Crisis Over Berlin and Bay Of Pigs

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On March 1960, President Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of Cuba. Since the planning was done in secrecy, Kennedy was unaware of the plans until nine days after his election. The CIA had hope this would trigger a mass uprising that would overthrow Castro. On April 17, 1961, around 1,500 Cuban exiles, which were supported by the US military, landed on the island’s southern coast at Bahia de Cochinos, also known as The Bay of Pigs. The event was chaotic and did not go as planned. When the main unit landed, it faced 25,000 Cuban troops backed up by Soviet Tanks and jet aircraft. Invading exiles were killed or imprisoned. Kennedy was embarrassed by how wrong the CIA was about this plan succeeding. He negotiated with Castro for the release of surviving commanders and paid $53 million for ransom in food and medical supplies. Kennedy warned that he would resist future communism expansion in the Western Hemisphere.


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Kennedy wanted to prove to Khrushchev his determination to contain communism. In 1962 the city of Berlin was in great turmoil. In eleven years since the Berlin Airlift, three million people from East Germany fled to West Berlin because it was free of Communist rule. Khrushchev was determined to solve this problem by threatening to sign a treaty with East Germany enabling the country to close all access roads to West Berlin. Kennedy refused to give up US access to West Berlin and would not permit communists to drive the US out. Kennedy’s determination and America’s superior nuclear striking power prevented Khrushchev from closing the air and land routes between West Berlin and West Germany. On August 13, 1961, East German troops unloaded concrete posts along the border and created the Berlin wall within days, separating East and West Germany. The Berlin wall ended the Berlin Crisis but aggravated Cold War tensions.

LBJ' Great Society

Lyndon Baines Johnson created his ideal America, which he called the Great Society. He defined this phrase as a legislative program that would promote a higher standard of living, equal opportunity and create a richer quality of life for all. In 1965 LBJ introduced the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which funded more than one billion dollars to schools to purchase textbooks and new materials. The Higher Education Act funded scholarships and low-interest loans for college students. Fighting poverty LBJ created the Tax Reduction Act stimulating growth by decreasing corporate and individual taxes. The Economic Opportunity Act created many programs like the Job Corpse, VISTA, and the Project Head Start to help end poverty in America. In 2964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended discrimination in public accommodations, housing and jobs. The same year the Twenty-Fourth Amendment abolished the poll tax in federal elections. Helping the environment, LBJ introduced the Wilderness Preservation Act of 1965 to set aside over nine million acres for forestlands. Other Acts included the Water Quality Act of 1965, Clean Air Act Amendment of 1965 and Air Quality Act of 1967 all helping to clean up the environment and provide America with a cleaner and efficient life style. LBJ passed the Omnibus Housing Act of 1965 to provide money for low-income housing. In addition, in 1965 he also passed the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Area Redevelopment Act to fund slum rebuilding, mass transit, and other improvements for the more important cities. From 1964-1969 LBJ produced over 206 of his measures through congress with most of his measures passing. He helped America greatly change through his years as president and helped America become a more clean, efficient, and caring society.

The Election of 1960 and the Camelot year

In the 1960, insecurity and restlessness arose among the voters. This tension could be attributed to the economic recession, the USSR’s launch of Sputnik I in 1957 sparked fears that the American military was falling behind that of the Soviets. The incident of the U2 and the alignment of Cuba with the Soviet Union further invoked a feeling of insecurity among the voters.
The Democratic nominee for president, Massachusetts senator John Kennedy promised active leadership. His republican opponent was Vice president Richard M. Nixon; he hoped to win by riding Eisenhower’s popularity. Both candidates had similar positions on policy issues. There were two factors that helped put Kennedy over the top: television and the civil rights issue.
Kennedy was backed by his wealthy family and was handsome. People doubted his experience since he was only at the age of forty three. America was also worried that having roman catholic in the white house would lead either to influence of the pope on the American policies or to closer ties between church and state.
On September 26, 1960, millions watched Kennedy and Nixon debate on television. Kennedy had been coached by television experts and he looked great and confident on television. He therefore looked and spoke better than Nixon.
Another major event of the campaign besides the televised debate took place in October in Atlanta, Georgia. The police there arrested the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and thirty three other African Americans for sitting at a segregated lunch counter.
Although the other demonstrators were released Martin Luther was sentenced to months of hard labor- officially for minor traffic violations.
The Eisenhower administration refused to intervene and Nixon took no notice. When Kennedy heard of this he telephoned king's wife to express his sympathy.
This news caught the immediate attention of the African American community, whose votes would help Kennedy carry key states in the Midwest and South.

Kennedy won the elections of 1960 by fewer than 119,000 votes. On the podium sat over 100 writers, artists, and scientists that the Kennedy’s had invited, including an opera singer Marian Anderson, who had once been barred from singing at constitution hall because she was African American. Kennedy’s speech called for hope, commitment and sacrifice.

Jacqueline Kennedy
During his term, the president and his beautiful young wife, Jacqueline, invited many artists and celebrities to the White House. The press loved Kennedy’s wit and charm; this also helped to bolster his image.

Despite his smooth style, critics argued that he lacked substance. But the new first family fascinated the public. After learning that Kennedy could read 16, 00 words a minute, thousands of people began to emulate him by enrolling in speed reading classes.
The first lady captivated the public with her keen eye for fashion and culture.

Newspapers and magazines were inundated with pictures and stories about the president’s young daughter Caroline and his infant son John. With JFK’s youthful glamour and his talented advisers, the Kennedy White house reminded many of a present day Camelot, the mythical court of King Arthur.

Kennedy surrounded himself with a team of journalists and advisers called “The best and the brightest” They included McGeorge Bundy, a Harvard University dean, as national security adviser; Robert McNamara, president of Ford Motor Company, as secretary of defense; and Dean Rusk, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, as secretary of state.

Kennedy relied most on his thirty five year old brother Robert, whom he appointed attorney general.

Left: JFK and Dean Rusk

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

In 1963, a man named Ernesto Miranda was arrested and charged of kidnapping and rape. The police interrogated Miranda and eventually had him sign a confession, which was later used in his trial as evidence. Ernesto Miranda was found guilty, but he appealed his case on the basis that he did not know about his constitutional rights: a right against testifying against oneself (self-incrimination), and a right to an attorney during police questioning. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and reviewed the case.

According to the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, a suspect does not have to “be a witness against himself”. This means that, during questioning, one does not have to reveal any evidence that may be used against them. Those being questioned by police may also have an attorney present to guide and prevent them from falling into any legal traps.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ernesto Miranda. They agreed that his constitutional rights had been violated, and the confession could not legally be used in his trial. The case of Miranda v. Arizona also required police to inform suspects of their legal rights at the time of their arrest. Variations exist, but they are traditionally as follows,

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights?.”

The Supreme Court of this era set the notion that those under arrest need to be informed of their constitutional rights. Miranda v. Arizona gave more rights to the individual during the 1960's with other landmark Supreme Court cases.

The Other America

Amidst the prosperity that many white Americans enjoyed in the 1950s, millions of other Americans lived in poverty. In 1962, about 1 in 4 Americans was living below the poverty level, most of them being elderly people, single women and their children, or minorities.
In the 1950s, millions of middle-class Americans had left for the suburbs, taking all of their resources out and isolating all the other races. Around this time, the rural poor moved to the inner cities. When all of the middle-class white Americans left, the cities lost people and business, and also lost taxes that they were paying for their property. This meant that the city governments could no longer maintain schools, public transportation, and the police and fire departments. However, many of the suburban Americans were ignorant to what was happening to the poor people, refusing to believe that such a thing as poverty existed in a rich nation such as the United States. To spread awareness, Michael Harrington published The Other America: Poverty in the United States that told accounts of what the poor were going through and the reality of poverty.
Minorities such as African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos lived in dirty and crowded slums. To solve the housing problem in the inner cities, there was proposal called urban renewal, which is he tearing down and replacing of buildings in rundown inner-city neighborhoods. In 1949, the National Housing Act was passed to provide a decent home and suitable living environments for every American family for urban renewal.
Although many buildings were torn down due to this act, there was seldom enough new housing to accommodate all the displaced people. Sometimes, like in Los Angeles when a barrio was torn down to make way for Dodger Stadium, this act simply displaced more poor people. These people were then forced to move from one ghetto to another. Due to problems such as these, some critics of urban renewal claimed that it became urban removal.

--Alee

Miranda vs. Arizona (1966)

In 1963, a man named Ernesto Miranda created history when he was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona and convicted of kidnapping and rape. Miranda had signed a written confession which he later deemed to be invalid because he claimed that the police never advised him of his rights to an attorney and his right to avoid self-incrimination. Miranda thought this was unreasonable and decided to fight the legal system; thus leading to the landmark Supreme Court case if Miranda v. Arizona.

At the time, it was Chief Justice Earl Warren who ran the Supreme Court, and collectively, his court was named the Warren Court. Chief Justice Warren was known to have a strong belief that all people deserved to be treated with respect by the government. Warren argued that when suspects are being interrogated by the police, the situation is "inherently intimidating" which would therefore leads to statements that are not "the product of free choice." This means that in a situation in which there are intimidating factors (such as the police), the decisions made could therefore only be an affect of pressure to relieve oneself of the situation. The Fifth Amendment guarantees that a accused person cannot be forced "to be a witness against himself". Due to the amendment as well as Warren's argument, the Court majority found that Miranda's confession could not be used as evidence and he was acquitted from that case. Miranda was later found guilty on other evidence and was subsequently sent to jail.

The Miranda decision was very controversial. Critics, mostly conservatives, argued that the case would "protect the rights of criminals at the expense of public safety." They said that by reading the rights, it would become more difficult of the justice system to convict criminals. Over the subsequent years that followed Miranda v. Arizona, there were several cases that softened the ruling of the Miranda case, but in 2000, the Supreme Court affirmed the decisions made in the Miranda case in a 7 to 2 majority in the Dickerson v. United States Supreme Court case. Today, police officers are required to read the arrested person their Miranda rights after their arrest.

Crisis over Berlin and Bay of pigs

by Silvia Verdoglia

The 1960 Presidential election led Massachusetts senator John F. Kennedy to the white house and soon after his inauguration in 1961, the new president faced two great international crisis one after another.
Just two year before, the revolutionary Fidel Castro had established a Communist government in the island of Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida.
Former president Eisenhower had recognized the new government, since Castro had promised democracy t his followers, but soon the reality about his plan was known, when the Cuban leader put under his government's control a lot of farms and American and British owned oil refineries.
On the top of that, Castro required soon the Soviet Union's aid.
This new regime led about 10% of the people to leave their country and reach the United States.
Here, soon CIA, under the Eisenhower administration, started a program to train them as an army to invade Cuba and defeat Castro.
However, after his election, Kennedy found out about the program just a few days before it was put into action and he had to approve it.
Unfortunately, the plan failed: many of the Cuban exiled soldiers were killed, or captured the Cuban air force resisted the attacks and the group that should have assassinated Castro never arrived to his destination.
The disaster became famous as the Bay of Pigs, the name of the place where American boats arrived.
President Kennedy took responsibility for the failure, so even if what happened signed a big victory for Communism and would led to the Crisis of Cuban missile, it increased the young President's popularity.

He also negotiated with Castro to have the CIA trained Cuban exiled back in the US and promised them to free their home state.

In the same time, another crisis was taking place, on the other side of the world.

After World War II Germany was divided into four zones controlled by the allies and the capital city, Berlin, was not an exception.

By the '60s, the United States, France and Great Britain had left Germany, with the hope to reunite the country and help its economic growth, but the Soviet Union did not.

Eastern Germany was loosing all its professional class, since 20% of the people (3 millions) were escaping in Western Germany, reporting the failure of the Communist government.

To find a compromise to the will of Kruschev to close the access to Berlin, in June 1961 President Kennedy went to Vienna and met Nikita Kruschev, the Soviet prime minister.

The American president was trying to keep an access open to help the Germans but just a few months after, on August 13rd 1961, Kruschev ordered the construction of the Berlin wall, who would divide Germany until Novmeber 9, 1989.

This second victory of the Communism increased the already great tension of the Cold War.

The Other America

The post-World War II time in America was considered a glorious time where many Americans enjoyed the high standard of living that a prosperous U.S had to offer. However, what is not know about this time period is that 40 million people were struggling to make ends meet. In fact, in 1962, 1 out of 4 people were living below the poverty line. These staggering statistics are due to the fact that in the 1950s, many white Americans moved from the cities to rural suburbs. This meant that jobs, industries and the income taxes these white middle-class Americans paid also disappeared from the cities. Ironically, 5 million African Americans moved from the rural areas to the urban cities almost simultaneously.

Now with no funds, city governments could not afford to maintain the high standard of living that whites enjoyed when they lived in the cities. Schools were not maintained, public transportation declined and police were underpaid. But worst of all, the urban poor were suffering. The extent of their suffering was so great that in 1959 the poverty line or the minimum amount to survive was $2973. Michael Harrington saw these despicable conditions that poor Americans had to live through and wrote a book called "The Other America: Poverty in the United States".

This book delineated the filth and utter poverty that African Americans, Native Americans and Latinos had to live through. As a response to the housing problems, urban renewal was a suggested solution and led to the passage of The National Housing Act of 1949. It aimed to ameliorate the horrible living conditions. This was done by tearing down rundown neighborhoods and building low-income houses. A new cabinet position was also created and was called Housing and Urban Development to assist in the renewal of cities.

While many solutions were suggested, there still were some obstacles hindering urban renewal. Land was a problem because, like money, there was not enough of it in the cities. This meant that not enough buildings could be constructed to house the large number of displaced people and they basically had to migrate from one "barrio" (slum) to another.

However, the "other America " did not let their penurious situation put them down. In fact, Mexican Americans organized the G. I. Forum (1948) in an attempt to eradicate discrimination. Native Americans also fought for their rights and managed to establish The Indian Reorganization Act (1934), the Snyder Act (1924) and the National Congress of American Indians (1944). However, it would not be until later when the "other America" emerged from the shadows and claimed the equality that they had fought so hard and long for.

Great Society Programs

In May 1964 the President Johnson introduced the Great Society. It was the plan that Johnson was going to use in order to improve education, health care, housing, immigration, the environment, and consumer protection.
For education The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provided more than $1 billion to help public and parochial school purchase textbooks and new library materials.
Later Johnson and Congress changed the social security by establishing Medicare and Medicaid which provided hospital insurance, low-cost medical insurance for almost every American age 65 or older, and extended health insurance to welfare recipients.
Another thing that the Great Society provided was the housing. The federal government built 240,000 units of low-rent public housing which helped the low and moderated income families pay for better private housing. This also resulted in the establishment of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in which the first African American Cabinet leader, Robert Weaver, was appointed as secretary of HUD.
The Great Society also changed the United States immigration laws. The Immigration Act of 1965 let the non-European immigrants to settle in the U.S. This ended the immigration quotas that discriminated against people outside of Western Europe that were made by The Immigration Act of 1924 and National Origins Act of 1924.
In addition, the Great Society improved the Environment. The Water Quality Act of 1965 required the states to clean up rivers. Also Johnson had the government to search out the worst chemical polluters; which started the environmental movement in the U.S.
Finally, the Great Society also included consumer advocates who convinced the Congress to pass safety laws such as the truth-in-packaging law that set standards for labeling consumer goods.
Moreover Congress set safety standards for automobiles, tires, and foods(Wholesome Meat Act of 1967).
Without the Great Society we wouldn't have had today's better education, a health care, affordable housing, immigration from non-European countries, better environment, and consumer protection laws.

The Korean War

With the end of World War Two drawing close, the seemingly friendly alliances between America and the Soviet Union began to dissipate. With America following capitalism and the Soviet Union following communism, differences between the countries became more apparent. Fear of the spread of communism was ubiquitous in the United States. To buffer this dissemination, the U.S government tried to instill capitalism in foreign countries such as Korea. This was the basis of containment. The Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine were main examples of containment but the Korean War was a prime example of how far America would go to implement containment.

Korea was previously under control of Japan until 1945, after the World War, when Japanese troops surrendered. Troops north of the 38^th parallel surrendered to the Soviets and southern troops relinquished to the Americans. Simultaneously, two contrasting governments were set up in the North and South, those being communism and capitalism respectively. Kim Il Sung was the leader of the northern Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Syngman Rhee led the Republic of Korea in the south.

This separation of the nation, along with the US reduction of troops in the south instigated the Soviets to support the North in an attack to unify Korea. The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 when North Korean troops, along with Soviet planes and tanks, unexpectedly attacked South Korea. With the north advancing further south, South Korea resorted to the United Nations for help.

The UN drew up a plan of military action which was passed because the Soviet Union boycotted the council meeting and could not veto the plan. As a result, President Truman and 16 other nations sent 520,000 troops to help the South Koreans. An American fleet between Taiwan and China accompanied these troops. In order to lead the UN forces to victory, hero General Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the forces.

Though the situation seemed bleak with the southern forces cornered in Pusan, General MacArthur launched a counterattack. With fresh troops from US and a surprise amphibious attack, the UN forces pushed back enemy troops back to Inchon. Half of the troops surrendered and were chased across the 38^th parallel. However, when the UN troops approached the Yalu River on the border of North Korea and China, they had literally crossed the line. The Chinese, who happened to be communist, felt that they could not allow American forces come at such proximity to China.

The 300,000 Chinese troops joined the North Koreans with the hope that they will obtain North Korea as a buffer state to protect Manchuria. The large Chinese troops drove the smaller and exhausted UN troops south and even captured Seoul. The war became a stalemate with either side advancing and retreating.

MacArthur was anxious to end the stalemate and proposed extending the war to China by the use of nuclear weapons. Truman, just as obstinate as MacArthur, continually rejected his requests. However, when MacArthur went so far as to speak to Republican leaders about his plans of a war with China and criticized the president, he got himself fired.

Even after the commotion of the fall of MacArthur and the continuous war, there was hope when the Soviets suggested a cease fire on June 23, 1951. Both sides agreed to place the location of the cease fire lines at existing battle lines and establish demilitarized zones on both sides. After two years, an armistice that ended the war was signed in 1953. While containment had worked in the Korean War, 54,000 Americans died, $67 billion was expended and the Democratic Party declined in popularity. Also, the fear of communism remained prevalent and led to further atrocities.

Ashima and Ketki

Period C April 7,09

The Korean War

The Japanese had been in control of Korea from 1876 to 1945 because of the Treaty of Ganghwa.  However, after World War II ended, the Japanese north of the 38th parallel surrendered to the Soviets. The Japanese south of the 38th parallel surrendered to the Americans. In 1948 the Republic of Korea (South Korea) was established in the zone that had been occupied by the United States. The U.S. put Syngman Rhee as head of the government in South Korea, and the Soviets established the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in their territory (and Pyongyang as the capital) and put Kim Il Sung as head of the government. 

After WWII, the U.S. cut back their forces in South Korea and by June of 1949, only about 500 U.S. soldiers remained. The Soviets saw their chance to take over the entire penninsula, thinking that the U.S. would not fight to defend South Korea. The Soviets backed North Korea with tanks, planes, and lots of funds. 

On June 25th, 1950, North Korea surprise attacked South Korea which initiated the Korean War. Within the first couple of days, North Korea penetrated deep into South Korea and captured the capital, Seoul. South Korea pleaded for aid from the United Nations. When the U.N. Security Council held a meeting to pass a of military action, the Soviet Union was not present to protest the recognition of Taiwan. Therefore, the U.N.'s plan passed. 

On June 27th, 1950, Truman order American troops in Japan into South Korea to support them and Truman also sent a U.S. fleet into the ocean between China and Taiwan. In all, 16 nations with a combine 520,000 troops went to help South Korea (90% of those soldiers being American). With an additional 590,000 South Korean soldiers, all 1,110,000 soldiers were under the command of General Douglas MacArthur.

In September 1950, with the help of the Chinese, North Korea pushed South Korean troops south to the perimeter of Pusan. When the U.N. troops landed at Inchon, they helped the South Korean army push back up north from Pusan. The attack drove North Korea out of South Korea and the U.N. troops and South Korea took Pyongyang and advanced into the Yalu River. China however, wanted North Korea as a Communist buffer state to protest their northeastern provinces that made up Manchuria, so the Chinese drove the U.N. troops south in Korea, outnumbering their troops by 10 to 1. From November of 1950 to January of 1951, U.N. and South Korean troops retreated across the 38th parallel. 

The territories looked exactly the same before the Korean War started, and MacArthur wanted the extension of war into China and use nuclear weapons to break the stalemate. Truman heavily rejected to this use, and General Omar N. Bradley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also agreed, quoting "it was the wrong war, place, and time." Instead, Matthew B. Ridgway led the U.S. Eighth Army as a spearhead to take back Seoul on April 1951. 

MacArthur still wanted a war with China, and was unhappy with the unchanged territory. Truman still disagreed and fired him on April 11, 1951. At first, citizens were outraged by MacArthur's firing but later, they followed Truman and MacArthur gradually faded away.

On June 23, 1951, the Soviet Union requested a ceasefire and truce talks began the following month in July. Finally The S.U. and the U.S reached an agreement and the location of the ceasefire line was at the 38th parallel. The battle line established a demilitarized zone between the opposing sides. On July 1953, they signed the armistice, but the War has never officially ended. 

 

Alee & Bohsen

Marshall plan

As World War II came to a close, the fog of war lifted revealing a devastated and vulnerable Europe. The two fronts of the War had left the infrastructure and economy of Europe in ruins. Many factories were destroyed by bombs or were looted during the chaos. People had lost homes and lived in refugee camps. The Winter of 1946-1947 was especially hard on Europe increasing the difficulty to transport supplies by boat. In 1947, US secretary of State George Marshall,




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devised a plan to help the war torn Europe. He claimed the help was not for any specific country but to fight against poverty, hunger and chaos. Over four years, 1947 to 1951, the Marshall plan gave $13,000,000,000.00 in aid to Europe. Due to the main war ravaging Britain, France, and Italy, they received the largest amounts of aid.



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The plan worked and by 1952, West Europe was strong. This plan also helped the US policy of containment as communism, which could have taken over post-war Europe, was no longer attractive.



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The plan, however, did not help all of those torn by war but simply the European countries.

By Tyler and Katie