Social Movements and Backlash

📋 Course Outline

1. Vietnam War and American social upheaval
2. Anti-war movement and draft resistance
3. Civil rights struggle and desegregation
4. Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Bill
5. Urban riots and Civil Rights movement split
6. Beur movement against racism in France
7. Second-wave feminism in the United States
8. Second-wave feminism in France
9. Abortion rights and Roe v Wade
10. Stonewall and modern Gay liberation movement
11. LGBTQIA+ legal advances in France
12. Rise of conservatism and backlash

📖 1. Vietnam War and American social upheaval

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Domino theory : A foreign-policy idea that treats the fall of one country to communism as likely to trigger further communist takeovers nearby.
• Gulf of Tonkin incident : A 1964 event that led the United States to present itself as the victim and to justify escalation against North Vietnam.
• Operation Rolling Thunder : A 1965 U.S. bombing campaign aimed at weakening North Vietnam’s morale.
• Strategic hamlet program : A U.S.-backed program meant to control rural areas in South Vietnam by relocating peasants to fortified settlements.
• Vietnamization : A Nixon-era policy shifting combat responsibility to South Vietnamese forces while the U.S. reduced its troop presence.

📝 Essential Points