1963-1988


 * Multimedia: http:goanimate.com/videos/0wtE3dBwgzH4?utm_source=linkshare**

//**People by Importance:**// //Richard Nixon// //Lyndon B. Johnson// //Mikhail Gorbachev// //Ronald Reagan// //Sandra Day O'Connor// //Bill Gates// //John Lennon/Paul McCartney// //Henry Kissinger// //Leonid Brezhnev// //Jimmy Carter//

//**Events by Importance:**// //Vietnam War// //Watergate// //Apollo 11// //Pentagon Papers Published// //Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan// //Iran Hostage Crisis// //Three Mile Islan// //British Invasion// //Chernobyl Disaster// //Invasion of Grenada//

//**__The People__**// //**Richard Nixon (1913-1994) - Cody**// Why is he important? Why is he significant to US history?
 * 37th President of the United States
 * Prominately involved in the Watergate Scanel
 * Ended US involvement in the Vietnam War in 1973
 * Opened diplomatic relations with China after his visit to the People's Republic in 1972
 * Pardoned for all crimes by his successor Gerald Ford
 * Leaving the US war was a positive boost for the US economy
 * The Watergate Scandal shocked the nation and exposed the reality that there was corruption in the US government.
 * The Arab Oil Embargo indirectly led to US involvement in the Middle East

//** Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) **// Why is he important? //
 * President of the United States from 1963-1969
 * Had two major policy points: **the Great Society** and **the Vietnam War**
 * Great Society encompassed numerous liberal social programs as part of Johnson's "War on Poverty," such as the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Social Security Act of 1965, Medicare and Medicaid
 * Also credited with crystallizing most of Kennedy's unfulfilled civil rights goals by eliminating literacy tests for voters


 * The Vietnam War was the longest conflict in US history until the occupation of Afghanistan; because of its huge expenses, many of Johnson's Great Society programs went underfunded; many Americans eventually felt the war was either morally reprehensible or not worth fighting
 * Basically destroyed his political career; public resentment was so high that he bitterly declined to run for reelection in 1968

// Why is he significant to US history? //
 * Launched one of the longest, most expensive wars in US history that resulted in huge American distrust of the government and a thriving antiwar protest movement
 * Legacy of large-scale social programs, especially Medicare and Medicaid
 * First manifestation of modern liberalism (besides possibly FDR)


 * Mikhail Gorbachev - Tirthna **

// Why is he important? //


 * Head of State of the Soviet Union
 * Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990

// Why is he significant to US history? //


 * Attempts to reform with Reagan and his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims contributed to the ending of the Cold War
 * Actions led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union
 * Had it not been for his policies, thawing of the relations between the US and the USSR may not have occurred
 * Eased nuclear tensions worldwide



// Why is he important? // // Why is he significant to US history? //
 * Ronald Reagan - John Chavez **
 * 40th President
 * His domestic policy to address the stagflation situation involved Reagan Revolution promises and Supply-Side Economics (Reaganomics
 * Deregulated the economy
 * Star Wars or SDI
 * The INF Agreement with Gorbachev
 * With the aid of the soviets, ended the war between Iran and Iraq
 * Reaganomics increased the budget deficit by $200 billion a year, which has contributed to the $13 trillion we have now
 * This increase in the deficit called for the cease of the creation of new social programs and cut backs on existing ones
 * Essentially ended the Cold War through forcing the USSR into bankruptcy and working with the Soviets to rebuild



Why is he important?
 * Bill Gates (1955-present) **
 * Founder and current chairman of Microsoft
 * Consistently ranking among the World's wealthiest people
 * One of the best known entrepreneurs of the modern computer era

Why is he significant to US history?
 * Inspired American's to become entrepreneurs, as he became rich off of his own idea
 * Helped progress the computer immensley with his various Microsoft products


 * John Lennon/Paul McCartney - Thomas **

// Why is he important? // // Why is he significant to United States history? //
 * Leaders of the "British Invasion" of the United States, referring to the popularity of British rock musicians
 * Influenced music in a profound manner with their revolutionary songs
 * Broke many of the musical records of the day
 * Helped to define the counterculture of the period
 * Shaped American culture for the years to come with their songs and lifestyles


 * Sandra Day O'Connor - Tirthna **

// Why is she important? //


 * American jurist, first female member of the US Supreme Court
 * Appointed by Reagan in 1981
 * Received criticism by Conservatives

// Why is she significant to US history? //


 * Worked on cases involving minorities (voted against the litigant in all but 2 of the 42 cases)
 * Criticized Roe v Wade
 * May I repeat that she was the first woman to be a member of the Supreme Court



// Why is he important? //
 * Henry Kissinger (born May 27, 1923) **
 * Noble Prize recipient
 * Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under Nixon and Ford, political advisor to numerous presidents before and after
 * Political theorist, promoted theory of "realpolitik" (political operations not based on ethical or moral ideals, but realistic, practical understandings of power relations)
 * Designed or was heavily involved in many major US policies during the Cold War era, including:
 * Detente, reduced tensions with the USSR (SALT 1), and closer relations with China
 * Vietnamization
 * Bombing of Laos and Cambodia
 * Support for overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile
 * Closer relations with Egypt precipitated Egyptian support for Israel under Hosni Mubarak

// Why is he significant to US history? //
 * His policies and political ideas persist through US foreign policy and he was a major consultant on some important national security decisions like the invasion of Iraq and support for Suharto in Indonesia
 * He basically designed Richard Nixon's Cold War ideas, which saw a reduction of tensions and undermining the Sino-Soviet alliance
 * He remains one of the foremost national security intellectuals in US politics


 * Leonid Brezhnev - Thomas **

// Why is he important? // // Why is he significant to United States history? //
 * His time as leader of the USSR was second only to that of Stalin's
 * Expanded the Soviet military drastically during this period
 * Expanded Soviet influence internationally drastically
 * Overlooked severe economic problems that would help initiate the fall of the USSR
 * Invasion of Afghanistan helped to hasten the fall of the USSR
 * Participated in the detente relations between the USSR and US

// Why is he important? // // Why is he significant to US history? //
 * Jimmy Carter - John Chavez **
 * 39th President
 * Foreign policy centered around the protection and preservation of human rights around the world
 * Transferred the Panama Canal back to Panama through the Panama Canal Treaty
 * The Camp David Accords negotiated a peace settlement between Egypt and Israel
 * SALT II Treaty continued in the reduction of arms
 * His incompetence caused him to make a series of blunders, in particular, the Iran Hostage Crisis
 * The domestic problem of stagflation caused unrest in the American public
 * A weak leader, he was eschewed by Reagan's charisma and was dismissed as one of the most ineffective leaders of America

// What caused it? // // What is its significance? //
 * __The Events__**
 * Vietnam War (technically 1955-1975) **
 * French colonization in Indochina
 * All the major world powers - USSR, China, US, UK, and Japan - struggle to protect French domination of Vietnam
 * Ho Chi Minh leads Viet Minh resistance movement for independence from France
 * Vietnam partitioned into North and South at the 17th parallel
 * Geneva Accords of 1954 called for unification and national elections in Vietnam
 * Began in 1955 with American support by Eisenhower for the South Vietnamese military in fighting the Viet Minh - military aid and advisers to Ngo Diem's government
 * Viet Minh started fighting back in 1959, US organized deforestation and strategic hamlet programs to resist the new evolution of the Viet Minh, called the National Liberation Front
 * In the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964, patrolling American destroyers were allegedly fired on by North Vietnamese gunboats
 * Johnson used this as a justification from Congress to hugely expand the American military presence in Vietnam and start the bombing campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder

// How did it help shape the United States? //
 * Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive against US bases and civilian centers in South Vietnam on the Vietnamese New Year "Tet" - the Americans rapidly regained all lost ground, and in fact the Offensive is widely regarded as an American victory, but it demonstrated to national security planners that the costs of the war were too high to maintain the presence
 * Huge antiwar protests across the United States
 * Nixon withdrew American forces through Vietnamization but launched a secret bombing campaign of Cambodia and Laos
 * Cost the US about $600 billion overall and about 60,000 soldiers dead or missing
 * "Vietnam syndrome" - Americans were resistant to any foreign military intervention by their government (ex: Ronald Reagan in El Salvador) for a long period
 * "Credibility gap" between the citizenry and the government
 * First televised war; media heavily involved in the war effort
 * Change in tactics - large scale cluster bombs no longer a popular military tactic

// What caused it? //
 * British Invasion (1960s) - John Chavez **
 * Rock and roll and blues in the Americas influenced British youth in the late 1950s
 * The combination of American rock and roll with British styles, culminating in the likes of...
 * The Beatles
 * The Rolling Stones
 * The Kinks

// Why is it important? // // How did it help shape the United States? //
 * American music lost popularity in exchange for British music
 * Display of sharing of ideas, in this case, musically
 * Combined with previous American rock music, the British laid the foundation for succeeding musical movements
 * Internationalized the production of rock and roll
 * Ended other musical movements, such as surf music and girl groups
 * Americans were exposed to a different kind of music, and was influenced by it
 * Impressed Americans to accept music from other areas of the world
 * American bands conformed to the British style
 * Became the inspiration for future musical movements




 * Pentagon Papers Published (1971) - Thomas **

// What caused it? // // Why is it important? // // How did it help shape the United States? //
 * Vietnam War
 * Tet Offensive
 * Lyndon Johnson's presidency
 * Operation Menu
 * Growth of the counter-culture
 * Displayed that the government had lied about many key components of the Vietnam War
 * Published in the New York Times and a wide audience of people read the leak
 * Displayed deceitful and dirty actions of the government in foreign affairs
 * Helped to foster even more anti-government sentiments
 * Caused frustration and anger at Johnson's administration and the presidents surrounding his term in office


 * Soviets Invasion of Afghanistan (1978) - Tirthna **

// What caused it? //


 * Soviet support in the new Afghan government
 * Soviet-style reforms were not received well by a population that was deeply influenced by Islamic culture
 * Virtual civil war

// Why is it important? //


 * Beginning of first battles and Soviet occupation in Afghanistan
 * Presence of troops did not have the desired effects that the Soviets wanted in order to pacify the country

// How did it help shape the US? //


 * Some fighting between the Afghan government and other nations was supported by the United States
 * Weapons for the invasion made available by the US


 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/SovietInvasionAfghanistanMap.png caption="File:SovietInvasionAfghanistanMap.png"]] ||
 * File:SovietInvasionAfghanistanMap.png ||

// What caused it? // // Why is it important? // // How did it help shape the United States? //
 * Iran Hostage Crisis (1979-1981) - John Chavez **
 * America's favor for the Shah: America has long since developed a strong relationship with the Shah government in Iran, aiding him in overthrowing the Prime Minster as a means of gaining access to Iranian oil
 * The Westernization of Iran: It became prosperous through Western contact, which clashed with the Islamic clergy
 * The Shah's dictatorship
 * The Iranian/Islamic Revolution
 * Displayed Carter's ineffectiveness as a leader, as shown by the failed attempts to rescue them; his career was essentially destroyed by this
 * Further increased stagflation in the US because Iran deprived America of its oil
 * Patriotism increased
 * Reagan is seen as a hero because the hostages were released after his inauguration
 * Iran-Iraq War began right after the release
 * Unstable relationship with Iran, even today
 * Inexperienced presidential candidates were generally frowned upon


 * Three Mile Island accident (March 28, 1979) - Tirthna **

// What caused it? //


 * Cooling malfunction causing part of the core to melt in the TMI-2 reactor (whatever that means)
 * The TMI-2 reactor got destroyed
 * Science happened
 * Oh also some radioactive gas was released

// Why is it important? //


 * 140,000 people had to be evacuated from the area
 * Less than 50% of the American public was satisfied with how the crisis was handled

// How did it help shape the US? //


 * Turning point in the international development in nuclear power
 * More opposition to nuclear plants
 * Stricter federal requirements for nuclear plants
 * Inspiration for Charles Perrow's Normal Accident Theory


 * File:Carter TMI-2.jpg ||
 * File:Carter TMI-2.jpg ||

// What caused it? // // What is its significance? //
 * Invasion of Grenada (1983) **
 * British colonization in Latin America
 * Grenadian independence from the UK in 1974
 * Grenada begins construction of Port Salines International Airport; US accuses it of being a plot to aid Cuba and the USSR
 * Leftist New Jewel Movement took power in Caribbean island of Grenada in 1979
 * Political opponents led a bloody coup against PM Maurice Bishop in 1983
 * US commenced an invasion of Grenada on October 25 1983
 * Pretense of defending American medical students at a Grenada university

// How did it help shape the United States? //
 * About 7000 US troops involved; Cuba contributed 700 to the 1500 Grenadian defending soldiers
 * Seized two airports and captured numerous Cuban and Soviet diplomats
 * First major post-Vietnam military operation by the US
 * Prime example of containment
 * Illuminated problems with the US government's information apparatus (many false reports and statistics passed around)
 * Exacerbated US-Soviet tensions


 * Chernobyl Disaster (1986) - Thomas **

// What caused it? // // Why is it important? // // How did it help shape the United States? //
 * Dropping of the atomic bombs
 * Lack of Soviet safety culture
 * Cold War
 * Deficient plant designs
 * Incompetent plant managers
 * 31 people were killed directly by the accident
 * Thousands more died of cancer as the radiation cloud passed west over the rest of Europe
 * Contaminated the surrounding land for years
 * Led to anti-nuclear campaigns due to the lack of safety of the plants
 * Led to more safety required in American plants
 * Led to even more distrust of the Soviet Union due to their silence in the immediate aftermath of the disaster

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