The Stormy Sixties & the Stalemated Seventies 1960 - 1980

The Stormy Sixties & theStalemated Seventies

1960 - 1980

Part IHistory 1302

Mr. Houze

I. Liberalism at High TideA. Introduction

• The two democratic presidents of the 1960s favored using government to solve social and economic problems through a multitude of efforts – promoting racial justice, education, medical care, urban development, environmental health, and more

• In the area of civil rights, strong legislative efforts and pathbreaking Supreme Court decisions did little to mitigate the economic conditions of black Americans nationwide – and liberal politicians proved inconsistent in their support

• The war in Vietnam stifled liberal reform as conservatives condemned challenges to America values and institutions

I. Liberalism at High TideA. Introduction (cont.)

• Still, despite the turmoil and challenges that marked this era, these years contained the greatest efforts to reconcile America’s promise with reality since Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal

I. Liberalism at High TideB. Kennedy’s ‘New Frontier’

• John F. Kennedy began his political career in 1946 – capitalizing on his family’s fortune, his heroic WWII navy record, his dynamic personal appeal, and a powerful political machine

• In 1952, he was elected to the U.S. Senate – his record in both houses of Congress was unremarkable, yet he won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960

I. Liberalism at High TideB. Kennedy’s ‘New Frontier’ (cont.)

• At the Democratic Convention, Kennedy announced a ‘New Frontier’ that would confront “unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus”

• Kennedy chose Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas as his vice presidential running mate – a man many liberals considered a typical southern conservative

• In an especially close election, Kennedy defeated his Republican rival, Richard M. Nixon – earning 303 electoral votes and 49.9% of the popular vote to Nixon’s 219 electoral votes and 49.6% share


Kennedy owed his victory to the black vote, Lyndon Johnson’s carrying most of the South, a rise in unemployment in 1960, and to the nation’s first live televised presidential debates

Though Kennedy’s idealism inspired many, he failed to fulfill his promises to expand the welfare state – despite the energy, charm, idealism, and glamour he projected in the White House


• Journalists often turned a blind eye to Kennedy’s numerous affairs with women that risked the dignity of the Oval Office – and the nation remained unaware of his serious health problems as well

• In 1962, influenced by Michael Harrington’s The Other America, Kennedy won support for a $2 billion urban renewal program – legislation that offered incentives to businesses to relocate into economically depressed areas to provide jobs and training for the unemployed

• Influenced by economic advisers, in 1963 Kennedy won passage of an enormous tax cut – believing that reducing taxes would infuse money into the economy, increase demand, boost production, and decrease unemployment


Kennedy’s 1963 tax cut led to the greatest economic boom since WWII – with unemployment dropping to 4.1%, and GNP rising by 7 to 9% annually between 1964 and 1966

On November 22, 1963 JFK fell victim to an assassins bullet in Dallas, Texas – an event that horrified the nation and led to numerous conspiracy theories about the event


• Succeeding to the presidency, Lyndon Johnson appointed a commission headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren to investigate the assassination

• After the assassination, Dallas police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald – concluding that he fired the fatal shots from an upper floor of the Texas Schoolbook depository


Two days later, Oswald was himself murdered [while being transferred from one jail to another] by local nightclub operator Jack Ruby

In September 1964, the Warren Commission completed its work – concluding that Oswald and Ruby each acted alone and that no conspiracy existed

I. Liberalism at High TideC. Johnson Fulfills Kennedy’s Promise

Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency with a long back-ground in Washington politics – having begun his career in the House in 1937 before being elected to the Senate in 1948

Liberals preferred JFK’s style to Johnson’s coarse Texas wit and accent – but they could not beat his political mastery behind the scenes where he threatened or enticed legislators to support his objectives

I. Liberalism at High TideC. Johnson Fulfills Kennedy’s Promise (cont.)

• Johnson was driven by his modest upbringing, his admiration for FDR, and his determination to outdo the New Deal – all of which cemented his commitment to reform

• Johnson’s goals enabled him to fulfill Kennedy’s vision for America, and he won passage of Kennedy’s tax cut bill and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – the strongest such measure since Reconstruction

• In 1964, Johnson won passage of the Economic Opportunity Act – legislation that appropriated $800 million for Head Start, the Job Corps, Volunteers in Service to America [VISTA], aid to small farmers, college work-study grants, legal aid for the poor, and [CAP] Community Action Programs

I. Liberalism at High TideD. Johnson’s ‘Great Society’

In 1964, Johnson easily won the presidential election against his Republican opponent, Arizona Senator Barry M. Goldwater – winning 486 electoral votes and 61.1% of the popular vote to Goldwater’s 52 electoral votes and 38.5% share

During the campaign, Goldwater alienated voters by attacking the welfare state the Democrats were erecting and by suggesting that nuclear weapons be used in Vietnam if necessary

I. Liberalism at High TideD. Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ (cont.)

• To his supporters, Johnson projected stability and security in the midst of a booming economy – and they gave him credit for steering the nation through the trauma of the Kennedy assassination

• After winning the election, Johnson drew on his newfound political capital and large Democratic majorities in Congress to initiate legislation aimed at discrimination, poverty, education, medical care, housing, consumer and environmental protection

• The opening shot of his ‘War on Poverty’ was the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 – a law that sought to indirectly help the poor by stimulating economic growth and providing jobs through road building and other public works projects


• In 1965, the Model Cities Act was passed – authorizing spending of more than $1 billion to improve conditions in the nation’s slums

• Other antipoverty efforts, such as a new food stamp program and rent supplements, provided direct aid – the result, families receiving assistance under programs like AFDC jumped from fewer than 1 million in 1960 to 3 million by 1972

• In 1965 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed giving federal support for public education by extending federal dollars to local school districts based on the number of poor children


Congress passed the Higher Education Act expanding federal assistance to colleges and universities for low-interest student loans, scholarships, buildings, and other programs

Medicare and Medicaid provided the elderly and poor with medical care – cutting back on Truman’s old plan for government-sponsored universal health care from the 1940s


• Johnson’s Great Society programs fulfilled New Deal and Fair Deal promises but also broke with the Democrats tradition by expanding liberalism to address the rights and needs of racial minorities

• The 1964 Civil Rights Act made discrimination illegal in education, employment, and public accommodations

Government Expenditures for

Social Welfare 1930-1995


• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned literacy tests and ensured federal intervention to protect black voting rights

• The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 also ended another form of discrimination – eliminating quotas based on nationality that were biased against immigrants from areas outside of northern and western Europe

• In 1965, Congress passed the National Arts and Humanities Act which funded writers, musicians, artists, scholars, and others to bring their work to public audiences – moving well beyond the poverty-stricken and victims of discrimination


• After 1966, reform legislation began to dwindle – particularly after the Democrats lost seats in the Congressional mid-term elections

• The Vietnam War dealt the largest blow to President Johnson’s political ambitions – diverting his attention from domestic affairs, spawning an antiwar movement that crippled his leadership, and consuming billions in tax dollars

I. Liberalism at High TideE. The Judicial Revolution

Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, who presided from 1953 to 1969, proved to be a key element of liberalism’s rapid ascendancy in the 1960s

The Warren Court expanded the Constitution’s promise of equality and individual rights, made activist decisions to prevent injustice, and provided new protections to disadvantag-ed groups and accused criminals

I. Liberalism at High TideE. The Judicial Revolution (cont.)

• In ‘Brown v. Board of Education’ the Court ruled against all-white public facilities and struck down plans devised by southern states to avoid integration – a reversal of ‘Plessey v. Ferguson’

• In ‘Loving v. Virginia (1967) the Court struck down state laws banning interracial marriage – declaring that marriage was one of the basic rights of man

• The Court’s decision in ‘Baker v. Carr’ (1963) established the principle of “one person, one vote” for both state legislatures and the House of Representatives – it also forced most states to redraw electoral district lines more equitably between rural and urban areas

I. Liberalism at High TideE. The Judicial Revolution (cont.)

• Gideon v. Wainwright’ (1963) established the legal precedent that indigent defendants must be provided a lawyer at no charge

• The Court’s 1966 decision in ‘Miranda v. Arizona’ set a legal precedent that police officers must inform suspects of their rights upon arrest – prompting some to argue that it ‘handcuffed the police’

• The Warren Court’s decisions in ‘Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) and other cases involving prayer and Bible reading in public schools led to even greater criticism and outrage – ruling against official prayer in public schools but leaving students free to pray on their own

II. The Second ReconstructionA. The Black Freedom Struggle

• As did the activist Supreme Court decisions of Warren Court, the black freedom struggle distinguished the liberalism of the 1960s from that of the Roosevelt’s New Deal

• The First Reconstruction following the Civil War reflected the power of northern Radical Republicans – the second Reconstruction depended on the courage and resolve of black people themselves

• In the South, the early black freedom struggle focused on legal rights and won widespread acceptance – but lost support in the rest of the country when blacks began to attack racial injustice there

II. The Second ReconstructionA. The Black Freedom Struggle (cont.)

• In 1955-1956, the Montgomery bus boycott gave racial issues national visibility and demonstrated the effectiveness of mass organization – it also produced a leader in Martin Luther King, Jr.

• By the 1960s, these protests had expanded into direct confrontation against discrimination and segregation against retail establishments, buses and depots, libraries and public parks, police forces, and voting registrars

• In February 1960, massive direct action began with the ‘Greensboro Four’ – four black college students who staged a sit-in at a whites-only Woolworth’s lunch counter in North Carolina


In April 1960, a black activist working for the [SCLC] Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded the more confrontational Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee [SNCC] – a youth oriented organization that embraced civil disobedience and nonviolent activity

Section of lunch counter from Woolworth’s department store –

Greensboro, N.C.


• The SNCC differed from King’s SCLC in that its leadership was decentralized and nonhierarchical – their demonstrations were met with violence from hostile whites and police who used tear gas, fire hoses, dogs, and clubs to break up their activities

• In May 1961, another round of violence occurred when the Congress of Racial Equality [CORE] organized ‘Freedom Rides’ to force integration of interstate transportation in the South

• One group of protestors travelling from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans was attacked by whites who bombed the bus and severely beat the riders with baseball bats


• CORE rejected President Kennedy’s pleas to call off the rides – resulting in more violence and the eventual intervention of federal marshals to restore order

• More than four hundred blacks and whites participated in the Freedom Rides – actions which manifested typical elements of the black freedom struggle: (1) administration efforts to stop the protests, (2) official reluctance to protect demonstrators, and (3) the resolve of black Americans faced with severe violence against them

• In the summer of 1961, the SNCC and other groups began a Voter Education Project – with the encouragement of Kennedy administra-tion officials who preferred voter registration to more controversial civil disobedience


• Seeking to register black voters in the South, their activities also met with violence

• In June 1963, Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers was gunned down in front of his Jackson, Mississippi house – his killer was not prosecuted until the 1990s

• King’s 1963 campaign in Birmingham, Alabama to integrate public facilities and open jobs to blacks met with similar violence – televised around the world, it showed police attacking demonstrators with dogs, cattle prods, and fire hoses


• King’s 1963 ‘March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom’ drew a crowd of 250,000 – it is remembered for his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech that invoked the Bible, Negro spirituals, and patriotic anthems


• The 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Project witnessed a return to violence as more than a thousand black and white college students conducted a voter registration drive – some activists were murdered, 80 were beaten, more than 1,000 were arrested, and 35 black churches were burned

• In March 1965, Alabama State troopers used extreme violence to turn back a march (for voting rights) from Selma to Montgomery, an incident that became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’ – by October of that year Johnson’s Voting Rights Act was passed

II. The Second ReconstructionB. Black Power & Urban Rebellions

By 1966, black protest had spread throughout the entire nation, demanding both legal and economic equality and justice – by then, it no longer was limited to nonviolent protest

The new violent protests resulted from a combination of heightened activism and unrealized promises – integration and legal equality had not materially changed oppressive conditions

Edmund Pettus Bridge – Police officers await demonstrators on

Bloody Sunday

II. The Second ReconstructionB. Black Power & Urban Rebellions (cont.)

• Between 1965 and 1968 black rage erupted into waves of urban uprisings, the most destructive of which occurred in the Watts district of Los Angeles in August 1965, Newark and Detroit in July 1967, and Washington, D.C. in April 1968


• In the North, Malcolm X drew on a long tradition of black nationalism and posed a powerful new challenge to nonviolent confrontation – ideas that resonated with black Muslims within the Nation of Islam

• Malcolm X called for black pride, autonomy, separation from the ‘corrupt’ white society, and self-defense against white violence

Malcolm X - 1964


• In 1964, after a trip to Egypt, he separated from the Nation of Islam to cultivate a wider constituency and to work with black and white integrationists – in February 1965 Malcolm X was assassinated by three Black Muslims at a Harlem rally

• Malcolm X’s ideas resonated with SNCC chairman Stokely Carmichael who coined the phrase ‘black power’ to describe them – he called integration a ‘subterfuge for the maintenance of white supremacy’ and consequently rejected assimilation

• Carmichael called for black Americans to develop independent businesses, form all-black political organizations, and control their own schools and communities


• By 1966, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense had been formed by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale – its members armed themselves against police brutality

• By the mid to late ’60s, press coverage of black radicals and the civil rights movement had ignited a severe white backlash – horrified, whites blamed urban rioting on black power militants rather than specific incidents of police brutality

• By 1965, Martin Luther King was in agreement with black power advocates about the need for “a radical reconstruction of society” – but he held to his ideals of nonviolence and integration


• On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated by an escaped white convict while in Memphis to support striking municipal sanitation workers – an event that sparked further rioting and violence across America

III. A Multitude of MovementsA. Native American Protest

• The black civil rights movement’s moral claims helped make protest more respectable – inspiring Native Americans, Latinos, college students, and others to challenge dominant institutions and values through direct-action

• In 1961, Native Americans formed the National Indian Youth Council [NIYC] as a means of expressed their growing discontent with the government and with older Indian leadership

• In 1968, the American Indian Movement [AIM] was founded by Dennis Banks and George Mitchell to attack problems in cities – where about 300,000 Indians lived

III. A Multitude of MovementsA. Native American Protest (cont.)

AIM worked to protect Indians from police harassment, secure anti-poverty funds, and to establish ‘survival schools’ to teach Indian history and values

Native Americans demonstrated across America – occupying land and public buildings, claiming rights to natural resources and territory they had owned before European settlement

Flag of the American Indian Movement


In 1969, AIM activists seized Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay – an effort to publicize injustices, celebrate traditional cultures, and inspire other activists

In 1972, AIM protestors took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs offices in Washington, D.C. – using the action to express outrage at the Bureau’s paternalistic policies and its interference in Indians’ lives Alcatraz Island


• In 1973, AIM militants took over the town of Wounded Knee, S.D. in a dispute with older tribal leaders – another dramatic occupation that failed to achieve specific goals

• These occupations and actions did achieve greater tribal sovereignty and control over community services, an end to relocation and termination policies, enhanced health, education and other services, and protection of Indian religious practices

III. A Multitude of MovementsB. Latino Activism

• In the 1960s, Latinos were the fastest growing and most varied minority group in America – encompassing people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and other Latin American origins

• Although Latino’s had begun organizing as far back as the 1920s, young Latinos increasingly rejected traditional policies in favor of direct action as well

• In California, Caesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta drew national attention by organizing the United Farm Workers [UFW] in 1962 – a movement to improve the poor conditions of migrant agricultural workers

III. A Multitude of MovementsB. Latino Activism (cont.)

• In 1970, UFW strikes gained wide support, and a national boycott of California grapes helped the union win a wage increase for workers – helping to improve farm worker's lives

• Chicanos mobilized elsewhere through the American GI Forum, LULAC, and other organizations to force the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC] to act against job discrimination

Cesar Chavez

III. A Multitude of MovementsB. Latino Activism (cont.)

• Although Chicanos continued to be overrepresented among the poor, they gradually won more political offices, more effective enforcement of antidiscrimination legislation and greater respect for their culture

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The Stormy Sixties & the Stalemated Seventies 1960 - 1980