“For What It’s Worth,” Buffalo

Springfield (1967)

Wouldn’t you really rather be a history major?

What do with a history degree? Secondary education Post-graduate education

Law, business, public administration, history, etc. Historical consulting, archival management, museums, historic

preservation Business careers that demand research, analytical, and writing

skillsMarket research, advertising, creative development, international business

State and federal government:Policy analyst, foreign service officer, intelligence analyst

For all of these, good grades, letters, internships, etc., are critical—will you get better grades in a major you enjoy?

MSU history programsMSU history programs

History MajorHistory Major

Science Environment Technology and Science Environment Technology and Society (SETS) OptionSociety (SETS) Option Designed for students with some interest and Designed for students with some interest and

skill in science and technology, but who loves skill in science and technology, but who loves historyhistory

Japan Studies OptionJapan Studies Option

Museum Studies MinorMuseum Studies Minor

The High Point of Modern Progressive Liberalism

Ironically, at its peak it has already begun its decline:

•Growing conservative opposition stemming from LBJ’s massive 1964 defeat of Republican Barry Goldwater

•White backlash against racial reforms

•Traditional conservative backlash against big government, growing taxes, intrusive regulations

•New social conservative backlash against women’s movement, black power, hippies

•Vietnam

LBJ and VietnamLBJ and Vietnam

Always claimed his Great Society was his true love and Always claimed his Great Society was his true love and Vietnam a distractionVietnam a distractionHad little interest or experience in foreign affairsHad little interest or experience in foreign affairsYet also anti-communist, unwilling to allow the nation Yet also anti-communist, unwilling to allow the nation Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy had sworn to defend Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy had sworn to defend to collapseto collapseMoves from bombing to the 1965 commitment of troops, Moves from bombing to the 1965 commitment of troops, the “Americanization” of the warthe “Americanization” of the warFailure to quickly and decisively win the war garners Failure to quickly and decisively win the war garners increasing criticism and distrustincreasing criticism and distrustAs LBJ had feared, conservative critics of the New As LBJ had feared, conservative critics of the New Deal/Great Society big government approach could Deal/Great Society big government approach could increasingly attack him through the Vietnam Warincreasingly attack him through the Vietnam War

American B-52 bomber releases its weapons in

Operation Rolling Thunder; by 1968 US will drop more bombs

than used in all wars in human history

Map of the major battles of the Tet Offensive, beginning January 31st, 1968

American embassy building in the heart of Saigon

Fighting in the American Embassy, Saigon

U.S. ambassador Ellsworth Bunker views dead VC commandos in the embassy courtyard

General Nguyen Ngoc Loan summarily executes a captured Viet Cong leader on the streets of Saigon

Charlie Company of Task Force Baker lands near My Lai and begins the assault, March 16, 1968

American soldier on the “Zippo Squad” sets fire to a My Lai village home

Terrified My Lai villagers moments before they were murdered by American soldiers—Ron Haeberle, the official Army photographer on the mission later said: "Guys were about to shoot these people. I yelled, 'hold it', and shot my picture. As I walked away, I heard M16s open up. From the corner of my eye I saw bodies falling, but I didn't turn to look."

Some of the victims of the My Lai Massacre

Liberalism Under SiegeLiberalism Under Siege

LBJ’s decline symbolic of the growing power of conservative and largely Republican forces to the right of moderate liberals

Believe political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of American society changing too quickly

Moderate liberals also being attacked by radicals to the left who view them as sell outs and too conservative

Believe political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of American society changing too slowly

The post-war liberal consensus thus begins to dissolve

Sixties Radicalism and the Counter Sixties Radicalism and the Counter CultureCulture

Radicalism and the Counter Culture are Radicalism and the Counter Culture are distantly linked, but not at all identicaldistantly linked, but not at all identical Radical left began in support of the Civil Radical left began in support of the Civil

Rights movementRights movementStudents for a Democratic Society increasingly Students for a Democratic Society increasingly focused on anti-war movement, resistance to focused on anti-war movement, resistance to liberal capitalismliberal capitalism

Counter Culture rooted in Beat movement of Counter Culture rooted in Beat movement of 1950s, rejection of post-war materialism, 1950s, rejection of post-war materialism, consumerism, corporatism, etc.consumerism, corporatism, etc.

The mainstream Civil Rights movement: Martin Luther King speaks to a quarter million people at the Lincoln Memorial, August 28th, 1963

Button worn by supporters of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

SNCC workers talking to poor rural Mississippi blacks about their rights to votes

Stokely Carmichael (who later took the name Kwame Ture) the newly elected head of SNCC, recruiting members in 1965

Carmichael calls for “Black Power” during a 1966 rally in Mississippi:

•"The only way we are going to stop them from whuppin' us is to take over. We've been saying freedom for six years and we ain't got nothing. The time for running has come to an end. Black power. It's time we stand up and take over. Move on over Whitey or we'll move on over you."

Black Panthers

Malcolm X

Rioting in the predominately black Watts neighborhood of L.A., August 1965

An SDS recruiter (left) and the SDS leader, Tom Hayden, in Berkeley (1969)

Vietnam war protestors in Washington, DC, 1969

Protestors and a “teach-in” at the University of Michigan, 1965

War protestors burning their draft cards, a federal offense

Marquette University students demonstrating for an end to the on-campus ROTC program

Mayor Daly’s police deliberately attack Vietnam War protestors, Chicago, 1968

"I tried to make it possible for every child of every color to grow up in a nice house, eat a solid breakfast, to attend a decent school, and to get a good and lasting job. I asked so little in return. Just a little thanks. Just a little appreciation. That's all. But look what I got instead. Riots in 175 cities. Looting. Burning. Shooting . . . . Young people by the thousands leaving the university, marching in the streets, chanting that horrible song about how many kids I had killed that day. . . . It ruined everything.”

--Lyndon Johnson

The future founders of the Beat movement in New York City, 1944

The Beats, predecessors to the Sixties Counter Culture

Marijuana, previously demonized as a dangerously addictive drug used only by criminals (“dope fiends”), becomes widely popular and available in the late 1960s

Timothy Leary, the young Harvard professor of psychology who suggested Americans might take Lysergic Acid Diethylamide and “turn on, tune in, drop out.”

Ken Kesey some 30 years after the Merry Prankster’s 1964 psychedelic and physical “trip”; the famous magic bus

behind him, slowly being reclaimed by the Oregon woods

The musicians of the counter culture, The Grateful Dead, at the corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco

The Pill so famous it needs no other name makes the cover of Time, 1967

•Did not cause the sexual revolution, but certainly facilitated it

•For the first time, women could express their sexuality with little fear of unwanted pregnancy, rather like men had done for millennia

The BacklashThe Backlash

Since the 1964 defeat of conservative Republican Barry Goldwater, conservatives had been building their base

Fringe John Birch SocietyRabidly anti-communist, alarmed by growth of government, emphasized “traditional” moral valuesPolitically marginalized by its nutty conspiratorial bent: Lyndon Johnson, Earl Warren, the United Nations, and fluoridated water are all communist plots

Growing displeasure with radical and counter culture movements attracts less extreme Americans into the conservative fold

Though both radicals and the counter culture actually attacked mainstream moderate liberalism, conservatives associate these movements with liberalism

The BacklashThe Backlash

Emerging conservative coalition has two distinct sides:Emerging conservative coalition has two distinct sides: Traditional political economy conservatives:Traditional political economy conservatives:

Big government and economic management is a threat to individual liberty, Big government and economic management is a threat to individual liberty, property rights, free marketsproperty rights, free marketsShould limit government, taxation, regulation, and interference in American Should limit government, taxation, regulation, and interference in American lives (libertarianism)lives (libertarianism)

New social conservatives:New social conservatives:Not entirely new, as roots can be found in earlier reactions against alcohol, Not entirely new, as roots can be found in earlier reactions against alcohol, racial and women’s rights, religious tolerance, jazz music, etc.racial and women’s rights, religious tolerance, jazz music, etc.

KKK in the 1920sKKK in the 1920s

Government must take steps to uphold traditional moral values, or at least Government must take steps to uphold traditional moral values, or at least not undermine them with legislative and judicial measures supporting blacks, not undermine them with legislative and judicial measures supporting blacks, women, no prayer in schools, etc.women, no prayer in schools, etc.

Two sides are an uneasy fit:Two sides are an uneasy fit: Political economy conservatives want minimal government interference Political economy conservatives want minimal government interference

in American livesin American lives Social conservatives increasingly want to Social conservatives increasingly want to useuse government to propagate government to propagate

or enforce their moral, cultural, and social valuesor enforce their moral, cultural, and social values

The Sixties Conservative Coalition:The Sixties Conservative Coalition:Political Economy Conservatives

•Despise LBJ’s Great Society: Big government social engineering (Civil Rights, Head Start, etc.), corporate regulations (Auto Safety, Environmental laws, etc.)

•Alarmed by growing tax burdens caused by Vietnam and expensive Great Society programs

•Believe regulations will drag down economy and correctly note that regulatory system had become unwieldy

Social Conservatives

•Although most are not overtly racist, alarmed by rapidity of racial change and radicals like Carmichael and Malcolm X

•Growing working class resentment, “fear of falling” and belief that blacks had unfair advantages

•Believe black riots demand not greater social change but reassertion of “law and order”

•See SDS and radical students as lazy, spoiled, unpatriotic

•Despise non-conformity, drug use, sexual expression of the Counter Culture

+

The entrepreneurial and fiercely anti-communist Revered Robert Schuller built the first ever walk-in/drive-in church in

southern California, 1961

Emergence of the Religious RightEmergence of the Religious Right

Fundamentalist and evangelical movements, previously dominated primarily Fundamentalist and evangelical movements, previously dominated primarily by the poor in the American South, begin to attract large numbers of by the poor in the American South, begin to attract large numbers of suburban middle class in California and Texassuburban middle class in California and TexasA conservative flip side to the Counter Culture—both looking for deeper A conservative flip side to the Counter Culture—both looking for deeper meaning than materialism, affluence, middle-class pragmatism, and liberal meaning than materialism, affluence, middle-class pragmatism, and liberal rationalismrationalismEmphasized return to patriarchical families and viewed complex domestic Emphasized return to patriarchical families and viewed complex domestic and international issues in moral termsand international issues in moral terms

Belief in coming apocalypse suggested Soviet Union was not just another Belief in coming apocalypse suggested Soviet Union was not just another totalitarian nation but the instrument of Satantotalitarian nation but the instrument of Satan

Satan would use such “centralized government” to create an evil World GovernmentSatan would use such “centralized government” to create an evil World GovernmentUnited Nations a step in this directionUnited Nations a step in this directionThe U.S., while imperiled from within, still the best Christian hopeThe U.S., while imperiled from within, still the best Christian hope

Sexual liberation, drug use, Hippies all signs of “the end of days”Sexual liberation, drug use, Hippies all signs of “the end of days”Need for “law and order” thus becomes a struggle against the spread of “evil”Need for “law and order” thus becomes a struggle against the spread of “evil”Ultimate issue will emerge with the Supreme Court 1973 in Ultimate issue will emerge with the Supreme Court 1973 in Roe v. WadeRoe v. Wade legalizing legalizing women’s access to abortionwomen’s access to abortion

Provided a religious ideological foundation for the conservative movementProvided a religious ideological foundation for the conservative movement

On the cover of Newsweek, 1966

Soon-to-be Governor of California, Ronald Reagan speaks to admirers in Garden Grove, Southern California

1968 presidential race campaign posters

Questions?Questions?