Decade of Promise and Turmoil: The 1960s

1. Chapter 28 – Promise and Turmoil, The 1960s

2. John F. Kennedy, a young 43 year old senator from Massachusetts, defeated his rivals in the Democratic primaries • To balance the ticket, he chose Lyndon B. Johnson, a Texan, to be his vice president running mate • This choice proved critical in carrying the Southern states in the election The Election of 1960

3. Television was the most decisive factor in the close race between Nixonand Kennedy • In the first televised debate, Kennedy appeared on screen as more comfortable than the pale and tense Nixon The Election of 1960

4. One of the closest elections in history • Kennedy defeated Nixon by a little over 100,000 popular votes, (wider margin-303 to 219 in the electoral college) The Election of 1960

5. Kennedy called for aid to education, federal support of health care, urban renewal, and civil rights • Few of these domestic programs became law during his thousand-day administration • Most were later passed under President Johnson The New Frontier

6. Kennedy had some successes on economic issues • He faced down big steel executives over a price increase and achieved a price rollback • Also, the economy was stimulated by increased spending for defense and space exploration • He committed the nation to land on the moon by the end of the decade The New Frontier

7. 1961 – he set up the Peace Corps, an organization that recruited young American volunteers to give technical aid to developing countries • In the same year, he established the Alliance for Progress program • This was organized to promote land reform and economic development in Latin America Foreign Affairs

8. Bay of Pigs Invasion [1961] • A major blunder for Kennedy shortly after he took office • He approved the CIA’s scheme planned under the Eisenhower administration to use Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro Foreign Affairs

9. In April 1961 the CIA-trained force of Cubans landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, but failed to set off a general uprising • Trapped on the beach, they had little choice but to surrender after Kennedy rejected the idea of US forces to save them • Castro used the failed invasion to get even more aid from the Soviet Union Foreign Affairs

10. In the summer of 1961, Kennedy meets Khrushchev in Vienna • Khrushchev takes the opportunity to threaten Kennedy by renewing his demands that US troops be pulled out of Berlin • Kennedy refuses • In August, East Germans, with Soviet backing, built a wall around West Berlin Foreign Affairs

11. Its purpose was to stop East Germans from fleeing to West Germany • As the wall was being built, Soviet and US tanks faced off in Berlin • Kennedy called up the reserves, but made no move to stop the completing of the wall • The Berlin Wall stood as a gloomy symbol of the Cold War until it was torn down in 1989 Foreign Affairs

12. The most dangerous challenge from the Soviets came in October 1962 • US spy planes discovered that the Soviets were building underground sites in Cuba for the launching of offensive missiles that could reach the US in minutes Foreign Affairs

14. Kennedy responded by setting up a naval blockade of Cuba until the weapons were removed • A nuclear war seemed likely if Soviet ships challenged the naval blockade • After 13days of tension, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange for Kennedy’s pledge to not invade the island Foreign Affairs

15. The Cuban Missile Crisis had lasting effects on both sides • Soon after, a phone hot line was established between Washington and Moscow for the two leaders to be able to talk directly to one another during a crisis • In 1963, the Soviet Union and the US [along with 100 other nations] signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty to end the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere Foreign Affairs

16. The Kennedy administration adopted a policy of “flexible response” to the Cold War challenges • They moved away from the idea of massive retaliation and reliance on nuclear weapons, deciding to increase spending on conventional arms and mobile military forces • This policy reduced the risk of using nuclear weapons, but increased the temptation to send in elite forces like the Green Berets Foreign Affairs

17. November 22, 1963in Dallas, TX • Millions of stunned Americans were fixed to their televisions for days • They even witnessed the killing of the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswaldjust 2 days after the assassination • Two hours after the Kennedy assassination, LBJ took the oath of office as president Kennedy Assassination

18. It can be argued that the 1960s were both the best and worst of times in the U.S. • Best: Postwar prosperity peaked in the 1960s • Worst: Racial tension, the controversial Vietnam War, and student radicalism were tearing the country apart The Decade of the 1960s

19. President Johnson responded to Michael Harrington’s best-selling book The Other America [1962] by declaring an “unconditional war on poverty” [1964] due to the 40 million Americans still living in poverty • The Democratic Congress gave the president almost everything he asked by creating the Office of Economic Opportunity [OEO] • In addition, this antipoverty agency was given a billion-dollar budget The War on Poverty

20. The OEO sponsored a wide variety of self-help programs for the poor • Head Start – for preschoolers • The Job Corps – for vocational education • Literacy programs • Legal services • The Community Action Program allowed the poor to run antipoverty programs in their own neighborhoods The War on Poverty

21. Johnson wins reelection, andwas determined to expand the social reforms of the New Deal • He persuaded Congress to pass: • Kennedy’s proposal for an income tax cut • This measure sparked an increase in jobs, consumer spending, and a long period of economic expansion in the 1960s LBJ’s Great Society

22. His legislative achievements in 1965 and 1966 include new programs that would have lasting effects on US society: • Medicare – a health insurance program for those 65 and older • Medicaid – government-paid healthcare for the poor and disabled • The Elementary and Secondary Education Act – provided federal aid especially to poor school districts • The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities – provided federal funding for worthy creative and scholarly projects LBJ’s Great Society

23. A new immigration law – abolished the discriminatory quotas based on national origins passed in the 1920s • This greatly increased the opportunity for Asians and Latin Americans to emigrate to the US • Increased funding for higher education • Increased funding for public housing and crime prevention LBJ’s Great Society

24. Two new cabinet departments: • The Department of Transportation [DOT] • The Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] • Programs to regulate the automobile industry, in response to Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe at Any Speed [1965] • Clean air and water laws were enacted in response to Rachel Carson’s exposure of pesticides [Silent Spring (1962)] LBJ’s Great Society

25. LBJ, a southerner, succeeded in enacting the most important civil rights laws since Reconstruction • Civil Rights Act of 1964 – made segregation illegal in all public facilities including hotels and restaurants • It also gave the federal government additional powers to enforce school desegregation • In addition, this act set up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to end racial discrimination in employment Civil Rights Acts of 1964

26. Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Passed in response to the brutality in Selma, Alabama against the voting rights marches led by MLK • This act ended literacy tests and provided federal registrars in areas in which blacks were kept from voting • The impact was most dramatic in the Deep South where African Americans could vote for the first time since the Reconstruction era Civil Rights Act of 1965

27. Throughout the Deep South, civil rights activists and freedom riders who traveled through the South registering African Americans to vote and integrating public places were met with beatings, bombings, and murder by white extremists • However, MLK, the recognized leader of the Civil Rights Movement, remained committed to nonviolent protests MLK

28. MLK and his followers were jailed in Birmingham, Alabama [1963], for what local authorities judged to be an illegal march • From his jail cell, he wrote the essay “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” in which he argued for the continuation of non-violent protest to preserve democracy • The jailing of MLK proved to be a milestone in the civil rights movement because most Americans believed he had been jailed unjustly MLK

29. In August 1963, MLK led one of the largest and most successful demonstrations in US history • About 200,000 blacks and whites took part in a peaceful March on Washington in support of the civil rights bill • The highlight of this demonstration was MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech which appealed for the end of racial prejudice MLK

30. Seeking a new cultural identity based on Africa and Islam, the Black Muslim leader Elijah Muhammad preached black nationalism, separatism, and self-improvement • While in prison, a young man became a convert of Muhammad and adopted the name of Malcolm X • Leaving prison in 1952, he acquired a reputation as the movement’s most controversial voice Malcolm X

31. He criticized MLK as an “Uncle Tom” • He advocated self-defense – using black violence to counter white violence • He was assassinated by black opponents in 1965 Malcolm X

32. The radicalism of Malcolm X influenced the thinking of young blacks in civil rights organizations such as the SNCC and CORE • Stokely Carmichael, the chairman of SNCC, advocated “black power” and racial separatism • In 1966, the Black Panthers were organized by Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and other militants as a revolutionary movement advocating self-rule for American blacks Black Power Movement

33. The Black Panthers frequently shouted slogans “Get whitey” and “Burn, baby, burn” • These slogans made whites suspect that black extremists and revolutionaries were behind the race riots that erupted in black neighborhoods of major cities from 1964 through 1968 • In the summer of 1965, riots in the Watts section of Los Angeles resulted in the deaths of 34 people and the destruction of over 700 buildings Race Riots

34. It was found that racial tension was mainly responsible for the Watts Riots and that in the mid-1960s the US was becoming “two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal” • The issue of civil rights had spread beyond segregation practiced under the law in the South • It now included discrimination caused by racist attitudes in the North and West Race Riots

35. MLK received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, but his non-violent approach was under pressure • His effort to use peaceful protests in urban centers of the North met with little success • He broke with President Johnson over the Vietnam War because that war was draining money from social programs Assassination of MLK

36. In April 1968, MLK was killed by a white man while standing on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee • Massive riots erupted in 168 cities, across the country, leaving at least 46 people dead • The violence did not reflect the ideals of MLK, but it did reveal the anger and frustrations among African Americans in both the North and the South Assassination of MLK

37. By the mid-1960s, students across the country were protesting: • Rules against drinking • Rules against dorm visits by members of the opposite sex • Student demonstrations will grow with the escalation of US involvement in the Vietnam War Student Protest

38. Some Americans opposed the war because of its costs • They believed the billions spent in Vietnam could be better spent on the problems of the cities and the poor in the US • The greatest opposition came from students on college campuses who, after graduation, became eligible to be drafted Opposition to the Vietnam War

39. In 1962, a group of radical students led by Tom Hayden [Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)] issued the Port Huron Statement • It called for university decisions to be made through participatory democracy, so students would have a voice in decisions affecting their lives • Activists who supported Hayden’s ideas became known as the New Left The New Left

40. The first major student protest took place in 1964 on the Berkeley campus [California] • They demanded an end to university restrictions on student political activities • They called their cause the Free Speech Movement Student Protest

41. A new counterculture was expressed by young people in rebellious styles of dress, music, drug use and, for some, communal living • These “hippies” and “flower children” had long hair, beards and wore beads and jeans Counterculture

42. Folk music gave voice to their protests • Bob Dylan, Joan Baez • Rock and roll music provided the beat and the lyrics of the counterculture • Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison [Doors], Janis Joplin Counterculture

43. In 1969, the counterculture had one final fling at the WoodstockMusic Festival in upper NY state • This gathering of thousands of “hippies” reflected the zenith of the counterculture Counterculture

44. In 1969, a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in NYC, sparked both a riot and the gay rights movement • Gay activists urged homosexuals to be open about their identity and to work to end discrimination and violent abuse Demands for Minority Rights

45. By the mid-1970s, homosexuality was no longer classified as a mental illness • The federal Civil Service dropped its ban on employment of homosexuals • In 1993, President Clinton attempted to end discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military, but settled for the compromise “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy Demands for Minority Rights

46. A new brand of feminism • These feminists were younger, college-educated women from the New Left, antiwar, and civil rights movements • Sought an end to the denigration and exploitation of women • Demonstrated at the 1968 Miss America Pageant where they carried posters of women’s bodies labeled as slabs of beef Women’s Liberation

47. Inspired by the civil rights movement and legal advances under the Great Society, but frustrated by the lack of attention both gave women Rebirth of the Women’s Movement

48. Working women campaigned for maternity leave and equal pay for equal work • Equal Pay Act [1963] – trade union women were critical in getting this passed Rebirth of the Women’s Movement

49. Many middle-class women found themselves not working for wages but rather staying at home • The Feminine Mystique, by Betty Friedan, persuaded middle-class women that they needed more than convenience foods, improved diapers, and better laundry detergents • What they needed was education and the opportunity to work outside the home Rebirth of the Women’s Movement

50. Government action made a difference when Congress added the word sex to the categories protected against discrimination in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Betty Friedan and others founded the National Organization for Women [NOW] to force compliance with this act • 50,000 members by 1971 Rebirth of the Women’s Movement