THE STORMY SIXTIESChapter 38

1960 - 1968

Kennedy Mystique

• Referred to Camelot

• “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”

• Brought together “the best and the brightest”• Robert Kennedy --- New Attorney

General• 35 years old

• Robert McNamara --- Sec. of Defense

Progress

• Kennedy• Broad vision of progress

• “We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier”

• Called on Americans to be “New Pioneers”• Science and space• Ignorance and prejudice

• European Economic Community (EUC)• Cut Tariffs • Globalization

Poverty Abroad

• Peace Corps• Program of volunteers

• Giving assistance to developing nations• Asia, Africa, and Latin America

• “Kennedy’s Kiddie Korps”• College students

• 1968 --- 35,000 volunteers around the world

Economy

• 1960’s ---- Recession• Use of deficit spending

• Stimulating economic growth depended on increased government spending

• Lower taxes

• 1961• Proposals sent to Congress called for increased spending

• Department of Defense --- 20% budget increase• Nuclear missiles, nuclear submarines• Expansion of the armed forces

• Increase minimum wage to $1.25• Extended unemployment insurances

Military Policy

• Focused on the Cold War• Redefined the nation’s nuclear strategy

• Laos

• Flexible Response• Increased defense spending in order to boost

conventional military forces• Non-nuclear forces

• Troops, ships, artillery• Create an elite branch of army

• Special Forces = Green Berets

• Tripled the overall nuclear capabilities of the U.S.

Race to the Moon

• April 12, 1961• First human in space --- Soviets• Less than a month --- U.S. duplicated

• NASA• Created new launch facility = Cape

Canaveral, Florida• Mission Control Center = Houston, Texas

• July 20, 1969• Neil Armstrong

• Took first steps on the moon• Apollo

Berlin

• June 1961 = Vienna• 11 years since Berlin airlift

• 3 million East Germans – 20% fled into West Berlin• Weakened East Berlin

• Khrushchev• Belligerent attitude• Threatened to cut of Western access to West Berlin• Kennedy refused

Cont.

• Khrushchev• “I want peace. But, if you want war, that is your problem.”

• Kennedy• “We cannot and will not permit the communists to drive

us out of Berlin”

• August 13, 1961• East German troops began to unload concrete posts and

rolls of barbed wire• Within days the Berlin Wall was up

Bay of Pigs

• March 1960• Eisenhower gave the CIA permission to secretly train Cuban exiles

for an invasion of Cuba• Overthrow Castro

• Kennedy learned of plan 9 days after election• Had doubts --- but approved plan

Cont.• April 17, 1961

• 1,200 Cuban exiles • Landed on the island’s southern coast = Bay of Pigs

• Nothing went as planned• Air strike failed to knock out the Cuban air force

• Faced 25,000 Cuban troops• Backed by Soviet tanks and jets

• Secretary of State ---• “look like fools to our friends, rascals to our enemies, and

incompetents to the rest”

Cuban Missile Crisis

• Nikita Khrushchev• Promised to defend Cuba with

Soviet arms

• 1962• Flow to Cuba of Soviet weapons

• Nuclear missiles

• October 14• Photographs taken by American

planes revealed Soviet missile bases in Cuba• Ready to launch

Cont.• Kennedy warned that America would not tolerate offensive

nuclear weapons in Cuba• Any missile attack from Cuba would trigger an all-out attack on the

Soviets

• 6 days --- possibility of nuclear war• Soviet ships headed towards Cuba

• U.S. prepared to Quarantine Cuba• 100,000 troops waited in Florida

Cont.

• Soviet ships suddenly stopped

• Few days later • Khrushchev offered to remove the missiles in return for an

American pledge not to invade Cuba

• U.S. also secretly agreed to remove missiles from Turkey

• “For a moment, the world had stood still”• Robert Kennedy

Ease Tensions

• Hot Line = 1963• Direct line between the White House and the Kremlin

• Communicate at once

• Limited Test Ban Treaty = 1963• Barred nuclear testing in the atmosphere

Civil Rights• Proceeded slowly

• “Ink for Jack”

• Freedom Riders = 1960• End segregation in facilities serving interstate bus passengers• Riots break out

• Torched bus• Robert Kennedy’s assistant beaten

• Federal Marshals brought in

• Martin Luther King Jr.• Wire tap • Communist affiliations??

Civil Rights Cont.

• Voter Education Project• Register the South’s disfranchised blacks

• Integration = Ole Miss.• University of Mississippi

• Volcano

• October 1962• James Meredith / veteran• 400 federal Marshals / 3,000 troops

Civil Rights• Spring 1963

• Martin Luther King• Campaign against discrimination• Birmingham, Alabama

• Most segregated• Children 1000+• Marchers attacked

• Dogs / electric cattle prods• High pressure water hoses

• Kennedy addresses nation = June 11, 1963• “Moral Issue”• Called for new Civil Right Legislation / protect black citizens

Civil Rights

• August 1963• Martin Luther King• 200,000 demonstrators• Peaceful

• March on Washington• Support of legislation• Lincoln Memorial

• “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Killing of Kennedy

• November 22, 1963• Dallas, Texas

• Went to mend political fences• State’s Democratic Party

• Parade --- Open air limousine

• In the front = Texas Governor John Connally and his wife

Cont.

• Lee Harvey Oswald• 24 year old ex-marine• Briefly lived in the Soviet

Union• Supported Castro• Oswald being transported

between jails• Jack Ruby • Night club owner • Broke through the crowd

• shot = killed Kennedy

Conspiracy?• 1963 --- Conspiracy

• Warren Commission• Investigated and concluded that Oswald had shot the

president while acting on his own

• 1979• Reinvestigation concluded that Oswald was part of a

conspiracy• 2 people may have fired at the president

• Communist plot by anti-Castro Cubans?• Communists sponsored attack?• Conspiracy by the CIA?• Johnson?

LBJ

• Lyndon Baines Johnson• Grew up in Texas

• Not wealthy• Entered politics in 1937• “New Dealer”• Spokesman for small ranchers / farmers• FDR --- took Johnson under his wing

• Helped secure key committee assignments• Idolized FDR --- imitated his leadership style

• Master at behind the scenes maneuvering• Persuade Senators to support his bills

• “LBJ Treatment”

Johnson’s Agenda

• Johnson urged Congress to pass the civil rights / tax-cut bill Kennedy had proposed

• 1964• Congress pass tax reduction over $10 billion

• Spurred economic growth = “War on Poverty”

• Civil Right Act of 1964• Prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and sex

• Title VII• Affirmative Action

• Federal government had new power to enforce law• End segregation

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

Election 1964• Democrats = Johnson

• Tonkin Gulf Resolution = Vietnam • Blank Check??

• Republicans = Barry Goldwater• Senator / Arizona

• Johnson wins 486 to 52• Won election by capitalizing on people’s fears• Television = Daisy commercial• “Government could and should help the nation’s problems”• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIrFSvuEheE&safe=active

Great Society

• 1964• Johnson’s vision for America --- “Great Society”

• Wanted to change America

• Left White House in 1969• Congress had passed 206 of his measures

• Education --- “The key which can unlock the door to the Great Society”

Cont.• Economic Opportunity Act

• 1 billion for youth programs• Head start• Job Corps Youth Training program

• Antipoverty measures

• Small business loans

• Job training

• Community Action Program

Cont.

• Big 4 Legislation• Aid to education

• Medicare / Medicaid• Care for the elderly • 1965

• Immigration reform

• New voting rights bill

• Department of Housing and Urban Development• HUD• 240,000 units of low-rent public

housing• Helping low and moderate

income families pay for better private housing

• Department of Transportation

Cont.

• Immigration Act of 1965• Opened the door for many non-European immigrants to

settle in the U.S.• End Quota system

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965• $1 Billion in federal aid to help public schools

• Water Quality Act of 1965• Required states to clean up rivers• Search out the worst chemical polluters

• “There is no excuse . . . for chemical companies and oil refineries using our major rivers as pipelines for toxic wastes”

Black Rights• Freedom Summer

• King resumed the fight for voter-registration• Selma to Montgomery• Troopers used tear gas/whips

• Johnson addresses nation• Quickly pushes through legislation

• Voting Rights Act of 1965• Outlaws literacy tests• Sent Federal voter registrars into southern states

• 24th Amendment• Abolished poll tax in federal elections

Black Power

• Watts = Los Angeles• Riots

• Malcolm X• New generation of leadership• Militant • Islam• Separatism

• Afros

• Black Panther Party• Weapons• Oakland, California

• Black Power• African American distinctiveness• Riots

• “Burn Baby Burn”

• Economic demands

King dies

• Martin Luther King, Jr.• Tennessee• April 4, 1968• Sniper’s bullet• Martyr for Justice• Most inspirational leader in history• Ghetto-Gutting / Violence

• Voter Registration increased

Vietnam• North Vietnamese

• Guerillas = Viet Cong• Attacked an American air base

• Pleiku, South Vietnam = February 1965

• Johnson retaliates• Bombing raids against military installation• U.S. troops land• March 1965 = “Operation Rolling Thunder”

• End of 1965 = 184,000 American troops

• Enemy matched every increase by Americans• Mechanized war

• Johnson raised military stakes• 1968 = ½ million troops = $30 Billion annually

Israel

• Six Day War = June 1967

• Israel = expanded territories• Sinai Peninsula• Golan Heights• Gaza Strip• West Bank of Jordan River (Jerusalem)

• Resentful Palestinian Arabs• Refugees fled (350,000) = Jordan• Yasir Arafat

• Head of Palestine liberation Organization

• Powder Keg

Vietnam• World opinion hostile

• Peace Corps expelled• France (Charles de Gaulle)

• Withdrew from NATO

• Antiwar Demonstrations• Military draft• Slaughter pen / resistance stiffened• Thousands of draft registrants fled to Canada• Publically burned draft cards

• “Hell no, we won’t go”• “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?”

Cont.• Television

• Images from Vietnam• Senator William Fulbright / Arkansas

• Televised hearing 1966 – 67• Antiwar

• Public felt that they had been deceived• “Winnability”

• Defense Secretary McNamara moved out

• Longest and most unpopular foreign war in nation’s history• Casualties exceeded 100,000 • Ripping apart society / government trembling• FBI = counterintelligence against peace movement

Vietnam / Johnson

• January 1968• Communist offensive

launched = Tet (New Year)• 27 South Vietnamese

Cities• Victory for Viet Cong

• High American Casualties

• More troops (200,000)

• Johnson challenged in own party• Robert Kennedy• Eugene McCarthy

• March 31, 1968• Scale back bombing• Freeze troops• Not run for president

Election 1968• June 5, 1968

• Kennedy shot• California• Arab immigrant

• Mad over pro-Israel Views

• Democrats = Humphrey• Divided

• Republicans = Richard Nixon• War Hawk

• 3rd Party = George C. Wallace

• Segregation Now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation Forever!

Cultural Upheaval• Racism, Poverty, Vietnam

• Negative attitude = authority• Young people lost traditional moral rudders

• Religion lost grip = Protestant Denominations• Churchgoing declines

• Cultural divide• “Trust no one over 30”• University of California = Berkeley 1964

• Ban on the use of campus space for political debate

Cont.• Radical political rebels

• Drugs• “Acid Rock”• Dropped out of society

• Sexual revolution• Birth control

• Gay Rights = Mattachine Society• Attack on gay men by off duty police• N.Y. Stonewall Inn = 1969• Stonewall Rebellion