The Stormy ’60s

1. The Stormy ’60s Chapter 38

2. Decade of Upheaval • At the end of the complacent 1950s nobody foresaw how stormy and tumultuous the 1960s would be. • Sexual revolution • Civil Rights struggles • Anti-war protests • Assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy • Feminist revolution • Youth culture • Upheaval across the western world. Protests in France, Germany and England.

3. Kennedy’s “New Frontier” Spirit • JFK is the youngest President elected; glamorous • Cabinet is young; Robert Kennedy. • Kennedy inaugural themes • Kennedy inspires idealism • New Frontier • Peace Corps • Kennedy is Harvard educated, glib and personable.

4. The New Frontier At Home • JFK had only a narrow Democratic majority in Congress; hard to get proposals through Congress. • Kennedy’s disputes with Big Business. • Announces project to put a man on the Moon. • Costs 24 Billion, but was successful in 1969. • Why the Moon? What Kennedy says. Real reasons? The Right Stuff

5. Rumblings In Europe • June 1961 Kennedy meets with Khrushchev in Vienna • Berlin Dispute. • Berlin Wall. • Becomes symbol of Soviet domination and repression of E. Europe

7. Stubborn French • Kennedy European tariff policy. • Charles De Gaulle blocks British application to the Common Market in 1963. Why? • French policy toward NATO. • French Nukes

8. “Flexible Response” • With the end of colonization, the newly independent colonies became a headache as they flared into civil wars. • Laos • Leads Kennedy to move away from Ike’s “massive retaliation” and to adopt the doctrine of “flexible response” • develop an array of military responses that can be precisely calibrated to the gravity of the crisis. • Problems with “flexible response”

9. Stepping into the Vietnam Quagmire • Corrupt right-wing, pro-US government in South Vietnam. Diem • Communists in the south, Viet-Cong, waging guerrilla civil war. • Late 1961 Kennedy sharply increases US military advisors. • CIA coup against Diem. • Kennedy increases military and economic aid. • Modernization Theory

10. Cuban Confrontations • Latin American attitude toward the US. • Alliance for Progress; • Purpose • Impact? • Bay of Pigs Plan • 4/17/61 invasion at Bay of Pigs. Dismal failure. • Kennedy assumes full responsibility. • Analysis

11. Cuban Missile Crisis • Khrushchev starts to install nuclear tipped missiles in Cuba • Spy photos reveal the missiles. • Kennedy rejects air strike; instead orders a military blockade and demands immediate removal of missiles. • Kennedy address to nation

12. Cuban Missile Crisis • What does JFK says an attack from Cuba would mean? • Russian ships and quarantine line. • Khrushchev finally blinks when he agreed to a compromise. • Details • Seems to be a clear US victory

13. Missile Crisis Fallout • Khrushchev forced out of power • Kremlin begins an aggressive program of military expansion; New Arms Race • Democrats gain in the midterm elections. • Kennedy begins to push for arms control and greater communications between Russia and the US. • Hotline • Ban on above-ground nuclear tests agreed to in 1963 • Kennedy urges Americans to live with the Soviets as they are and find a method of peaceful coexistence. • Origins of the policy of Détente.

14. The Struggle For Civil Rights • Kennedy moved very slowly on Civil Rights • Reasons • Blacks impatient • Events forced the President’s hand. • Freedom Riders • Kennedy works with SCLC to promote civil rights and to register black voters

15. Civil Rights Violence • Integrating Southern universities. • Kennedy forced to send in 3000 troops. • Spring 1963 Birmingham. • Police reaction. • Bull Conner • June 11, 1963 Kennedy responds. • Calls for new Civil Rights legislation. • Medger Evers

16. I Have a Dream • August 1963, March on Washington • and King’s “I have a Dream” Speech. • September 1963 bombing of black Birmingham church kills 4 black girls at Sunday School.

17. THE KILLING OF KENNEDY

18. The LBJ Brand On The Presidency • Lyndon Johnson was profane, earthy, vain, idealistic. • Master politician; former Senate Majority Leader in the Senate. • He hit Washington like a thunder-bolt, seizing hold of the Presidency once the shock of Kennedy’s death had abated.

19. Johnson’s Great Society • Johnson puts power behind Civil Rights Bill. • Civil Rights Act of 1964. • Prohibits discrimination in facilities open to the public • Strengthened power to end segregation in schools • Created federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission • Prevents both race and gender discrimination. • Southern Senators try to kill with a lengthy filibuster. • Johnson launches a war on poverty designed to help those not yet getting the benefits of America’s vast wealth. • Dubbed the Great Society Program. • Medicare/Medicaid central pillar

20. Johnson Battles Goldwater In 1964 • Johnson is easily nominated in 1964; runs on a very liberal platform. • Republicans nominate Senator Barry Goldwater • very, very conservative. • Strongly anti-red, strongly anti-New Deal. • Believes in small national government (Jeffersonian) • Wanted American field commanders to have authority to use tactical nukes in the battle field.

21. Election of 1964 • “In your heart you know he’s right” vs. “In your gut you know he’s nuts” • Reaction of average voters to Goldwater. • Johnson convinces national that Goldwater “scary” • Daisy Ad • Johnson wins biggest landslide in US history.

22. 1964 Election

23. Tonkin Gulf Resolution • Tonkin Gulf incident August 1964. • Johnson calls the attack unprovoked. • Johnson uses to get Tonkin Gulf resolution • Consequences? • Gives the president a virtual blank check to use force in Southeast Asia against the North Vietnamese. • Gives Johnson discretion to widen the war, which he does after the election.

24. The Great Society Congress • Johnson has 2-1 democratic majority in both houses of Congress. • Legislative slate passed by Johnson after the 1964 election was comparable to FDR’s 100-days. • Sweeping package of social reform and new aid to the poor and down-trodden. • Continues the war on poverty • Created the Dept. of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. • Names the first Black cabinet secretary—Robert Weaver • Creates national Endowment for the arts.

25. Legislative Landmarks • Four legislative achievements at heart of Great Society: • Federal Aid to Education • Medicare for the Elderly/Medicaid for the Poor • Immigration Reform • Voting Rights Act • Medicare and Medicaid provide medical insurance at governmental expense for elderly and poor • Medicare and Medicaid join social security and unemployment insurance as part of social safety net.

26. Voting Rights Act • In 1964 voting rights becomes the main goal of civil rights movement. • Freedom Summer of 1964 • 1965 Selma. • March from Selma to Montgomery

27. Voting Rights Act • Voting Rights Act of 1965. • Johnson sends in federal officials to oversee voter registration. • Over the next 25 years totally transforms the south because blacks are voting.

28. Black Power • Civil Right movement moves north and out of the control of MLK. • 1965—Watts riots. • New voices advocate confrontation, violence and separatism. • Malcolm X • Stokely Carmichael • Black Panthers. • Civil Rights Movement increasingly focuses on economic demands

29. King Assassination • April 4, 1968 • Last Days of Martin Luther King • Robert Kennedy Announces • Reaction

30. Six Day War • 6-Day war. June 1967. • Soviet-backed Egyptians attack Israel. • Israel captures the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West bank of the Jordan River, including Jerusalem. • 1 Million Palestinian Arabs come under direct Israeli control.

31. Vietnam Escalation • 1965 Johnson escalates the war • Starts bombing and the use of troops on the ground. • By end of 1965, 184,000 America troops involved. • Believes American escalation will show US resolve and north will back down. • Believes in domino theory. • US casualties start to mount

33. Vietnam Vexations • World opinion was turning against the US. • Appeared that US was beating up a third-world nation. • Made it harder for US to respond elsewhere. • Led to a lot of domestic discontent. • Anti-war demonstrations gradually mounted on campuses. • Draft resisters flee to Canada, burn draft cards, burn flags

34. War Protests • Many blamed Johnson. • Major protests in San Francisco, New York and on college campuses. • Attitude of Average Americans • Economic impact of War.

35. Quagmire • By late 1960s opposition to the war was hardening. • Fulbright hearings. • Public feels increasingly misled about the war and ability to win. • By 1968 had become the longest and most unpopular foreign war in US history. • Government had failed to adequately explain why we were fighting there and/or what was at stake.

36. Johnson Under Attack • Johnson, orders the CIA to spy on American anti-war activists. • FBI turns against peace groups • Johnson stubbornly continues to assert that victory is just around the corner.

37. Tet Offensive • Jan. 1968 Tet offensive. • Military defeat but political victory for Viet Cong. • Impact on public perception • Protests escalate • Military demands 200,000 more troops.

38. Vietnam Topples Johnson • Johnson challenged from within his party by Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy. • New Hampshire Primary • Johnson’s Announcement

39. 1968 Election Chaos • Hubert Humphrey front-runner for the democratic nomination. • Stance on war? • Strong challenge from Robert Kennedy. • Stance on war?

40. Convention Chaos • Democratic convention in Chicago in chaos. • Democrats were bitter, divided and angry over the death of Kennedy, the war, etc. • Mayor Daley and the police. • Democrats came off looking like a disorganized, fratricidal mob. • Humphrey wins the nomination on the first ballot.

41. Richard Nixon • Republicans nominate Richard Nixon who is running as a conservative-moderate. • Platform

42. Return of the Dixiecrats • George Wallace • American Independent Party. • Wallace ardently anti-integration • “Segregation Now, Segregation tomorrow, Segregation forever.”

43. Victory For Nixon • Nixon and Humphrey have similar policies on VN. No real choice between the two. • As a result, many doves sat out the election because no standard-bearer for their views. • Nixon wins by half a percentage point without carrying a single major city and with no coat-tails. • Both houses of Congress remain Democratic. Democrats win 95% of the black vote. • Nixon wins only 43% of the vote because Wallace had siphoned off votes from both. No mandate. • Wallace wins 46 electoral votes from the deep south. Largest third-party electoral vote in American history.

44. 1968 Election

45. Cultural Upheaval • Vietnam, Civil Rights Struggle and materialism undermine faith of youth in government and “establishment” • Values in flux • Peace movement • Hippie movement • Sexual Revolution