US History Final - Vietnam and the Troubled Years

I. Constitution

A. separation of powers - 3 branches and responsibilities

B. checks and balances - declaring war, passing laws and regulations, civil liberties,

minority rights

II. Vietnam

A. "part of a wider pattern" - domino theory, nationalism

B. 3 Act Analysis - Descent, Americanization, Tet, Vietnamization

- see class notes

- Tet as a turning point

- know how presidents guided policy: Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon

C. evaluation

- Why didn't the US prevent a communist take over of Vietnam?

- What role did US play in Cambodian genocide and refugee crisis?

- What lessons should voters, politicians and military leaders learn from the US'

Vietnam experiences? Consider political, military AND cultural lessons.

- Is Vietnam a good parallel for Iraq today?

III. Troubled Years

A. Empowerment Movements

1. cases - leaders, organizations, issues and turning points

2. motives and methods - political theater, militancy, non-violence

- women's movements

- Native American rights

- gay rights

- farm workers

- Black Power

B. Counter culture - Woodstock Nation, Yippies

IV. Cold Collapse

A.. evaluate factors in collapse of communism

- economic - authoritarianism

- strategic - SDI, arms races, alliances

- internal - nationalism, dissent, imposition v revolution

B. Chinese, Cuban and Korean exceptionalism

C. interpreting the Cold War - did we win?

V. Dates

- end of WWII

- presidential administrations: Eisenhower à JFK à LBJ à Nixon

- Vietnam

- Diem's "Referendum" - Kent State protests

- Tonkin Gulf Resolution - withdrawal of US combat troops

- Tet Offensive - fall of Saigon

- Collapse of Communism

- fall of Berlin Wall - collapse of Soviet Union

VI. Map

- China - Korea - Iraq - Iran

- Vietnam - Japan - Laos

- USSR - Cambodia - Philippines