The 60’s
Rock N’ Roll
The Election of 1960
• The Era of Television Politics
• Campaign focused on the economy & the Cold War.
Kennedy
• Believed in a Missile Gap = The U.S. was behind the Soviets.
Nixon Believed
• The U.S. Was on the Right Track
John F. Kennedy’s Obstacles
• Young
• Catholic
• Wealthy
• Inexperienced
• Dad, Joseph Kennedy
Solution
• Money = Campaign• Catholic= Promise to do what is
best for the country• Dad – Use his connections + the
large family campaigned for him• Youth = energy & new ideas
Kennedy vs. Nixon
Sick with the Flu Tan & Healthy
Kennedy won by a small %
• Camelot
• “Ask not what your
Country can do for you,
but what you can do for
Your country.”
The Kennedy Mystique
• Captured America’s Imagination
• Youth, charisma ,optimism for the future
• Glamorous wife
• Intelligent & Educated
• Extensive plans to modernize America
New Frontier Solutions
• Education
• Health Care for the Elderly
• Dept. of Urban Affairs
• Deficit Spending
More
• NASA
SPACE MAN N.A.S.A
For the Ladies……..
• Presidential Commission on the Status of Women –calling for federal action against gender discrimination *& equal pay
Warren Court Reforms
• Social Issues were a focus.
• The Supreme Court took an activist tone, helping shape national policy
• Civil Rights, freedom of the Press, separation of church & state, rights of the accused.
Due Process
• Required that the law not treat an individual unfairly, arbitrarily, or unreasonably.
Warren Court
• Was favored by some , but opposed by many.
• Had a major influence on our national policy.
• Reapportionment – moved political power to urban, liberal areas with “one man, one vote” policy of electoral voting.
Global Challenges
• Cold War – tried to curb communism & reduce the threat of nuclear war
Flexible Response
• buildup of conventional weapons & troops
Green Berets
• Special Forces =guerrilla warfare
Kennedy’s Successes• Alliance for Progress: improve relations
with Latin America Cooperative Aid projects
• Peace Corps – fight poverty, illiteracy in 3rd World Countries with American volunteers
• NASA – Space Race – the challenge for America to be the 1st to reach the moon
Crises of the Cold War
• Bay of Pigs: April 17, 1961
• Cuban exiles ( with American help( landed at Bay of Pigs to overthrow Fidel Castro.
Fiasco!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Americans did not get supplies in.
• Exiles are aged, out of shape soldiers
• Cubans did not rise up to help Exiles
• Disaster Struck & the revolution is an
embarrassment to JFK
• He looks weak.
Berlin Wall
• Nikita Khrushchev vs. Kennedy
Berlin Wall
Soviet leader built a wall through Berlin, stopping movement
between the Soviet side for 30 years.
Berlin Wall
• The Symbol of the Cold War
People try to escape
Involvement in Vietnam
• Kennedy begins to send in American “Advisors” and the first soldiers.
Cuban Missile Crises
• American spies discover that Soviet technicians & equipment had arrived in Cuba in the summer of 62
Military construction was in progress
Long Range Missiles
• “The Bomb”
Nuclear Holocaust was feared
• For 3 Long Days, The world was on the edge of a nuclear war as Soviet Ships continued to sail toward Cuba.
Show Down
• Who would blink First?
Resolution
• Kennedy agrees not to invade Cuba & remove missiles in Turkey.
Hot Line
• is Installed in Kremlin & the White House
Changes
• Treaties to ban testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere.
Result
• Khrushchev’s career is over. Next Soviet leader is less interested in reaching agreements with the West.
• Result = Massive Soviet arms buildup
The Death of a Hero
• November 22, 1963, JFK was shot twice while riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas.
• Lee Harvey Oswald, a Marxist, was accused of killing Kennedy.
Lee Harvey Oswald
• Was shot 2 days later & died by Jack Ruby
• Ruby was a nightclub owner , died of Cancer a short time later.
• It was suspected that Ruby killed Oswald to protect others involved in murdering the President.
Warren Commission
• Investigated the assassination of America’s President.
• The report left a few questions unanswered, but ruled that Oswald was the lone gunman.
• Conspiracy theories continue…. Castro, Soviets, Mafia, even LBJ?????
America Grieves
• The Funeral procession was televised & America Mourned the loss of their young President. Hope Died.
Lyndon Baines Johnson
Is sworn in as President on Air Force One
Johnson’s Presidency
• The Economy was suffering, ( 50 million poor)
• The Vietnam Conflict grows.
• LBJ spoke directly & roughly (cussed a lot)
• Had the ability ( & experience) to build consensus & build coalitions = success & powerful leaders in the Senate
The War on Poverty• Johnson’s plan to eliminate poverty,
illiteracy , crime, and other social problems.
• Office of Economic Opportunity – focused on finding jobs & fighting poverty
The Great Society
• Vision of a more perfect, equitable society
• Medicare (elderly) & Medicaid ( welfare)
• Head Start
• VISTA: Volunteers in Service to America
• HUD
• Immigration reform & limits
Legacy of the Great Society
• The impact was felt by all Americans & improved many lives.
• Some opposed the massive growth of federal funds and criticized the Great Society for intruding too much.
• Taxation & Budget Problems.
Civil Rights
MLK
Civil Rights Steps
• Sit Ins : Woolworth’s in Greensboro, N.C. in 1959
• SNCC: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
• Register Voters in the South
Freedom Riders
• Ride buses to Mississippi to insure that Interstate transportation systems were truly integrated.
Education
• James Meredith: 1962 U of Mississippi the Governor blocked his path. Kennedy sent in the Federal Marshals to escort him to class.
• Alabama Governor blocks admission for 2 black students.
• MLK is jailed several times. The non-violent protest continue.
I Have A Dream
• Dr. King leads 200,000 peaceful demonstrators of all races to Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.
Invention that Assists the Movement
• Americans see the violence
• They are forced to take a
Stand as the violence grows.
Civil Rights Act of 1964/65
• Kennedy began the process of stopping discrimination in public & work places & to end school segregation.
• Johnson pushed in through Congress.
Race Riots
• Prejudice Continues
• Riots in many American cities in the summers between 65 & 68.
• Watts burned for 6 days.
Black Power
• Turned away from the non-violent teachings
• Self Defense & live separately from Whites
• Stokely Carmichael, SNCC leader, believed that blacks should control the social, political, & economic direction of their struggle for equality.
Malcolm X
• Nation of Islam, known as the Black Muslims, believed that African Americans should separate themselves from whites and form their self-governing communities.
• Later he broke with the Nation of Islam, & believed an integrated society was possible.
• 3 members shot & killed him.
Black Panthers
• Militant African American leaders preaching “Black Power”, black nationalism, & economic self-sufficiency.
• The group believed that a revolution was necessary to gain equal rights.
Assassination of Dr. King
• Memphis, Tn. On April 4, 1968.
• Created a national mourning as well as riots in more than 100 cities.
• Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which contained a fair housing provision.
The Struggle for Voting Rights
• Black voters were often beaten, attacked, killed.
• Bombs exploded.• The March from Selma to Montgomery =
Bloody Sunday , Dr. King organized. The nation saw the violence (tv)as 200 State Troopers attacked the peaceful demonstrators.
Civil Rights Act of 1965
• Gave the Attorney General the right to send in federal examiners to register qualified voters,.
• 250,000 new African American voters.