Tumultuous Times

The Age of Camelot, the Great Society and the Emergence of a Counterculture: Welcome to the

Stormy Sixties

The Election of 1960• Richard Nixon (R): current Vice-President• John Kennedy (D): Senator from Mass.–A Catholic who was victim of a smear campaign

that wondered if the Pope would really rule– Southern Baptists also worried about a Catholic–Claimed the Soviets with their nuclear capability

and satellite technology eroded American power• Of course, Nixon refuted these claims

• TV’s impact on presidential politics begins

“Camelot” or The New Frontier Begins

• From a wealthy, politically powerful family

• 43 (youngest elected pres.)and comfortable in front of tv cameras

• People felt JFK represented the future (1st 20th century pres.)– Claimed the nation’s prosperity was not reaching the

poor• Gathered a group some called “the best and the

brightest” as his advisors• His New Frontier extended to the “final frontier”

A New Type of Leadership

Making the New Frontier a Reality• Hopes for an increase in aid to education, new

programs to end poverty, tax cuts to stimulate economic growth, increases in the minimum wage and civil rights legislation go unattained– Blocked by conservative, Southern Democrats– Blocked by Republicans– Such a close election did not mean a mandate• When a political candidate wins by such a large margin

he takes it as a demand by voters to take action

Other Items on the Agenda• To revive the economy…– Increase defense spending

• Reduce the “missile gap” between the USA and USSR• The defense budget climbs 20%

– A major tax cut• More money in people’s pockets, more spending• Rejected by Congress

– Programs still needed to be funded

• JFK with his brother, Robert (RFK) called for an end to racial discrimination and worked with MLK to gain African-American votes– Horrified by the violence in places like Birmingham, a civil

rights bill was proposed to Congress and rejected

Space: The Final (New) Frontier• USSR had sputnik (first satellite)• USSR had Yuri Gagarin (first human in space)• National Aeronautics and Space Admin. (NASA)– Alan Shepard, first American manned spaceflight– John Glenn, first American to orbit earth– Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon (1969)• That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind

Bay of Pigs Invasion (April 1961)• Fidel Castro comes to power in Cuba after a

guerrilla war promising to restore people’s rights and freedoms

• Once in power, he seized private businesses and made overtures to Soviet Union.

• Kennedy learned that the CIA was training troops to invade Cuba and topple Castro.

• His advisors provided mixed advice.– Kennedy was worried about Communism spreading to

Latin America.– He was also worried about appearing “weak”– However, Cuba was a sovereign nation

• Kennedy gave the go-ahead to invade

• Bay of Pigs invasion failed.• Information was leaked early.• Air strikes failed.• Castro was prepared for a land attack.• Invaders were captured and sent back to the U.S.• Strengthened Castro’s ties to the Soviet Union

The Berlin Crisis• Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev demanded that the

United States recognize E. Germany as an independent Communist nation.– West Berlin was an island of freedom in E. Germany.

• Kennedy refused to be bullied, sent troops into West Germany, built nuclear shelters, and waited for Khrushchev’s next move.

• By early 1961, as many as 1,000 people a day flee East German communism for a better life in the capitalist west.

• Western media report the exodus. Eastern state-controlled media ignore it.

The Berlin Wall• On Aug. 13, 1961, the

E. German government constructs a 27 mile long wall of barbed wire across the city, splitting East from West Berlin to "protect citizens from capitalism". • Kennedy said “A wall is a

lot better than a war.”• Over time, the wall was

extended and fortified.

Kennedy’s Foreign Policy Perspective• Kennedy followed the Cold War policies of

his predecessors.– He continued the nuclear arms buildup begun by

Eisenhower.– He continued to follow Truman’s practice of

containment.– Led to sending $ and advisors to Vietnam

• However, he developed the strategy of flexible response.– Strengthening conventional American forces so the

nation would have other options than nuclear weapons in times of crisis

However…• JFK worked with Khrushchev to establish a “hot

line” between the two nations (the White House to the Kremlin) for open communication in times of crisis

• With Great Britain, the USA and USSR sign a Test Ban Treaty to ban nuclear testing in the atmosphere

The Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct., 1962)• We discover Soviet-installed nuclear

missiles in Cuba • “Surgical

bombing” or should wequarantine the island?

• JFK decides to…

• The quarantine works while a nervous world watches

• Khrushchev pulls the missiles and the US quietly removes our missiles from Turkey– Khrushchev will be replaced in 1964

• Cold War tensions relax more when JFK recommends a policy of “peaceful coexistence” with the USSR

• The foundation for “détente” (relaxation of tension)

The March on Washington

(August, 1963)

• 200,000 black and whitedemonstrators march peacefully in support of a currently debated civil rights bill

• “I Have A Dream” delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

• The violence continued in the South with patience running out

Beginning on November 22, 1963

LINK

The Warren Commission• The strange circumstances surrounding

President Kennedy’s death caused people to wonder whether Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in killing the president.

• President Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination.– They determined that there was no conspiracy

and that Oswald and Jack Ruby (Oswald’s assassin) had each acted alone.

– Additional government investigations and many private ones have never found credible evidence of a conspiracy.

The Kennedy Legacy• Some felt the drama of the Kennedy presidency was

more evident than its achievements.

• However, in foreign affairs, relations with the Soviet Union had improved.

• The Peace Corps produced goodwill toward the U.S. as did the Alliance for Progress in Latin America

– Support in education, health care and farming while promoting democracy

• Not much success with domestic/racial issues.

So what has been “stormy” about the Stormy Sixties thus

far?

Chapter 49: Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ…not THAT LBJ)

and the Great Society

President Johnson’s Great Society• President Johnson used his political skills to push

JFK’s proposals through Congress and expanded them with his own vision of the Great Society.

• Believed in an expanded role for government in making Americans’ lives better

• Johnson called on members of Congress to pass Kennedy’s programs so that Kennedy did not die “in vain.”

• Johnson wanted to go beyond the Kennedy administration’s plans; he sponsored anti-poverty programs, tax-cut bills, and civil rights legislation.

The Election of 1964• In order to launch his Great Society, LBJ

needed to win the 1964 election.• Republicans selected Barry Goldwater as their

nominee.–He suggested using nuclear weapons to end

Vietnam.• “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation

in pursuit of justice is no virtue”

–Attacked the Great Society – “In your heart, you know he’s right” was

countered by “In your guts, you know he’s nuts”

The Great Society and The War on Poverty• Economic Opportunity Act (EOC): Centerpiece of

LBJ’s War on Poverty– The Job Corps: work-training programs for unemployed

youth.

– VISTA: domestic version of the Peace Corps

– Head Start for low income preschoolers

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964– Banned discrimination in most public facilities

• The Voting Rights Act of 1965– Outlawed literacy tests and used federal troops to help

register Southern black voters

• 24th Amendment outlawed poll taxes

Creating the Great Society• Elementary and Secondary Education Act - first

large scale program of government aid to public schools

• The Higher Education Act - created the first federal scholarships for needy college students

• Created the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

• Medicaid – program that provides free health care for poor people

• Medicare – health care program for people over age 65

Creating the Great Society• Parts of the Great Society emphasized

the environment• Lady Bird Johnson worked to preserve

the outdoors and natural beauty of the United States.– Pushed for the Highway Beautification Act

(came to be called Lady Bird’s bill)– The Clean Air Act of 1963 set emission

standards to lessen pollution

• Parts of the Great Society emphasized consumer protection– Unsafe at Any Speed led to seat belt laws in 1966

• The Immigration Act of 1965 eliminated old immigration quotas

The Decline of the Great Society• 1965 - 1966, Congress passed 181 of the 200 major bills

that President Johnson requested. • Some members of Congress were concerned about the rapid

pace of reform.• The midterm elections of 1966: Republicans gain seats in

both houses of Congress—which slowed down Johnson’s legislative program.

• By the end of 1966, some 385,000 U.S. combat troops were in Vietnam, and the government was spending $2.5 billion a month on the war.

• The “Guns vs. Butter” Debate– Domestic Spending vs. Defense Spending

Black Power vs. Blue-Eyed White Devils• Peaceful moderates were losing their appeal• 34 people are killed in a week of rioting in the

Watts area of L.A.• The desire for interracial cooperation was

being replaced by black separatism

• Malcolm X emerges working with Elijah Muhammed and the Nation of Islam– Assassinated in 1965

• "If I have a cup of coffee that is too strong for me because it is too black, I weaken it by pouring cream into it. I integrate it with cream. If I keep pouring enough cream in the coffee, pretty soon the entire flavor of the coffee is changed; the very nature of the coffee is changed. If enough cream is poured in, eventually you don't even know that I had coffee in this cup. This is what happened with the March on Washington. The whites didn't integrate it; they infiltrated it. Whites joined it; they engulfed it; they became so much a part of it, it lost its original flavor. It ceased to be a black march; it ceased to be militant; it ceased to be angry; it ceased to be impatient. In fact, it ceased to be a march."

The Black Panther Party• Stokely Carmichael was a member of SNCC• The Doctrine of Black Power– Exercise the political and

economic rights gained by recent legislation OR black separatism and violence?–Newark, NJ and Detroit, MI

see more rioting• “Burn baby burn!”

• The moderate voice of Martin Luther King was lost on April 4, 1968

Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953-69)• As chief justice, Warren led the Court to one

of the most significant civil rights advances in U.S. history.– Brown v. Board of Education banned racial

segregation in America’s schools.• What was the ruling and what was the result

of the following cases:1.Reynolds v. Sims2.Engel v. Vitale3.Mapp v. Ohio4.Gideon v. Wainwright5.Miranda v. Arizona

The Warren CourtThe Warren CourtCASE RULING SIGNIFICANCE/

IMPACTBrown v. Board of Ed. “Separate but equal”

has no place in American education

Schools must desegregate

Reynolds v. SimsEngel v. VitaleMapp v. Ohio

Gideon v. WainwrightMiranda v. Arizona

“Trust no one over thirty…”• Skepticism about authority had deep historical

roots• “Beat” poets (Beatniks) of the ‘50’s questioned the

conformity and complacency of the times– Jack Kerouac (“Avoid the world, it's just a lot of dust

and drag and means nothing in the end.”)– Allen Ginsberg (“I have a new method of poetry. All you

got to do is look over your notebooks... And think of anything that comes into your head, especially the miseries... Then arrange in lines of two, three or four words each, don't bother about sentences ...”)

The Counterculture (turn on, tune in, and drop out)

• Raised questions about corporate interests versus humane values

• Drugs and rock and roll (“acid rock”)• Opposed to “traditional” American ways• A sexual revolution was also taking place– “the pill” was introduced in 1960– An attack on gay men by off-duty police officers at NY’s

Stonewall Inn raised awareness of gay issues

• Students for a Democratic Society (antipoverty and antiwar) gave way to the violent Weathermen who sparked urban riots