The%201960s

1
The 1960s

• Chapter 21

2
The Election of 1960

• John F. Kennedy is elected in 1960 over V.P.
  Richard Nixon in one of the closest elections in
  history.
• It is also the first election to feature
  televised debates.
• The Catholic issue

3
The Election of 1960
4
International Problems Bay of Pigs invasion
(1961)

• Just prior to leaving office Eisenhower had
  authorized the CIA to overthrow Fidel Castro in
  Cuba.
• Eager to establish his own cold war credentials,
  Kennedy approved an attempt by a 1400-member army
  of Cuban exiles.
• The invasion turned into a mismanaged disaster
  when Kennedy refused to provide air cover for the
  invasion. Within two days, Castro had rounded
  them up.
• Taking complete personal responsibility for the
  fiasco, Kennedy suffered a bitter humiliation.

5
International ProblemsMilitary Advisors in
Vietnam

• A month after the Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy
  secretly ordered 500 Green Berets and military
  advisors to Vietnam to help the South Vietnamese
  government.
• By 1963, the number of military advisors had
  risen to more than 16,000. The U.S. found itself
  mired in a Vietnamese civil war, which it had no
  clear strategy for winning.

6
International ProblemsThe Berlin Wall

• Also in 1961, the Soviet begun construction of
  the Berlin Wall, which cut off movement between
  East and West Berlin and became a symbol of the
  eroding relations between the Soviet Union and
  the United States.

7
Cuban Missile Crisis (October of 1962)

• CIA flights over Cuba discovered that the Soviets
  were secretly constructing offensive missile
  sites, which could launch nuclear missiles.

8
Kennedys Cold War
9
Cuban Missile Crisis (October of 1962)

• Military advisors urged air strikes against the
  missile sites, but Kennedy worried that the
  strikes might trigger nuclear war.
• Instead Kennedy imposed a naval quarantine to
  stop Soviet ships from reaching Cuba.
• The face off ended when Kennedy and Khrushchev
  reached an agreement.
• The missiles in Cuba would be dismantled in
  exchange for an American promise not to invade
  Cuba. Secretly the U.S. also agreed to destroy
  its missile bases in Turkey.

10
KennedysDomestic Agenda

• New Frontier
• Ask not what your country can do for you ask
  what you can do for your country.
• Peace Corps
• To supply young volunteers for educational and
  technical service in underdeveloped countries.
• Kennedy increases spending on defense and space
  programs
• Wanted to land a man on the moon by the end of
  decade
• Food stamp program begins (basic standard of
  living)
• Civil Rights
• Just enough to get black votes without losing
  southern whites

11
Civil Rights Movement

• Want voting rights, equal opportunity, and end to
  discrimination
• 1960-65
• Movement away from boycotts and toward
  non-violent confrontations with system.
• militant nonviolence
• Organization
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
• Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC)

12
The Civil RightsMovement

• Sit-ins
• Black college students sat down at whites only
  lunch counters and demanded service.
• Freedom Riders
• Groups of blacks and whites to test federal laws
  banning discrimination on buses.
• Movement Culture
• Sense of togetherness, purpose morally
  obligated to end racial oppression, sense of
  being part of something larger than yourself.

13
Federal Intervention in 1962

• Southern state governments defied the civil
  rights rulings of federal courts.
• Policemen used dogs, tear gas, electric cattle
  prods, and fire hoses on protestors.
• Millions of outraged Americans watched the
  confrontations on television.
• Postwar liberals begin to feel that they must act

14
March on Washington, D.C.

• On August 28, 1963, some 250,000 people gathered
  at the Lincoln Memorial to march and sing in
  support of civil rights and racial harmony.
• Kings I Have a Dream speech
• JFK finally decided to back an ambitious civil
  rights program.

15
Kennedys Assassination

• November 22, 1963
• Kennedy was shot twice in Dallas and died almost
  immediately.
• Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the murder.
• Before he could be thoroughly interrogated,
  Oswald was fatally shot by Jack Ruby, a Dallas
  nightclub owner.
• Oswalds death ignited a controversy over the
  assassination.

16
The Warren Commission

• LBJ appointed a commission to investigate
  Kennedys murder.
• Headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, it concluded
  that Oswald had acted alone.
• Yet many people were not convinced.
• JFK became a martyred leader cut down in the
  prime of his career.

17
Lyndon B. Johnson

• Lyndon Johnson took over after Kennedys
  assassination in 1963.
• Kennedy was more style than substance and Johnson
  was more substance than style.
• LBJ was a master at getting legislation passed
  through Congress.

18
Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society

• The Election of 1964
• Johnson and Hubert Humphrey (D-Minnesota)
• Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona)
• Landslide victory for LBJ
• Johnson took advantage of his new mandate to
  launch his domestic agenda.
• His deep concern for poor people and his
  commitment to civil rights can be seen in his
  Great Society program.

19
Johnsons Great Society

• Government management of economy
• Government provides basic standard of living
• Medicare (elderly)
• Medicaid (poor)
• HUD
• Include the poor in society
• War on Poverty
• Federal funding for education
• Adult reading programs
• Head Start and Daycare programs

20
Johnsons Great Society

• Use government to create a better society
• Environmental legislation
• Funding for public television and national public
  radio
• NEA and NEH
• Immigration Act of 1965
• Ended the discriminatory quotas based on national
  origins (since 1920s)
• Civil Rights

21
Johnson and Civil Rights

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Outlawed discrimination in restaurants, hotels,
  and other places of public accommodation
• Required federally assisted programs and private
  employers to eliminate discrimination
• Enabled the attorney-general to bring suits for
  school desegregation
• Key was federal government involvement to
  investigate and prevent discrimination
• Voting Rights Act of 1965
• No racial restrictions to voting
• Government investigation
• Black voter registration goes up 30

22
Evaluationof Great Society

• Good
• Poverty does go down
• Race relations improve
• (black powerlessness ends)
• Bad
• More rhetoric than money in these programs
• Programs were not well funded
• Johnson increasingly distracted by Vietnam

23
The Reforms ofthe Warren Court

• Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme
  Court in the 1960s turned its attention to civil
  liberties with several controversial rulings.
• Banning school prayer (1962)
• Protecting due process
• Defendants must be provided with lawyer
• Must be allowed to consult a lawyer before
  interrogation
• People In custody must be informed of basic
  rights (Miranda v. Arizona)

24
Civil Rights Movement Changes

• Early 1960s
• Hopeful
• we shall overcome
• biracial cooperation, unity some whites and
  blacks
• Mid- 1960s
• Starts to come apart
• Starts to turn more to economic equality
• Coalition falls apart blacks turn against
  Democratic liberals

25
Black Power

• Frustrated and disillusioned black militants took
  over, which turned off the white community
• get yourself some guns and kill the honkeys
• Black protests becomes rioting
• black is beautiful became black is better
• white members were kicked out of Civil Rights
  Organizations
• Focused on strengthening black communities rather
  than desegregation

26
Black Power

• 1965
• Watts riots in Los Angeles sparked the beginning
  of 4 years of race riots
• Most articulate spokesman for Black Power,
  Malcolm X assassinated by Black Muslim assassins
• 1968
• Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in
  Memphis
• Black Panther party of Oakland California would
  openly carry shotguns and rifles as they
  patrolled the streets protecting blacks from
  police harassment

27
(No Transcript)
28
Significant Events
? 1954 Brown v. Board of Education
? 1955 Montgomery bus boycott begun
? 1957 Little Rock Crisis
? 1961 CORE freedom rides begin
? 1962 SDS Port Huron Statement
? 1963 March on Washington
? 1964 Civil Rights Act passed
Berkeley Free Speech Movement
? 1965 Johnson launches Great Society
Kings Selma protest
Voting Rights Act Omnibus Housing Act
? 1966 Miranda v. Arizona
? 1967 Black Panthers battle Oakland police
? 1969 Woodstock Music festival