The Shattered Society1963-1973

Chapter 24

Shattered

President Kennedy assassinated Nov. 22, 1963

Lee Harvey Oswald Jack Ruby

Shattered

MLK assassinated 1968 Bobby Kennedy (RFK) assassinated

1968 Race Riots Vietnam War escalates Student Protests

Johnson and the Great Society

Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president.

Texan Experience,

energetic, crafty Congressman,

Senator Knew how to work

with Congress

The Great Society

Johnson’s vision to eliminate poverty and inequality

Believed that government was the solution to society’s problems

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Ended some racial injustices› Fairer voter registration› No racial discrimination in public buildings› Forced desegregation of public schools› No federal funds to organizations which

discriminated against minorities› Created Equal Opportunity Employment

Commission – enforce equality in the workplace

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Help blacks have access to the ballot box

Federal officials to states to help blacks register to vote

Literacy tests illegal

Supported the 24th Amendment to the Constitution: No poll taxes

WA

R O

N P

OV

ERTY

Office of Economic Opportunity

Job Training

Job Placement

Head Start

Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)

1964 Election

Lyndon B. Johnson

Barry Goldwater

Flood of Legislation

Johnson wins and controls Congress. Federal aid to education Medicare – government health

insurance for elderly Tax some people to benefit others

(redistribution of income/wealth)

The Warren Court – Judicial Activism

Chief Justice Earl Warren

Judicial Activism – broad interpretation of the Constitution to address what justices see as social problems

Which branch makes laws?

Warren Court Decisions1953-1969

Brown v. Board of Education Gideon v. Wainwright – provide

attorney for poor defendants Miranda v. Arizona – inform suspects of

their rights Engel v. Vitale – banned prayer in

public schools Roth v. U.S. – obscenity not 1st

amendment speech, but narrowly defined obscenity

Essentially the Supreme Court far exceeded its authority granted under the U.S. Constitution.

Evaluating the Great Society

Failure Why?

› Improved the plight of some poor, but poverty remained.

› Great strides toward equality, but racism and discrimination remained.

› Burdened the nation with debt.› Government cannot solve problems that

result because of sin.

Johnson & the Vietnam War

Vietnam Eisenhower – 2000 military advisors Kennedy – 16000 military advisors Johnson – advisors became combatants

Vietnam

Broken Campaign Promise Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - 1964

› Destroyer Maddox attacked by North Vietnamese

› Johnson seeks and receives authority to respond to Communist “aggression” in Vietnam.

› Actually he had prepared the speech months before the attack and was looking for a reason to escalate the war.

Vietnam By 1968, U.S. had 500,000 troops in

Vietnam.

Vietnam

North Vietnamese South Vietnamese

Communists– Viet Cong

“Charlie”

Why was Vietnam so hard to win?

1. Couldn’t tell friend from foe.2. Guerilla warfare3. Couldn’t cut off access to supplies› China, Laos, Cambodia

4. Limited, defensive war strategy

Vietnam

http://www.history.com/videos/the-road-to-war#the-road-to-war

General war info – how we got there

Tet Offensive

American opposition to the Vietnam War

Johnson’s deception› Afraid people would oppose his Great

Society…

Tet Offensive

January 1968 Lunar New Year Viet Cong infiltrated the cities of South

Vietman 60,000 VC troops attacked every major

strategic point in South Vietnam. U.S. took back the territory Sudden, heavy losses Americans thought Communists won

Tet Offensive Now they didn’t believe Johnson

because they learned the truth. After Tet, most Americans began to

want OUT of Vietnam rather than to win.

War on civilian population What would the U.S. have considered a

victory? Was it a realistic expectation?

Paris Peace Talks

U.S. goal: preserve South Vietnam as non-Communist

Communist goal: unify Vietnam under communism

Five years of talks while fighting continued.

Dogfights: Aces of Vietnam

http://www.history.com/shows/dogfights/videos/dogfights-aces-of-vietnam#dogfights-aces-of-vietnam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsyYvFgdb5c

Forest Gump in Vietnam (10 minutes)

Upheaval

Racial Conflict

Violence on all sides: blacks, whites, police

1964 Mississippi Ku Klux Klan murder 3 civil rights workers.

Selma, Alabama white civil rights activists killed by racist extremeists.

16th St. Baptist Church Bombing

Racial Conflict

Civil Rights Movement in the North Increased violence Northerners approved of Civil Rights

when it applied to the south but when it came north, they did not want to integrate their schools & neighborhoods.

Urban Riots Watts Riots (1965) – L.A.: 6 days, 34 dead, 900 injured, $45M damage.

Detroit (1967) – 43 dead, arson

Watts, L.A.

Detroit

Urban Riots

The blacks were destroying their own communities and their own people.

Public opinion changed and fewer people supported their cause.

That’s why MLK’s non-violent civil disobedience was so important in bringing change.

Black Radicals

Black Power – black supremacy

Black Panthers Nation of Islam

› Elijah Mohammed› Malcolm X

Fear of race war

Radical Youth

Half the population was under 25 years old.

Prosperity, affluence Question values,

then rebellion against those values

Spiritually unsatisfied

Disillusioned

Radical Youth

Opposition to Vietnam War – draft

Protest rallies Control of campus

buildings

New Left

Students for a Democratic Society – overthrow established institutions

Weathermen – terrorists, bombed buildings

Radical Youth

President Johnson bore the brunt of the fury.

Do you think his deception about the war had anything to do with the anger?

Protest Slogan: “Hey, Hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?”

Radical Youth

“Much of the energy for the Anti-war movement came from the resistance to authority that is always present in unregenerate man.” P. 573

Had that authority exceeded its bounds?

Had the authority acted in a manner that undermined its legitimacy?

Compare to American Revolution.

Counterculture

Rooted in rebellion Rejection of

materialism Rejection of morals

& values of previous gen.

“Do your own thing.”

“All you need is love.”

“Don’t trust anyone over 30.”

Hippies

Counterculture

Jeans Sandals Long hair & beards Unrestricted sexual

activity Rock music Hallucinogenic

drugsWoodstock 1969

Counterculture

Jimi Hendrix Janis Joplin

The baby boom generation did not find peace or satisfaction through sex, drugs, or rock & roll.

Contrast with God’s Word

Can a person live a carefree life without assuming responsibility for his/her actions?

What is true love? I Corinthians 13 Psalm 58:3 Romans 5:12

1968

How could America fall from its Post WWII elation, euphoria, unity, sense of success and accomplishment so quickly into distrust, division, and disorder?

Johnson decides not to run again.

Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy (antiwar), and Hubert Humphrey (Johnson position) run for the Democrat nomination.

Assassination X 2

MLK 1968 Memphis, TN Garbage worker

strike Balcony of hotel James Earl Ray,

white supremicist Confessed then

recanted 99 years in prison

Assassination X 2

RFK Los Angeles, CA Hotel Sirhan Sirhan 24 year old

Palestinian immigrant

Within 2 months, two major American leaders had died violently.

Democrat Nomination

Hubert Humphrey is nominated by the Democrats.

Complications

A 3rd party candidate, George Wallace from Alabama, enters as American Independent Party.

Anti-war, anti-civil rights

Republican Nomination

Richard Nixon – moderate

Nelson Rockefellar – liberal

Ronald Reagan - conservative

Republican Nomination

Richard Nixon is nominated by the Republicans.

Nixon versus Humphrey versus Wallace

Nixon 43.4% Humphrey 42.7% Wallace 13.5%

ELECTORAL COLLEGE:› Nixon 301› Humphrey 191› Wallace 46 (Map p. 579)

Nixon and the Silent Majority

Silent Majority

Nixon believed the majority of Americans were not radical, but were quiet, respectable, hard-working, decent citizens who wanted peace and order.

He claimed to represent the interests of “Middle America.”

Domestic Problems

Busing Economic Problems

› Budget deficit (Great Society, Vietnam War)

› Nixon’s “New Economic Policy” - Failure Wage and Price Controls (Oil Shortage Crisis) Board to regulate wages and prices Still had inflation and unemployment

Diplomatic Successes

China Established

relations Visited China in

1972 Got People’s

Republic of China (Communist) admitted to UN.

Then the UN kicked out Taiwan (Republic of China).

Nixon “Astute Diplomat” “Able Statesman”

Chairman Mao and President Nixon, 1972

Diplomatic Successes

Soviet Union Henry Kissinger –

Secretary of State Détente – period of

relaxed tension SALT – Strategic

Arms Limitation Treaty

Grain sales to USSR

Nixon & Vietnam

De-escalation - bring troops home, let South Vietnamese fight.

500K in 1969 140K in 1972 “Vietnamization” of

the war

Nixon & Vietnam

At the same time, he expanded the war.

Raids into Laos & Cambodia

Blockade of North Vietnam

Massive bombing Fighting more

widespread.

Dissent at Home

My Lai Massacre - 1968

300 unarmed civilians killed

Lt. William Calley – court martial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ1yTf4N9eM&feature=related

Dissent at Home

Kent State Student

demonstrators› Riots, fires

National Guard Four dead students Two were not even

participating in the demonstration

Dissent at Home

Pentagon Papers› Revealed the

blunders & deceptions of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

› Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon staffer released docs to NYT

“Peace”

Paris Peace Talks Agreement reached

in 1973. U.S. recalls troops

and gets back POWs.

South Vietnam gets arms.

North Vietnam remains in the south.

“A decent interval”

Aftermath

1975 South Vietnam falls to the Communists.

Justified Eisenhower’s Domino Theory, Cambodia

“No more Vietnams” Wave of isolation Presidential power limited – War Powers

Act 1973

Why did America lose in Vietnam? Some answers from

different perspectives:

Corrupt and unpopular South Vietnamese govt.

Limited war concept Media’s falt Result: America

traumatized by the war.

1972 Election

Republicans› Nixon

Democrats› George Wallace

(shot)› George McGovern

Nixon wins in a landslide.