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“The pursuit of this widened war has narrowed domestic welfare programs, making ...

Oct 11, 2023

“The pursuit of this widened war has narrowed domestic welfare programs, making the poor, white and Negro, bear the heaviest burdens both at the front and at home. . . . It is estimated that we spend 53.00 for each person classified as ‘poor.’ . . . We have escalated the war in Viet Nam and deescalated the skirmish against poverty. It challenges the imagination to contemplate what lives we could transform if we were to cease killing.” —Martin Luther King Jr. speech, “The Casualties of War in Vietnam,” 1967 7. The speech was written most directly in response to which of the following? (A) The refusal of the federal government to desegregate the military (B)The failure of the Great Society to significantly reduce poverty in the United States (C)The focus of the Republican Party on international issues at the expense of domestic issues (D)Frustrations over the inability of the civil rights movement to persuade Congress to pass meaningful civil rights legislation 8. The excerpt reflects which of the following trends? (A) The growth of the antiwar movement in the 1960s as the Vietnam War escalated (B) The refusal of protest movements in the 1960s to draw connections between economic and foreign policy issues (C) The success of anti-Communist propaganda in silencing opposition to government policies (D) The shift in tactics of the civil rights movement from civil disobedience to violent resistance

Key Concept

KC-8.2.III.D: As the Vietnam War escalated and increasingly appeared to the American public to be a stalemate, protests against the war grew and led to a range of reactions.

Explanation

Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech was a direct response to the escalation of the Vietnam War and the impact it had on domestic issues, particularly poverty. He criticizes the government's focus on international conflict at the expense of domestic welfare programs, which aligns with option C. 8.

Key Concept

KC-8.2.III.D: As the Vietnam War escalated and increasingly appeared to the American public to be a stalemate, protests against the war grew and led to a range of reactions.

Explanation

The excerpt reflects the growth of the antiwar movement in the 1960s as the Vietnam War escalated. Martin Luther King Jr. was a prominent figure in this movement, and his speech reflects the growing discontent and opposition to the war, which aligns with option A.

What was the impact of the Vietnam War on domestic issues?, How did the antiwar movement grow in the 1960s?, What was Martin Luther King Jr.'s stance on the Vietnam War?