The Stormy ’60sChapter 39
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.
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.
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
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
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
“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”
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
THE KILLING OF KENNEDY
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.
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
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.
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.
1964 Election
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.
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.
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.
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 Mo
ntgomery
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.
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
King Assassination
April 4, 1968 Last Days of Martin
Luther King Robert Kennedy An
nounces Reaction
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.
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
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
War Protests
Many blamed Johnson.
Major protests in San Francisco, New York and on college campuses.
Attitude of Average Americans
Economic impact of War.
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.
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.
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.
Vietnam Topples Johnson
Johnson challenged from within his party by Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy.
New Hampshire Primary Johnson’s Announcement
1968 Election Chaos
Hubert Humphrey front-runner for the democratic nomination. Stance on war?
Strong challenge from Robert Kennedy. Stance on war?
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.
Richard Nixon
Republicans nominate Richard Nixon who is running as a conservative-moderate.
Platform
Return of the Dixiecrats
George Wallace American
Independent Party. Wallace ardently
anti-integration “Segregation Now,
Segregation tomorrow, Segregation forever.”
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.
1968 Election
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