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1960’s. Culture and Significant Events in the United States. Moving on from the 50’s…. Age of Youth: baby boomers became teenagers Movement away from the conservatism of the 1950’s. Not content with the life of the previous generation, CHANGE was desired!
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1960’s Culture and Significant Events in the United States
Moving on from the 50’s… • Age of Youth: baby boomers became teenagers • Movement away from the conservatism of the 1950’s. • Not content with the life of the previous generation, CHANGE was desired! • These changes would affect every aspect of politics, culture, entertainment, etc…
Some stats about the 60’s • Population: 177,830,000 • Average Salary: $4,743 • Teacher’s Salary: $5,174 • Minimum Wage: $1.00 an hour • 850,000 Freshmen were entering college each year. Temporary shelters had to be constructed on many college campuses!
Popular Books • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee • The Feminine Mystique by Betty Freidan • Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak • In Cold Blood by Truman Capote • The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath • Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Youth Culture • There were 70 million teenagers in the 1960’s • Barbie Dolls and GI Joe became popular • Skateboarding began in CA and spread across the country by 1963 • Bouffant hairstyles for women • Go-go boots, bell bottom jeans and peasant skirts were all the rage in fashion
JFK and Golden Age of the 60’s • Youngest president ever elected • “Camelot”: Charisma of JFK and his pretty wife and young children. • Foreign Policy: dealt with communism in Cuba, Germany, Israel, Vietnam • "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” • Civil Rights issues, space exploration and the formation of the Peace Corps.
“The New Frontier” • [W]e stand today on the edge of a New Frontier -— the frontier of 1960s, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats. ... • “Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus”
Kennedy Continued • JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald. • JFK was not able to fulfill many of the domestic and foreign policy promises that he had made in the short time that he was in office. • The U.S. chose to fight a war in Vietnam instead of eradicating poverty. But Apollo 11 did reach the moon in 1969.
Johnson and “The Great Society” • Most reforms since the New Deal during the Great Depression. • Civil Rights Act of 1964: banned discrimination based on race and gender and ended segregation in public facilities. • Wilderness Protection Act • Major funding for America’s public schools • Medicare/Medicaid • National Endowment for the Arts • Voting Rights Act of 1965: banned literacy tests and other discriminatory methods of denying suffrage to African Americans • Immigration Act ended discriminatory quotas based on ethnic origin
War in Vietnam • Conflict in SE Asia had been going on since the 1950’s. • President Johnson gets approval to use all force necessary to stop the Viet Cong (communist forces) in Vietnam. • Within days the draft began. • First war to be televised-Americans saw soldiers being killed on the news over dinner. • The Tet Offensive in 1968 really showed the Americans that the war in Vietnam would be impossible to win. • War dragged on through the 1970’s with Richard Nixon pulling troops out and ending the war.
Anti-War Protests • Draft Dodgers-usually went to Canada to avoid being drafted • Draft card burning-usually done en masse at a public protest. • College-campuses are the main location for the protests. • Draft age was 18, but voting age was 21. • Toward the end of the decade, campuses all over the country erupted in violent protests: weapons, bombs and the National Guard.
Fight for Civil Rights • The beginning of the movement can be traced back to Greensboro, NC-where 4 African American students sat at a whites only lunch counter and demanded to be served. • “Sit-ins” became a popular form of protest. • SNCC-Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee is formed with Dr. King as the leader. • Freedom Riders: Buses/people from the North that would go to the South to join the protests. • March on Washington DC: August 1963: 200,000. Dr. King delivers his famous “I Have a Dream Speech”. • Selma to Montgomery march was the culmination of the civil rights movement.
Cesar Chavez • Created the United Farm Workers to gain equal rights (and pay) for Hispanic farm workers. • Best known Hispanic civil rights leader • Promoted unionism and non-violent tactics • “Si, se puede” was his slogan (yes, it can be done).
Stonewall Rebellion • Catalyst for the LGBT movement in the United States. • There were not many places in the US where you could be openly gay and NY state had laws against public homosexuality. • On June 28, 1968, a group of people at a popular Greenwich Village (NY) bar called the Stonewall Inn, became angry about the harassment from police and took a stand against the abuse. • Riots broke out all over the country “Gay Power” became the anthem and the first chapters of gay rights groups/organizations formed in nearly every major American city.
Black Power • A split in the Civil Rights movement when a more radical group was frustrated by the slow methods of Dr. King’s non-violent protest. • Ready to adopt violent methods and black separatism to initiate quicker change. • Black Panthers was the prime example-lead by Malcolm X. • “By any means necessary”
Counter Culture • Anti-establishment movement • Gained momentum in association with the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam War protests. • Massive number of young, affluent who had many different versions of the American Dream. • Youth culture promoted creativity, experimentation and a Bohemian lifestyle.
“Hippies” • LSD: drug which produced psychological effects • Some people dropped out of political life altogether. • Grew their hair long and practiced “free love” • Some even moved to communes, far removed from the turbulence of every day life. • Woodstock: in 1969, 400,000 young people gathered in upstate NY for a 3 day music festival that represented the best of the “peace and love generation”.
Space Race • U.S wanted to show it’s superiority in technology, space was the next frontier • Another (less dangerous) way to compete against the Soviet Union • The Soviets actually launch the first satellite into space called “Sputnik” in 1957, US follows in 1958 with Explorer I. • JFK predicted a “man on the moon”, which finally happened with Apollo 11 in 1969. • Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin were the first men to walk on the moon.
“Death of the 60’s” • John F Kennedy: assassinated in Nov in 1963 • Malcolm X: assassinated in Feb of 1965 at a public speaking event in NY. • MLK: assassinated April 4th, 1968 in Memphis Tennessee. • Massive protests broke out around the country • RFK: Robert F Kennedy (brother to President JFK) and the leading Democratic candidate for president in 1968. Assassinated in June of 1968 at the Democratic primary in CA.
Background on Cuba • Fulgencio Batista was president from 1940-44 and ran again for president in 1952. • When it became clear that he wasn’t going to win, he cancelled elections and seized power. • Many disliked Batista and his power grab—including Fidel Castro who began planning an overthrow of Bastista and the government. • Castro’s plan began with the attack on the Moncada barracks to get the weapons needed to take down Batista.
