4.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1968)

a. Domestic AgendaThe Great Society and the War on Poverty
Head Start
o Antipoverty project through helping education
o Improved educational performance of underprivileged youth
Elementary and Secondary Education Act
o Significant federal aid to public education
o Address inequality problems, educate disadvantaged children in city
slums & rural areas
o Est. Head Start
Higher Education Act
o 5 year program: federal grants & loans for construction/improvement
of public & private higher education academic facilities
o Scholarships, low-interest student loans, est. National Teachers Corps
Job Corps
o Free-of-charge education & vocational training offered to youths ages
16-24
Establishment of the National Foundation of Arts and the Humanities
o To lift the level of American cultural life
Medicare Act
o For elderly over 65 (Medicaid for the poor)
o Federal funding for many medical costs of older Americans
Resisted by American Medical Association
Welcomed by elderly (many w/o health insurance)
o Created entitlements: rights on certain categories of Americans, w/o
need for congressional approval
o Part of rights revolution
materially improved lives of millions, undermined federal govts
financial health
o Dramatic reductions in poverty among the elderly
Omnibus Housing Act
o $7.5 billion for low-income housing & aids small businesses displaced
by urban renewal
Creation of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
o 1st black cabinet secretary: Robert C. Weaver
o Ensure decent, safe, and sanitary home & living environt for all, free of
discrimination
o Insurance, rent-subsidy, & grant programs
Water and Air Quality Acts
o Est. govt responsibility to act forcefully against air & water pollution
o $ for research on pollution, set standards for air & water quality
B. Foreign PolicyThe Vietnam War
Domino TheoryContainmentThreat to National SecurityA Winnable War
o Domino Theory: by Ike & echoed by JFK; used to justify containment
if Vietnam fell to Communism, other nations would also fall
o Containment: prevent spread of Communism, not massive retaliation
to destroy

Threat to National Security: US waging life-and-death struggle against

Communism
USSR & China: the enemy; feared gains by communists in
Europe or Asia
o A Winnable War: at first US public supported war, thought quick & easy
to win
Support of the SouthMilitary Advisors
o US backed Souths leader Ngo Dinh Diem against Commie North
o JFK orders increase in military advisors (US troops) in South Vietnam
Allegedly US forces entered to foster political stability
protect Diem long enough to enact basic social reforms
favored by US
Eventually JFK encouraged successful coup against reactionary
Diem Nov 1963
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Subsequent Resolution
o August 1964: US Navy & South Viets: provocative raids along North
Viet coast
2 American destroyers allegedly fired upon by North Viets in
neutral waters
o Johnson made political hay
Orders retaliatory air raid on North Viet bases
Used to spur congressional passage of Tonkin Gulf Resolution
o 1964: Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Lawmakers virtually relinquish war-declaring powers
Give president a blank check to use further force in Southeast
Asia
EscalationPacification (hearts and minds)
o LBJ widens US involvement w/ Tonkin Gulf Resolution
o 1965: Operation Rolling Thunder: boots & bombs
1st time attacking US troops ordered to land
Regular bombing attacks against North Viet
Initiated step-by-step escalation of American force
o 1968: Height of troop escalation
540,000 combat troops & an annual bill of $30 billion
End of war nowhere in sight
Growing Anti-War Movement
o World opinion increasingly hostile
o Domestic discontent grew as the war dragged on
Antiwar demonstrations begun on college campuses & grew to
huge protests
More men drafted, casualties mounted, war-spawned inflation
felt
o Opposition in Congress: Senate Committee on Foreign Relations:
William Fulbright
Series of TV hearings: antiwar views
Credibility gap revealed: public distrusts LBJs claims of
winning the war
o In cabinet, doubts deepening
o

1968: Vietnam War: longest & most unpopular foreign war in US history
Casualties: 100,000+
Tet Offensive
o Turning point for public opinion
o Communist offensive during Vietnamese New Year, Tet
Attack 27 key South Viet cities, even safe Saigon; beaten off
w/ heavy losses
Shows that war is far from over
American public demands speedy end to war
o US military leaders request 200,000 more troops
o Democratic Party split on war issue
De-escalationVietnamization
o March 31, 1968: LBJs address
Would put break on escalating war
Would not be candidate for presidency 1968
o Nixon is elected; implements
De-escalation: freeze US troop levels , scale down aerial
bombardment
Vietnamization: gradually shift responsibility to South Viets
o

9. George H.W. Bush (1988-1992)

a. Domestic Agenda
READ MY LIPSNO NEW TAXES
o 1988 Pres. Campaign promise by Bush
o Broken by his 1990 tax & budget package: $133 billion in new taces
Political catastrophe
Education
o 1990: Bushs Department of Edu. Challenged legality of college
scholarships targeted for racial minorities
Aggravated social issue of affirmative action
b. Foreign Policy
Europe = fall of the Berlin Wall; changing role of NATO; European Community
1992
o The Berlin Wall came down: end of 45 year long Cold War
E & W Germany (divided since 1945) reunited in Oct 1990
o Changing role of NATO
Shift from preventing Soviet attack on W Europe to insuring
stability in increasingly unstable Europe
To deter rise of militant nationalism, provide foundation of
collective security to encourage democratization & political
integration in Europe
Europe expanded to include East Europe
Dec 1991: Allies establish North Atlantic Cooperation Council
Allies, Central European, Eastern European, Central Asian
nations for consultations
o European Community 1992
E & W Germany are reunited into single Germany
USSR dismantled; Gorbachev resigns

Commonweath of Independent States (CIS)

o 15 republics loosely confederated
o Russia: most powerful state w/ Boris Yeltsin:
dominant leader
To varying degrees, new govts in CIS repudiated
communism
o Embraced democratic reforms & free-market
economies
Waves of nationalistic fervor & racial, ethnic hatreds
o Chechnyen minority tried to declare independence
o Yugoslavia dissolved in civil war: ethnic cleansing
campaign
European stability seemed at risk
Refugees flood Western Europe
German economy (foundation of European prosperity)
wobbled
o Burden of absorbing backward East Germany
Asia = trade deficit
o Pro-democracy movement Tiananmen Square, China crushed by old
autocratic regime
Congress demands restrictions on trade with China
Though he criticized suppression, Pres. insists on normal
relations
o Trade deficit: more value is imported from Asia, esp. China, than is
exported there
Reached historic levels
Gap must be financed by borrowing -> rising foreign debt
Middle East = Operation Desert Storm (Iraq-Kuwaiti war); Israel
o Aug 2 1990: Saddam Hussein (ruler of Iraq) sends armies to overrun
Kuwait
Needed Kuwaits oil to pay huge war bills from 8-year war w/ Iran
Goal: control over entire Persian Gulf region
Dictate oil supplies to industrial nations & destroy Israel
(Arabs enemy)
US & allies ironically helped Saddam build military machine
US supported Iraqs war against Iran (hated Islamicfundamentalism)
Saddam announced annexation of Kuwait 19th province of Iraq
Disregard formal recognition of Kuwaits independence in
1962
o UN Security Council condemned invasion
Demanded immediate & unconditional withdrawal of Iraqs
troops
Ordered economic embargo
Later Nov 29, 1990: ultimatum
Leave Kuwait by Jan 15, 1991 or UN forces use all
necessary means to expel Iraq

US spearheaded massive international military deployment on Arabian

peninsula
Diplomatic efforts failed, US Congress voted Jan 12 to approve
use of force
o Operation Desert Storm
Jan 17, 1991: US & UN allies begin air war against Iraq (in Kuwait
& Iraq)
High-technology, precision-targeting modern warfare
Iraq war tactics
Scud short-range ballistic missiles: feeble response to
air war
Chemical & biological weapons, ecological warfare
US general Norman Schwarzkopf Stormin Norman
Bombing then troops
Feb 23: land war Operation Desert Storm began
Lasted 4 days: hundred-hour war
Feb 27: Saddam accepted cease-fire & Kuwait liberated
Americans mostly cheered wars rapid & successful conclusion
War failed to dislodge Saddam from power
Western Hemisphere = drugs; invasion of Panama; El Salvador Civil War;
Nicaragua; Debt
o Drugs: drug lord dictators
o Invasion of Panama
Dec 1989: Bush sent airborne troops to capture dictator & drug
lord Manuel Noriega in Panama
o El Salvador Civil War
1992: peace came to war-ravaged nation
o Nicaragua
Feb 1990: free elections removed leftist Sandinistas from power
o Debt
Federal budget deficit continued to mushroom
Topped $250 billion in each of Bushs years as Pres.
1990: Bush agreed to budget agreement w/ Congress
Included $133 billion in new taxes
In order to stop growing debt
o