The Stormy Sixties & the Stalemated Seventies 1960 - 1980

1. The Stormy Sixties & theStalemated Seventies1960 - 1980 Part II History 1302 Mr. Houze

2. A Multitude of MovementsC. The ‘New Left’ & the Counterculture • While legally and materially more secure than their minority counter-parts, white youth joined in the decades dissent – supporting black civil rights, the antiwar movement, and the new feminist and environmental movements • In 1960, white students formed the Students for a Democratic Society [SDS] from an older socialist-oriented organization – attacking the powerlessness and alienated created by a bureaucratic society, the complacency of the older generation, and the aloofness of decision makers • SDS sought to mobilize a ‘New Left’ around the ideas of peace, civil rights, and universal economic security

3. A Multitude of MovementsC. The ‘New Left’ & the Counterculture (cont.) • In 1964, the first large-scale white student protest occurred at the University of California, Berkeley – set off when university officials banned student organizations from recruiting for various causes • They launched the ‘free speech’ movement – occupying the administration building and leading to the arrests of more than 700 students by police

4. A Multitude of MovementsC. The ‘New Left’ & the Counterculture (cont.) • The ‘free speech’ movement led to hundreds of building occupations and student rallies on campuses across the country – the largest of which centered on opposition to the Vietnam War • The ‘baby boom’ generation provided the bulk of the student rebels and, as children of the middle class, they attacked the very system that made their rebellion possible • Overlapping the New Left and student movements was the ‘counter-culture’ which drew on the values of the Beatniks [Beats] of the 1950s – these ‘hippies’ or cultural radicals rejected mainstream values such as the work ethic, rationality, order, materialism, and sexual control

5. A Multitude of MovementsC. The ‘New Left’ & the Counterculture (cont.) • During the 1960s, Rock and folk music often carried political and social messages – defining both the counterculture and the political left through groups such as the Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles • By the 1970s, hippies began to fade away but many aspects of the counterculture (such as long hair, rock music, jeans, and new social attitudes such as sexual permissiveness) had become mainstream

6. A Multitude of MovementsC. The ‘New Left’ & the Counterculture (cont.) • Overlapping the New Left and student movements was the ‘counter-culture’ which drew on the values of the Beatniks [Beats] of the 1950s – these ‘hippies’ or cultural radicals rejected mainstream values such as the work ethic, rationality, order, materialism, and sexual control

7. A Multitude of MovementsD. The Environment • Liberalism was redefined by the environmental movement – the agenda of conservationists who focused on the effects of industrial development on human life and health • In 1962, biologist Rachel Carson drew national attention with her bestseller Silent Spring – a book which described the harmful effects of DDT and other toxic chemicals on the environment Rachel Carson

8. A Multitude of MovementsD. The Environment (cont.) • The federal government responded to these concerns by setting out broad environmental regulations in the 1960s and ’70s – creating the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], and passing the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Occupational Safety and Health Act [OSHA] • Still, the dominant value of economic growth often overrode environmental concerns – particularly when antigovernment sentiments rose and the economy slumped

9. A Multitude of MovementsE. The New Wave of Feminism • In the 1940s, large demographic changes brought about by WWII laid the preconditions for a resurgence of feminism – these included the importance of women’s paid work to the economy, the democratization of higher education, the awakening of women to the confines of their domesticity, and their high aspirations to escape routine domestic jobs • By the early 1960s, government policy initiatives began to mirror these transformations and small bands of women’s rights activists began to demand change • In 1961, Kennedy responded by creating the President’s Commission on the Status of Women [PCSW] – a commission charged with investigating the practice of paying women less than men for the same work

10. A Multitude of MovementsE. The New Wave of Feminism (cont.) • In October 1963, feminist Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique – a book which attacked sex discrimination in America • Then, in June 1963, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act – legislation that made wage disparities based on gender illegal and enabled women to win pay increases and back pay worth millions of dollars

11. A Multitude of MovementsE. The New Wave of Feminism (cont.) • In 1966, Betty Friedan and others founded the National Organiza-tion for Women [NOW] – a civil rights organization for women dedicated to enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which extended affirmative action to women • A more radical ‘women’s liberation movement’ also grew among New Left and civil rights activists through the activities of two white women – Mary King and Casey Hayden • Through the women’s liberation movement women began to speak out about their frustration with subordinate roles, relations with men, personal experiences such as rape and abortion, and against the devaluation of women

12. A Multitude of MovementsE. The New Wave of Feminism (cont.) • The new feminism’s leadership and constituency were primarily white and middle class – black, Indian, Mexican-American, and Asian feminists formed their own organizations • In 1972, Congress passed the Education Amendments Act – under Title IX of this law, sex discrimination was banned in all aspects of education

13. A Multitude of MovementsE. The New Wave of Feminism (cont.) • In 1973, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in ‘Roe v. Wade’ – a ruling which not only gave Constitutional protection to the right to abortion but also raised a storm of protests from conservative politicians, their supporters, and the Catholic Church • Finally, at both the state and local levels of government, radical feminists won passage of laws forcing police departments and the legal system to treat rape victims more justly and humanely

14. Reform in the Nixon AdministrationA. The Welfare State & Regulation • Elected to the White House in 1968, Richard M. Nixon’s liberal policies reflected a number of factors – including the Democrats’ control of Congress, Nixon’s desire to preserve support from moderates in his party, and a desire to attract traditional Democrats to Republican ranks • Under Nixon, government assistance grew for Medicaid, Head Start, Legal Services, job training, new Pell grants for low-income students to attend college, subsidies for low-income housing, food stamp programs, and Social Security benefits • Nixon also increased the federal government’s power in the market-place – despite his history of antigovernment rhetoric

15. Reform in the Nixon AdministrationA. The Welfare State & Regulation (cont.) • In 1971, Nixon devalued the dollar and ended the converti-bility of U.S. currency into gold – actions necessitated by the fact the U.S. was then importing more than it exported • He also imposed wage and price controls on goods and services and imposed a 10% surcharge on imports – this stimulated the economy and help him win reelection in 1972

16. Reform in the Nixon AdministrationA. The Welfare State & Regulation (cont.) • Still, by the early 1970s, the U.S. economy was beset by chronic inflation, economic stagnation, inflation above 6%, and a decline of American dominance in the international economy [‘stagflation’] • By the fall of 1973 the U.S. experienced its first energy crisis – created by U.S. support for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War when Arab nations cut off oil to the American economy The Growth of Inequality: Changes in Family Income, 1969-1998

17. Reform in the Nixon AdministrationA. The Welfare State & Regulation (cont.) • Nixon responded by imposing a nationwide 55 mile-per-hour speed limit and gas rationing – leading to long lines at gas stations and shortages but doing nothing to cure the nation’s unquenchable thirst for and dependence on foreign oil • In 1970, Nixon signed legislation creating the Environmental Protection Agency, signed the Clean Air Act, and supported other legislation to regulate noise pollution, clean up oil spills, and stop the dumping of pesticides into the oceans

18. The Limits of PowerA. New Frontiers in Foreign Policy • The horrifying experiences of Americans in Vietnam grew out of cold war commitments made in the ‘40s and ’50s by Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower • Upon his election victory in 1960, President Kennedy took on those commitments – promising a more flexible and vigorous response to communism than mere reliance on nuclear weapons as an end game

19. The Limits of PowerA. New Frontiers in Foreign Policy (cont.) • Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address stated that the U.S. would, “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty” • Kennedy determined to expand not only America’s nuclear capacity but also its ability to fight conventional battles and engage in guerrilla warfare – believing that the U.S. had ‘gone soft’ during the Eisenhower years • Underlying his foreign policy towards communism was the idea that Eisenhower had relied too much on nuclear weapons as a deterrence – Kennedy called for a ‘flexible response’ or build up of conventional ground forces

20. The Limits of PowerA. New Frontiers in Foreign Policy (cont.) • While Kennedy exaggerated the actual threats to national security, several developments in 1961 heightened the sense of crisis and provided rationalization for a military buildup • First, the Soviet Union’s Nikita Khrushchev publicly encourage ‘wars of national liberation’ – aligning the Soviets with independence move-ments in the third world that often were anti-Western • In Cuba, Fidel Castro’s revolution had already moved Cuba into the Russian orbit – and Eisenhower’s CIA had been planning an invasion since 1959 using Cuban exiles living in the U.S.

21. The Limits of PowerA. New Frontiers in Foreign Policy (cont.) • On April 17, 1961, approximately 1,300 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba – trained and armed by the CIA, the plan counted on a popular uprising within Cuba to help them overthrow Castro • No popular uprising materialized to support the anti-Castro forces – leading to a humiliating defeat for the Kennedy administration as the invaders fell to Castro’s army • Then, just days before the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Soviets successfully placed an astronaut in earth orbit – delivering a psychological blow to the U.S. and criticism about a growing ‘missile gap’

22. The Limits of PowerA. New Frontiers in Foreign Policy (cont.) • In May 1961, Kennedy called for a renewed commitment to the space program with the goal of landing a man on the moon by 1970 – the next Year John Glenn orbited the earth and by July 1969 two U.S. astronauts landed on the moon

23. The Limits of PowerA. New Frontiers in Foreign Policy (cont.) • In June 1961, Kennedy met with Khrushchev to discuss unresolved issues regarding Germany – Khrushchev, concerned about the massive exodus of East Germans into West Berlin, demanded an agreement recognizing the existence of two Germanys • Two months later, the Soviets erected the ‘Berlin Wall’ around West Berlin – cutting off the flow of escapees Berlin Wall showing infamous ‘death strip’

24. The Limits of PowerA. New Frontiers in Foreign Policy (cont.) • The Kennedy administration responded by adding $3.2 billion to the defense budget, increasing the draft, and mobilizing the reserves and National Guard – he also more than doubled the nation’s nuclear force within the next three years

25. The Limits of PowerB. New Approaches to the Third World • In 1961, Kennedy created the Alliance for Progress – reflecting his belief that the U.S. could win the hearts and minds of people in developing nations to achieve freedom and democracy • Funded with nearly $20 billion, the Alliance for Progress fostered economic development in Latin American nations over the next decade – in the end it provided only half of the aid promised • The Agency for International Development (AID) was established to provide similar economic aid in other foreign assistance programs • In 1961, the Peace Corps was created to bring basic health care, nutrition, schools and other benefits to poor countries through volunteerism

26. The Limits of PowerB. New Approaches to the Third World (cont.) • By the mid-1970s, more than 60,000 American volunteers had served two-year stints in Africa, Latin America, and Asia • Kennedy’s foreign aid initiatives also used direct military aid to bring political stability to third world nations – in part by expanding ‘special forces’ such as the Green Berets and the navy SEALS trained to wage guerrilla warfare

27. The Limits of PowerC. The Nuclear Arms Race • The last piece of Kennedy’s defense strategy rested on American nuclear dominance – a strategy that was soon tested during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 • In Europe, Kennedy increased the number of intercontinental ballistic missile [ICBM] warheads from 2,500 to 7,200 and the number of actual missiles fivefold – a move which forced the Soviets to step up their own ICBM program • In 1962, Khrushchev began to secretly install nuclear missiles in Cuba – to protect Cuba against further U.S. intervention and to counteract U.S. missiles aimed at Russia from Turkey, Britain, and Italy

28. The Limits of PowerC. The Nuclear Arms Race (cont.) • On October 16th, the CIA delivered aerial photographs of missile launching sites in Cuba to Kennedy – an intolerable threat that began the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’ of 1962 • Kennedy launched a public showdown with the Soviets and Khrushchev – putting the military on full alert, ordering a complete naval blockade against Cuba

29. The Limits of PowerC. The Nuclear Arms Race (cont.) • The standoff over the next thirteen days tested the wills of both Kennedy and Khrushchev – and bore America through its ‘hour of maximum danger’ • The Cuban Missile Crisis ended through quiet, behind-the-scenes negotiations – Kennedy promising not to invade Cuba and to remove U.S. nuclear missiles from Turkey while the Soviets dismantled and removed their missiles from Cuba President Kennedy, Secretary of State Rusk, and Secretary of Defense McNamara discuss the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’

30. The Limits of PowerC. The Nuclear Arms Race (cont.) • In the aftermath, Kennedy worked with Khrushchev to prevent future confrontations in several ways – one by installing a special ‘hot line’ between the Kremlin and the White House; another by signing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963

31. The Limits of PowerD. A Growing War in Vietnam • Kennedy’s foreign policy was vehemently anticommunist – a stance which forced him to expand America’s commitment in Vietnam over and above that he had inherited from Eisenhower • Administration officials were convinced that China and the Soviets were behind Ho Chi Minh’s efforts to unify Vietnam under his Communist leadership • One consequence of this was that Kennedy increased the flow of weapons and advisors into South Vietnam – but several major obstacles stood in the way of his efforts to stabilize the situation there

32. The Limits of PowerD. A Growing War in Vietnam (cont.) • First, South Vietnamese insurgents [‘Vietcong’ communists] were an indigenous force whose motivation came from within the country – they were not motivated by the Soviet Union or China • The Vietcong took up arms, supplied by Ho Chi Minh’s communist government in North Vietnam, against Ngo Dinh Diem’s Saigon government when it refused to hold elections as promised in the 1954 Geneva accords • Second, Diem’s government and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam [ARVN] refused to consider the demands of the Vietcong but could not defeat them militarily either

33. The Limits of PowerD. A Growing War in Vietnam (cont.) • Third, in 1960 Ho Chi Minh’s government in North Vietnam established the National Liberation Front [NLF] – composed of South Vietnamese rebels armed and directed by northern communists • Fourth, Ho’s government constructed a network of infiltration routes through the jungles of neighboring Laos and Cambodia through which it sent fighters and supplies to overthrow the government in South Vietnam • Kennedy, rejecting the options of an all-out war or complete abandon-ment of the corrupt Diem government, chose to gradually escalate the level of U.S. military aid to South Vietnam

34. The Limits of PowerD. A Growing War in Vietnam (cont.) • By early 1963, U.S. military aid to South Vietnam had doubled and nearly 9,000 military advisors were training ARVN troops – some advisors were also participating in actual combat • Kennedy administration officials assumed that the military’s superior technology and sheer power would win the struggle – and they hoped the Diem government would make good its promises for reforms • Finally, in November 1963, South Vietnamese military leaders overthrew Diem in a bloody coup – executing both he and his brother who headed the secrete police

35. The Limits of PowerD. A Growing War in Vietnam (cont.) • Though shocked by the killings, Kennedy administration officials made no change in policy toward South Vietnam – by the time of Kennedy’s death, 16,000 Americans had served in Vietnam and 100 had died there

36. Johnson’s War Against CommunismA. All-Out Commitment in Vietnam • After succeeding to the presidency, LBJ continued Kennedy’s massive buildup of nuclear, conventional, and counterin-surgency forces – while by 1965 the South Vietnamese government neared collapse • South Vietnam posed a dilemma for the Johnson administration – his predecessors had made a commitment to stopping Communism there

37. Johnson’s War Against CommunismA. All-Out Commitment in Vietnam (cont.) • Some advisors, politicians, and international leaders cautioned President Johnson against continued American involvement • Johnson understood that our South Vietnamese allies were ineffective and he agonized over sending young men into combat – still, he ignored the opportunity for disengagement and expanded U.S. involvement • In August 1964, Johnson seized on the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Incident’ to increase pressure on North Vietnam – dispatching more military advisors, weapons, and economic aid to South Vietnam • In the Gulf of Tonkin, two U.S. destroyers on a routine spy mission were fired on by North Vietnamese torpedo boats – Johnson responded with air strikes on North Vietnamese torpedo bases and oil storage facilities

38. Johnson’s War Against CommunismA. All-Out Commitment in Vietnam (cont.) • In August 1964, Johnson seized on the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Incident’ to increase pressure on North Vietnam – dispatching more military advisors, weapons, and economic aid to South Vietnam • In the Gulf of Tonkin, two U.S. destroyers on a routine spy mission were fired on by North Vietnamese torpedo boats – Johnson responded with air strikes on North Vietnamese torpedo bases and oil storage facilities • Congress passed the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Resolution’ authorizing him to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attacks against U.S. forces and to prevent further aggression

39. Johnson’s War Against CommunismA. All-Out Commitment in Vietnam (cont.) • After winning the 1964 election, Johnson rejected peace overtures from North Vietnam – choosing instead to accept the advice of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and other aids to widen the war • In February 1965, ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’, an intense bombing of North Vietnam, began – less than a month later he sent 50,000 additional soldiers to South Vietnam