Chp 28 IdentificationsGreensboro sit-in (1960-1961) On Feb 1, four black students in Greensboro sat down at the whites-only lunch counter and refused to leave until they were served.

That number grew to 20 the next day, and overflowed into other shops by the end of the week. After 6 months, civic leaders grudgingly allowed blacks to be served.

The example set in Greensboro began to spread throughout the state and nation and transformed the determination for racial equality. Even previous neutrals began to become passionate and angry at the violence of whites and the persistence of fellow blacks. Each victory convinced thousands that they could not be stopped.

Such sits ins also helped redefine liberalism as the 1960s began.

John F. Kennedy and the election of 1960 Background Info: JFKs wealthy father (politician) raised his sons to attain the political power that had eluded him.

Despite a sever back injury, JFK went to war and came back a war hero. In 1946, he was elected to the House. His personality helped him reach the Senate in 1952.

Despite the obstacle of his Catholic faith, the popular Kennedy won the 1960 Democratic convention at the age of 42 under the theme of a New Frontier that would get American moving again.

The Republicans nominated VP Nixon. However, Nixon fumbled his opportunity as Ikes choice by agreeing to a televised debate. Millions watched JFKs dynamic personality in contrast to his haggard opponent. Radios called it a draw, but the TV clearly portrayed a Kennedy victory in the debate.

JFK also benefited from an economic recession and the choice of Lyndon Johnson as running-mate. In the closest election since 1994, JFK was able to secure key electoral votes and win the election.

JFK set the tone for a new era and brought liberal intellectuals starkly in contrast to that of Ike. In many ways, JFK was more a celebrity than a politician; awed by his grace and taste, the media extolled him.

However, no one knew of his fragile health and frequent use of mood-altering drugs to alleviate his pain.

Kennedys Domestic Record

JFK was unable to put into motion his New Frontier as he had too many Republicans and southern Democrats in Congress. Therefore, he made economic growth key to his liberal agenda and persuaded Congress to boost the American defense budget.

The Special Forces were also established during JFKs presidency.

JFK also wanted to finance a race to the moon to establish American lead in the space race.

Most importantly, JFK understood and called for Keynesian economics and deficit spending to stimulate the economy.

When his presidency suddenly ended in Nov 1963, he had already doubled the rate of economic growth, decreased unemployment, and checked inflation.

Clean Air Act (1963) Background Info: The longest boom would both cause further ecological damage and provide the affluence that enabled Americans to care about the environment.

The fallout scare of the 1950s as well as Rachel Carsons Silent Spring raised questions about the biological well-being of the planet.

Affluence also led to demand for quality rather than quantity.

Congress passed the Clean Air Act regulating automotive and industrial emissions. Washington hesitatingly began to deal with environmental problems.

Kennedy and the Cold War

JFK took an aggressive stance in the Cold War, backing up his pledge to assure the success of liberty by increasing defense spending, building up military arsenal, surrounding himself with Cold Warriors, and making foreign policy his top priority.

The Peace Corps, created in 1961, exemplified the New Frontiers liberal anti-communism. By 1963, third-world countries were receiving volunteers serving stints as teachers, sanitary engineers, crop specialists, and health workers.

In 1961, a crisis flared in Laos. JFK managed a face-saving compromise but left communist forces dominant in the countryside, stiffening his resolve not to allow further communist gains.

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Bay of Pigs invasion (Spring 1961) Spring brought JFKs first major crisis. To eliminate a communist outpost, he approved a CIA plan to invade Cuba and incite the overthrow of Fidel Castro.

The invaders had no chance against Castros superior forces. JFK accepted blame for failure, but neither apologized nor ceased attempting to topple Castro.

The Berlin Wall (Jul 1961) JFK met with Khrushchev in Vienna to try and resolve a peace treaty with Germany. Instead, JFK doubled draft calls and requested #3b defense appropriations.

The Soviets constructed the Berlin Wall to halt the exodus of talents to the West. The Wall became a symbol of communisms denial of personal freedom.

Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct 1962) Aerial photos showed USSR IRBMs capable of reaching Washington in Cuba. JFK denounced the Soviets provocative threat and promised that he would quarantine Cuba by imposing a naval blockade to prevent delivery of more missiles and dismantle by force the missiles already in Cuba if the Soviets did not so.

Khrushchev responded defiantly. More than ever before, the superpowers seemed headed for a nuclear war as Soviet missile-carrying ships headed toward the blockade. Americans stayed glued to their radios.

On the 25th, USSR ships stopped dead in the water and JFK received a message from Khrushchev that they would withdraw if the US promised never to attack Cuba.

As JFK prepared a positive response, he received another message insisted missiles be withdrawn from Turkey as part of the deal. Hours later, a U-2 was shot down in Cuba as tensions remained high.

Many urged JFK for immediate invasion, but JFK listened to his brothers advice and decided to ignore the second offer and accept the first.

That night, Robert Kennedy secretly met with the Soviet ambassador and agreed this was the only way to avoid war. Khrushchev accepted the offer. Less publically, JFK subsequently removed US missiles from Turkey.

Having come so close to war, JFK and Khrushchev began subsequent talks to stay away from the cliff. They agreed to install a Kremlin-White House hot-line.

In 1963, JFK advocated an ease in tensions and signed a treaty with USSR outlawing atmospheric and undersea nuclear testing. This led to a new negotiation phase in the Cold War known as dtente.

Ironically, the crisis also led to another arms race that lasted 25 years as both sides wanted to avoid further humiliation by the other nation.

JFKs Legacy

On Nov 22, 1963, while on a trip to TX to improve his chances for victory in 1964, shots rang out. The open car rushed to the hospital, but JFK was pronounced dead within the hour. Secret service rushed Johnson to be sworn in as president.

Grief and disbelief numbed the nation. JFK had made television central to politics and now it made him a great president alongside FDR, Lincoln, and Washington!

JFK was praised for his rhetoric, was criticized for his substance, expanded the executive power, allowed J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI unprecedented authority, used the CIA against Castro, and left a mixed record internationally.

More than anything, JFK had fired the energies and imaginations of millions of Americans, arousing the poor and giving liberals hope. Like other heroes, JFK left the stage before his glory became tarnished, leaving LBJ to deal with the rest.

President XXXVI: Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society LBJ was distrusted by liberals, yet had served in Washington almost continually since 1932. He excelled in wooing allies, neutralizing opponents, and building coalitions to achieve his results.

Calling for quick passage of the Tax Reduction Act and Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a memorial to JFK, he produced a surge in capital investment that spurred economic growth and shrank the budget deficit.

More boldly, LBJ declared unconditional war on poverty in America and proposed an array of training programs and support services.

The Economic Opportunity Act (1964) established the Office of Economic Opportunity and included the Job Corps, a domestic Peace Corps called VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) and Project Head Start to provide preschooling for disadvantaged families.

LBJs Great Society would also become a place where all children could enrich their minds, enlarge their talents, renew contact with nature, and become concerned with quality rather than quantity.

Election of 1964

LBJs Great Society horrified the new conservatism of the 1960s.

The Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater, a staunch opponent of communism, big govt., deficit spending, racial liberalism, and social-welfare.

Goldwaters conservative crusade allowed LBJ to run as a liberal and moderate.

LBJ won in a landslide victory and the Democrats made gains in both houses.

However, the Goldwater candidacy was significant as it defined modern conservatism and shifted Republican base from the East to the South and West.

Medical Care Act (1965) Background Info: LBJ flooded Congress with liberal proposals - 63 bills alone in 1965.

The new Medicare program program provided health insurance for the aged. The Medicaid health plan helped out the poor.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act & Higher Education Act (1965) The first general federal-aid-to-education law provided more than $1b to schools for textbooks, materials, and special education programs.

The Higher Education Act followed and provided scholarships and low-interest loans to needy college students. It also provided funds for college facilities.

Great Society and Housing

The Omnibus Housing Act (1965) provided supplements for low-income families.

Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act (1966) also provided extensive subsidies. It also covered up to 80% of the cost of slum clearance. Congress also created the Department of Housing and Urban Development, led by the first black cabinet member, Robert Weaver.

The Appalachian Regional Development Act (1965) targeted highway construction and health centers for the depressed region.

Immigration Act (1965) The new law abolished the National-Origins Act (1924) and removed quotas.

This had a profound browning effect on America as millions of Asians and Latinos immigrated to the US and expanded American culinary, language, music, and religion.

Preservation and Safety

Congress passed the National Wilderness Preservation Act (1964), set aside acres of wilderness, established the Redwood National Park, and blocked efforts to flood the lower Grand Canyon. It also moved to strengthen Clean Water and Clean Air Acts and protect endangered species.

Urged on by Ralph Nader about unsafe cars, Congress set the first federal safety standards for automobiles with the National Motor Vehicle Safety Act (1966).

Congress also responded to LBJs call for beauty and enacted the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities (1965) which promoted artistic and cultural development.

Great Society Programs effects

The programs increased opportunity and improved the lives of millions. But because LBJ oversold the Great Society and Congress underfunded it, results did not reach aspirations, and for many remained a dream rather than a reality.

LBJ also spent 20 times to wage war in Vietnam, causing people like King to denounce that the war against poverty was shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam.

Also, Americans grew increasingly worried about the intrusiveness of the liberal state managing their lives. This was evident in the GOPs rise in the 1966 Midterms.

Warren Court in the 1950s and 1960s

No branch supported liberalism as much as liberal Earl Warrens Supreme Court. JFKs appointment of Abe Fortas and Thurgood Marshall - the first black justice- resulted in rulings that changed the lives of Americans for decades to come.

In Brown v. Board (1954), Jim Crow laws were outlawed. Then, in Yates v. US (1957) and Watkins v. US (1957), prosecution and investigatory powers were limited. Further decisions in NY Times v. Sullivan (1964) and Miranda v. Arizona (1966) further expanded individual freedoms and curtailed prosecution powers.

In the midst of rising crime rates, Nixon and Wallace would win favor in 1968 by promising law and order over individual liberties.

The Court also ended rural over-representation in Baker v. Carr (1962). It ruled that one person, one vote must prevail in both state and national elections.

The Court - in Abington v. Schempp (1963) - also prohibited Bible reading and prayer in schools and limited local power to censor books and films.

freedom rides

In spring 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized a freedom ride through the Deep South in order to show the widespread violation of the Brown court ruling. It succeeded as it aroused white violence and gained national attention.

JFK was eventually forced to end the violence as he feared that the violence would undermine US prestige abroad. Clearly, JFK only acted because of the crisis.

Failure in Albany (1961)

Many of the freedom riders were members of the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC). SNCC stressed Kings nonviolent strategy and the need to stimulate grass-roots activism and leadership.

SNCC and Kings SCLC struggled to work together. More importantly, wily local authorities avoided open violence and the media. The Albany movement eventually collapsed, but King and other leaders learned valuable lessons.

Confrontation in Birmingham (1963)

Background Info: Civil-rights leaders applied increasing pressure on JFK to act decisively. To do so, they would need to ignite another crisis.

King and his advisers selected the very segregated Birmingham. It was so segregated and hostile that it was dubbed Bombingham.

In April, King initiated a series of marches and sit-ins. King himself was arrested, during which time he wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail.

By May, some six-year olds had even joined Kings crusade. An agitated Eugene Bull Connor tried to crush the movement with overwhelming force. The world watched in shock.

The combination of mounting support for equal rights from whites and black activism convinced JFK to endorse the civil rights movement. In June, he went on TV to define civil rights as a moral issue that has no place in American life or law.

March on Washington (1963) To compel Congress to act, King and other leaders decided on a march to Washington. The idea was first proposed in 1941 by A. Philip Randolph.

250k people, including 50k whites, converged in the largest political assembly to date. It was here that Kings famous I have a Dream speech was given.

Kings speech had not sped the progress of the civil-rights bill but had turned a political rally into a historical event.

Civil Rights Act (1964) & Voting Rights Act (1965) To an extent, it was JFKs assassination that encouraged LBJ, a southerner, to prove himself a liberal by giving every effort for a civil rights bill.

He did exactly that in 1964, banning racial discrimination and segregation in public places as well as outlawing bias in federally funded programs. The Act also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce the ban on job discrimination.

On the other hand, the Civil Rights Act failed to address the right to vote in state and local elections. CORE and SNCC mounted a major campaign to register black voters with the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project (1964).

The movement only registered 1,200 blacks to vote but was able to enroll 60k blacks in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). When they claimed they were the only freely elected party in MS, the segregationist Mississippi Democratic Party threatened to walk out. LBJ compromised.

Meanwhile, King continued to organize mass SCLC protests and aroused another conflict, this time marching from Selma to Montgomery.

George Wallace tear-gassed and clubbed petitioners, provoking national outrage. Finally, in Aug 1965, the Voting Rights Act invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the vote. The law drastically expanded southern black suffrage and transformed southern politics.

Kerner Commissions Report

Background Info: The civil rights movement profoundly changed bud did not revolutionize race relations. Continuing segregation and discrimination erupted in violence. In Watts, Los Angeles, over 30 were killed.

A frightened and bewildered America asked why such rioting was occurring when blacks were beginning to achieve many of their goals.

The Kerner Commission indicted white racism for fostering poverty, slum housing, poor education, and police brutality. It warned of two societies separate and unequal beginning to form.

LBJ ignored the report, already dealing with one war in Vietnam.

Malcolm X and Black Power

Malcolm Little sold drugs before being arrested and jailed in 1946. In prison, he converted to the Nation of Islam (NOI), the black Muslim group. When he was released in 1952, he was renamed Malcolm X and became NOIs most dynamic orator.

Responding to Malcolms call to do whatever it takes to win rights, many grew impatient with Kings nonviolence and began using violence under the slogan too little, too late.

Malcolm X was assassinated in Feb 1965 after breaking with NOI but his beliefs lived on. One such example came from Cassius Clay, who shocked the world by announcing his conversion to the NOI with his new name, Muhammad Ali.

CORE and SNCC changed from nonviolent groups to groups advocating racial separatism by any means necessary.

The Black Panther Party was the most notorious Black Power but died out (literally) because many of its members had confrontations with police and the FBI.

Although the concept of Black Power was vague, it united blacks under a single umbrella. I am black, beautiful, proud, [and] I must be respected.

Declaration of Purposes (1961) 67 disgruntled tribes drew up a Declaration of Purposes criticizing the termination policy of the 1950s and asking for Natives to be included in the War on Poverty.

LBJ responded by establishing the National Council on Indian Opportunity, pumping more funds into reservations, and appointing a Native to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs, affirming self-determination.

American Indian Movement (AIM) Background Info: Younger Native activists voiced dissatisfaction at their elders passive approach and began to call themselves Native American and demanded Red Power. They mocked Columbus Day and Thanksgiving and performed sit-ins.

The most militant group was the AIM founded in 1968. It wished to protect traditional ways of Native Americans, prevent police harassment, and teach Indian history and values. In 1969, it sustained a 19 month protest!

AIMs militancy aroused Natives to be proud of their heritage.

Csar Chvez, Dolores Huerta, and the United Farm Workers (UFW) Background Info: The Hispanic-Americans was the fastest growing minority. They grew impatient with their organizations and turned to more militant tactics.

Chavez was born in AZ and grew up a migrant farm worker. He joined the navy in WW2 and then devoted himself to gaining union recognition and improved work conditions. A charismatic leader, he used religion and nonviolent resistance.

Chavez and UFW - co-founder by Huerta - led a strike in 1965. He emphasized their determination through boycotts, and for the first time, farm workers gained the right to unionize and earn better wages.

This stimulated Mexican-Americans ethnic pride. Activists began using the formerly pejorative Chicano and Chicana to express their collective sense of identity.

Jose Angel Gutierrez and others in TX created an alternative political party in 1967! None of these movements were sustained but by elevating consciousness, each contributed to the cultural pride and to the politics of identity.

National Organization for Women (NOW) (1966) The activism in the 1960s stirred a new self-awareness among educated women.

Background Info: JFK set up the Commission on the Status of Women, which in 1963 reported that women endured similar inequities that minorities encountered.

Building on the report, women who served on the commission successfully incorporated a gender-based clause in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

However, the reluctance to enforce the ban led Betty Friedan to form the NOW which sought liberal change through the political system.

NOWs prominence was largely thanks to Friedans The Feminine Mystique (1963). It deplored the narrow view on women and claimed the velvet ghetto left many women with feelings of emptiness that made them ask, is this all?

Friedans message informed that unfulfilled women were not alone.

Casey Hayden, Mary King, and Women's Liberation

Involvement in the civil-rights and anti-Vietnam movements spurred another womens movement. As women saw that they were treated as second-class in these movements, they gained awareness of discrimination against women.

Hayden and King drew a parallel between Negroes and women. The message aroused female activists and began the more critical womens liberation movement.

The feminists adopted the technique of awareness raising as a recruitment device. This new consciousness raising opened eyes and minds.

Thereafter, womens liberation groups sprang up across the nation. They demanded equality in education and the work place as well as an end to negative portrayals of women in the media.

Despite the gulf between radicals and liberals, the two groups set aside their difference to join in the largest womens rights demonstration ever in 1970.

By then, women had already been granted the right to issue credit and marry under their own names. Furthermore, nondiscriminatory and equal pay was adopted.

The right to bear children also became a feminist rallying cry. In 1960, the pill came on the market and gave women greater freedom to be sexually active. Many also pushed for the legalization of abortions.

Growing involvement in Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)

After Laos, JFK refused to give away Vietnam and set the domino theory in motion. By mid-1963, Diem had lost all support and a coup was set.

Frustrated, American policy makers secretly backed the coup and swiftly recognized the new govt. after Diems overthrow. However, little headway was made against the NLF (also known as Vietcong or VC)

What JFK would have done remains unknown. Instead, that task fell to new president LBJ. Unable to go for total war and risk WW3 but also unable to pull out and risk political attack, LBJ decided to widen the limited war by committing US firepower.

In 1964, an election year, air strikes followed. More importantly, in the Gulf of Tonkin incident, LBJ concluded without sufficient evidence that North Vietnam had attacked America on international waters. Of course, LBJ never admitted that US ships had secretly been helping South Vietnam raid North Vietnam.

As a result, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave the president a blank check. LBJ used the blank check in 1965 in Operation Rolling Thunder but his plan failed to reach any of the intended purposes.

LBJ escalated US involvement both in bombs and man, but neither could break the North. LBJ came under increasing pressure for lying to Congress and the American people. As the war dragged on, his political downfall began.

doves versus hawks Spreading from college campuses, a growing number of Americans began to oppose the war. Students performed teach-ins and protested against the draft.

Soon, intellectuals and clergy joined the mounting opposition to LBJ and hundreds of thousands participated in anti-war protests in 1967.

Critics decried the mass bombing, segregation against the poor, and the demise of liberalism. TV coverage added to the opposition.

Yet many still supported or remained undecided over the war. They wished to get out but not give up. In other words, they detested giving in to communism.

So the nation became divided between hawks who would accept nothing but total victory, and the doves who protested for negotiation.

LBJ became trapped, a victim of war. An era of hope and liberalism had ended.

2011 SeungJoon Sung

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any wrong information that may be present.