1945 – 2000

AP U.S. History Exam Review

The Presidents…

Presidents [1945 – 2001]President Legislative

Agenda/Program/Label33. Harry S Truman Fair Deal34. Dwight D. Eisenhower Helicopter Era35. John F. Kennedy New Frontier 36. Lyndon B. Johnson Great Society37. Richard Nixon New Federalism and Vietnamization38. Gerald Ford Nixon Pardon39. Jimmy Carter Human Rights and Stagflation40. Ronald Reagan New Right41. George H.W. Bush New World Order42. Bill Clinton New Democrat

Foreign Policy Overview …

• Korean War, 1950-53 (Truman/Ike)• CIA-orchestrated coups in Iran, Guatemala,

1953-54• Warsaw Pact formed, 1955• Covert aid to South Vietnam (Ike), 1956• Fidel Castro deposes Batista, leads a communist

Cuba• U-2 incident, 1960• Bay of Pigs, 1961 (J.F.K.)• Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962• J.F.K. increases military advisors to 16,000 in

Vietnam

• Johnson sends ground troops to Vietnam, 1965• Escalates to more than 500,000 troops by 1968• Tet Offensive, 1968• My Lai Massacre, 1968• Nixon spreads conflict to Laos and Cambodia• Nixon ends U.S. role in the war by 1973

(Vietnamization)• Détente: China recognized; Soviet grain deal,

SALT I • CIA-orchestrated coup in Chile, 1973

• U.S. objects to 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (Carter)

• Iranian hostages• U.S. invades Grenada, 1983 (Reagan)• Support for Contras, Iran-Contra scandal (Reagan)• S.D.I (“Star Wars”) proposed• Gorbachev: glasnost and perestroika• Berlin Wall torn down, 1989, East/West Germany

reunited (Bush Sr.)• U.S. invades Panama, 1989 “War on Drugs”

(Bush Sr.)• Soviet Union dissolved, 1991

• “New World Order” (Bush, Sr.)• Persian Gulf War, 1991• U.S. troops to Somalia, 1993 (Clinton)• U.S. troops to Bosnia, 1995• War on Terrorism (George W. Bush): 9/11,

Afghanistan Invasion• Dept. of Homeland Security – Patriot Act• The Bush Doctrine: Pre-emptive War; Iraq War,

2003

Presidential Administration

Overview

“The Buck Stops Here!”From Isolationism to Collective Security

• The Atomic Bomb• The “Fair Deal”; the Taft-Hartley Act • Civil rights – desegregation of the military – Election of 1948• Containment – in Europe and the Middle East • Truman Doctrine – Greece, 1947• Marshall Plan, NATO• Berlin Crisis • Revolution in China – “Losing China”• Limited war [i.e. police action]: Korea, MacArthur• Domestic frustrations; - McCarthyism!

“Cannon to Right of Him, Cannon to Left of Him”

“Dropping the Pilot”

Dwight D. Eisenhower1953 – 1961

• Domestic frustrations; HUAC – McCarthyism • Civil rights movement • The Warren Court and Brown v. Board of Education • Montgomery bus boycott, Greensboro sit-in • Crisis in Southeast Asia • Domino Theory, Massive retaliation • Nationalism in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin

America • Space race – Sputnik – public education• Interstate Highway System

• Secretary of State John Foster Dulles – “brinkmanship”• Strategic Air Command (SAC) and a fleet of B-52s• French Indochina – Dienbienphu- 1954

– Ho Chi Minh v. Ngo Dinh Diem• Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev• Geneva Conference (1955) – Soviets rejection. • “Open skies” also rejected.• Warsaw Pact - 1955• “Spirit of Geneva” • Hungarian revolt - 1956

- limitations of “massive retaliation”• CIA coup helped bring (the Shah of Iran) • Suez crisis – Eisenhower Doctrine • Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

• Sputnik I and II, 1957.• U.S. reaction: National Aeronautics and Science

Administration (NASA)• Vanguard missile (1957)• National Defense and Education Act (NDEA), 1958.• Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) • Alaska and Hawaii become states – 1959• Kitchen Debate• Khrushchev came to the U.S. (1959)

- “Spirit of Camp David”• U-2 Incident – Paris summit conference – 1960

Suburbia• American People: homogenized

society – Levittown – Critics• Prosperity: economic

consolidation• Consumer culture • Consensus of values

The Helicopter

Era

The Civil Rights MovementDesegregating the South

• An American Dilemma, (1944) Gunnar Myrdal. America’s contradiction exposed.

• Jackie Robinson – 1947 – broke the racial barrier• Truman ended segregation in 1948 in the federal civil service and the

armed forces• Congress refused to pass Civil Rights legislation under Truman.• Eisenhower not interested in the “racial issue” • “Jim Crow laws” mentality of violence ruled Blacks in the South • Emmett Till in 1955. • Rosa Parks – Dec.1, 1955 changed the South forever.• Montgomery bus boycott led by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. • Chief Justice Earl Warren an his court’s “judicial activism”• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas 1954?

– Thurgood Marshall

Jim Crow Laws…Jim Crow Laws…in the 20in the 20thth century century

Jim Crow Laws…Jim Crow Laws…in the 20in the 20thth century century

• Little Rock Central High School – 1957

- Orval Faubus (Governor of Arkansas)- National Guard v. U.S. Army- Eisenhower’s capitulation

• Civil Rights Act of 1957 – any real progress?• Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) – 1957• The spontaneous “Sit-in” movement” was launched February 1,

1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina• “The four” hit Woolworth’s lunch counter.• There followed “a wave of wade-ins, lie-ins, and pray-ins for

equal rights in restaurants, transportation, employment, housing and voter registration.

• Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed (April, 1960) - “Snick” (SNCC) would become more radical toward change than both the (SCLC and the NAACP)

10.

John F. Kennedy1961 – 1963

“New Frontier”

• T.V. – Debate with Nixon• First Catholic• The New Frontier• Peace Corps• Bay of Pigs Invasion• Cuban Missile Crisis• Assassination

Lyndon B. Johnson1963 – 1969

“Great Society”

• New domestic programs • Tax cut • War on poverty • Affirmative action • Civil rights and civil

liberties • African Americans:

political, cultural, and economic roles

• The leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Resurgence of feminism • The New Left and the

Counterculture • Emergence of the

Republican party in the South

• The Supreme Court and the Miranda decision

• Vietnam quagmire

33The Warren Court

Richard Nixon1969 – 1974• 1968

• President Nixon and New Federalism- Shift to more local power- Transition from the “broker state”

• EPA • Supreme Court nominations• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education• 26th Amendment – Voting age to 18• Cambodia

• Pentagon Papers – Daniel Ellsberg• Vietnam: escalation and pullout - Vietnamization • Opening China - restoring relations - Kissenger• Soviet Union – Détente• Roe v. Wade• Equal Rights Amendment• Spiro Agnew resigned• War Powers Act• Energy crisis and inflation• Watergate • Freedom of Information Act

40

Gerald Ford1974 – 1977

• Ford assumed presidency

• First unelected president

• Nixon Pardon• Energy crisis• Fall of Saigon

Jimmy Carter1977 – 1981

• SALT II - Fail• Panama Canal Treaty• Carter and the U.S.S.R.• Camp David Accords• Nicaragua & El Salvador• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan• Double-digit Inflation• Three Mile Island• Iranian Hostage Crisis

American Malaise Thanks Carter!

OPEC and Oil Embargo Stagflation De-Industrialization “Soft” America Iranian Hostage Crisis

(Nov. 1979)

1. Ayatollah Khomeini overthrew Shah of Iran

2. 50 Hostages for over a year (444 days!)

3. Failed rescue effort USSR invaded

Afghanistan (Dec. 1979)

The Resurgence of Conservatism

Ronald Reagan and the “New Right”

1981 – 1989

The 1980 Presidential ElectionThroughout the campaign, Reagan questioned Carter’s competence, while Carter tried to cast him as a dangerous extremist.

Reagan closed the single televised debate in October 1980 with, “Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?”

What He Said… The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m

from the government & I’m here to help. Some of you may remember that in my early days, I was

sort of a bleeding heart liberal. Then I became a man and put away childish ways.

I know it’s hard when you’re up to your armpits in alligators to remember you came here to drain the swamp.

Politics is supposed to be the 2nd oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the 1st.

Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July, but the Democrats believe every day is April 15.

How did Reagan win?

1. Conservative backlash against counter culture, lawlessness, affirmative action.

2. In economic and social matters alike, he denounced the activist government and failed social engineering of the 1960s.

3. He skillfully mobilized political resentments in a manner reminiscent of his early political hero, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

4. Both Roosevelt and Reagan championed the common man against vast impersonal menaces that overshadowed the individual.

How did Reagan win?4. But where the Democratic Roosevelt had branded big

business the foe of the forgotten man, the Republican Reagan depicted big government the arch-villain.

5. He preached a populist political philosophy that condemned federal intervention in local affairs, favoritism for minorities, and the elitism of arrogant bureaucrats.

6. He aimed especially to win over from the Democratic column working-class and lower-middle-class white voters by implying that the Democratic Party had become the exclusive tool of its minority constituents.

Ronald Reagan1981 – 1989

• Religious Right – Jerry Falwell• “Reaganomics”; supply-side• Space Shuttle Columbia; Challenger• Supreme Court nominees – O’Connor and Bork• AIDS• Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday• War on Drugs• Reparations for Japanese Internment• Iran-Contra

Iran-Contra Affair

Contras

Swiss bank accounts;

controlled by North

Iran

Israel US

Private US $Foreign Gov’t $

$$$

Hostages

weapons

weapons

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North carried out the plan of secretly diverting money from Iran arms sales to the Contras in Nicaragua.

Reagan admitted authorizing the Iran arms sales but denied knowledge of the diversion of funds to the Contras.

George H.W. Bush1989 – 1993

• “Kinder, gentler nation”• “Read my lips, no new taxes”• End of the Cold War – Fall of the Berlin Wall• Tiananmen Square, China – June 1989• Clean Air Act• Gulf War• Supreme Court nominations – Clarence Thomas – “The

Black Seat”• ADA• NAFTA - proposed• Los Angeles riots• Election of 1992 – Ross Perot

George H.W. Bush – In his own words…1. “For seven and a half years I’ve worked alongside

President Reagan. We’ve had triumphs. Made some mistakes. We’ve had some sex...uh...setbacks.” — 1988

2. “It’s no exaggeration to say the undecideds could go one way or another.” — 1988

3. “I will never apologize for the United States of America. I don’t care what the facts are.” — 1988

4. “I hope I stand for antibigotry, anti-Semitism, antiracism. This is what drives me.” — 1988

5. “It has been said by some cynic, maybe it was a former president, ‘If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.’ Well, we took them literally — that advice — as you know. But I didn’t need that because I have Barbara Bush.” — 1989

6. “Boy, they were big on crematoriums, weren’t they?” – during a tour of Auschwitz — 1989

Bill Clinton1993 – 2001

Goals• Balance the federal budget• Reform welfare• Reduce crime• Promote economic growth• Ensure a strong national defense

Significant Priorities• Reduce the size of the federal government• Promote free markets worldwide

1. NAFTA, 19932. GATT – WTO3. Family and Medical Leave Act, 19934. Expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit5. Brady Bill6. Healthcare costs were soaring:

- $200 billion in 1980- $800 billion in 1992 (1/7 of the entire

domestic economy!)

7. “Hillarycare” – Hillary Clinton tasked with guiding the reform effort. She was confronted with significant resistance.

8. Bosnia and Kosovo

Clinton and the Economy• 20 million new jobs and a 4% or less unemployment rate

– the lowest in over 30 years.• Government spending decreases• Tax revenue increases• ¼ trillion dollar deficit becomes and almost ¼ trillion dollar

surplus by the end of Clinton’s presidency• “tech stocks” fuel the market with more than 60% of the

American public owning stock• White collar jobs increase 200x over blue collar jobs

Final Notes on Clinton…

1. Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House for perjury and obstruction of justice, but was subsequently acquitted by the United States Senate and completed his term.

2. Polls of the electorate at this time show up to 70% were against pursuing the allegations.

3. Clinton left office with an approval rating at 65%, the highest end of office rating of any President since World War II.

Thank you!