American History, Richard Nixon - Essay Example

Chapter Worksheet Part One: Terms Determine the most significant terms from the chapters and list them below GreatSociety.’ 2. National Organization for Women. 3. The Vietnam War 4. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. 5. Port Huron Statement 6. Roe vs. Wade (1973) 7. Equal Rights Amendment 8. Watergate 9. Vietnamization 10. Environmental movement From the above list, elaborate on five terms: 1. ___’Great Society’_______ • Set of domestic reform programs announced by Lyndon Johnson in 1964.  • Essentially a declaration of war on poverty and racism. • The Civil Rights Act (1968) banned racial discrimination and desegregation. • The Voting Rights Act (1965) banned discriminatory methods of denying suffrage to African Americans • Medicare was created to offset the costs of health care for the nation's elderly. •The Fair Housing Act (1968) provided funds to construct low-income housing • The Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided major funding for American public schools. • The National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities used public money to fund artists and galleries. • Congress tightened environmental controls with stronger Air and Water Quality Acts. • Johnson secured several gains before Conservatives gained control of Congress. 2. _ Roe vs. Wade (1973) ______ • Historic Supreme Court decision on abortion in the USA. • Struck down an 1857 Texas statute that made abortion illegal except where the life of the mother was in danger. • The Court ruled that the right to terminate a pregnancy is part of a woman's constitutional right to privacy under the Fourteenth Amendment. • The State cannot regulate the right to abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. • All abortions to be performed only by licensed physicians under medically safe conditions. • In the second trimester abortions are subject to State regulations regarding qualifications and licenses of the physicians. • In third trimester, abortions legal only to save the health and life of the mother. • Rejected contention that life is present from conception. • Defined the rights of the fetus as emerging when it can survive independently outside the womb.  • Set the terms of the abortion debate for decades to come. 3. ____Equal Rights Amendment_____ • Holds that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” • First proposed in Congress by the National Women's Party in 1923.  • Approved by the House in 1970. • Approved by the Senate in 1972. • Opposed by social conservatives, such as Phyllis Schlafly, envisioning a threat to traditional family structure. • Support spearheaded by the National Organization for Women. • Ratified by thirty-five of the necessary thirty-eight states by 1977. • Granted extension by Congress until June 30, 1982 • Reintroduced in Congress in July 1982. • The ERA is still not a part of the US constitution 4. __The Vietnam War________ • Theater of the Cold War and the longest war in American history. • US supports the anti-communist government of South Vietnam, led by the unpopular Ngo Dinh Diem. • The communist Viet Cong, supported by the North’s Ho Chi Minh, unleashes guerilla war in the South. • Diem is overthrown by a military coup in 1963, and assassinated with tacit US approval. • The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, passed in 1964, escalates the war and the involvement of US troops. • Despite decades of hostilities, billions of dollars, and nearly 60,000 American casualties, the United States fails to achieve its objectives. • Mounting casualties and media reports turn American public opinion decisively against the war • The Paris Peace Accords of 1972 end the Vietnam War • President Nixon signs a ceasefire in January 1973 that formally ends the hostilities. • In 1975, Ho Chih Minh’s communist forces from the north overrun the south and unify the nation.  5. National Organization for Women. American activist organization that promotes equal rights for women. Founded in 1966 by a group of feminists headed by Betty Friedan Uses lobbying and litigation to advance causes Supports enforcement of the prohibitions against sex discrimination in employment under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Campaigns for maternity leave rights in employment and Social Security benefits. Supports tax deduction for home and child care expenses for working parents. Demands child day care centers, equal and non-gender-segregated education, equal job training opportunities and allowances for women. Fights for lesbian rights Asserts the right of women to control their reproductive lives. Actively campaigns for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Part Two: Essays After reading the chapters, write three essay/discussion questions: 1. How did Watergate lead to Nixon’s downfall? 2. Trace the course of the Vietnam War. 3. What is the significance of Roe vs. Wade? From the above list, respond to one of the above questions: 1. Richard Nixon (1913-1934) served as the 37th President of the United States from 1969-1974. Nixon left his mark on the domestic and international scene. However, Nixon’s legacy is centered on his abuse of power in the Watergate scandal. Nixon is now largely remembered as the first and only American President to resign from office. In June 1971,fearing that the publication of the ‘Pentagon Papers’(an extensive study of the Vietnam War by Daniel Ellsberg) would reveal his own political secrets, Nixon established the Special Investigations Group to plug media leaks about his administration. SIG organized the burglary of the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, to gather damaging evidence to discredit Ellsberg. On 17 June, 1972, in order to gather information against Nixon’s political adversaries, an attempt was made to bug the Democratic National Committee’s campaign offices at the Watergate complex. This resulted in the arrest of the burglars. It was discovered that the same break-in team was involved in the Ellsberg burglary and the media linked the attempted burglary to the White House. Nixon won a landslide election victory in November 1972, and began his second term as President. However, the Watergate Scandal broke, and destroyed his Presidency. The exposure of the Watergate Scandal gained momentum due to the reporting of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post. Their informer, called ‘Deep Throat,’ was revealed in 2005 to be the former deputy director of the FBI, W. Mark Felt.  Tapes provided incontrovertible evidence that the break-in was authorized by top White House officials, and of Nixon’s involvement. In May 1974, impeachment proceedings were initiated against Nixon by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Once it became evident that Senators would vote across party lines in favor of impeachment, Nixon tendered his resignation on 9 August 1974. Part Three: Document After looking over the documents, which three do you view as most significant? Why? 1. 28-6 The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution serves to demonstrate how public opinion can be manipulated for political purposes. President Lyndon B. Johnson was in need of approval for launching major attacks on North Vietnam, but feared that the public would not support an expansion of the war. In this context, this resolution appears to be deliberately designed to arouse anti-communist passions. It paints the North Vietnamese as communist aggressors, and uses the ‘red scare’ to gather support for the War. The circumstances under which the North Vietnamese torpedo boats fired on the US destroyer Maddox and the fact that it was engaged in electronic espionage are conveniently ignored. Later revelations, which showed that the incident was not accurately portrayed, strengthen this belief8 2. 28 - 8. Philip Caputo’s first-hand account of the Vietnam War serves as an eye-opener which brings the Vietnam War out of the printed pages of the history books into reality. It makes one aware that the soldiers in Vietnam were fighting a war which had no significance to them in terms of ideology. This is ironic in the light of the fact that America was embroiled in this war because of its Cold War policy. Caputo’s statement “We fought a formless war against a formless enemy who evaporated like the morning jungle mists,” demonstrates the difficulty of fighting a guerilla war in unfamiliar, jungle terrain and the unnerving position of not being to distinguish between the Viet Cong and ordinary Vietnamese civilians. This helps to explain the soldier’s indiscriminate killing of the natives and the increasing unpopularity of the US. 3. 29-1 Rachel Carson’s poignant piece of writing is significant as it serves as a wake-up call to the danger posed by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. It is commendable in its attempt to spread awareness among ordinary people that there is a connection between the decreasing population of the birds that make up a part of their world and the chemicals being used in forests and fields. It reveals the deliberately misleading claim that chemicals do not affect birds. The most significant part of Carson’s essay is her questioning the right of vested interests and her assertion that everyone has the right to participate in decisions which impact on the environment. The earth is fragile, it belongs to everyone and it is the duty of every individual to remain vigilant in its protection. The document is a call to environmentalists to join hands. Read More