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