I. Kennedy’s “New Frontier” Spirit
- In 1960, young, energetic John F. Kennedy was elected as president
of the United States—the youngest man ever elected to that office. - The 1960s would bring a sexual revolution, a civil rights
revolution, the emergence of a “youth culture,” a
devastating war in Vietnam, and the beginnings of a feminist revolution. - JFK delivered a stirring inaugural address (“Ask not, what
your country can do for you…”), and he also assembled a
very young cabinet, including his brother, Robert Kennedy, as attorney
general.- Robert Kennedy tried to recast the priorities of the FBI, but was resisted by J. Edgar Hoover.
- Business whiz Robert S. McNamara took over the Defense Department.
- Early on, JFK proposed the Peace Corps, an army of idealist and
mostly youthful volunteers to bring American skills to underdeveloped
countries. - A graduate of Harvard and with a young family, JFK was very vibrant and charming to everyone.
II. The New Frontier at Home
- Kennedy’s social program was known as the New Frontier, but
conservative Democrats and Republicans threatened to kill many of its
reforms.- JFK did expand the House Rules Committee, but his program
didn’t expand quickly, as medical and education bills remained
stalled in Congress. - JFK also had to keep a lid on inflation and maintain a good economy.
- However, almost immediately into his term, steel management
announced great price increases, igniting the fury of the president,
but JFK also earned fiery attacks by big business against the New
Frontier.
- JFK did expand the House Rules Committee, but his program
- Kennedy’s tax-cut bill chose to stimulate the economy through price-cutting.
iii. Kennedy also promoted a project to land Americans on the moon, though apathetic Americans often ridiculed this goal.
III. Rumblings in Europe
- JFK met Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev and was threatened, but didn’t back down.
- In August of the 1961, the Soviets began building the Berlin Wall to separate East and West Germany.
- Western Europe, though, was now prospering after help from the super-successful Marshall Plan.
- America had also encouraged a Common Market (to keep trade barriers
and tariff low in Europe), which later became the European Union (EU). - The so-called Kennedy Round of tariff negotiations eased trade between Europe and the U.S.
- America had also encouraged a Common Market (to keep trade barriers
- Unfortunately, French leader Charles de Gaulle was one who was
suspicious of the U.S., and he rejected Britain’s application
into the Common Market.
IV. Foreign Flare-Ups and “Flexible Response”
- There were many world problems at this time:
- The African Congo got its independence from Belgium in 1960 and
then erupted into violence, but the United Nations sent a peacekeeping
force. - Laos, freed of its French overlords in 1954, was being threatened
by communism, but at the Geneva Conference of 1962, peace was shakily
imposed. - Defense Secretary McNamara pushed a strategy of “flexible
response,” which developed an array of military options that
could match the gravity of whatever crises came to hand.- One of these was the Green Berets, AKA, the “Special Forces”.
- The African Congo got its independence from Belgium in 1960 and
V. Stepping into the Vietnam Quagmire
- The American-backed Diem government had shakily and corruptly ruled
Vietnam since 1954, but it was threatened by the communist Viet Cong
movement led by Ho Chi Minh. - JFK slowly sent more and more U.S. troops to Vietnam to
“maintain order,” but they usually fought and died, despite
the fact that it was “Vietnam’s war.”
VI. Cuban Confrontations
- Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress was dubbed the
“Marshall Plan for Latin America,” and it aimed to close
the rich-poor gap in Latin American and thus stem communism.- However, too many Latin Americans felt that it was too little, too late.
- Kennedy also backed a U.S.-aided invasion of Cuba by rebels, but
when the Bay of Pigs Invasion occurred, on April 17, 1961, it was a
disaster, as Kennedy did not bring in the air support, and the revolt
failed.- This event pushed recently imposed Cuban leader Fidel Castro closer to the communist camp.
- JFK took full responsibility for the attack, and his popularity actually went up.
- Then, in 1962, U.S. spy planes recorded missile installations in
Cuba. It was later revealed that these were, in fact, nuclear missiles
aimed at America.- The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted 13 nerve-racking days and put the
U.S., the U.S.S.R., and the world at the brink of nuclear war. But in
the end, Khrushchev blinked, backed off of a U.S. naval blockade,
looked very weak and indecisive, and lost his power soon afterwards. - The Soviets agreed to remove their missiles if the U.S. vowed to
never invade Cuba again; the U.S. also removed their own Russia-aimed
nuclear missiles in Turkey. - There was also a direct phone call line (the “hot
line”) installed between Washington D.C. and Moscow, in case of
any crisis. - In June, 1963, Kennedy spoke, urging better feelings toward the
Soviets and beginning the modest policy of détente, or relaxed
tension in the Cold War.
- The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted 13 nerve-racking days and put the
VII. The Struggle for Civil Rights
- While Kennedy had campaigned a lot to appeal to black voters, when
it came time to help them, he was hesitant and seemingly unwilling,
taking much action. - In the 1960s, groups of Freedom Riders chartered buses to tour
through the South to try to end segregation, but white mobs often
reacted violently towards them. This drew more attention to the
segregation and what went on down South. - Slowly but surely, Kennedy urged civil rights along, encouraging
the establishment of the SNCC, a Voter Education Project to register
the South’s blacks to vote. - Some places desegregated painlessly, but others were volcanoes.
- 29 year-old James Meredith tried to enroll at the University of
Mississippi, but white students didn’t let him, so Kennedy had to
send some 400 federal marshals and 3,000 troops to ensure that Meredith
could enroll in his first class.
- 29 year-old James Meredith tried to enroll at the University of
- In spring of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. launched a peaceful
campaign against discrimination in Birmingham, Alabama, but police and
authorities responded viciously, often using extremely high-pressured
water hoses to “hose down” the sit-in protesters.- The entire American public watched in horror as the black
protesters were treated with such contempt, since the actions were
shown on national TV. - Later, on June 11, 1963, JFK made a speech urging immediate action towards this “moral issue” in a passionate plea.
- The entire American public watched in horror as the black
- Still, more violence followed, as in September 1963, a bomb
exploded in a Birmingham church, killing four black girls who had just
finished their church lesson.
VIII. The Killing of Kennedy
- On November 22, 1963, while riding down a street in Dallas, Texas,
JFK was shot and killed, allegedly by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was
himself shot by self-proclaimed avenger Jack Ruby, and there was much
controversy and scandal and conspiracy in the assassination. - Lyndon B. Johnson became the new president of the United States as
only the fourth president to succeed an assassinated president. - It was only after Kennedy’s death that America realized what
a charismatic, energetic, and vibrant president they had lost.
IX. The LBJ Brand on the Presidency
- Lyndon Johnson had been a senator in the 1940s and 50s, his idol
was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he could manipulate Congress very well
(through his in-your-face “Johnson treatment”); also, he
was very vain and egotistical. - As a president, LBJ went from conservative to liberal, helping pass
a Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned all racial discrimination in
most private facilities open to the public, including theaters,
hospitals, and restaurants.- Also created was the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which was aimed at eliminating discriminatory hiring.
- Johnson’s program was dubbed the “Great Society,” and it reflected its New Deal inspirations.
- Public support for the program was aroused by Michael
Harrington’s The Other America, which revealed that over 20% of
American suffered in poverty.
- Public support for the program was aroused by Michael
X. Johnson Battles Goldwater in 1964
- In 1964, LBJ was opposed by Republican Arizona senator Barry
Goldwater who attacked the federal income tax, the Social Security
system, the Tennessee Valley Authority, civil rights legislation, the
nuclear test-ban treaty, and the Great Society. - However, Johnson used the Tonkin Gulf Incident, in which North
Vietnamese ships allegedly fired on American ships, to attack (at least
partially) Vietnam, and he also got approval for the Tonkin Gulf
Resolution, which gave him a virtual blank check on what he could do in
affairs in Vietnam. - But on election day, Johnson won a huge landslide over Goldwater to stay president.
XI. The Great Society Congress
- Johnson’s win was also coupled by sweeping Democratic wins that enabled him to pass his Great Society programs.
- Congress doubled the appropriation on the Office of Economic
Opportunity to $2 billion and granted more than $1 billion to refurbish
Appalachia, which had been stagnant. - Johnson also created the Department of Transportation and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), headed by Robert C.
Weaver, the first black cabinet secretary in the United States’
history. - LBJ also wanted aid to education, medical care for the elderly and indigent, immigration reform, and a new voting rights bill.
- Johnson gave money to students, not schools, thus avoiding the
separation of church and state by not technically giving money to
Christian schools. - In 1965, new programs called Medicare and Medicaid were installed,
which gave certain rights to the elderly and the needy in terms of
medicine and health maintenance. - The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished the
“national origin” quota and doubled the number of
immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. annually, up to 290,000. - An antipoverty program called Project Head Start improved the
performance of the underprivileged in education. It was
“pre-school” for the poor.
- Johnson gave money to students, not schools, thus avoiding the
XII. Battling for Black Rights
- Johnson’s Voting Rights Act of 1965 attacked racial
discrimination at the polls by outlawing literacy tests and sending
voting registrars to the polls. - The 24th Amendment eliminated poll taxes, and in the “freedom
summer” of 1964, both blacks and white students joined to combat
discrimination and racism.- However, in June of 1964, a black and two white civil rights
workers were found murdered, and 21 white Mississippians were arrested
for the murders, but the all-white jury refused to convict the suspects. - Also, an integrated “Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party” was denied its seat.
- However, in June of 1964, a black and two white civil rights
- Early in 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. resumed a voter-registration
campaign in Selma, Alabama, but was assaulted with tear gas by state
troopers.- LBJ’s responded by calling for America to overcome bigotry, racism, and discrimination.
XIII. Black Power
- 1965 began a period of violent black protests, such as the one in
the Watts area of L.A., as black leaders, mocking Martin Luther King,
Jr., like Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little), who was inspired by the
Nation of Islam and its founder, Elijah Muhammed. They urged action
now, even if it required violence, to the tune of his battle cry,
“by any means necessary.” But, Malcolm X was killed in 1965
by an assassin. - The Black Panthers openly brandished weapons in Oakland, California.
- Trinidad-born Stokely Carmichael led the Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee and urged an abandonment of peaceful
demonstrations. - Black power became a rallying cry by blacks seeking more rights,
but just as they were getting them, more riots broke out, and nervous
whites threatened with retaliation. - Tragically, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
- Quietly, though, thousands of blacks registered to vote and went
into integrated classrooms, and they slowly built themselves into a
politically powerful group.
- Quietly, though, thousands of blacks registered to vote and went
XIV. Combating Communism in Two Hemispheres
- Johnson sent men to put down a supposedly communist coup in the
Dominican Republic and was denounced as over-anxious and too hyper. - In Vietnam, though, he slowly sent more and more U.S. men to fight
the war, and the South Vietnamese became spectators in their own war.
Meanwhile, more and more Americans died. - By 1968, he had sent more than half a million troops to Asia, and
was pouring in $30 billion annually, yet the end was nowhere in sight.
XV. Vietnam Vexations
- America was floundering in Vietnam and was being condemned for its
actions there, and French leader Charles de Gaulle also ordered NATO
off French soil in 1966. - In the Six-Day War, Israel stunned the world by defeating Egypt
(and its Soviet backers) and gaining new territory in the Sinai
Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank of the
Jordan River, including Jerusalem. - Meanwhile, numerous protests in America went against the Vietnam War and the draft.
- Opposition was headed by the influential Senate Committee of
Foreign Relations, headed by Senator William Fullbright of Arkansas. - “Doves” (peace lovers) and “Hawks” (war supporters) clashed.
- Opposition was headed by the influential Senate Committee of
- Both sides (the U.S. and North Vietnam) did try to have intervals
of quiet time in bombings, but they merely used those as excuses to
funnel more troops into the area. - Johnson also ordered the CIA to spy on domestic antiwar activists,
and he encouraged the FBI to use its Counterintelligence Program
(“Cointelpro”) against the peace movement. - More and more, America was trapped in an awful Vietnam War, and it
couldn’t get out, thus feeding more and more hatred and
resentment to the American public.
XVI. Vietnam Topples Johnson
- Johnson was personally suffering at the American casualties, and he
wept as he signed condolence letters and even prayed with Catholic
monks in a nearby church—at night, secretly. And, the fact that
North Vietnam had almost taken over Saigon in a blistering attack
called the Tet Offensive didn’t help either. - Johnson also saw a challenge for the Democratic ticket from Eugene
McCarthy and Robert Kennedy, and the nation, as well as the Democratic
party, was starting to be split by Vietnam.- LBJ refused to sign an order for more troops to Vietnam.
- Then, on March 31, 1968, Johnson declared that he would stop
sending in troops to Vietnam and that he would not run in 1968,
shocking America.
XVII. The Presidential Sweepstakes of 1968
- On June 5, 1968, Robert Kennedy was shot fatally, and the
Democratic ticket went to Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s
“heir.” - The Republicans responded with Richard Nixon, paired with Spiro
Agnew, and there was also a third-party candidate: George C. Wallace,
former governor of Alabama, a segregationist who wanted to bomb the
Vietnamese to death. - Nixon won a nail-biter, and Wallace didn’t do that badly either, though worse than expected.
- A minority president, he owed his presidency to protests over the war, the unfair draft, crime, and rioting.
XVIII. The Obituary of Lyndon Johnson
- Poor Lyndon Johnson returned to his Texas ranch and died there in 1973.
- He had committed Americans into Vietnam with noble intentions, and
he really wasn’t a bad guy, but he was stuck in a time when he
was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t.
XIX. The Cultural Upheaval of the 1960s
- In the 60s, the youth of America experimented with sex, drugs, and defiance.
- They protested against conventional wisdom, authority, and traditional beliefs.
- Poets like Allen Ginsberg and novelists like Jack Kerouac (who
wrote On the Road) voiced these opinions of the Beatnik generation. - Movies like The Wild One with Marlon Brando and Rebel without a
Cause starring James Dean also showed this belief. Essentially, they
championed the “ne’er-do-well” and the outcast. - At the UC-Berkeley, in 1964, a so-called Free Speech Movement began.
- Kids tried drugs, “did their own thing” in new institutions, and rejected patriotism.
- In 1948, Indiana University “sexologist” Dr. Alfred
Kinsey had published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, and had
followed that book five years later with a female version. His findings
about the incidence of premarital sex and adultery were very
controversial.- He also estimated that 10% of all American males were gay.
- The Manhattan Society, founded in L.A. in 1951, pioneered gay rights.
- Students for a Democratic Society, once against war, later spawned an underground terrorist group called the Weathermen.
- The upheavals of the 1960s and the anti-establishment movement can
largely be attributed to the three P’s: the youthful population
bulge, the protest against racism and the Vietnam War, and the apparent
permanence of prosperity, but as the 1970s rolled around, this
prosperity gave way to stagnation. - However, the “counterculture” of the youths of the
1960s did significantly weaken existing values, ideas, and beliefs.