Chapter 38The Stormy Sixties,

1960–1968

I. Kennedy’s “New Frontier” Spirit

• JFK’s “New Frontier” campaign successful– Kennedy inspired high expectations and idealism• EG: Peace Corps

• John F. Kennedy: Inaugural January 20, 1961– Personified glamour/vitality of new generation– Cabinet, was young, including his brother• “The best and the brightest”

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II. The New Frontier at Home• Congress– Threatened to ax New Frontier proposals• Senior citizen Medical insurance, Fed $ to education

• Vexing problem—the economy– Slashed taxes to stimulate the economy– Promoted a multibillion-dollar moon landing project

$24 billion later success in 1969, two

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III. Rumblings in Europe• Soviets build the Berlin Wall August 1961– Designed to stop ‘brain drain’ from East Germany

• European Economic Community(Common Market)– The free trade area in Europe– Expansion of European-American trade

• Globalization—robustly international commerce• Kennedy's ambitious design for Europe:– Not “Atlantic Community” plans were realized• Much blocked by France (Charles de Gaulle)

– Vetoed GB application for Common Market membership (1963)– Created French atomic force– Desiredan independent Europe, free of Yankee influence.

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IV. Foreign Flare-ups and “Flexible Response”

• Worldwide decolonization from Europe – Caused rfegional ‘hot spots’

• Foreign Policy strategy– Ended Ike’s doctrine of “massive retaliation” – Developed “flexible response” model• Defense Secretary McNamara’s strategy

V. Stepping into the Vietnam Quagmire

• Corrupt, right-wing Diem government – Unpopular and ineffective

• Sharp increase in “military advisers” (late 1961)– To help protect Diem from the communists– JFK encouraged a coup (Nov 1963)• Diem assassinated

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VI. Cuban Confrontations• Alliance for Progress (Latin America)– Results were disappointing

• Bay of Pigs invasion (April 1961)– Failed Invasion of Cuba with anti-communist exiles

• Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct 1962)– USSR installing nuclear missiles in Cuba– JFK orders naval “quarantine” of Cuba– USSR removed missiles

• Fallout from the Cuban missiles crisis– ‘Arms race’ speeds up, ‘hot line’ installed, start ‘détente’

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VII. The Struggle for Civil Rights• Freedom Riders (1961)– End segregation in facilities serving bus passengers

• Voter Education Project– Register disfranchised blacks

• Integration of southern universities (1962)

• Desegregation of Birmingham (1963)– Violent scenes on TV, JFK ‘moral issue’ speech

• March on Washington (August 1963)– “I have a dream…” speech at Lincoln Memorial

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VIII. The Killing of Kennedy• Dallas, Texas - November 22, 1963– President Kennedy shot and killed– Lee Harvey Oswald shot to death in front on TV– Warren Commission could not quiet all doubts

IX. The LBJ Brand on the Presidency

• Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964– Banned racial discrimination in public facilities – Affirmative action LBJ executive order (1965)

• The Great Society (LBJ’s domestic program)– Aimed at transforming the American way of life– Michael Harrington’s The Other America (1962)

X. Johnson Battles Goldwater in 1964

• Democrats nominated Lyndon B. Johnson– Most liberal since FDR / Truman

• Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater– Goal to eliminate New Deal, Great Society programs

• 1964 Election results– Popular vote: LBJ=43,129, 566; AuH2O=27,178,188– Electoral count Johnson won 486 to 52– Goldwater – Won home state & 5 deep south states– Lopsided Democratic majorities in both houses

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XI. The Great Society Congress• Created Department of Transportation• Department of Housing & Urban Development• Started National Endowments for the Arts• Federal aid to education • Medicare for the elderly• Medicaid for the poor• Immigration reform (Eliminated ‘origins’ quota)• Criticisms of Great Society programs – Too much “social engineering” – Later, too costly

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Figure 38-1 p903

XII. Battling for Black Rights• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Feds could enforce desegregation orders

• 24th Amendment (Jan 1964) – no poll tax

• Freedom Summer(1964) voter-registration drive

• 1965 Selma, Alabama March led by ML King

• Voting Rights Act of 1965– Outlawed literacy tests– Feds oversaw state elections

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XIII. Black Power• Leadership of Malcolm X, Black Panther party – Opposed MLK passive resistance approach

• Many had considered race a “southern” problem– ~ ½ black population lived in the north– City-shaking riots erupted in northern black ghettos

• Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated April 4, 1968

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XIV. Combating Communism in Two Hemispheres

• Dominican Republic (April 1965)– U.S. troops stop people’s revolt against military govt

• “Escalation” in Vietnam– Viet Cong, attacked an American air base (Feb 1965)– Johnson bombs NV military installations• “Operation Rolling Thunder”

– ~150,000 new American troops sent to SV

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XV. Vietnam Vexations

• World reaction against America• France withdrew from NATO

• Domestic discontent over Vietnam– Thousands fled to Canada, draft card burnings– A “credibility gap” opened between gov’t & people

• Congress’s opposition to Vietnam involvement– TV hearings on causes and ‘winnability’ (1966-67)

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XVI. Vietnam Topples Johnson• Tet Offensive (communist offensive) - Jan. 1968– Showed LBJ’s strategy of escalation was not working– U.S. victory militarily, N.V. victory politically

• LBJ announces no reelection bid in 1968– LBJ’s “abdication” preserved the military status quo

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XVII. The Presidential Sweepstakes of 1968

• Democratic candidate VP Hubert H. Humphrey– After Robert Kennedy assassinated (June 1968)

• Republican candidate Richard M. Nixon – Platform victory in Vietnam, a strong anticrime policy

• American Independent party- George C. Wallace– Anti-segregation, Anti-Fed gov’t, Pro states rights

• Election of 1968 results– Electoral vote Nixon 301, Humphrey 191, Wallace 46– Nixon 31,785,480; Humphrey: 31,275,166: W ~9m– Democrats keep control of both houses

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XVIII. The Obituary of Lyndon Johnson

• LBJ died at his Texas ranch within 4 years (1973)

• One term president & VP lost in 1969

• Vietnam still ‘unwinnable’

• Great Society programs began to wither

Lyndon Johnson while President

XVIII. The Cultural Upheaval of the 1960s• Negative attitude toward all authority took hold– Gov., churches, parents lifestyle – Counter culture movement (“hippies”)

• Causes of this change (the 3 P’s)–Population – youthful baby boom

–Protest against racism and the Vietnam War

–Prosperity assumed to permanent

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