Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Watergate: Nixon's Downfall

1. How were the "plumbers" connected to President Nixon?
Because they plugged leaks to make sure that government secrets didn't get out and dug up dirt to tell the public about the opponent of Nixon. They also broke in at Watergate.

2. Who was the judge? Why did he hand out maximum sentences?
John Sirica that people in high places were doing bad things and so he had to do something in order to get them to confessing to lying under oath.

3. How were Mitchell and Dean connected to Nixon?
They played key roles in Nixon's 1968 election victory and now helped the president direct White House policy.

4. How were Haldeman and Erlichman connected to Nixon?
Haldeman was the white house chief of staff and Erlichman was the chief of domestic advisor and also helped Nixon's 1968 victory.

5. What did the following men tell the Senate about Nixon?

a. Dean- "What did he know and when did he know it?" and referred to one meeting with the president where he and several advisors discussed strategies for continuing the deceit.

b. Butterfield- He told the Senate that Nixon had recorded virtually all of his conversations and so the Senate could know what Nixon knew and when he knew it.

6. Who was fired or forced to resign in the "massacre"?
Haldenman, Erlichman and Attorney General Richard Kleindiest.

7. Why weren't investigators satisified with the transcripts?
Because they wanted to hear the unedited tapes.

8. What did the tapes reveal?
White House conversations about Watergate.

9. Why did Vice President Spiro Agnew resign?
After it had been revealed that while he was governor of Maryland he had accepted bribes from engineering firms.

10. What did the House Judiciary Committee charge President Nixon with?
Obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress for refusing to obey a congressional subpoena to release the tapes.

11. How did the Watergate scandal create a constitutional crisis?
Because after it and Vietnam the American public and the media developed a general cynicism about public officials that still exists today.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Women Fight for Equality

Directions: As you read about the rise of a new women’s movement, take notes to explain how each of the following helped to create or advance the movement.

1. Experiences in the workplace- Women were paid much less and it was seldom that one was promoted to management positions, reguardless of their education, experience or ability.

2. Experiences in social activism- When women protested that they were assigned lesser roles then the men usually brushed them aside. This lead to some women to organize small groups where they could discuss their concerns.

3. "Consciousness raising"- These are the small groups that women organized to discusss their concerns and shared their lives with each other and discovered that their experiences were not unique.

4. Feminism- The belief that women should have economic, political and social equality with men.

5. Betty Friedan and The Feminine Mystique- A book that captured the very discontent that many women were feeling, quickly a best-seller and helped to galvanize women across the country.

6. Civil Rights Act of 1964- It prohibited descrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and gender and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to handle discrimination claims.

7. National Organization for Women (NOW)- An organization created by 28 women to pursue women's goals.

8. Gloria Steinem and Ms. Magazine- A journalist, political activists, and ardent supporter of the women's liberation movement, who made her voice heard on the subjects of feminism and equality.

9. Congress- They passed the Equal Rights Amendment which made it guarantee that both men and women would enjoy the same rights and protections under the law.

10. Supreme Court- They ruled in Roe vs. Wade that women do have the right to choose an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy.

11. The Equal rights Amendment would have guaranteed equal rights under the law, regardless of gender. Who opposed this amendment? Why?
The conservative religious groups, political organizations, and many anti-feminists were against the Amendment with Phyllis Schlafly that was against it because they felt that the ERA would lead to things such as the drafting of women, the end of protecting homemakers, the end of husband's responsibility to provide for his family and same sex-marriages.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Why did the USA lose the Vietnam War?

The Americans did not lose purely for military reasons. There were other factors as well.
Write an explanation AND cite a source which shows the importance of the following six factors:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2049639/posts

1. US military tactics in Vietnam
The US military tactics in Vietnam were just that they should search and destroy and drop bombs on them.

2. The unpopularity of the South Vietnamese regime
With Diem in power and the US pumping money to him the US became very unpopular because he was a horrible leader and was killing all people he didn't like such as Communists which the US wanted but he was also fine with the Buddhists burning themselves alive.

3. The experience of the Viet Cong and the inexperience of the American soldiers
The Viet Cong had much more experience than the American soldiers which helped because they knew good tactics such as Guerrilla Warfare where the American soldiers just knew to kill whoever was suspected and lived in constant fear of the Viet Cong.

4. Domestic opposition to the war in the U.S.
The propaganda in the U.S. and having the American people against the war made it harder for the government because they began to have fewer and fewer reasons to be in the war.

5. Chinese and Soviet support for the Viet Cong
Since the Viet Cong had support from the Chinese and the Soviets they had trails from North Vietnam that was giving them supplies from the Chinese and the Soviets.

6. 'But did they really lose?' Summarize the argument put forward in Source 57, and your view on it.
I think that they really did lose because even though they did have a major military defeat of the VC and NVA, Vietnam still became Communists and it did spread to other countries just as thought it would in the domino theory.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Vietnam War Opposition

1. Note all of the reasons why you feel the war in Vietnam is wrong.

I feel that the war in Vietnam is wrong because all of the soldier that are sent over there are only 18 and untrained for this line of work and are mostly just going over there to die. Also because America is pumping money over there when there is no need for that and they are being so gruesome to the innocent civilians.

2. Note what you re trying to achieve with this poster. (e.g. to convince people to write to their Congressmen to get the troops out.)

Apparently we need to kill the innocent, so just use the orange agent.

3. List possible images for your poster. Think about: background (e.g. destroyed villages); the central image (e.g. picture of a young soldier); whether you will need words to explain your image.

An airplane going over civilians with agent orange.

4. List some possible slogans for your poster.

Apparently we need to kill the innocent, so just use the orange agent.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Vietnam War Turning Points

1. Why was the Tet Offensive a turning point? Explain your answer.

It was a turning point in the war because it raised hard questions for the US. Was it right to have the US using so much money and soldiers and civilians lives to take back all the land lost when taken by surprise so easily.

2. Are Sources 51 and 52 making the same point about the My Lai Massacre?

They are and are not because it shows all the people that they killed but that doesn't show the point of how the soldiers weren't prepared to kill all the towns, it just shows that they killed a lot of people and not that they showed compassion for the people that they were killing.

3. Why do you think it took 12 months for
anyone to do anything about the massacre?

I think it took them 12 months for anyone to do anything about the massacre because they hadn't found out that they had done something wrong because the soldiers had thought that they were supposed to murder all of the village.

4. Why was the massacre so shocking to
the American public?

Because when they had heard from all of their sources that the Americans were being drafted not to kill all these innocent people but to prevent the spread of communism so they weren't prepared to hear that the American soldiers were killing so many innocent.

Monday, May 3, 2010

The U.S. struggles against the Communist in Vietnam

1. Now think about the overall picture - how the strengths and weaknesses work together.

a) Were the armies finely balanced or was the balance strongly weighted to one side or the other?

From the reading I have found that they were equally balanced because the Communists knew the technic of Guerrilla Warfare and though many were killed while being a part of the Viet Cong they still had the upper hand and were able to kill many U.S. troops. However America had bombs that they could drop and knew the method of search and destroy.

b) Which quality was most important in determining who won the war? Was one feature so important that being ahead in that area meant that other advantages or disadvantages did not matter?

I believe that propaganda was the most important in determining who won the war because if it had not been for American and British propaganda then American troops might have not gotten in as much if any trouble for killing all the innocent civilians.

2. Now write up your answer. Use this structure:
a. The U.S. weaknesses were:
they couldn't tell the differences between the civilians and the Viet Cong thus killing innocent people.
b. At the same time, the Communist strengths were:
that they used Guerrilla tactics which helped them because they never gave up even if a bunch of men died and wouldn't retreat unless attacked.
c. The U.S. forces did have some successes. For example:
with bombs they could disrupt the North Vietnam's supply routes. Also they used chemical bombs which was to much the same affect as the regular bombs.
d. However, there were some major failures as well. Examples of these were:
the My Lai massacre of an innocent town where mostly women, children and the elderly were killed which was a very large mistake for the Americans.
e. The Viet Cong had some major successes, such as:
using the Guerrilla tactics because they helped the Viet Cong with all of their battles.
f. However, they also suffered defeats, for example:
the Tet Offensive because the Communists wanted the people of South Vietnam would rise up and join them but they didn't do that at all and the Viet Cong lost 10,000 fighers and was badly weakened.
g. If I had to identify one major American weakness, it would be lack of better military tactics because:
if they had better tactics such as the Guerrilla tactics and could not be so obvious that they are American troops and used the element of surprise.
h. The key Viet Cong strength was the Guerrilla tactics because:
they used them as an element of surprise and they could blend in with civilians which most likely helped many of the Viet Cong survive because they could point their fingers at the civilians.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

The U.S. Enters the Vietnam War

1. Many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of US policy. Explain why.

Because America had helped the crazy leader Diem to set up the Republic of Vietnam which was because he was strictly anti-communist but this ended in deaths because he was also a Christian extremist and was very harsh to Buddhists.

2. Explain how US politicians would have defended their policies.

Because they did all of this to prevent the spread of Communism and the domino affect thus having all of Asia in Communism.

3. The following events are not listed in correct date order. Place them in the correct chronological order. (Write the year inside the parenthesis, i.e. (1965). Then note the reason for each U.S. action, and how it brought the U.S. into deeper involvement in Vietnam.
The reasons you can choose from are: No direct involvement; financial support; political involvement; military involvement. Also, note what events triggered the increased involvement.

( 8 ) Assassination of JFK - Johnson becomes president
( 3 ) Formation of South Vietnam
( 9 ) Gulf of Tonkin Incident
( 7 ) Number of 'advisers' reaches over 11,500
( 6 ) JFK sends military advisers
( 10 ) U.S. Marines land at Da Nang
( 1 ) U.S. stops elections in Vietnam
( 5 ) U.S. supports South Vietnam government after army overthrow Diem
( 4 ) Viet Cong attacks on U.S. and South Vietnam bases
( 2 ) Viet Cong formed

4. Choose two events that you think were critical in getting the U.S. involved in a war in Vietnam. Explain
your choice.

I believe that JFK's assassination where Johnson came into presidency was a critical event in getting the US involved in the war in Vietnam. This is because I believe if JFK had never been assassinated then Johnson would've never been in power and wouldn't have gotten into the war. Also I believe that the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was a critical even in getting the US involved because had Vietnamese patrol boats not opened fire on the US ships then Johnson would have never had to pass the resolution to allow his to lead America into a full scale war.