Replies to discussions

There are two discussions I need to respond too. 100 words for both discussions. Needs to be done right away.

Discussion 1:

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson presented “The Great Society” speech.  In this speech, Johnson declared war on poverty and racism. This legislation included laws upholding civil rights, public broadcasting, Medicare, Medicaid, environmental protection, aid to education, and the abolition of poverty. I will argue that that when he signed the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 outlawing most forms of racial segregation and providing equal housing opportunities regardless of race, creed, or national origin, and passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawing discrimination in voting was his greatest accomplishment during his presidency. In my opinion, The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1968 gave black people back their dignity, pride, and in sense their freedom. Black people felt that they were now a part of America.

LBJ also appointed Thurgood Marshall as the first African American justice on the Supreme Court Signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Higher Education Act to improve funding to schools, especially those in poor districts. Established the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts to support humanists and artists and created programs to tackle poverty such as Head Start, food stamps, Work Study, Medicare, and Medicaid. I will say this his gun control policy act was one of his greatest mistakes domestically because it interfered with the 2ndamendment the right to bear arms. He came up with the policy to lessen gun violence after Kennedy was assassinated, but the problem was that he outlawed a great amount of weaponry, allowing only guns for sporting purposes. Another thing, this policy was not well thought out, it went through many different phases of revision because the simple fact is that was incomplete. I think because he was close to JFK and that he witnessed his assassination that his emotions maybe overpowered his decision professionally in regards to the gun control policy.  

Despite of the accomplishments that Johnson made domestically, the Vietnam War overshadowed his domestic affairs. Which is so messed up when you think about because LBJ did not initiate the American involvement in Vietnam. Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy were the ones who made it so the U.S. would and could intervene.  However, LBJ made the decision to Americanize the conflict in Vietnam.  Despite promises to bring a swift end to American involvement in Indochina, Johnson steadily increased the number of U.S. troops deployed to Vietnam, hoping to ensure a U.S. victory before withdrawing forces. No American president had yet "lost" a war, and Johnson hoped he wouldn't be the first. By the end of his second term as president, his approval rates had plummeted and his hopes for bringing an end to the war in Vietnam had dissolved.  In my opinion, LBJ had the opportunity to have a great legacy behind the Vietnam War if he have ended it and brought the soldiers home, but his pride got the best of him because he was to stuck on what other Presidents had accomplished with previous wars .  

"Lyndon B. Johnson: Domestic Affairs." Miller Center. Accessed March 30, 2017. https://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson/domestic-affairs.

Discussion 2:

 Kennedy administation contributed to the peaceful resolution of the Cuban Missile crisis and refrained from further escalation of the 1961 Berlin crisis. He initiated the creation of peace corps, arms control and disarmament Agency and Alliance for progress in 1961. He signed the partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty , which was accepted by the Soviet union and The United Kingdom. He was praised for having a less rigid view of the world than his predecessor Dwight Eisenhower and for accepting the world's diversity, as well as improving US standing in the third world.

John F Kennedy 's foreign policy's biggest mistake was the Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. It was ill conceived from the beginning.  JFK administration sent a small  untrained force  who are mostly Cuban exiles to invade and overthrow Fidel Castro. The invasion ended up being a disaster! The first plan was to destroy  Castro's tiny Air Force. On April 15 1961, a group of Cubans exile left in a squadron of America B-26 Bombers, painted to look like stolen cuban planes and conducted a strike against Cuban airfields. However, it turned out that Castro already knew about the raid. The Cuban exile brigade began its invasion at an isolated spot on the island's southern shore known as the Bay of Pigs. Castro's troops succeeded in capturing the invaders on the beach. The exiles surrendered after less than a day of fighting; 114 were killed and over 1,100 were taken as prisoners. This defeat undermined America's powerful image in the face of the cold war and also mirrored  America's national security leadership as too feeble to deal with the Soviets.

http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/bay-of-pigs-invasion