ch28 lib consensus 1960-68 50 slides

8/3/2019 Ch28 Lib Consensus 1960-68 50 Slides

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America: A Concise History

Fourth Edition

CHAPTER 28

The Liberal Consensus: Flaming Out19601968

Copyright 2010 by Bedford/St. Martins

James A. Henretta David Brody


2/74

Introduction

1961, John Kennedy was sworn-in aspresident. This represented a generational

shift in power. Ask not what your country can do for you,

ask what you can do for your country.

Kennedys politics of idealism built into the

greatest burst of liberal reform since the NewDeal.

19611968: 2 Kennedys, dead. Dr. King, dead.

(p.823)
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1961-1968, Liberal Reform: Civil Rights

Medicare,

War on Poverty

1968, the Democratic National Convention,

The young idealists who believed in Kennedynow detested Kennedys liberalism.

The convention was a disaster. How did the stirring Kennedy dream

metamorphose into the DNC of 68?

(p.823)
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John F. Kennedy and the Politics of Expectation

The New Politics

The Kennedy Administration

The Civil Rights Movement Stirs

Kennedy, Cold Warrior

The Vietnam Puzzle

Assassination


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Kennedy and the

Politics of Expectation Beginning with FDR, Americans increasingly

looked to Washington for answers to

problems. Kennedy willingly stepped into that role.

He promised a New Frontier.

Henry Fairly, Politics of Expectation. The politics of expectation quickly ran into

unyielding reality.

(p.824)


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The New Politics

Charisma, style and personality were moreimportant than platforms and issues in the

new politics. The power of media. Television and

commercials.

Kennedy was comfortable with media andnew politics. Harvard, money, Boston.

Normal Mailer called him our leading man.

(p.824)


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The New Politics A major innovation in the 1960 presidential

campaign was a series of televised debatesbetween the candidates.

Richard Nixon, the Republican nominee, was amore experienced politician but was awkard withthe new media.

In the debates, Nixon looked less photogenicunder studio lights.

Television (and Chicago) decided the election.(on radio, Nixon won). 120,000 votes.

(p.824)


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Kennedy recruited unusually ableand ambitious people, such asRichard McNamara.

Former head of Ford Motor Co.who became secretary of defense.

(p.825)

Robert Kennedy, became atrusted advisor and AttorneyGeneral.


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Wars of Liberation

Jan. 1961, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchevannounced support for wars of liberation

wherever they would occur. Cuba

Vietnam

April 17, 1961, a force of 1400 troops trainedby the CIA were defeated and apprehendedin the Bay of Pigs on Cubas southern coast.

(p.826)


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Bold Initiatives

Peace Corps.

Agency for International Development

Food for Peace The Alliance for Progress a 10 year plan for

the Americas. $20 billion partnership.

NASA: May 5, 1961, Alan Shephard firstAmerican in space. John Glenn 1st to orbit.

(p.826)


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Kennedys most striking achievement was theapplication of modern economic theory togovernment fiscal policy.

The Keynesian approach of deliberate deficitspending to stimulate economic growth wasalready well known.

Kennedys economic advisors proposedsharp tax cuts, to generate moreconsumer spending, more jobs andultimately higher tax revenues.

(p.827)


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The Civil Rights Movement Stirs

Kennedy was cautious

There was stiff opposition in

congress by southern Democrats.Sit-in by the Student NonviolentCoordinating Committee (SNCC)and the Interracial Congress of

Racial Equality (CORE). Freedom rides in 1961.

Birmingham, AL in April 1963.

(p.827)
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The Civil Rights Movement Stirs Martin Luther King, Jr. called for

demonstrations in the most segregated city inthe United States: Birmingham, Alabama.

April 1963, thousands of black marchers triedto picket Birminghams department stores.

Police used dogs, electric cattle prods, and highpressure fire hoses to break up the crowds.

June 11, 1963, Kennedy was outraged anddecided to intervene. Kennedy denouncedracism on television, that night Medgar Everswas shot.

(p.827)
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Medgar Evers, (1925 63) was acivil rights activist from Mississippi.He became active in the civil rightsmovement after returning fromoverseas service in World War II andcompleting secondary education.

(p.828)

Malcolm X, (1925 65) Muslimminister and human rights activist. To

his admirers he was a courageousadvocate for the rights of AfricanAmericans, a man who indicted whiteAmerica in the harshest terms for itscrimes against black Americans.


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I HAVE A DREAM
http://youtu.be/gdTpU5WZHHMhttp://youtu.be/gdTpU5WZHHM


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Kennedy, Cold Warrior Kennedy was a resolute cold warrior who took a

hard line against Communism.

Eisenhower emphasized the nuclear arsenal

Kennedy emphasized a new policy of flexibleresponse which increased conventional forces.

Kennedys defense budget reached the highest

level since the advent of the Cold War. June, 1961, Khrushchev isolated East Berlin

from Berlins western sector. Kennedy sent

40,000 troops.(p.829)


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Berlin Wall/Cuba The Soviets responded with construction of the

Berlin Wall. The climax came in October 1962.

Kennedy announced that the Soviets had placed

ballistic missiles in Cuba. Kennedy announced imposition of a quarantine

on all offensive military equipment.

The world held its breath for one week. Kennedy agreed not to invade Cuba and

Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles.

(p.829)


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Kennedy, Cold Warrior

The risk of nuclear war, greater during the Cubanmissile crisis than at any other time, prompted asmall thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations.

The ultimate effect of the Cuban missile crisiswas a reduction in cold war tensions.

Kennedy softened his Cold War rhetoric andchastened Soviet leaders agreed to talk.

August 1963, the three principle nuclear powerstheU.S., Great Britain and the Soviet Unionannounceda ban on the testing of nuclear weapons in theatmosphere.

(p.829)


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The Vietnam Puzzle Kennedy inherited involvement in Vietnam. He

decided to try out new counter insurgencymethods of his flexible response doctrine.

The army developed the Green Berets and triedthem out in the Vietnamese jungle.

The corrupt/repressive Diem regime was

installed by Eisenhower in 1954. 1963, Buddhists accused Diem of persecution.

The Vietcong arose in response to Diemsrepressive tactics.

(p.829)


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The Vietnam Puzzle

May 1963, militant Buddhists staged dramaticdemonstrations, including self Immolations.

Kennedy let it be known to Saigon that the U.S.would support a military coup.

Nov. 1, 1963, Diem was overthrown and

assassinated, something not foreseen. At that point there were only 16,000 U.S. advisors

in Vietnam.

(p.830)


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Assassination November 22, 1963 Kennedy was

assassinated in Texas, allegedly by 24-year-oldLee Harvey Oswald. Walter Cronkite

Oswald was also assassinated a few days later. Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as Jacqueline

Kennedy looked on.

The aura of the Kennedy mystique was fed byhis traumatic death, his youth, marriage andcharisma.

He actually had Addisons disease.

(p.831)
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Camelot

No presidency ever matched the Kennedyaura of Camelot in the tradition of the

mythical King Arthur. Every president after Kennedy embraced the

idea of trying to create an image throughcarefully managed exposure to media.

Kennedys image of a martyred leaderironically produce more legislative resultsthan if he had lived.

(p.831)
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Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society

The Momentum for Civil Rights

Enacting the Liberal Agenda


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Lyndon B. Johnson and the

Great Society Lyndon Johnson was a seasoned Texas

politician, a longtime Senate leader.

Johnson was a rough-edged character whoscrambled his way up.

Johnson lacked the Kennedy aura, but hecapitalized on Kennedys assassination in order

to bring to fruition many of Kennedys ideals andprograms.

He called his ambitious agenda the Great

Society(p.831)


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Johnson quickly pushed for civil rights as amemorial to Kennedy.

His motives were both political and personal.

He wanted to show that he was president of allthe people, and not just the south.

Congress approved the most far reaching civil

rights law since Reconstruction. Discrimination in employment was prohibited.

(p.831)


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The keystone for the Civil Rights movementwas Title VII, outlawed discrimination in

employment on the basis of race, religion,national origin, or sex.

Another section guaranteed access to publicaccommodations and schools.

The law established the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission to implement theprovisions.

(p.832)


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In 1964, civil rights organizations mounted amajor campaign in Mississippi, known as

Freedom summer the effort drew severalthousand volunteers from across the country.

15 civil rights workers were murdered.

March 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. called for

a march from Selma, AL to the State capital.

State troopers attacked the marchers withtear gas and clubs. Edmund Pettus Bridge

(p.832)
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August 1965, The Voting Rights Act passedwithout outlawed literacy tests to preventblacks from registering to vote.

The Twenty-Fourth amendment (1964)outlawed the poll tax in federal elections.

The Voting Rights Act allowed millions of

blacks to vote for the first time. In 1960 only 20% of blacks were registered.

By 1971 registration exceeded 62%.

(p.832)


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Johnsons success stemmed in part from the

1964 election in which he defeated BarryGoldwater.

Goldwater ran on an anti-communist, anti-government platform.

Johnson and Humphrey won in a landslide.

Goldwaters candidacy marked the beginning ofa grass roots conservative movement.

(p.832)


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Johnson was a New Deal liberal and held anexpansive view of the role of government.

Now he had a popular mandate and a filibuster

proof majority in Congress.

April 1965, the Elementary and SecondaryEducation Act.

Johnson also passed Medicare and Medicaid. Lady Bird and the Highway Beautification Act

of 1965.

(p.833)


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1965, the National Endowments for the Artand the Humanities supported the work of

artists, writers and scholars. The Immigration Act of 1965 abandoned the

quota system that had favored Europeans.The law also allowed close family members

to immigrate outside the quota system. This especially benefited Latin Americans

and Asians and encouraged diversity.

(p.833)


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The End of Poverty

Johnson called poverty a national disgrace.He sought to end poverty in our timethrough his Great Society plan

The Great Society policies sought toreduce poverty by: expanding Social Security coverage to more

workers. expanding public-housing and rent-subsidy

programs. expanding the food stamp program.

(p.834)


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Economic Opportunity Act.

Enacted in 1964, led to a number ofprograms.

Head Start, free nursery schools. Job Corp, and Upward Bound.

Volunteers in Service to America

(VISTA)

The Community Action Program.

(p.834)


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Strains on the liberal coalition

The enactment of Great Society programsinevitably led to competition and strains among

liberal constituencies. The Vietnam War began to siphon off funding.

1966, $22 Billion went to Vietnam compared to$1.2 Billion on the War on Poverty.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said the Great Societywas shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam.

(p.835)


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Accomplishments

How much was achieved is in dispute.

1963-68, The proportion of Americans livingbelow the poverty line dropped from 20% to 13.

1960s, the black poverty line feel by half, millionsof blacks moved into the middle class.

Conservatives credited the decades booming

economy rather than government programs. Johnsons lofty rhetoric raised expectation and

Americans were disillusioned with the War onPoverty.

(p.835)


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Into the Quagmire, 19601968

Escalation

Public Opinion on Vietnam

Student Activism


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Into the Quagmire, 19601968

Kennedy inherited Vietnam from Eisenhowerand Johnson inherited it from Kennedy.

Only a massive intervention could prevent the

collapse of South Vietnam.

Johnson believed in the Cold War policy ofcontainment.

Although Kennedy might have had secondthoughts, Johnson had no such qualms. Hewas determined not to lose SE Asia tocommunism.

(p.835)


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Escalation Johnson was unwilling to level with the

American people. He did not want toendanger his domestic agenda.

He ran in 1964 on a pledge not to escalatethe war, although he fully intended to do so.

1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats firedat the destroyer Maddax. Total damage =

only a single bullet hole.

In the entire Congress, only two senatorsvoted against the resolution.

(p.835)


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Gulf of Tonkin resolution

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution formallydeclared that U.S. forces in Vietnam hadbeen authorized to repel any hostile actiontaken by the North Vietnamese against

them.

(p.835)


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American Invervention

After the 1964 election, Johnson began anAmerican takeover of the war in Vietnam.

Deployment of ground troops

Intensification of bombing against the North.

March 8, 1965, the first Marines wadedashore at Da Nang.

By 1966, 380,000 soldiers in Vietnam. 1967, 485,000

1968, 536,000.

(p.836)


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The Ho Chi Minh Trail

Rolling Thunder was a bombing campaignagainst North Vietnam.

One target was the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was an elaborate network of trails, bridges

that stretch from No Vietnam throughCambodia and Laos into So. Vietnam.

By 1968, a million tons of bombs had fallenon No. Vietnam 800 tons a day for threeand a half years.

(p.837)


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Bombing and Agent Orange

The bombing a little effect on the Vietcongs

ability to wage war.

Instead of destroying morale the bombinghardened their will to fight.

The massive commitment of troops and airpower devastated Vietnams countryside.

Defoliation with Agent Orange was intendedto remove cover but undercut the economicbase and had highly toxic effects.

(p.837)


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Reasons for failure

American soldiers and dollars distorted the econand triggered inflation and black market activity.

Johnsons advisors debated about why

American arms were failing to turn the war

around.

Ultimately, Americas failure to subdue NorthVietnam was due to:

A lack of stability in and popular support for the SouthVietnamese government

Lack of complete commitment to victory.

Overconfidence in U.S. firepower and technology

(p.837)


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Public Opinion Johnson was confident of the broad Cold War

consensus.

Both Democrats and Republicans approved

Johnsons escalation in Vietnam, and so didpublic opinion polls in 1965 and 1966.

Public opinion began to shift as night afternight Americans saw the carnage of war on

their television screens. Born On The Fourth Of July: Part-8

Part-9 Kent State 1971

(p.837)
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1966, television coverage of hearings of theSenate Foreign Relations committee were

chaired by Sen J. William Fulbright, a critic. Economic problems put Johnson on the

defensive. The war cost $27 bill in 1967.

Johnson asked for a 10% surcharge onincome taxes.

An inflationary spiral began that continuedthroughout the 1970s.

Born On The Fourth Of July: Part-13 7 min

Part-14 Miami Beach Repub convention

(p.839)
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SANE An antiwar movement began to crystalize.

There was a new generation of peaceactivists such as SANE (the NationalCommittee for a Sane Nuclear Policy).

After 1965, they were joined by studentgroups, clergy, civil rights advocates.

The Antiwar movement was soon capable ofmass demonstrations in Washington.

(p.839)


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The Anti-War movement A strong anti-war movement emerged that

mobilized demonstrations in Washington.

This was a diverse popular movement with

people from numerous backgrounds. They claimed that the intervention in Vietnam

was against American values.

That an independent South Vietnam wasunsustainable.

The no national interest justified so muchsuffering.

(p.839)


51/74

Student Activism Inspired by the black students of Greensboro,

NC, who had sparked a wave of sit-ins in theSouth, college students became active in theantiwar movement.

June 1962, forty students from Big Ten andIvy League schools formed the Students for aDemocratic Society (SDS).

Tom Hayden wrote the Port HuronStatement, expressing disillusionment withconsumer culture and growing inequality.

(p.839)


52/74

Student Activism Fall 1964, Student groups at the University

of California at Berkeley organized theFree Speech Movement.

The founders of the SDS referred tothemselves as the New Left to distinguishthemselves from the Old Left Communists

and Socialists of the1930s and 40s.

(p.839)


53/74

Coming Apart

The Counterculture

Beyond Civil Rights


54/74

Coming Apart

In the student demonstrations, the SDS andthe Berkley Free Speech Movement wereinterested in more than just the antiwar

movement. It was a broad based attack on the status-quo.

Not only challenging the Cold Warassumptions, but blasting Americas liberal

consensus.

The roots went back to the 1950s, to the Beatswho criticized capitalism.

(p.841)


55/74

The Counterculture

The New Left plotted against the political andeconomic system.

There was also a general revolt against authorityand middle class respectability.

Hippies dressed in ragged jeans, tie-dyed shirts,beads, and army fatigues with long hair. These

were the symbols of a new counterculture. 1960-The Hippies

(p.841)
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The Counterculture

(p.842)


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The Counterculture

(p.842)


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The Counterculture

(p.843)


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Beyond Civil Rights

(p.843)


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Beyond Civil Rights

(p.843)


62/74

Beyond Civil Rights

(p.844)


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Beyond Civil Rights

(p.845)


65/74

Beyond Civil Rights

(p.845)


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Beyond Civil Rights

(p.845)


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1968: A Year of Shocks

The Politics of Vietnam

Backlash


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1968: A Year of Shocks

(p.847)


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(p.847)


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The Tet Offensive

The Tet offensive of 1968 demonstrated thatthe American public was being misled aboutthe progress of the war.

(p.847)


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President Johnson reacted to the TetOffensive and divisions in the DemocraticParty in 1968 by deciding not to seek asecond term as president.

(p.847)


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Backlash

(p.847)

Chapter 28


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Chapter 28The Liberal Consensus: Flaming Out

19601968

Map 28.1 Black Voter Registration in the South, 1964 and 1975 (p. 833)

Map 28.2 The Vietnam War, 1968 (p. 836)

Map 28.3 Racial Unrest in Americas Cities, 19651968 (p. 844)

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