AP US History (Mr. Palmieri)
Semester Two, Unit Four: The US in the Modern Era, 1960-1992
In this unit we will continue to follow the politics of the Cold War after 1963, including United States involvement in Vietnam. Later we will witness the fall of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. We will meet powerful and influential executives including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan. We will explore the Civil Rights Movement and other rights movements that express the views of those long forced to take a back seat to others in society.
Wednesday, April 9: The Civil Rights Movement (c. 27) 817-829
1. What progress towards Civil Rights occurred during WWII? How was the movement affected by the war?
2. What action did President Truman take regarding civil rights in 1947?
3. What grievances did Mexican-Americans of the Southwest have?
4. What was decided in Brown vs. Board of Education and what impacts did the decision have?
5. What role did Eisenhower play with regards to civil rights? What were his attitudes towards civil rights?
Vocab: Double V Campaign, CORE, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Thurgood Marshall, Brown II, Little Rock
Central High School, massive resistance
Thursday, April 10: The Civil Rights Movement (c. 27) 829-838
6. What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott, what strategies were used, and what were the results?
7. What were the Freedom Rides, who took them, what effects did they have?
8. What role did Martin Luther King play in the Civil Rights Movement? Discuss his background and the
ideas and events he is most known for.
9. What was achieved with the Voting Rights Act of 1965? What impacts did it have?
Vocab: Emmett Till, Rosa Parks, SCLC, Greensboro Sit-Ins, SNCC, Ella Baker, Freedom Sum., March on Wash.
Monday, April 14: Black Power, Chicano Rights, the American Indian Movement (c. 27) 838-845
10. How did movements such as those of Malcolm X, Stokeley Carmichael and Black Power, and the Black
Panthers diverge from the Civil Rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr.?
11. What causes were there for the urban riots of the late 1960’s?
12. What organizations, individuals, and tactics characterized the Chicano Rights Movement?
13. Discuss Red Power and the AIM, including events at Alcatraz and Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
Vocab: Nation of Islam, YLO, Watts Riots, La Raza Unida
Document 27-7, Malcolm X - Black Nationalism (1964) and write three questions
Wednesday, April 16: Johnson and The Great Society, Vietnam and the Counterculture (c. 28) 848-855
14. What characterized Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty”?
15. What were the initiatives of LBJ’s “Great Society”? What successes and failures did he have?
Vocab: Economic Opportunity Act, NOW
Thursday, April 17: 1968, Year of Turmoil, and the Women’s Rights Movement (c. 28) 855-863
16. Discuss ways in which the US became fully involved in fighting the Vietnam War after 1965.
17. Discuss protests that began against the draft and against US involvement in Vietnam.
18. Discuss and describe the counterculture that emerged in the late 1960’s.
Vocab: Operation Rolling Thunder, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Students for a Democratic Society, Port Huron
Statement, Free Speech Movement, Woodstock
Friday, April 18: Vietnam and Domestic Turmoil (c.28) 863-870
19. What was the Tet Offensive? Its impact on the war in Vietnam and on the war’s perception in the US?
20. What happened to the democrats in the 1968 election? Who ran, who didn’t run, and describe the scene at
the National Convention in Chicago.
21. What efforts, goals, and successes were had by feminists and those in the women’s rights movement?
22. In the Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan described stereotypical middle class women’s lives and questioned
women’s feeling about that role. What was the Mystique and did this image conform to reality? (p. 854-55)
Vocab: Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy, George Wallace, Hubert Humphrey, Stonewall
Monday, April 21: Nixon’s Presidency and Watergate (c. 28) 870-875
23. What happened under Nixon that expanded the Vietnam War? What things happened to continue Americans’
negative perceptions of the war? How did the war end?
24. Explain détente and interaction with China and Moscow during Nixon’s presidency.
25. What was Watergate and what were the results of Watergate?
Vocab: SALT I, Vietnamization, My Lai, Henry Kissinger, CREEP, Deep Throat, John Mitchell, John Dean
Document 28-17, Watergate – Taped White House Conversations (1972) and write three questions
Tuesday/Weds., April 22/23 (EXDAY): Civil Rights and Women’s Rights (c. 29) 890-901
26. What strengths of Jimmy Carter got him elected and what caused his popularity to drop once in office?
27. Describe and discuss opposition to Affirmative Action and bussing.
28. What success and what setbacks did the Women’s Rights and Women’s Liberation Movements have?
Vocab: Our Bodies Ourselves, ERA, Phyllis Schlafly, affirmative action, Bakke v. U. Cal., Roe v. Wade, H. Milk
Thursday, April 24: 1970’s Economy and Environ. (c. 29) 882-890 (to: “Politics in Flux”)
29. What caused the energy crisis of the 1970’s? What economic challenges did the US face in the 1970’s?
30. What causes did environmentalists advocate for? What successes did they have?
Vocab: Earth Day, Three Mile Island, OPEC, Rachel Carson/Silent Spring, EPA, Prop. 13, Rust Belt
Friday, April 25: Politics and the Carter Presidency (c. 30) 912-921
31. What ideas were embraced and stressed by Conservatives from the mid 1960’s to the 1980’s?
32. What was Carter’s greatest foreign policy achievement? How did events in Iran undermine his presidency?
33. What Reagan strengths/advantages and Carter weaknesses/disadvantages led to Reagan’s 1980 victory?
Vocab: Barry Goldwater, the “New Right,” Moral Majority, Jerry Falwell, Panama Canal Treaty, Camp David
Accords, SALT II, 1980 Summer Olympics
Monday, April 28: Conservatism and the Reagan Presidency (c. 30) 921-940
34. What was Reaganomics (supply-side economics) and what financial policies did it include?
35. What events, individuals, and companies shaped the Computer Revolution?
36. What was the Iran-Contra Affair that marred Reagan’s second term?
37. How was the United States under the Reagan and George HW Bush administration’s intervening in Central
America and the Caribbean? Use the map on 933 in searching for years 1980-1992.
38. What was Ronald Reagan’s legacy?
39. How did the US become involved in the Persian Gulf War?
Vocab: deregualtion, Sandra Day O’Conner, HIV/AIDS, Gorbachev, Star Wars (SDI), glasnost/perestroika,
Saddam Hussein, Kuwait
Tuesday, April 29: Unit Four Review
Wednesday, April 30: Unit Four Test
Thursday, May 1: Unit Four Test
1969 Individual Research and Discussion - Type out info about your person. Include:
A) A brief background of who you are and why you are prominent (what you are known for in 1969)
B) How do you feel about the war in Vietnam?
C) How do you feel about Civil Rights?
D) How do you feel about the state of government in the US and the role of government in the US?
E) How are you connected to any of the other individuals?
: 1970’s, Religion and Family (c. 29) 901-910
31. Pick 4 TV shows from the 70’s, explain their content/themes and what you think they reflect about the 70’s.
32. What characterized the Fourth Great Awakening? What in it is reminiscent of earlier Great Awakenings?
Vocab: Earl Warren, Miranda v. Arizona
Document 29-3, National Problems, 1950-1999, and write three questions