual Cunard, they went from Liverpool to New York, many immigrants could be brought to the US. With steamships it was faster, the time went from a month to cross the ocean to 10 days. But it depended on the number of people the ship could carry. Regular steamships could carry more than one thousand people.
Most immigrants to the US were from northern or western Europe, most of them from the UK which included Ireland. What happened at the end of the 19th century was a change in native countries. By 1900, traditional immigrants accounted for 30% of the immigrants. Southern and eastern Europe were not considered entirely white, they were not WASPs. There was an increasing number of catholic immigrants, with Italians, and there were a lot of Jews and Orthodox coming from southern Europe. They were referred to as the new immigrants. People considered race very important, and at the beginning of the 20th century there was a new science called Eugenics, a science about improving the race by concentrating on breeding. At this time, it was very serious. Some races were considered purer, and Eugenics aimed to make it better. This ideology brought Hitler to power, and there was a similar ideology in the US. Some people believed that the US should not welcome people who “didn’t belong to America”, people who were activists in Eugenics lived in the countryside, the cities were multicultural and places where immigrants lived. The countryside was the place where the “real” Americans lived. Most American cities were transformed by immigration like NYC because steamships arrived there, NYC had to build more facilities to welcome the immigrants. A new facility was built on an island near Manhattan called Ellis Island. It was completed in 1892.
The reason many people reacted to the new immigration was because of the changes in the cities, like ethnic neighborhoods. Immigrants didn’t stay on the east coast because the west was the land of opportunities, but it was expensive to travel therefore they had to stay where their relatives were. This is why ethnic neighborhoods were common (Chinese, Italian, …). People who criticized this a lot were called Nativists, because they were born in America (not native americans). Nativists were usually WASPs. Most of them believed in Eugenics, they looked down on immigrants who were not WASPs. Eugenics had to do with social Darwinism, the issue of natural selection which is the belief that some races were meant to be “better”. Among Nativists, some of them were violent and there was the KKK (created in 1866) which was created again in 1915, and it gained influence in the 1920s in opposition to the new immigrants. They had a crucial role in legislation that started to exclude new immigrants. The National Origins Act of 1924 said that there would be a quota based the number of nationals who could be admitted in America on the number of Nationals during the census of 1890, because there were less immigrants during that year. By referring to this date, the result would be to exclude new immigrants.
The 20s are known for prohibition, organized crime.
There was a cultural transformation, a opposition between two Americas: countryside and cities. Much happened in the cities, the progress happened there. There was a great development for jazz, there was a woman transformation, there was a departure of the Victorian model of the woman, there was new woman appearance called the Flapper (garçonne), use of cosmetics (before it was associated with prostitution). There is a literary account for the 20s, books and movies such as Scott Fitzgerald with The Great Gatsby. Many Americans entered modernity, it took place in a environment with prosperity although the 20s ended in the crash. Prosperity dominated the 20s. this was the beginning of the consumer society (20s and 50s). Many features of the consumer society make it modern because it still happens today. A consumer society is a society in which the consumption of mass production goods is encouraged by mass communication. The 20s are also called the age of electricity, it transformed American lives (urban at least). Nevertheless, there was so many people in the cities, electricity changed many lives. By 1930, 2/3 of American households had electricity. Half had telephones. What difference does electricity makes? Electrical appliances (mass produced products working with electricity) such as refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, radios, the first commercial airplanes also appeared. Radio was used for advertising and mass communication. Cars also were mass produced.
Even before there were mass produced cars such as Ford (model T), but it happened more during the 20s. Ford used for the first-time assembly lines. The use of assembly lines allowed to cut prices, making cars more affordable. It led to an increasing number of cars in the streets. 1 in 5 had cars. The automobile changed the landscape because of roads and pollution. Also, first deaths by car accidents.
Developments of shopping malls, the first suburban department stores.
There was also the advent of entertainment, theaters developed, with silent movies and later on sound movie (the first sound movie was The Jazz Singer). The first movie goes back to the 1890s. Back in the 20s, theaters were cheap (Nickelodeon).
There was also processed foods and ready to wear. Before people made their own bread, but people started to buy it. Thanks to electricity frozen food was possible. Advertising was also a booming sector, most companies relied on advertising. Also, typical of the consumer society is the development of credits. It meant a huge change in the values, saving used to be very important and in the 20s this value declined, people were more willing to spend what they didn’t have. To finish with the 20s, there was another major change, people used to spend much less in necessities (clothes, foods, …) but more in entertainment. This was the beginning of a change that characterized the consumer society. There was a shift in industries such as textile, … new industries developed with automobile, aviation, processed foods, …
About the 50s, they were one of the most prosper period in American history. Affluent society, affluent means rich, phrase used by John Kenneth Galbraith, an economist, to describe the society in the 50s. the standard of living was the highest in the world, development of dominant and middle class with half of the population belonging to the middle class. Another significant figure is that 60% of the population owned homes, 75% owned a car. The golden age was between 1945 and 1960.
Consumption and production was rising in the US, in the 50s the US alone produced and consumed one half of what was produced and consumed on earth. Why is it that Americans were so eager so consume? Because after the war, during which Americans could not consume, Americans could finally consume. Also development of electronics which allowed the appearances of new products. Air conditioners were popular in the 50s. Development of TV, tape recorders, lawn mowers. Most had moved to the suburbs.
And also, of course, cars. Gas consuming cars. Development of automated cars.
New wave of advertising and credits -> credit cards. As a result, what is called private indebtedness. People bought many products, they used credits to buy it all. People wanted to leave city centers.
Disco period, there was a rising crime rate, the main reason why so many people wanted to buy a house in the suburbs (houses in the suburbs was the American dream for many Americans). As a result, at the end of the 5os, the suburban population dramatically increased. There were also new building techniques which allowed quicker construction -> mass produced houses appeared in the 50s. it was a period of rising developments (lotissements) (promoteurs = developers). They had the same architecture, the same gardens, they were the same.
It led to cultural conformity. Criticism was made by intellectuals, who were for most of them new dealers, for them the 50s were too materialistic and too conformist. For them, it was a sad development.
There was a development of student universities, but they were also criticized for being too passive.
Some intellectuals also argued that not all Americans could recognize themselves in the word Affluent.
AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY
During the 19th century, isolationism and war, or rather continentalism. The main aim was to expand to the pacific. During the 20th century, America’s foreign policy became global, it had global aims with more intense relations with other parts of the world. Parties may be divided on foreign policy some agree some don’t. All kinds of lobbies have an importance in foreign policy.
During the 20th century the USA became more powerful, therefore they had to change their foreign policy, they couldn’t stay isolated. Foreign policy became important for the USA, while during the 19th century domestic policy was more important. Also, during the 20th century, the foreign policy could be very different according the period.
- Until the Cold War (first half of the 20th century)
At the very end of the 19th century, in 1898, sudden departure from the continentalism because the US acquired overseas territories. There was a war with Spain in Cuba, the US acquired this land because of the war. Spain had another colony with more population: the Philippines. Major change because the US used to have continental land but no colonies.
At the beginning of the 20th century, during the first decade, the US judged it was their responsibility to keep order in the Caribbean. It was irresponsible for order in the territories it controlled. During the first decade, the US decided to intervene in these territories and in Latin America. During the second decade, there was two foreign policies, the first one being the Dollar diplomacy, which is the diplomacy of Howard Taft. Its main goal was to promote the US commercial and financial interest in the world. It was a period where the foreign policy was decided by investors. If your aim is to have stability it wouldn’t be in favor of the regime. The second one was the New Diplomacy was the opposite of the Dollar diplomacy because they wanted to promote democracy, their priority was not order but democracy. Wilson, the creator of the policy, was against imperialism. Wilson’s policy is often called Wilsonianism. The climax of this policy took place after the first world war, as he was the president during the first world war. At the end of the war, Wilson tried to rebuild Europe and to create a new international order that would be based on his aim, the end of imperialism, he tried to dismantle empires, also he tried to create a international organization, the League of Nations. The aim of the League was to create collective security, that is to say a security based on collective effort to maintain peace. It didn’t really work because the US senate said that it didn’t go with the American constitution. The US’s refusal to ratify the League of Nation marked the end of Wilson’s policy. It was a conservative decade. The US was rather isolationist, Americans were fed up with intervention.
During the Second world war many Americans didn’t want to intervene, that is why the US tried to stay neutral, it took the Pearl Harbor attack, a Japanese attack. There was an alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan. Japan was angry about the US because they tried to prevent Japan from expanding its empire in Asia. Following Pearl Harbor the US became involved and they tried to promote democracy in Western Europe. The US declared war on Japan, and because of the alliances Germany declared war on the US.
- The US’s foreign policy during the Cold War
Containment was a word used during the Cold war to prevent communism from expanding. The second world war was an important date for the US because they would never go back to isolationism. The US could not really be isolationist because it was too powerful, as it was the most powerful on military and economic cases. After the war, the US tried to create another international order, the UN. The UN was another attempt to create collective security. Each member would help another country if needed. That was possible to have such a dream in 1945 but after it was complicated because there was a disagreement between the USSR and the US. Disagreement about what the post-war order should be. It led to deterioration between the two countries and soon it was the beginning of the cold war (called cold war because each country couldn’t wage war, each one tried to prevent the other from achieving its goal, they used all possible resources to thwart the other).
The two superpowers used other countries to fight. They both had the nuclear weapon, which made the fight impossible. The Cold war was a peculiar challenge for the US as the US had to revise a new foreign policy. The wars in which the US had been involved in, they put in all their resources and after went back to normal. The US had to adopt a foreign policy based on long term objectives. Europe was familiar with these policies. This was something the US was not familiar with. When you have a long term approach you have to foresee what is going to happen. What is also important is diplomacy. This was a period where the US had to become used to a global policy because containment started in Europe and then became global.
The word containment was first used by George Kennan, who was an American diplomat based in Russia, the notion of containment was soon used by the president Harry Truman, when Truman endorsed the notion of containment, it was the beginning of the Truman doctrine, and he said that the US would be responsible for the universal struggle for freedom against tyranny, which then was communism. Freedom meaning that the US would make sure that communism wouldn’t be forced on countries. The first time the Truman doctrine implemented was in Greece and Turkey. There was a guerilla to create a communist regime, that’s the reason why Truman implemented his policy in these countries. The US was successful and following victory it seemed easy to implement the Truman doctrine. Another implementation was the Marshall plan in Europe, it was a massive economic financial help to Western and Eastern Europe, but Eastern Europe declined and stayed with Russia. It was to rebuild Europe but also to eradicate communism from Europe. 17 billion dollars were invested in the plan. Of course the US did that because they knew there would be an economic benefit. The way the US saw it, the Marshall plan was beneficial for Europe.
KENNEDY AND THE 60s
Kennedy was elected in 1960 in November, his victory was narrow against Richard Nixon, who was vice-president during Eisenhower’s presidency. His election was surprising considering how different he was, he was the first catholic president and he was very young (43) and not very experienced. That’s the reason why his victory was narrow. He won 49,5% of the vote as opposed to 45,7% for Nixon. He’s still viewed as a very good president, even though he didn’t do much because he died. He was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. We usually refer to his presidency as “the Thousand days presidency”. We don’t why he was killed, there was an investigation but everything is not clear. TV played a great role, it had an impact on voters, the TV was as important for Kennedy as the radio was for Roosevelt. Kennedy was very telegenic, and the difference with Nixon gained an advantage to Kennedy because he was boring. Kennedy was charismatic. The new generation of voters may have been a reason for his victory. He was popular within minorities. Kennedy wanted to be the spokesman for the new generation, his campaign was based on his idea of going back to a more idealistic foreign policy.
He had a strong and personal presidency, Kennedy was a democrat so his conception of a presidency was not different from Roosevelt’s conception. He also shared the intellectual criticism of Eisenhower, he could agree with such criticism of materialism. Kennedy himself was considered an intellectual, he had a PhD which was published. He was close to other intellectuals in political sciences and one of them influenced Kennedy a lot, his name is Richard Neustadt who published the book Presidential Power. When Kennedy was elected he wanted to restore the role of the president, he wanted to embody a strong president. His presidency was very personal, because his image was very glamourous and he used that image to increase the power of the president. He appeared often on TV, in the press, in reports, one of the image he wanted to convey was his past as a soldier. What contributed to his glamourous image was his wife, Jacqueline, who was very sophisticated. When he was elected he tried to reinforce his image by inviting people to the White House and made sure it was wildly covered in the press. What you could see was not always reality, the image he convey was not true reality, for example his couple’s image was not the truth (he had affairs) or his health (he had medical problems).
There was a concentration of power in the White House under Kennedy, more than before. Kennedy was not surrounded by people of his party, he relied on people from other parties and from his family, like his brother. The role of his advisors was great, they had an important role. Under Kennedy, the National Security Advisor played a great role. Under Kennedy foreign policy was concentrated in the White House. The president enjoyed being surrounded by different people, he didn’t want to be a bureaucratic president. Many of his advisors were young and dynamic, there were people who shared his vision of presidency. These advisors were considered the best of his generation with people such as Robert McNamara (believed in the imperial presidency), Dean Rusk (president of the Rockefeller foundation, Secretary of State), McGeorge Bundy (an intellectual, the dean of Harvard University).
What did Kennedy achieve?
He communicated his enthusiasm to people, he gave them new hopes, he mobilized the Americans for the new cause, and he called his policy the New Frontier. He wanted to go back to America’s tradition, but it was also something new.
His record, his domestic record was good as far as the economy’s concerned, but if we consider his ambitions, which to eliminate poverty, he didn’t succeed because the Congress was opposed, he couldn’t have all his bills passed. Kennedy didn’t rely on his party and that was a weakness because then he couldn’t pass bills in Congress. Therefore, it was not very easy to implement his problem. Congress was conservative, and his ambitions were not at all so he couldn’t do anything. Kennedy wanted to enact the Welfare system. Kennedy could be criticized from the right and from the left, the 60s was a difficult decade for the US because of the cold war. Some people criticized him for promoting military spending over social welfare. His failure to act for Civil Rights can be mentioned. Kennedy believed that forcing Civil Rights could divide the US during the Cold War which should be avoided. He failed to endorse desegregation. It was only at the end of his presidency that eventually endorsed desegregation, but he was forced by events. The fight for Civil Rights had become violent. At some point the President had to intervene. His domestic record is not very impressive.
His foreign policy record is dominated by the crisis over Cuba and the Berlin Wall which was built in August 1961. The Cuban crisis happened in 1961, the US tried to invade Cuba through the Bay of Pigs. The Castro easily repelled the invasion, it was a failure. In October 1962, there were photos published of Soviet missiles, and Cuba is very close to the US. Kennedy issued an ultimatum to the Russian, which was to dismantle the missiles, or the US would do it. Because of nuclear weapons, there was a great tension. Eventually there was a deal, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles in exchange of Kennedy’s promise not to invade Cuba. Officially that was the deal, but privately Kennedy also pledged to remove the Americans missiles. Eventually the Cuban missile crisis was something the president could benefit from because it made him appear as someone who could manage such a crisis. The word “détente” was used for the period after that because there was an improved relation between USSR and US. The Cuban crisis led to a turning point, from then there was the idea of coexistence. As a matter of fact it was more rhetoric because Kennedy still tried to contain communism as much as he could. On one hand, there was a positive rhetoric, and on the other hand there was still the arms race. Many countries belonging to the Third World intensified the situation. Kennedy knew that the Cold War would continue, so he tried to improve the US’s image. The US couldn’t win if people had a bad image of them. He tried to use the new generation and their values (less nationalistic and more generous), he created a new agency, the Agency for International Development, he created different programs, for example the Food for Peace program, which was simple: surplus agricultural product would be given to countries that needed more food. There was another program called the Alliance for Progress which was for social reform and economic development in Latin America. The US tried to change their image, they wanted to show the US could use their power to help other countries. We can also mention the creation of the Peace Corps which included young volunteers who would go abroad for 2 or 3 years in developing countries. It was in tune with the new generation and it was a strategy made to improve the US image.
Of course, these were positive developments, but one very important mistake was to decide to send Americans to Vietnam. Johnson, his successor, would have to deal with his mistake. Kennedy used covert actions quite a lot, and if he hadn’t been assassinated his image would have been tarnished by his actions. He died popular, but if he died later his image wouldn’t have been good.
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS
When we talk about the civil rights we refer to a certain period, which is 1955-1968, it refers to movements aiming to abolish racial discrimination and aiming at restoring voting rights. Why was it necessary to wait for the 50s even though there was the civil war a century ago? The civil war put an end to slavery but not to discrimination.
- Origins of the civil rights movement
After the civil war, there was a series of constitutional amendments to put an end to slavery. Blacks could not be citizens before that. In 1870, there was the 15th amendment that banned discrimination in voting. These amendments were not successful because of what was called reconstruction in the South. When reconstruction ended in 1877, it meant that the federal troops withdrew from the South and white people kept discriminating. After reconstruction there was what was called Home Rule, meaning discrimination against the former slaves, it was a period where officially former slaves were allowed to vote but in reality, they were scared to vote because they were intimidated (use of violence). + creation of the KKK in 1866. Another method to disfranchise them was to have specific requirements, there were literacy tests before the vote, but most of the former slaves couldn’t read or write, they were therefore excluded. Another method was poll ax, before voting you had to pay unless your grandfather could vote, which was the case for white people but not for African American people, so they had to pay to vote.
States did that to build segregation, with two societies, one for black people and one for white people.
In 1896, Plessy vs Ferguson declared segregation constitutional, the supreme court maintained that segregation was okay because there was equality.
The Jim Crow laws referred to segregation, it refers to specific requirements, like Black codes that refers to specific requirements. Segregation prevailed until the 1960s, there were some early efforts to stop segregation, such as Booker T. Washington (that was in the 1890s) who had been born a slave and basically what he did was to urge to advise African Americans to be patient and educated. But his approach was criticized and by the end of the 19th century he was not the most important Black leader in the US. William E.B. Du Bois also tried to stop segregation, he had a PhD and wasn’t patient, he wanted full political equality. He was the one who created an important organization called the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). It was very important for the civil rights movement, and it was created in 1909.
These first efforts resulted in violence against black people, and following the second world war the NAACP asked for full political rights, but again violence was used against them by supremacists. At that time there were democratic presidents, these people wanted to help African Americans. But it was rather difficult for democratic presidents because if you supported black people, many people from the South wouldn’t vote for you. Truman created a committee for Civil Rights, but they failed to pass Civil Rights bills to congress.
It was possible overcome these obstacles by nationalizing the civil rights movement, because the goal was to have many people supporting the movement.
In 1954, there was the Brown vs Board of Education (cf internet).
It declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional, black activists enforced the rule, they had black students to attend public schools. The first crucial fight was in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 where black activists tried to enforce the ruling by making 8 black students attend a segregated high school, and Eisenhower decided to send local troops to protect these students and let them go to school.
In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus, as referred in the local rules, she was arrested. Protests in Montgomery happened with Martin Luther King who wanted to boycott the buses which to a financial gap to the companies.
There was another Court ruling that made segregation in buses unconstitutional which proved the activists right. Martin Luther King became known after that, and the civil rights movement became national and white people could see what was happening in the South. Montgomery became an important place for the CRM.
MLK didn’t want to wait for white people to give them rights, and he wanted non-violent actions through civil disobedience. It referred to boycott, sit-ins, marches, freedom rides (it meant that individuals would disregards the segregation and use the same buses). The first freedom ride was organized in 1961, this was an opportunity for the whites to support the CRM. MLK was very aware of the need of making the CRM a national thing. He created another important organization called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). It became a major force in the CRM. In the 1960s another organization was created, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) which organized freedom rides.
In 1962, the university of Mississippi was forced to admit its first black student (Mississippi was the most segregated state). The student was James Meredith.
The following year was crucial for the CRM. MLK launched a campaign against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, it was where he was arrested for a week. The event proved to be very important because the violence was shown on TV, everyone could see the police brutality (with dogs against people). MLK succeeded in appealing to white people.
The following year, the president Johnson was forced to support desegregation.
In 1963, there was the Washington march where 250 000 people gathered to support desegregation. This is where MLK delivered his ‘I have a dream” speech. Johnson took advantage of the national unity after Kennedy’s death to complete what K had begun which was endorsing desegregation.
The voting rights in 1965 made it illegal to rely on local rules. MLK succeeded and received the Peace Nobel Prize in 1964.
MLK was assassinated in 1968, but even before his death he was challenged by others black leaders such as Malcolm X who was in favor of a violent method (and who was assassinated in 1965).
In 1960, there was the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC).
Black power is also associated with black pride, which was the idea that they should be proud of their identities and not want to be too similar to whites. The Black Panther party was created in 1966 was influenced by Malcolm X. In the second half of the 60s the CRM became more violent, there were more riots, it made it more difficult for people everywhere in the US to support the movement.
FOREIGN POLICY IN VIETNAM
The cold war was not only about Europe, because both the US and the USSR were global powers.
The cold war became global in the 50s, at the very beginning, it began with Korea. There was a Korean war from 1950 to 1953. Korea used to be in the Japanese Empire and when Japan capitulated, the US and the USSR (l’ont gérée). It was separated in two parts in 1945. The North which was communist invaded the South, it was an opportunity for the US to implement the containment doctrine. This was the first time the containment became global. This war had an impact on the US foreign policy, it resulted in many casualties, including American soldiers. After that, the US tried other means to contain communism (like the CIA, which are covered actions). This did not prevent the US from being involved in another war, the Vietnam war. Indochina was a French colony, there was a communist guerilla in Indochina, after the second world war the US officially supported decolonization, but the US let France fight for their colony. It led to a peace agreement in 1954, called the Geneva Agreement of 1954. After this agreement, Vietnam was split, that was when the three countries were created (Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos). The Northern part was communist, but not the Southern part. That was why the US intervened in Vietnam. There are three different steps in this war (which is why it is called a Quagmire, because it was very long).
- A WAR BY PROXY
Instead of fighting directly, the US only supported the French. From 1950 to 1955, the US fought a war by proxy through France. Each part of Vietnam had a capital city, in the North it was Hanoi and in the South it was Saigon. Each part of Vietnam had a political leader, the leader of the North was Ho Chi Minh while the leader of the South was Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem was not popular because he was opposed to reforms that were badly needed and because he was catholic in a Buddhist country. The South relied on a leader they didn’t support. That’s why it was easy to be popular for the communist in the South. The US supported France by giving weapons. At some point the US decided to secretly organize a coup to get rid of Diem. He was not assassinated by the US but they were aware of his assassination. Kennedy had some aspects that were not similar to his image, he had a dark side (like what he did in Cuba for example). Many different presidents believed in the domino theory, and they believed that if they did not help the French, communism would spread in the world. Johnson believed that the US couldn’t lose face, they couldn’t stop helping the French. Another popular idea at the time was that appeasement was dangerous. It goes back to the WW2, if you had an enemy you tried to appease the enemy so the enemy would be satisfied. The notion of appeasement was important in the cold war too. Johnson thought that you should fight and contain the enemy and not appease him. What Johnson did is that instead of helping the French and South Vietnam, he escalated the war in 1965 and to Americanize the war, the US would send soldiers. As a matter of fact, even before 1965 there had been soldiers in Vietnam, they were not called soldiers but advisors, but in 1965 Johnson wanted the US to be clearly fighting directly in Vietnam. He asked congress for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. It was passed by congress authorizing the use of force in Vietnam, which meant that the US could send soldiers and bomb North Vietnam as well.
- FROM 1964 TO 1968
There was an increasing number of soldiers in Vietnam, by 1967 there were 480 000 soldiers in Vietnam. There was also intensive bombing in the North. Because of this, the North did not want to negotiate. Many Americans were sent to Vietnam against their will, the first demonstrations took place in 1965 on campuses. Many intellectuals were against the war, like George Kennan. Walter Lippmann was also against the war, he was a popular journalist, he had a prominent role in convincing the US they should help the Allies during the WW2. On one hand there were the Americans in favor of the war, the Hawks, and those who were against, the Doves. Many people did not know what the US should do.
The President himself was more and more were disillusioned by the war, but he felt like he couldn’t withdraw from the war. An event happened in Vietnam turned many Americans against the war, the Tet offensive. It took place in 1968, there was an offensive on the Americans by the communist. This attack showed that the communists were still very strong. A majority of Americans turned against the war, it was hard for the president to keep fighting. It led to a plummeting of the American support for the war and for the president. There were major demonstrations. That’s why Johnson refused to run for a second presidency. There was no more consensus on containment anymore. That’s why Nixon was elected in 1968, he was a republican, he was Kennedy’s opponent, Nixon was still the candidate for the republican party. he was elected because he said he would stop the US intervention in Vietnam. He did withdraw troops, but it was not the end of the war, he continued to fight with other means.
- RETURN TO VIETNAMIZATION (68-73)
It meant that the troops were taken back to the US. The US would back the Southern Vietnam troops with weapons -> back to proxy. Nixon relied on intensive bombing to force North Vietnam to negotiate, although they were still unwilling. Nixon’s goal was honorable peace, North Vietnam should pledge not to invade South Vietnam. To get that result, Nixon bombed the North, there were also secret means, such as arresting people accused of communism and torturing them. There was an escalation in what Nixon did to stop the war. Public opinion did not know about this, the US used terror to defeat communism. What Nixon did as well was surround areas. Such strategy paid, the North finally accepted to negotiate. Nixon was reelected, the peace was signed in January 1973, in Paris. The US withdrew entirely, the North agreed not to invade the South, there was an honorable aspect, the US had what they wanted on the paper. The US said that if the North tried to invade again, they would come back. But in 1975, North Vietnam invaded again, but the US did not help the South because by 1975 the political situation was different, there was the Watergate situation, and congress was against intervention. That’s why Vietnam is associated with defeat in the US. People felt that many people had died for nothing. 2 000 000 Vietnamese people had died, 58 209 Americans died. It led to the Vietnam syndrome, that is to say the opposition to any military intervention beyond the Western area.
After the Vietnam, there were conditions to invade somewhere. The Vietnam syndrome was thought to be over when the Gulf war happened. For many years, the US were not involved in foreign wars and did not send troops. Another major consequence was the loss of consensus, for the first time with Vietnam the US citizens were not sure if American involvement was right, Vietnam shattered the American confidence. Chemical weapons were used in the war, it had an impact on the US population on how the military fought a war.
JOHNSON’S GREAT SOCIETY
Johnson was a Liberal. He was the one who passed the Civil Rights Act, he wanted to end segregation and to finish what Kennedy had started. That’s why he succeeded, because of the mood created by Kennedy’s assassination. He had a very ambitious program; his domestic program was called Great Society. But Vietnam had an impact on Johnson’s domestic policy. Kennedy himself was elected in 1963, Johnson was the president after him as he was elected in 1964. He had a Congress that agreed with him which is why he could do a lot of what he wanted. In 1965, there was a lot made for the Welfare State. Johnson also wanted to wage a war on poverty. He wanted to do so through a variety of programs created by the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (EOA). The Office of Economic Opportunity was created to oversee the act. These federal programs were based on the idea that it was the government’s role to do whatever society needed to be better. Such an idea was not traditional in the US, most of the Americans are prone to think that everyone is responsible for their own life and that to make society better is up to people.
The Job Corps is a program created by the EOA. It was meant to help youth find a job and to give them what they needed to find a job. Another program was the Volunteers in Service to America, it aimed at helping poor people and poor areas. If you had skills you could spend time helping others, so very idealistic program. Another program was the Model Cities Program that aimed at improving urban life, to put an end to urban decay. Johnson created a new department, the Housing and Urban Development Department. Other programs focused on education (like Project Head Start that offered pre-school education to poor children to help them succeed when they entered the school system), it was important to Johnson (another was Upward Bound, it helped high school students to be better prepared to enter college), other programs gave direct financial help, like the Food Stamps Program (the aim was to help poor people to eat better and eat healthy food, they had coupons that could be used in stores). To finish with, there was the Community Action Program, it helped the poor identifying problems in their neighborhood and try to come up with solutions (implies creation of neighborhood centers, etc.). All these programs were created by the EOA.
In 1965, there were important acts related to education, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. It aimed at public school everywhere in the US. In the US, every state had its own education policy. It’s a local system, and what Johnson wanted to do was to use federal money to help schools that didn’t have much money. There was another act for higher education, this act gave financial aid to poor college students. The most important act passed in 1965 was the Medical Care Act, it was crucial to complete the Welfare State because it was a system of national insurance. (-> Medicare (for the elderly)/Medicaid (for the poor)).
Medicaid provides free healthcare for welfare recipients. That was Johnson’s best contribution to the Welfare State. Medicaid and Medicare still exist today, but something changed with Reagan, but they still exist.
- Johnson’ downfall
Johnson couldn’t inspire people like Kennedy did. When Johnson was elected, the American trusted their president but at the end of his term it wasn’t the case anymore. As a matter of fact, his popularity declined in 1966, his last years were a nightmare for him mainly because of Vietnam, the war was viewed as the President’s war because it was the president’s choice to go to war, it wasn’t really necessary. The climate of violence also contributed to his downfall. The civil rights movement turned violent, in 1965 there were riots in Los Angeles. By 1968, most people agreed that the president couldn’t solve the problems and that there was no solution to the racial problem. He couldn’t solve the important problems, the president was seen as impotent. That was probably what people thought because the president was too ambitious, his ambition was so great that he was doomed to failure. He couldn’t provide what he said he would.
- His legacy
It was a mixed legacy. First of all, his legacy was mixed because it triggered much opposition, for example the civil rights act was resented by the white southerners, they would no longer support the liberal party. In the American tradition, the federal government was dangerous. Johnson was also criticized because there were questions about the efficiency of the programs he created, whether or not he helped the poor was debated, some people thought that if the poverty declined it wasn’t thanks to the president but to the economic growth. There was also criticism from the left because of welfare shift = after the war, the state invested a lot of money in defense, but later that money was invested in social areas. Usually democrats would agree with this shift, but more complicated than that.
Criticism came because people thought that the war on poverty was not the priority, but the Vietnam war was. People also thought that it wasn’t up to the President to solve all the problems.
To finish with, there were many consequences to Johnson’s term. First of all, there was the end of consensus, there used to be a political consensus, a majority of people supported their president. It wasn’t the case after Johnson. Many people saw that there was a gap between expectations and achievements. There was a loss of confidence in the federal government. There was also consequences for the democratic party, it was split. Many people were against the Vietnam war, but there was a new political wing embodying the new generation, it was called the new left, and it was hostile to the Vietnam war, they were less nationalists, they saw no reason why the US should spread their ideas elsewhere. The neo-conservatives were the traditional democrats. They were not so much to the left, they were much more liberals, they were much more central. The democratic party being weakened, a republican was elected after Johnson, Richard Nixon. Most of the presidents after that were republicans.
REAGAN (Presidency: 20 janvier 1981 – 20 janvier 1989)