1960’s War, Society, & Politics

JFK

• 1960 Election• JFK v. Nixon• New Frontier– Health insurance for elderly– Anti poverty– Tax cuts– Peace Corps– Alliance for Progress– Civil rights bill– Power of image

LBJ

• November 22, 1963• Lee Harvey Oswald• Carry on New Frontier• Great Society• 1964 election– Barry Goldwater– Ronald Reagan

Great Society

• Civil rights• Poverty– Eradicate poverty

• Education• Head Start• Job Corps• VISTA

Great Society

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act• Medicare (old)• Medicaid (poor)• HUD• Immigration Act of 1965

Vietnam (1954-1975)

• France, Japan, France controlled Indochina• Truman and Eisenhower send money to France• Ho Chi Minh- Free Vietnam, Vietminh• 1954: Dien Bien Phu fell

– End of French Indochina War, French lost

• Geneva Accords– Vietnam partitioned (17), communist north, democratic south under Diem

• 1956: South refused to hold elections– Ho Chi Minh would have won

• North Vietnamese invade S. Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh Trail)

• Vietcong (VC)• Kennedy send advisors to South Vietnam• 1963: President Diem (South) assassinated

Tonkin Gulf Resolution1964

• “Attacks” on U.S. destroyers• War powers authorization• Joint Resolution=“Blank Check”

Vietnam

• U.S. troop build up begins 1965• Domino Theory• Strong support for war• Ballad of the Green Berets (JFK)• General Westmoreland• ARVN• 1967- 500,000 troops• Operation Rolling Thunder

Troop Deployment

Vietnam

• VC used guerilla tactics• War of attrition• Keep support of the South Vietnamese,

“hearts & minds”, failing• Napalm• Agent Orange• Search and destroy missions, zippo raids

Napalm

Vietnam

• Homefront turning against war• Living Room war, televised war• Credibility gap

• U.S. Soldiers– Morale low– Drugs– Fragging

Vietnam Protest

• Draft• Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight (CCR)• Blacks served disproportionate to whites– 20% died only made up 10% of population– MLK spoke out– Black Panthers

Vietnam Protest

• The New Left- sweeping change, gay rights, gender issues,war– Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

• Tom Hayden• Participatory democracy• Port Huron Statement

– Free Speech Movement• Berkeley• “machine”

• Campus Activism– Columbia, Berkeley, Kent, dress codes, classes, Vietnam

• Doves vs. Hawks• Selective Service Act 1967

Vietnam Protest

• Civil Disobedience– Go to Canada– Burn draft cards

• Teach-Ins• Marches• Music• Hippies

Culture & Counterculture 1960s

• Idealism• “Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out”• Hippie Culture – Haight Ashbury

• Decline – Hendricks, Morrison, Joplin deaths – Violence– drugs

Changing Culture• Art

– psychedelic – pop art – Andy Warhol

• Rock music – The Beatles, Rolling Stones – Woodstock – political expression – Motown

• Changing attitudes – “do your own thing” – casual/permissive attitudes toward sex – violence – moral decay – long hair as rebellion

1968

• Tet Offensive• Walter Cronkite• Johnson doesn’t run• MLK assassinated• Robert Kennedy assassinated• Democratic National Convention in Chicago• Nixon Elected

1968 Election

• Nixon– Silent Majority– Southern Strategy– Southern whites vote Republican

• Gene Mc Carthy (D)– Anti-war

• Hubert Humphrey (D)• George Wallace– Segregationist– Law & order

Richard Nixon

• Vietnamization• Henry Kissinger• Invades Cambodia

My Lai

Kent State

Pentagon Papers (1971)

• Daniel Ellsberg– revealed U.S. govt. lied about Tonkin Gulf

“Peace with Honor”

• 1973: withdraw US troops

• POWs come home

• 1975: Saigon fell

Vietnam Timeline Recap• 1945-1955 (Truman)– U.S. sends money to France – France out of Indochina

• 1955-1961 (Eisenhower)– Money and weapons and advisors to South Vietnam

• 1961-1964 (Kennedy)– Advisors

• 1964-1969 (Johnson)– Combat Troops

• 1969-1975 (Nixon)– Vietnamization, Cambodia Invaded

• 1975– Saigon collapses, Vietnam unified

Vietnam Memorial

• Maya Ying Lin• 1982• 58,000 names

Results of Vietnam

• PTSD• War Powers Act• Cynicism• Back lash against liberals• Cambodia will fall to Communism

Conservative Response

• White backlash• Richard Nixon • J Edgar Hoover • revolutionary terrorism• Rise of the Religious Right part 1• Rise of the Religious Right part 2