Grand Canyon University HIS-450: Johnson's Presidency and Vietnam

This assignment delves into key historical events and their impact during President Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency. It examines the Great Society initiative, its goals of poverty reduction and civil rights, and its long-term effectiveness. The assignment also explores the Warren Court, analyzing its influence on civil rights, civil liberties, and judicial power, including controversial rulings and their effects on American society. Furthermore, the document addresses the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the circumstances surrounding it, and its role in escalating the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive's impact on U.S. foreign and domestic policies, alongside the media's influence on public opinion, is also discussed. Finally, the assignment analyzes the Six-Day War, the U.S.'s involvement, and the debate over land restitution, providing a comprehensive overview of these pivotal moments in American and international history. The document utilizes research and analysis to provide insights into these crucial historical periods.

Running head: HISTORY
History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note

1HISTORY
1. The history says that President Lyndon B. Johnson led the Great Society to an aspiring
set of policy proposals, legislation and services focused on poverty removal, crime
reduction, discrimination and climate change. The plan of Johnson in order to eliminate
racial injustices along with poverty was established by The Great Society. The expression
‘Great Society’ had been used by Johnson when the speech had been given in the Ohio
University. Johnson has played a key role in the implementation of the system. The
Appalachian Regional Development Act was considered to be perfect legislation during
‘65’. It has received over $1 billion in grants for ventures underlining economic growth.
Many of these agendas were obviously related to poverty and civil rights (Aaron, 2010).
In the last fifty years, civil law has been a wonderful topic of debate. It is very
unfortunate that racism still exists among individuals of the US. On the other hand,
poverty is another thing to worry about. Numerous people are really suffering from
poverty. Therefore, it is a big thing around the society of the US. Johnson knew that to
fight with poverty would not be an easy task. Therefore, several initiatives had been taken
by him, such as creating employment opportunities, helping people to develop their job
skills through training, reforming the education system (Bellah et al., 2011).
2. Starting from the period of 5th October 1953 to 23rd June 1969 the Warren Court was
operated in which Earl Warren served his duties as the Chief Justice of the US Supreme
Court. The Warren Court was regarded as one of the two most important moments in the
constitutional law of America, along with John Marshall, who had served his duties as the
Chief Justice of Marshall from 1801 to 1835 (Feld, 2002). Contrary to any court before or
after the Warren Court, civil rights, civil freedoms and the authority of judges and the
government have grown significantly. Many authors are of the view that Chief Justice,

2HISTORY
Warren used his political power to steer the court to make sometimes controversial
decisions widening both civil and judicial rights significantly. Nowadays, the Warren
Court has been praised and criticized for ending racial discrimination in the US, by freely
applying the Bill of Rights through the 14th Amendment to the Due Process Clause and
terminating state-sponsored public education prayers (Lain, 2003).
There is no doubt that some of the decisions taken by the Warren Court have a great
impact on American society, but some rulings, such as the disintegration of schools, the
separation of church and state, and freedom of speech are controversial and cannot be
supported.
3. President Lyndon Johnson had been allowed to ‘take every required measure to resist the
armed assault on the forces of U.S. and avoid additional aggression’ by the Communist
government of North Vietnam through the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. On 7th August
1964, it was adopted by the United States. Congress was deployed off the coastline of
Vietnam, after a suspected attack on two U.S. marine destroyers. The complete
participation of America in the Vietnamese war was essentially triggered by the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution (Bracknell, 2006).
The United States always considered Asia as a maritime threat. The Second World War is
remembered as ‘Pacific War’ in the United States. It can be said very appropriately from
the United States point of view; the battle was mostly waged by the US forces at sea or
through the Pacific Ocean with an anti-amphibious landing. Nevertheless, because of a
confluence of circumstances, the United States has historically favoured the sea. Before it
was a military power, it was a massive maritime trading force. Due to the geographical
location of America, naval forces have always been dominant to America’s projection of

3HISTORY
power into Asia. The extension of the Pacific between the United States and Asia isolates
the US from the so-called threat of Asian ground troops, however large they were and
therefore the incident was not enough to start a land war in Asia.
4. The Tet offensive was a concerted series of attacks by North Vietnam in over 100 South
Vietnamese cities and outports. The offensive sought to promote resistance among the
people of South Vietnam and persuade the USA to end the Vietnam war. While U.S. and
South Vietnamese forces were able to stop attacks, massive offensive media coverage
stunned the US public and weakened support for the war effort.
The Tet Offensive was a significant turning point in the war. This had an enormous
impact because the leaders had to change their policies because of Vietcong's power and
awareness. Politicians had never thought that such rice farmers in South Vietnam were
able to pull out a surprising national attack.
There is still debate over the role of the media during the Vietnam War. Many think the
media has been a major contributor to the US loss. According to the critics, the tendency
of Media to reported negatively has contributed towards undermining US war support,
while the open coverage provided Vietnam’s enemy with vital information. Nevertheless,
a number of experts, who researched the role of the media, found that most coverages
supported the US intervention in Vietnam before 1968 (Robinson, 2005).
5. The six-day war was a short yet sanguinary confrontation between Israel and the
Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian countries in June 1967. Israel Defence's Forces laid the
foundations for preemptive airstrikes, which crippled the Egyptian air force and the allies,
following years of diplomatic friction and skirtings between Israel and its neighbours.

4HISTORY
However, the brief war ended in a UN-broken cessation of fire, but the Mideast map was
changed significantly, and geopolitical frictions continued to persist.
The role of the American in the 1967 war was also affected by their earlier participation
in the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. The Egyptians did not offer a concession in exchange,
following President Dwight Eisenhower's pressurized Israel to abandon Sharm el-Sheikh.
Nevertheless, Eisenhower greatly promised that Israel's right of passage in the Straits of
Tiran would be assured by the USA. The United States also supported a United Nations
resolution recognizing the participation of Egyptians and Israelis in the United Nations
Emergency Force.
Several citizens in Israel called for the territories to be removed immediately. Others
were in favour of withdrawal in exchange for peace only with the Arab countries
surrounding them. However, Israel entered into a land-for-peace deal with Egypt in 1979,
including the withdrawal of Israel from the Sinai (Oren, 2017).

5HISTORY
Reference
Aaron, H. (2010). Politics and the professors: The great society in perspective. Brookings
Institution Press.
Bellah, R., Madsen, R., Tipton, S., Sullivan, W., & Swidler, A. (2011). Good Society. Vintage.
Bracknell, R. G. (2006). Real Facts, Magic Language, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and
Constitutional Authority to Commit Forces to War. New Eng. J. Int'l & Comp. L., 13,
167.
Feld, B. C. (2002). Race, politics, and juvenile justice: The Warren court and the conservative
backlash. Minn. L. Rev., 87, 1447.
Lain, C. B. (2003). Countermajoritarian Hero or Zero-Rethinking the Warren Court's Role in the
Criminal Procedure Revolution. U. Pa. L. Rev., 152, 1361.
Oren, M. B. (2017). Six days of war: June 1967 and the making of the modern Middle East.
Presidio Press.
Robinson, P. (2005). The CNN effect: The myth of news, foreign policy and intervention.
Routledge.