CHAPTER 30
PRESENTATION
SAMANTHA LUNT, NEIL DOSHI,
TYLER DOLGOS, COLE PIPERATA
KENNEDY VERSUS
NIXON
On September 26, 1960, the nation’s first televised debate
between two presidential candidates aired live to millions of
Americans
While Nixon seemed anxious and ill before the debate,
Kennedy was well-tanned from a campaign in California and
well-rested; Kennedy was confident and suave, while Nixon
seemed tense and indecisive
Through the course of all the debates, it was shown that 3
million out of the 4 million people who viewed the debates
voted for Kennedy
One main reason John F. Kennedy won the election of 1960
over Richard Nixon was because of his success in televised
debates
NEW FRONTIER
Kennedy rode the mood of frustration found in the American
people due to the launch of Sputnik
• He promised to re-uphold the failing economy and fix the
educational system, health care, and civil rights issues
This program was known as Kennedy’s “New Frontier”
KENNEDY INTENSIFIES
THE COLD WAR
In order to properly execute his foreign policy plans,
Kennedy’s staff was heavily populated with academics and
intellectuals
Kennedy’s staff consisted of:
• Dean Rusk as Head of the State Department
• McGeorge Bundy as the National Security Advisor
• Robert McNamara as the Secretary of Defense
KENNEDY INTENSIFIES
THE COLD WAR
Unlike Eisenhower’s policy of massive retaliation, Kennedy’s
plan, “flexible response”, wanted to balance out nuclear
capability with conventional military strength
• This meant that the United States was able choose different
plans in order to deal with the Soviet Union
KENNEDY INTENSIFIES
THE COLD WAR
Crisis in Berlin
• The Soviet leader whom Eisenhower and Kennedy both had
to deal with was Nikita Khrushchev
• Khrushchev threatened to sign a peace treaty that would
Berlin under the control of Germany
• On August 14th, 1961, Soviets began to construct the Berlin
Wall
• The building of the Berlin Wall was meant to keep East
Germans from migrating to the West
KENNEDY INTENSIFIES
THE COLD WAR
Southeast Asia
• Kennedy advocated financial and technical assistance for
Third World nations
• Due to Ngo Dinh Diem, elections were not held in Vietnam
since 1956
• Under Kennedy, the number of American advisers in Vietnam
grew substantially
KENNEDY INTENSIFIES
THE COLD WAR
During his term as president, Kennedy wanted to succeed
where Eisenhower did not
• One of these areas was foreign policy
• With the growing danger of communism in the world,
Kennedy wanted an end to it
• Kennedy’s foreign policy crisis was found in Berlin, Soviet
Union, Southeast Asia, and Cuba
KENNEDY INTENSIFIES
THE COLD WAR
The Bay of Pigs
• On April 17th, 1961, fourteen hundred Cuban exiles moved
ashore at the Bay of Pigs
• Kennedy insisted on covert action and cancelled an air strike
on the beachhead
• Castro and his forces destroyed the invasion, killing almost
500 exiles and made the rest surrender
• The Bay of Pigs invasion was Kennedy’s most obvious
foreign policy disaster
KENNEDY INTENSIFIES
THE COLD WAR
The Cuban Missile Crisis
• In the summer of 1962, Soviets initiated a massive arms build
up in Cuba
• Khrushchev publicly denied any danger to American security
from the missiles, but built 24 medium range and 18
intermediate range missiles
• American foreign policy hawks believed that the outcome of
the Cuban Missile Crisis justified a policy of nuclear
superiority
KENNEDY INTENSIFIES
THE COLD WAR
During this time era, the government used propaganda in
order to persuade the American people
The Government used propaganda to spread cold war fear
KENNEDY INTENSIFIES
THE COLD WAR
The Cuban Missile Crisis
• There were four main consequences of the Cuban Missile
Crisis:
•
•
•
•
A new maturity in John F. Kennedy’s foreign policy
New negotiations regarding a reduction in nuclear testing
The Soviet-American hotline
A conviction that the Soviets only understood the language of
force
THE NEW FRONTIER AT HOME
Kennedy’s election brought the arrival of a new generation of
leadership that was particularly attractive to young people.
His cabinet marked this new atmosphere of youth and energy:
• Abraham Ribicoff as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
•
•
•
•
Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense
Dean Rusk as Secretary of State
Stuart Udall as Secretary of the Interior
Arthur Goldberg as Secretary of Labor
Kennedy’s most controversial decision was appointing
his attorney general. He appointed his brother Robert
to this position which drew the attention of many
critics.
The White House staff was just as important to his
administration for there handling of domestic affairs
The greatest asset of all was his personality.
President Kennedy &
Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy
Pres. Kennedy's Cabinet: (clockwise from lower left)Budget Director David E. Bell; Postmaster General Day, Vice
President Johnson, Secretary of Defense McNamara, Secretary of Agriculture Freeman, Secretary of Labor
Goldberg, Secretary of Commerce Hodges, Attorney General Kennedy, Secretary of State Rusk, Pres. Kennedy,
Secretary of the Treasury Dillon, Secretary of the Interior Udall
CONGRESSIONAL
OBSTACLE
The largest domestic obstacle for Kennedy during his
presidency was the U.S. Congress.
Even with a presidential victory JFK’s New Frontier plan
looked unachievable.
Even though the Democrats retained a majority in the House
and Senate, Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats
opposed reforms.
Kennedy gave up his fight for Health care reforms and settled
for minimum wage increase and the passage of manpower
training and area redevelopment legislation.
ECONOMIC ADVANCE
One of Kennedy’s biggest priorities was the economy.
He received opposing views on the issue. Some urged for
manpower training and area- redevelopment while others agreed
the improvement of public works.
Appropriations for defense and space brought the actual
stimulation to the economy. (Unemployment still remained high
in older industrial areas)
Kennedy ran into confrontation among the business community.
When Roger Blough of the Steel Industry began raising prices,
he became very frustrated.
Kennedy took the unorthodox route of cutting taxes by $13.5
billion which led to sustained economic growth for the rest of
the 60s.
MOVING SLOWLY ON
CIVIL RIGHTS
JFK wanted to launch an attack on segregation but he feared
alienating southern democrats so he played down the civil
rights legislation.
He wanted to continue Eisenhower’s (but provide
presidential leadership) efforts of getting African Americans
the right to vote by working with the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He also worked to help
them gain employment opportunities.
Kennedy succeeded in appointing Thurgood Marshall and
Robert Weaver to prominent posts in the federal government.
FREEDOM RIDE
In May 1962, a biracial group wanted to test a decision that the
supreme court made in 1960 regarding the outlaw of segregation
on buses and trains used in interstate commerce known as the
Freedom Ride.
The Civil Right Movement did not accept the indirect approach of
JFK.
The Freedom Rides were sponsored by Congress of Racial
Equality (CORE).
Upon arrival in Birmingham, Alabama, the group was attacked by
a mob causing the deployment of hundreds of marshals to protect
the freedom riders.
The issues in transportation finally ended when the attorney
general went to the ICC and issued a ban on the segregation.
“I HAVE A DREAM”
Martin Luther King Jr. forced Kennedy to change to way he went
about civil rights. He encouraged JFK to stop his cautious tactics
and openly oppose racial injustice.
In 1963, king started active protests in Birmingham that were met
with harassment and arrests by the police.
After the sight of the mistreatment, Kennedy was forced to
intervene and he issued desegregation in public places and the
right to vote.
THE SUPREME COURT
AND REFORM
The most important stimulus for social change in the early 1960s was
the Supreme Court.
Under Earl Warren the court ventured into new areas and a group of
liberal judges led a fight against new activism.
Kennedy appoints Arthur Goldberg to the Supreme Court.
Now the Warren Court had a clear majority on judicial intervention
and they issue a series of landmark decisions.
The most far-reaching Warren Court decisions involved legislative
reapportionment. (Baker V. Carr which brought redistribution of
legislative seats in Tennessee.)
The court was criticized for showing its protection of accused
criminals.
1962 Engle V. Vitale banned prayer in schools.
Even though it brought criticism, the Warren Court showed justice to
the underprivileged.
MARCH ON
WASHINGTON (1963)
Over 200,000 gathered in front
of the Lincoln Memorial.
Highlight of the day was MLK’s
“I have a dream” speech.
The issues highlighted in this
event were addressed by the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
LET US CONTINUE
November 22nd 1963 would bring an end to Kennedy and his New
Frontier program when he was assassinated by Lee Harvey
Oswald in Dallas, Texas, leaving the world in shock.
Kennedy’s vice president Lyndon B. Johnson would fill his
position.
JOHNSON IN ACTION
LBJ held a strong presence with individuals but lacked the
ability to speak like JFK in front of crowds.
He did have a great ability working with congress and was
most powerful in the Senate.
Johnson sought consensus. He moved away from Kennedy’s
plans and focused on gas and oil conservation and
concentrated on Kennedy’s tax and civil rights bills.
Without the support of Republican Senator Everett Dirksen,
Civil Rights legislation would probably have been filibustered
to death in the Senate.
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF
1964
The Civil Right Act included:
•
•
•
•
Outlawing racial discrimination in employment
Outlawing racial segregation in public facilities
Protected the voting rights of African Americans
Gender as an unacceptable basis for discrimination in hiring.
Established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
ELECTION OF 1964
Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty was influenced by Michal
Harrington’s book, The Other America.
The three groups of poor were the African Americans, the aged
and households ran by women. LBJ urged a program to fund
programs to improve the problems and eventually decreased the
ranks of the poor.
Now labeled as a reformer, Johnson faced the challenge of Robert
Kennedy and the Republican candidate Barry Goldwater.
Emphasizing balanced budgets and fiscal orthodoxy Lyndon
Johnson’s domestic program was called the Great Society.
LBJ easily defeated Barry Goldwater
THE TRIUMPH OF
REFORM
Johnson needed to enact his Great Society plan and his two
reforms included education and health care.
In his health care program Johnson secured the
establishment of the Medicare program for the elderly.
One of his largest challenges was still civil rights but
succeeded in passing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which
banned literacy tests.
By fall of 1965, 89 bills had been passed.
LBJ had become one of the most accomplished presidents at
the time.
JOHNSON ESCALATES
THE VIETNAM WAR
The foreign policy of Lyndon Johnson was, in many
respects, simply a continuation of Kennedy’s policies.
• Continued the policy of containment and shared Kennedy’s
convictions against any spread of Communism
• Johnson offered covert aid against Brazilian communists and
restrained rioting in Panama
1965 – Johnson sent 20,000 American troops to the
Dominican Republic to prevent a Communist takeover
Flimsy justifications for his actions (citing the need to protect
American tourists, suspected communists among rebel
leaders) alienated major critics of Johnson, such as Senator
William Fulbright.
THE VIETNAM DILEMMA
Lyndon Johnson’s political downfall resulted primarily from his obsession with the
Vietnam War.
In 1964, seven different governments ruled South Vietnam
After being pressured by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Johnson continued JFK’s policy of
economic and technical assistance
• added 7,000 military advisors and an additional $50 million in aid
• North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked an American destroyer in the Gulf of
Tonkin
• Later on, American destroyers opened fire on North Vietnamese gunboats and
Johnson ordered retaliatory air strikes on North Vietnamese naval bases, even
though it was found that the Vietnamese had never launched a 2nd attack.
Johnson asked Congress to authorize him to take “all necessary measures to repel any
armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression.”
LBJ sought the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to demonstrate to the North Vietnamese,
and his political opponents, his determination to take a tough stance in Vietnam.
Congress granted the Resolution with an overwhelming majority – A costly victory for
Lyndon Johnson.
• Enabled unlimited military intervention
LBJ SIGNING THE GULF
OF TONKIN RESOLUTION
http://tracesofreality.com/2013/08/12/obam
a-nsa-gulf-of-tonkin-governing-as-lying/
ESCALATION
As a solution to the increasingly hopeless situation in South
Vietnam in 1965, Johnson’s key advisors urged American air strikes
against North Vietnam
American air attacks began to block North Vietnamese infiltration routes,
lift South Vietnamese morale, and make Hanoi pay for its role.
• American bombing of North Vietnam failed to accomplish
anything
April, 1965 – Johnson authorized the use of American combat troops in
South Vietnam to protect American air bases
Secretary of Defense McNamara pushed Johnson to increase American
combat forces, while Undersecretary of State George Ball warned against
the national humiliation involvement would ultimately lead to
Result - steady military escalation into a limited war to compel Hanoi to
accept a compromise
• LBJ increased bombings, allowed for offensive operations, and
approved the immediate dispatch of 50,000 troops and the future
commitment of 50,000 more
Although LBJ inherited many of the problems in Vietnam, he failed to
confront the American people with the stark truth of war.
STALEMATE
American tactics in the Vietnam War were ill-suited for the type of war
being fought.
•
•
•
•
Few industrial targets
Soviet and Chinese arms flowed freely into the country
The jungle hid North Vietnamese troops and shipments
High civilian casualties during American air attacks swayed world
opinion against the United States
American military strategists counted heavily on the benefits of
massive American firepower
• Americans devastated the countryside and slaughtered many
South Vietnamese civilians
• Lieutenant William Calley Jr.’s company killed more than 200
unarmed villagers at My Lai.
• Nearly half a million American troops were in Vietnam by 1967,
yet there was still a stalemate
Public opinion turned against the war
Time Magazine 1969
http://www.amazon.com/TIMEWilliam-Calley-MassacreMontagnard/dp/B00EVUHVHA
http://pictureshistory.blogspot.com/2010/07
/my-lai-massacre-during-vietnam-war.html
YEARS OF TURMOIL
American youths embraced alternative
lifestyles based on the belief that people
are “sensitive, searching, poetic, and
capable of love”
•rapid increase in college enrollment
• disenchantment with middle-class values
and the materialism of the affluent
THE STUDENT REVOLT
First sign of student rebellion - University of California at
Berkeley
• students occupied administration buildings and blocked protester
arrests after the university denied them a place to solicit
volunteers and funds
Protests fueled by student suspicion of the older, wealth-driven
generation
Many viewed higher education as a “servant of a corporate culture”
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) - more than 100,000
followers at 1,000 different universities
• sought salvation through the individual
• wanted to rid society of poverty, racism and violence
Upper-middle class youths turned against the nation’s traditional
values
PROTEST AT BERKELEY
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificaviet.html
PROTESTING WAR
• Youthful protesting was seen in the protest of the Vietnam war.
• student sit-ins at the University of Michigan
• student draft deferments- which enabled most of those enrolled in
college to avoid military service. As a result, the children of the
well-to-do were able to escape the draft.
• Black and Hispanic men were more likely to get drafted due to the
fact that they weren’t as well off
• As the fighting in Southeast Asia intensified in 1966 and 1967, the
protests grew larger and the slogans more extreme. "Hey, Hey,
LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"
• the SDS and African American radicals at Columbia University
joined forces in April. It took 8 days for the New York Police to take
control of the protest.
• Their brutalness made protests elsewhere more intense
• At more than 100 colleges, students spawned a cultural uprising
that transformed the manners and morals of America.
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION
• Young people challenged the adult values in clothing, hairstyles,
sexual conduct, work habits, and music
• Examples- Blue jeans to replace suits, long hair and unkempt
beards for men, bare feet and bralessness for women
• In the 60’s, some families joined communes
• Former Harvard psychology professor Timothy Leary
encouraged youth to join him in trying out the drug scene. As
a result, people experimented with marijuana and LSD.
• Hippie movement took place, led by Jerry Rubin and Abbie
Hoffman.
BLACK POWER
• The civil rights movement, which had spawned the
mood of protest in the 1960s, fell on hard times later in
the decade.
• 1964-1967: Riots in northern cities, more than half of
African Americans in the cities lived in poverty.
• The civil rights coalition fell apart as there was a rise of
militant leaders.
• Black militants took over the leadership of the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); they
hated white help and were against MLK’s nonviolence.
• MLK’s denunciation of the Vietnam War cost him
some support from conservative groups and the
Johnson Administration
• Assassinated in April In Memphis
• African Americans exploded in angry riots in 125
cities across the nation due to his murder
• Stokely Carmichael advocated “Black Power.”
African Americans began to wear Afro hairstyles,
emphasizing their African roots. Students began to
demand new black studies programs at colleges
http://www.biography.com/pe
ople/martin-luther-king-jr9365086
ETHNIC NATIONALISM
• Native Americans decried the use of their identity as football
mascots.
• Puerto Ricans demanded their history be included in school and
college texts
• Polish, Italian, and Czech groups insisted on respect for their
nationalities
• Congress acknowledged these demands with passage of the
Ethnic Heritage Studies Act of 1972.
• 1965: Cesar Chavez organized National Farm Workers
Association- poorly paid grape pickers and lettuce workers in
California. There was a struggle and 95 percent of farm workers
lost their homes, but Chavez succeeded in raising the hourly wage
of farmworkers in California to $3.53 by 1977.
• Young activists began to call themselves Chicanos
• Chicanos succeeded in establishing the first Mexican
American studies program at California State College
at Los Angeles
• Chicanos won federal mandate for bilingual
education
• High schooler’s took part in walk outs
http://depts.washington.ed
u/civilr/Chicanomovement
_part1.htm
WOMEN’S LIBERATION
• in some ways, the women’s position was worse than the 1920s.
• a lower Percentage of women were in college, still had
“feminine” jobs, and stereotypical gender roles on TV
• 1963: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique on grievance and
discrimination- American home was a “comfortable concentration
camp.” She claimed housewives had no self-esteem and no sense
of identity.
• The 1964 Civil Rights Act made it illegal to discriminate in
employment on the basis of gender.
• Women filed suit for equal wages, demanded that companies
provide day care for their children, and entered politics to lobby
against laws that were unfair to women
• laws banning abortion were attacked
• campaign to toughen the enforcement of rape laws
• The moderate leadership of the National
Organization for Women (NOW), founded by Betty
Friedan in 1966, was challenged by those with more
extreme views. Ti-Grace Atkinson and Susan
Brownmiller attacked the family and the home.
• in 1972, Congress responded by voting to send the
Equal Rights Amendment to the state legislatures for
ratification
Betty Friedan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feminine_
Mystique
VIETNAM UNDERMINES
LYNDON JOHNSON
• A controversial Vietcong offensive in early 1968 drove LBJ
from office
• More than 40 percent of American infantry went to battle in
northernmost provinces of South Vietnam because the North
Vietnamese began a siege of an American marine base at Khe
Sanh.
• Beginning on January 30, 1968, the Vietcong struck at thirtysix of the forty-four provincial capitals --Tet offensive
• Tet proved to be the turning point of the Vietnam War.
• Although the communists failed to win control of the cities, they
still held on to most of the rural areas and had won a political
victory.
• President Johnson lied, saying victory was in
sight
• The American experience in the Tet
Offensive led Lyndon Johnson to begin an
effort to open peace negotiations with the
Communists. LBJ wanted to limit bombings.
• Johnson started listening to his Secretary of
State, Clark Clifford
• LBJ decided not to run for another term
Picture of Clark Clifford
http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,1664
1,19480315,00.html
THE DEMOCRATS DIVIDE
• 1996 Rival Democrats…
• Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy (college students
flocked to his campaign)
• Robert Kennedy-attracted strong support among blue-collar
workers, and minorities, severe critic of the Vietnam War
• Party leaders favored Hubert Humphrey- Cold War liberal
• Sirhan Sirhan, assassinated Kennedy in a Los Angeles hotel
• Humphrey’s nomination looked strong, but his triumph was hurt
by violence outside the convention hall. Radical groups had urged
their members to come to Chicago to agitate, and police had
brutally stopped the group.
THE REPUBLICAN RESURGENCE
• Richard Nixon benefitted from the Democratic debacle. He had failed at
becoming the Governor of California in 1962, but through rebuilding himself,
he became the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.
• Nixon reaped the benefit of discontent with the Vietnam War. He played the
peace issue shrewdly, appearing to advocate an end to the conflict without
ever taking a definite stand. He promised to bring the country together
again.
• Humphrey was hounded by antiwar demonstrators
• George Wallace’s third party candidacy drew Democratic votes- he was a
racist
• Nixon won the election with the smallest share of the popular vote of any
winning candidate since 1916
CONCLUSION: THE
END OF AN ERA
• A growing concern over
psychedelic drugs, rock
music, long hair, and sexual
acceptance had offset the
usual Democratic advantage
on economic issues and led
to the election of a
Republican
• Nixon's election signaled a
strong reaction against the picture of electoral votesgrowth of federal power.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_
presidential_election,_1968