Blog discussion.
Harry Truman: born in Missouri; before president, farmer, and business man; democratic; elections: election held in 1948 and it was the 41st presidential election, ran against Dewey, Truman's win established the democratic party as a major political party, big issue of the election was segregation and trying to stop it (and most wanted that), only ran in one election because he became president after FDR died and wasn't vice president for very long (only about 3 months); left office with the lowest approval rating rating of any president but he has gotten a lot of more popular in history; major accomplishments: dropped the atomic bombs, gave the speech called the Truman Doctrine which helped Greece and Turkey fight off communism, in office when the 22nd amendment came into effect (which put term limits put on the presidency; limit is 10 years), best known for WWII things such as VJ and VE day (president during both of these), Potsdam Conference/Declaration (German consequences/Japan surrender or else), had to deal with post-war economy which is always is a bit of a recession, helped organize and later join the United Nations, Marshall Plan passed, took a hard-line stance against communism and Soviet Union-Policy of Containment, created the CIA and the National Security Council which are both still around today, The Fair Deal was designed to help people in need (similar to the New Deal) and many opposed it, most fair deal proposals didn't get past because of opposition in congress; recognized Israel as a home place for the Jewish people, started getting US involved in Vietnam by giving aid to France; civil rights: desegregated the US military, he was the president that started to do things to benefit African-Americans (mainly talking but also did desegregate the military); "The Buck Stops Here" meaning he will take responsibility for the problems that happen instead of throwing the blame back at somebody; assassination attempts: 2 attempts and the first was through mail letters that contained bombs, next was 2 Puerto Ricans trying to gain independence tried to kill him in the white house but didn't work and both ended up dying (shot) in the end
Dwight Eisenhower: wasn't affiliated with a political party at first but chose republican and because he was a very famous WWII general, that kind of secured his win; had a lot health problems as president; elections: 1952 election, promised to get the US out of Korea, the public loved him because he was highly advertised so he won by a landslide, 1956 election no matter what Eisenhower would win because he was Republican and was even a bigger win than the last election, did get US out of Korea so kept his campaign promise; "I like Ike" was his campaign slogan; accomplishments: ended Korean war, launched the space race (big competition against the Soviets), kept America at peace, used the CIA to have them help organizations in other countries assassinate their communist leaders, increased US involvement in Southeast Asia (Vietnam) by sending US advisers there, allowed McCarthy to do his thing but privately didn't approve; civil rights: main act was in 1957 which was saying that everyone should have an equal right to vote; believed in laissez-faire and in a balanced budget (always made more money than spent under Ike and was one of the last presidents to do this); the Brown vs. Board of Education case which desegregated schools, specifically in Little Rock, Arkansas; deported 1 million illegal immigrants, mainly Mexican; set up the interstate system
JFK: 1960 election- between JFK and Nixon, Kennedy won but it was extremely close, Johnson was JFK's vice president even though they didn't get alone but Kennedy needed him for the southern votes because Johnson was from Texas, Cold War time and Space Race were a big issues, first televised debates in US history and that helped Kennedy win because he was better looking than Nixon (who was vice president), Kennedy always talked to the people or to the camera whereas Nixon looked at the audience and the person asking the questions, JFK's older brother was the one who was actually "groomed" to be president but he died in WWII so his dad (who would've run for president but his career was ruined after he pushed for the appeasement policy in WWII; he was also great friends with Frank Sinatra who had mafia ties) started pushing his older son to be president but then JFK after his oldest son died; accomplishments- created the Peace Corps. (which is young people going over to other countries to help out after college or while in college), did a lot with the economy and low interest rates, was very active in trying to get us to the moon, with Vietnam, Kennedy started sending helicopters with US Special Forces and more advisers over there, CIA helped the new Ba'ath Party (which would eventually become Sedam Husein's party and our enemy but we worked with them then) gov't overthrow Communists in Iraq, JFK had the New Frontier (close to the New Deal) which is helping people in need, education, etc.; assassination- November 22nd, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald shot him with an Italian rifle, Kennedy was the only one killed but a few others were wounded, Oswald was killed before he could face trial or anything by Ruby.
The assassination: He was on a campaign trip to win over Texas and help out a few democratic leaders down there work out their issues. Shot during a parade while they were turning onto Elm St.; shot twice, once in the back through the neck, and once through the head (second shot killed him)
-JFK (Lee Harvey Oswald)
- Lee Harvey Oswald was in the marines
- was a sharp shooter
- liked communism
- Marina is his wife and they have a child
- move back to the US
- New Orleans handed out pamphlets, "Hands off Cuba"
- shooting from Texas School Book Depository on the 6th floor
- packed up boxes to hide himself
- Oswald used Mannilicher- Carcano Rifle
- he got in trouble for killing a police officer after he shot Kennedy
- left all his guns and bullets behind the boxes
- arrested in Texas Theatre
- shot the governor also
- transferred from one prison to another
- Jack Ruby (Dallas strip club owner; said he did this because ) killed Oswald
- Warren Commission didn't believe it; questioned what really happened; said that Oswald acted alone and it was designed to stop all conspiracy theories about this (which it didn't)
- HofR said that JFK was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy" in 1978
Conspiracy theories:
- Magic Bullet Theory- says that the bullet went through JFK's neck onto the arm of the other guy and into the other guy's thigh; the bullet was in pristine condition; a better sharp shooter than Oswald tried to shoot with the same gun that
- Who might have killed him?
- Cubans- Bay of Pigs invasion had just happened and so had the Cuban Missile Crisis; so it could have been Castro because we tried to take him out a couple times (even using the mafia at one point); also there was the anti-Castro Cubans who could have been upset that JFK didn't get the job done in trying to kill him
- The KGB (USSR)- Oswald did live and become a Soviet for awhile
- The US Mafia- Ruby had ties to the mafia and he killed Oswald just to shut him up about the mafia
- The CIA (US Gov't)- some believe that Oswald was a low-level CIA agent; reasons? the military was mad that JFK was weak and couldn't kill Castro and they were upset, also JFK was thinking of pulling out of Vietnam so they wanted Johnson to become president
- The Zero Game- world wide organization that kills presidents elected on the 0s years (1920,1960, etc.)
- The Three Tramps- arrested for being around and looking suspicious that day
- JFK Act- all records on the assassination are to be submitted to Kennedy by law
President Lyndon B. Johnson (democratic)-36th president 1963-1969; JFK’s vice president and took over after JFK was assassinated; was with JFK mainly to get Southern votes because JFK was a Northerner (even though the 2 didn’t really like each other); did a lot of great things for civil rights; in 1 election for president, 1964 election and won against Barry Goldwater, massive blowout for Johnson, big issues of the election: civil rights (all Southern states were always Democratic at the time and blacks always voted republican because Lincoln had saved them; during this election, there was a big flip-flop where democratic became the non-racist group instead of the republicans), another big issue was the Vietnam war. He said that he didn’t want to send US soldiers over there and have “our boys fighting what their boys should be fighting”, anti-war candidate who said if you voted for Goldwater, nuclear war would most definitely happen; just over one term president, didn’t run in 1968; accomplishments:
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965- abolished the national origins quotient system, opened up immigration, main focus was for people who had family over here to come and be with them, gave out 300,000 Visas per year;
Public Broadcasting Act: started PBS
Great Society Program- to combat poverty, aid education, attack disease, Medicare and Medicaid, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, war on poverty, control and prevention of crime;
- Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965- first time in history that federal money went to public schools and the focus was poor schools
- Higher Education Act of 1965- focused on funding lower income students, including grants, work-study money, and government loans
- National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts- gov’t got involved in the arts for the first time since the New Deal
- Economic Opportunity Act helped start Head Start (like preschool), food stamps, Work Study, and Medicare (elderly) & Medicaid (poor)
Gun Control Act of 1968- he wanted to stop the improper use of guns because 3 important people were shot and killed: JFK, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.; banned people who were not supposed to or approved to have them from getting them and stopped the sale of weapons to minors
Civil Rights: Johnson picked up right where Kennedy left off; first president since Grant to criticize the KKK (called them ignorant bigots)
- Civil Rights Act of 1964- outlawed most forms of racial segregation
- Voting Rights Act of 1965- outlawed discrimination in voting, thus allowing millions of southern blacks to vote for the first time; no longer did you have to pay to vote and that came with the 24th amendment
- Started affirmative action laws- forcing companies to hire black people and schools to allow black people (the courts will only uphold this today if there is no reverse-discrimination either)
- Immigration Act of 1965- allowed more non-European people to immigrate to US. Immigration more than doubled between 1965-1970
Vietnam- ruined Johnson’s presidency; he really wanted to be in Vietnam but had been saying during the election that he didn’t want to get us involved at all in Vietnam; right after the election he got us
President Richard Nixon (R)-37th 1969-1974: vice-president of Eisenhower; lost 1960 election to JFK; only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency; only president to resign from office; 1960 election- ran against Hubert H. Humphrey and Wallace, and was one of the closest US presidential elections, Nixon only won by 1% vote, wouldn’t have been so close but Wallace got all the Southern, racist votes, big issues- foreign policy (Vietnam war was going on), Nixon promised the end of the Vietnam war which won him a lot of votes; 1972 election- one of the biggest blowouts in US history, ran against George McGowan from South Dakota (D)
the break-in to the Watergate office complex; he was the incumbent for the democrats and for the most part ran unopposed in 1972; put together the “Dirty Tricks” Organization, and they would play dirty tricks on candidates they didn’t want to run against until all the viable candidates dropped out (and all of the rumors were false). They did this to make sure that he would win by taking out all the democrats except the one he knew he could win against (McGowan); “Silent Majority”- most people are okay with what the gov’t is doing but they only show the ones who aren’t on TV; believed that democrats were ruining our country
Major Accomplishments:
- Family Assistance Plan- helped set up more food stamps and putting more power into the state and local gov’ts to help their state’s poor people
- Equal Rights Amendment- tried to get this passed but it still hasn’t been passed; would give men and women equal rights, especially in the work place and voting and what not
- Revenue Sharing- giving money to the state gov’ts and they can distribute it
- Really helped with desegregating the schools
- Only president since 1968 to have a completely balanced budget
- Environmental Decade: Created Earth Day; National Environmental Policy Act and also the Clean Air Act
- Declared the first official War on Drugs in 1971
- Signed Title IX (1972) prohibiting gender discrimination in all federally funded schools; requires the same amount of activities for girls as guys in schools
- Equal Employment Opportunity Act- enforces laws against workplace discrimination based on an individual’s race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, perceived intelligence, or disability
- Abortion was legalized during Nixon’s presidency (Roe vs. Wade-1973)
- US landed on the moon in 1969; Nixon approved the development of NASA’s Space Shuttle program
- In 1972, Nixon travelled to China where the president was to have direct talks with Mao Zedong and Chou En-lai; eased relations between China and US and in some ways we actually became closer with China than they were to the Soviet Union because of trade
- Went to Moscow in 1972; SALT I was signed, limiting nuclear weapons; anti-ballistic missile treaty and became a detaunt period; relations were pretty good with the Soviet Union
- Nixon lowered the max US speed limit to 55 mph to conserve gas during the crisis
Civil Rights:
- Desegregation of public schools; in the south, started at 70% and got it down to 18% of schools segregated
- Brought on big changes in equality between men and women
- Civil Rights Act
Vietnam: hurt Nixon’s popularity; ran with a promise to end the war during the elections and he did but he wanted to win it; expanded the war to Cambodia and Laos-bombing Ho Chi Minh Trail; did start pulling troops out of Vietnam as promised; didn’t want to leave Vietnam with “our tail between our legs”, wanted to go out of there leaving peace; Nixon Doctrine- “Vietnamization” of the war, which was pulling out so the Vietnamese could fight well enough on their own
Watergate: big hotel complex in Washington D.C. and home to the Democratic National Headquarters (for the upcoming election); 5 men were caught breaking into the Democratic party on June 17, 1972 to find dirt on the Democratic Party; 2 Washington Post reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, investigated the story because they didn’t understand why these guys were bugging the phones if it was a burglary and why they weren’t taking money and why they were wearing suits until they couldn’t find anything and just kind of gave up, until their informant came; the FBI informant Mark Felt, known as “Deep Throat”, to link the men to Nixon and the White House—“follow the money”; originally like a 3rd page story and most thought it was just an average run of the mill burglary but 2 guys were suspicious; eventually these 2 guys traced it back to the Committee to Re-Elect the President; over the next two years, Nixon downplayed the scandal and denounced the story as biased and misleading; FBI eventually confirmed that Nixon aides had attempted to sabotage the Democrats-many began resigning, especially those close to Nixon, and faced prosecution; Nixon was involved by trying to cover up the break-in (obstruction of justice) and eventually resigned from presidency; a bunch of trials were held to figure out what was going on in the summer months and eventually someone let slip that there was a tape recorder that recorded every conversation in the oval office, Nixon refused to give this over for a while saying it would be a threat to national security or something, but Supreme Court eventually made him turn it over, and Nixon agreed but only to give them edited tapes; would have been impeached but before that process could start, he resigned
Nixon was a very paranoid guy and that was the whole deal with the Watergate scandal and the election of 1972; believed that everyone was out to get him and destroy his presidency; the Watergate scandal backfired because he ultimately had to design
President Gerald Ford (R)-38th; 1974-1977: Nixon’s Vice President; took over when Nixon resigned; only vice president and president to never be elected; he was appointed after Nixon’s first vice was fired because of tax evasion; less than a one-term president
Elections: August 9th, 1974 he became president after Nixon resigned; ran in the 1976 election but Carter won; the fact that Ford was Nixon’s vice probably really hurt his reputation
Assassination attempts: 2 made within the same state within 17 days and were by women; first attempt, the gun wasn’t loaded but she was caught with a gun; second shot was from a crowd across the seat and she missed and hit the wall but it bounced off and hit a taxi driver
Accomplishments: Reduced the federal deficit for the first time since WWII; nearly 4 million people found jobs during his presidency
- Offered conditional amnesty program for Vietnam War draft dodgers who had fled to countries such as Canada; got people to come back
- “Whip Inflation Now” called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption in an attempt to stop inflation, so he wanted them to quit spending money because the prices kept rising
- Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975) established special education in school throughout the US
- Continued détente with the USSR
- Ford wanted to help South Vietnam when North Vietnam invaded in 1974 but Congress refused
- By April 1975, all of Vietnam became communist
- Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act was passed to allow refugees to immigrate to the US
Comments