The Stormy Sixties

Chapter 38

Kennedy Nixon Debates

• John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon had first presidential debate on TV

Kennedy’s New Frontier Spirit

• JFK elected by small margin over Nixon in 1960– Youngest elected president and assembled young cabinet– Robert Kennedy appointed as Attorney General who conflicted

with J Edgar Hoover over priorities for FBI• JFK inspired idealism and service

– “ask not what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your country.”

– Developed Peace Corps to help poor in other nations• New frontier programs for medical assistance for elderly and money

for education held up by pair of Republicans and Southern Democrats

• JFK backed down big steel to prevent inflation; but also cut taxes to stimulate the economy

• Supported space program and to put a man on the moon

Rumblings in Europe

• Soviets disarmed and prevented East Germans from rebuilding but Allies encouraged development of West German industry

• Berlin Airlift– 1948 – USSR close off Berlin in hopes of forcing Allies

out– Allies send in airlift to Berlin to bring in supplies– 1949 Stalin backs down and allows allied forces into

Berlin

• Berlin Wall– 1961 Soviet premier Khruschev built wall in East

Germany to stop migration

• Symbol of Cold War• Propaganda victory for west

• Common Market– JFK supported free trade area established in Common

Market (evolves into EU) with Trade Expansion Act in 1962

French Indochina (Vietnam)

• Eisenhower’s Secretary of State Allen Dulles’ foreign policy doctrine called for massive retaliation; JFK under Robert McNamara shifted to flexible response to give military more options

• Battle against French (1946-1954)– Ho Chi Minh led peasant army – French lose at Dien Bien Phu– French lose Indochina

• Geneva Accords (1954) divided Vietnam between communist North led by Ho Chi Minh and non-communist south, supported by west led by Ngo Dinh Diem

• Vietcong – south Vietnamese communist guerillas– South Vietnamese government troops

ineffective at fighting• Domino Theory

– US fear one nation goes communist, others would follow

– US doesn’t allow 1956 election because US fears communists will win

American Involvement (1959-1975)• 1961 JFK increased troop involvement; 1963 supported a coup

of Diem• Gulf of Tonkin (1964)

– North Vietnamese attack USS Maddox in Gulf of Tonkin– Gulf of Tonkin Resolution allowed LBJ sent more troops to

Vietnam and into any Asian country without Congressional approval…Attack was never proven

• US sends increasing numbers of soldiers– Aerial bombardment “Operation Rolling Thunder” attempted

(1965)– Increasing deaths of American soldiers and reports of

atrocities (My Lai) erodes US support for war• Tet Offensive

– Jan 30 1968 – surprise attack all over South Vietnam by Vietcong

• Military loss for Vietcong, political victory• Americans didn’t believe military statements following

offensive• March 31, 1968 LBJ announced a freeze in troop levels and

reduction in bombing

Debate over War• 1967 – growing peace movement – people oppose war

– Use marches, songs, sit ins, teach ins, fled to Canada• Opposition to Draft

– Many avoided draft• Burned cards, move to Canada

– Opposed mission of war• Protests about Vietnam intensified

– Kent State• National Guard shoot protestors at an anti war rally

• Johnson authorized CIA and FBI to spy on domestic opponents of war (1967)

• Supporters of War– believed communism must be stopped– innocents were killed because of guerilla tactics– US never put full force of military in war

Cuban Confrontations• 1959 Fidel Castro led a communist revolution in Cuba

– Castro encouraged communism in other Latin American countries• Alliance for Progress was developed to close gap between rich and

poor in effort to undermine communism in Latin America• 1961 Bay of Pigs

– Kennedy supported failed invasion of Cuba and assassination attempts on Castro

• Cuban Missile Crisis– 1962 Khrushchev put nuclear missiles in Cuba

• In response to American nukes in Turkey and Greece• US identified missiles with U2 spy planes• JFK orders naval quarantine until Soviets removed missiles• US and Soviets went to brink of nuclear war

– Khrushchev backs down and forced out of power– Accelerated the arms race

– Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963)• Signed to try to ease tensions between US and USSR

• JFK gave speech at American Univ that laid foundation for detente

• November 22, 1963 killed by Lee Harvey Oswald– Oswald was then killed by Jack Ruby

• Warren Commission was created to investigate conspiracy possibilities

• LBJ was sworn in as President• Was able to pass many JFK ideas “fallen President”

– Civil Rights Bill of 1964• Banned racial discrimination in private facilities open to

public• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

made to eliminate discrimination in job hiring– LBJ established affirmative action via executive order in

1965• LBJ’s “Great Society” was a series of programs to change

American society– Education; Civil rights; Environment– War on poverty

• Welfare and Food stamps• Support for program increased after Michael

Harrington’s The Other America (1962)• Medicare and Medicaid

JFK Assassination and LBJ

Election of 1964• LBJ (Democrats); Barry Goldwater (Republicans)• Goldwater was a conservative

– Attacked “establishment” politics– Wanted to present clear choice to LBJ by opposing income tax, social security,

civil rights, TVA• Democrats portrayed Goldwater as violent and unstable

– “Daisy Ad” ran spots showing girl picking daisies then a nuclear cloud killed her. Said US would have WWIII if Goldwater elected

• LBJ wins easily• LBJ’s Great Society Congress

– Office of Economic Opportunity given money to support Appalachia– Department of Transportation; Department of Housing and Urban Development;

National Endowment for Arts and Humanities were created– Big Four legislative achievements:

• Education aid would be tied to students not schools; allows for aid to religious schools

• Health Insurance given to elderly (Medicare) and poor (Medical)• Immigration and Nationality Act made it easier to immigrate to US

• Conservatives argued against programs as improper social engineering and money was wasted

Black Rights• Civil Rights Act of 1964 increased school desegregation and prohibited public

facilities discrimination• Voting in South

– Mississippi – only 5% of eligible blacks were registered to vote because of poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation

– 24th amendment banned poll tax– Freedom Summer 1964 – voter registration drive had northerners go down

south to help blacks register• Mississippi Burning James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael

Schwerner were murdered by KKK for registering blacks• Voting Rights Act of 1965

– Passed in response to violence of South– Gave blacks power of vote that led gradually to integration

• Black rights movement shifted towards integrating blacks into American society; not just in the South

Black Rights• Black Power

– Movement gets increasingly violent; Watts Riots (1965)– Malcolm X followed Nation of Islam led by Elijiah Muhammed and supported

black separatism– Black Panthers used weapons; SNCC led by Stokely Carmichael preached Black

power to smash western civilization• Put emphasis on African and black communities and culture and rejection of

white• Some believed in back to Africa movement

– Shifted focus from voting to economic; unemployment and opportunity• Riots in 1967

– Newark, Detroit, Los Angeles; neighborhoods burned and police were attacked– Created white conservative backlash against Black Power movement

• Martin Luther King assassinated in 1968; weakened moderate civil rights movement