The Stormy Sixties: 19601968
Chapter 38
AP Notes
Objectives…
• Describe the high expectations of
Kennedy’s New Frontier and political
obstacles…
• Analyze the theory and practice of
Kennedy’s doctrine of “flexible response”
• Describe Johnson’s succession to the
presidency in 1963…
1960 Election
• R.M. Nixon v. J.F.
Kennedy
• Obstacles for
Kennedy….
– Age
– Religion
• Promises…
• Liberal
Consensus…
The Debates…
Kennedy Strengths
V. RMN Weaknesses
What were the results of the 1960
election?
Camelot….
The Kennedy Cabinet
•
•
•
•
“The Best and the Brightest”
McGeorge Bundy – NSA
Robert McNamara – Secretary of Defense
Dean Rusk– Sec. of State
• RFK- Attorney
General
Kennedy’s New Frontier..
•
•
•
•
•
•
Higher minimum wage
Greater federal aid to education
Increased Social Security
Medical care for the elderly
Support for public housing
Anti-poverty measures – influenced by
Michael Harrington’s The Other America
Successes….
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Slight increase in minimum wage
Modest expansion of Social Security
Higher Education Act 1963
Area Redevelopment Act for Appalachia
Manpower Retraining Act of 1963…
NASA….
Commission on the Status of Women
– Equal Pay Act of 1963
Race to the Moon
• In April, 1961 the USSR put the first man in
space, Yuri Gagarin
• JKF increased funding to NASA, $33 billion
by 1969
• Cape Canaveral and Houston Space Center
were built
• JFK pledged to go to the moon by the end of
the 1960’s
• Universities expanded science programs,
new industries and technologies emerged
JFK and Civil Rights
• At first wanted to avoid the issue – too
controversial
• RFK was ordered to investigate racial
injustices in the South
• He sent federal troops to desegregate Old
Miss (James Meredith)
• He sent federal marshals during the
Freedom Rides
• Sent a Civil Rights bill to Congress in
1963
Kennedy on CR?
• Appointed approx. 40 African Americans to
high federal positions
• Thurgood Marshall apptd. to federal
appellate court
• Committee on Equal Employment
Opportunity – fight discrimination in federal
civil service and in corporations with
government contracts
• Invigorate CR division of Dept. of Justice
The Freedom Riders?
• Test the Court’s decision to end
segregation on buses and public places
• 1961 – interracial CORE group rode
interstate buses
• Attacked and beaten by white mobs in
Birmingham and Anniston, AL
• One bus was firebombed
• In Montgomery riders were beaten with
bats and pipes
How did the government respond
to the violence?
• RFK sent 400 Federal Marshals
for the rest of the ride
• The ICC banned segregation in
all interstate travel
Integrating Ole Miss
• Sept. 1962 – air force veteran James
Meredith won his case to enroll
• Gov. Ross Barnett refused to let him
register
• RFK sent federal marshals – Barnett
encouraged resistance
• Riots  2 killed, 169 marshals injured
• JFK sent 5,000 troops Meredith went to
school
Meredith
being
escorted
by Federal
Marshals
Birmingham, Alabama
• MLK – challenged discriminatory hiring
practices and segregated public facilities
• King arrested – “Letter from a Birmingham
Jail”….
• May 2nd – 2,000 children marched…
• Drew national attention – police used fire
hoses, dogs, and beatings
• Compromise agreement – forced
desegregation
Kennedy’s response?
• Confrontations of 1960s disturbed him
• Began to move more in favor of Civil Rights
• Proposed a bill calling for an end to
segregation in public places, banned
discrimination wherever federal funding
involved – advanced desegregation of public
schools
• Kennedy’s approval rating went up
• Southern senators blocked the legislation
June 11, 1963 – Kennedy
addressed the nation – Civil Rights
bill
March on Washington
• CR leaders planned the march to
get support for Kennedy’s bill
• August, 1963 – 250,000 people
from all over the U.S.
• Called for jobs and freedom
• MLK – “I Have a Dream” speech
March on Washington - 1963
Failures….
• Over 300 bills sent to Congress – less
than 50% passed
• Congress rejected federal aid for :
– Medical care for the elderly, education,
cities, and mass transportation
• Reasons? Close election – Kennedy
doesn’t have a mandate and opposition
from southern democrats and conservative
republicans
JFK’s Domestic Legacy?
• Strengthened executive branch
• White House staff appointed by
the President made many key
decisions…
Kennedy’s Foreign Policy?
• Shifted from aggressive containment to
efforts at easing tensions
• At first built up nuclear and conventional
weapons
• Increased defense budget
• Created elite force – Special Forces –
Green Berets to supplement CIA covert
operations
Peace Corps
• Young volunteers
• Sent to third world
nations for 2 years
• Provide technical
support and
educational
assistance
• Epitomized
Kennedy’s ideal of
service by idealistic
youth
• Peace Corps – 35,000 volunteers in 60
nations
• Alliance for Progress – offered
economic and technical assistance to Latin
American countries ($20 billion in aid) – A
Marshall Plan for Latin America
Kennedy and Vietnam…
• Pursued containment
• Supported the Diem against southern
Vietnamese insurgents – Vietcong
• Sent Green Berets and military advisors
• 1963 sent 16,000 support and combat
troops to support Diem
• Diem’s regime corrupt – failed to win
support of the people
Buddhist monk
burning himself
to death in
protest over
Diem’s
repressive
regime.
Kennedy and Vietnam…
• South Vietnamese army continued to
disintegrate
• 1963 with knowledge of the CIA – a group
of Vietnamese generals assassinated
Diem and his top advisers
• South Vietnam will be ruled by a series of
generals for the duration of the war
Berlin Wall?
• 1961 – JFK met with Khrushchev in Vienna to
discuss the future of Germany
• Khrushchev wanted a permanent division
and to force U.S. out of W. Berlin
• 3 million East Germans had fled to W. Berlin
since end of WWII
• Kennedy tried to stand up to him – asked
Congress for increased defense funding
• Soviets built the wall
The Bay of Pigs…
• Jan. 1, 1959 – Fidel Castro seized power
in Cuba
• Many were sympathetic…
• Eisenhower and CIA
– Suspicious of land reforms
– Revoked U.S. aid
• Castro turned to the S.U.
• U.S. severed diplomatic relations
The Invasion?
• CIA trained and armed Cuban exiles for an
invasion
• Kennedy inherited the plan – but decided
against air force cover
• CIA thought there would be a popular
uprising
• It was a disaster and an embarrassment to
Kennedy
Cuban Missile Crisis…
• Most serious confrontation of the Cold War
• Castro fearing U.S. invasion asked for
Soviet assistance
• S.U. sent intermediate range nuclear
missiles to Cuba
• U.S. U-2 flights took pictures of missile
silos –
• U.S. saw this as a direct threat to
American cities
October 22, 1962 – Kennedy
addressed the nation…
• Informed the nation
of danger
• Demanded
removal of all
missiles
• Ordered a strict
naval “quarantine”
of Cuba
The Brink of War…
• 100,000 US troops readied in Florida to
invade Cuba
• Oct. 26-27 Khrushchev ordered 25 Soviet
ships away from Cuba – avoided
confrontation
• Khrushchev offered to remove missiles if
U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba
• Also wanted removal of American weapons
in Turkey
• We complied – crisis over
Soviet ships on the way to Cuba…
Outcome of the Crisis…
• Khrushchev’s prestige hurt –
Kennedy’s bolstered
• Hot Line set up between the two
countries
• Limited Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
– Prohibited above ground, outer
space, and underwater nuclear
weapons tests
– Underground testing – O.K.
The Assassination of JFK…
• Dallas, Texas – November 22, 1963
• Accused killer – Lee Harvey Oswald
• Two days later – Oswald shot and killed on
national T.V. by Jack Ruby
• Chief Justice Earl Warren appointed to
head a commission to investigate the
killing – Warren Commission said Oswald
was the lone gunman
The Kennedy’s Arrive
in Dallas
LBJ, Jackie Kennedy,
and JFK
LBJ and The Great Society
Objectives….
• Describe LBJ’s succession to the
Presidency, his landslide victory in 1964,
and the Great Society
• Discuss the course of the black movement
of the 1960s
• Indicate how Johnson led the U.s. deeper
into the Vietnam War
What was LBJ’s path to power?
• From Texas
• 1937 – New Deal Congressman
• FDR helped him secure key
committee assignments
• 1948 – Senator from Texas
• 1955 Senate majority leader
LBJ’s path to power…
• Master politician – very persuasive
• Knew how to handle Congress to
secure passage of the Civil Rights
Act of 1957
• Chosen by Kennedy family to be
Vice President…..
• Given the Oath of Office aboard Air
Force One….
How did Johnson complete
Kennedy’s agenda?
• Kennedy was the inspiration
to solve world and national
problems
• Johnson – got the job done
–Tax cut bill
–Civil rights bill
Tax Cut
• February 1964 tax reduction of over
$10 billion passed into law
• Spurred economic growth….
• People spent more
• More profit for business
• Increased tax revenues
• Lowered deficit from $6 billion to 4
billion
• It worked!!!!
What was LBJ’s role on Civil
Rights?
• After Kennedy shot – Johnson pledged to
carry on his work
• Used his political skill to see that
Kennedy’s bill was passed
• Passed in the House – filibustered in
Senate
• Johnson ended filibuster and Kennedy’s
bill became the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Prohibited discrimination because of
race, religion, national origin, and
gender
• Gave all citizens the right to enter
libraries, parks, washrooms,
restaurants, theaters and all public
places
• Gave government more power to
desegregate and created the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission
What was Mississippi Freedom
Summer?
• Summer of 1964 – CORE and
SNCC
• Voting drives in the deep South
• June – 3 civil rights workers
disappeared murdered by KKK and
police
• Project workers suffered 1,000
arrests, 80 beatings, 35 shootings,
and 30 bombings
Mississippi Freedom Summer 1964
James Chaney,
Andrew Goodman
and Michael
Schwerner –
murdered Civil
Rights workers
Car of murdered CR workers in
Philadelphia, Mississippi
Successes of Mississippi Freedom
Summer?
• Brought national attention to Mississippi
racism
• Forty freedom schools
• 60,000 black voters joined the Mississippi
Freedom Democratic Party
• MFDP sent delegates to Democratic
National Convention challenging the allwhite delegates
“In this America,
the land of the
free and the home
of the brave,
where we are
threatened daily
because we want
to live as decent
human beings?”
The Selma Campaign
• In 1965 SNCC organized a voting campaign
in Selma, Alabama
• 2,000 African-Americans had been arrested
• On March 7th, 1965 , 600 protestors began the
march from Selma to Montgomery, AL
• Police swung whips, clubs and used tear-gas
• On March 21, 3,000 members led by MLK
with Federal Protection marched
• The numbers grew to 25,000 marchers
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
• That summer LBJ signed the Voting
Rights Act of 1965
• The act eliminated literacy tests,
allowed federal officials to register
voters
• The 24th Amendment to the Constitution
eliminated poll taxes
Violence in northern cities?
• Centuries of de facto segregation had
produced social and economic inequalities
• Slums, high unemployment, poor schools all
contributed to desperation
• Aggressive Police was a point of contention
• In July 1964, a race riot erupted in Harlem
after a 15 year old black student was killed
• On Aug. 11th, 1965 the worst riot erupted in
Watts, Los Angeles
• Watts- 34 deaths, $200 million in
damages
• Detroit 1967 – 43 deaths, $40
million in property damages
• In 1966 and 67 more than 100 riots
and violent clashes took place
• Newark, San Francisco, Milwaukee,
Phila., Cleveland, and Dayton
Detroit
What caused race riots and the
destruction?
• Heightened expectations from the civil
rights movement and LBJ’s promises in the
Great Society that were not realized
• “White Racism”  poverty, police brutality
• The Kerner Commission recommended
extensive public housing, integrated
schools, 2 million new jobs, and a national
system of income supplementation
Malcolm X and Black
Consciousness
• Malcolm Little joined The Nation of
Islam when he was in prison and
changed his name to Malcolm X
• Preached Elijah Muhammad’s views
that whites were the cause of the
problem and black should separate
from society
• Preached black supremacy
• Received media attention which
resulted in resentment from other
Nation of Islam members
• In March of 1964 - broke with the Nation
and went on the pilgrimage to Mecca
• Malcolm X returned and preached an
extremely moderate message, found a
new tolerant Muslim organization and
proposed working with Dr. MLK
• On Feb. 21, 1965, Malcolm X was
assassinated by members of the Nation
of Islam
What was Johnson’s agenda?
• War on Poverty
• Create a Great Society
• Economic Opportunity Act - 1964
– Job Corps Youth Training Program
– VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America)
– Project Head Start
– Community Action Program – encouraged
poor people to participate in public works
programs
Job Corps – Johnson visits
Project Head Start
The Election of 1964
• Republican
nominated Barry
Goldwater of
Arizona
– Conservative
– Attacked Social
Security and TVA
– Suggested use of
nuclear weapons in
Vietnam and Cuba
Johnson’s 1964 Campaign Ad
Johnson’s victory…
• Most Americans in tune with LBJ
– Agreed that government should help solve
nation’s problems
• LBJ played on people’s fears
– Goldwater favored more intervention in
Vietnam
– LBJ assured that he would not send more
troops
Results of the election…
• LBJ won by a landslide
– 61% of the popular vote
– 486 electoral votes
• Goldwater – 52 electoral votes
• Democrats increased majority of
Congress
– LBJ no longer needed help of Southern
Democrats to pass legislation
“Landslide Lyndon”
Johnson’s Vision for America
• The Great Society
• End poverty and racial injustice
• Higher standard of living and
equal opportunity
• By end of presidency – enacted
206 measures
“The
Johnson
Treatment”
LBJ was the
master of the
Senate –
could always
get his bills
passed
Johnson introduces Great Society
“. . The Great
Society rests on
abundance and
liberty for all. It
demands an end to
poverty and racial
injustice, to which
we are totally
committed in our
time. But that is just
the beginning. . . "
Elements of the Great Society…
• Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965
– $1 billion in federal aid
–Textbooks and library materials
• Medicare…
• Medicaid…
Housing….
• Money for 240,000 units of low-rent
public housing
• Aid to low and moderate income
families to buy homes
• Creation of Department of Housing and
Urban Development
• Appointment of Robert Weaver as head
of HUD – 1st African American in
Cabinet
Immigration Act of 1965
• Ended quotas based on
nationality
• Reversed immigration laws
of the 1920s
• Opened the door for nonEuropean immigrants to
come to the U.S.
Johnson’s War…
LBJ Expanded the Conflict in
Vietnam
• After Diem’s death the South was
unstable
• LBJ felt US creditability is at stake
and he did not want to give in to
communist aggression
• Remembered Truman’s “loss of
China”
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
• In August 1964, a North Vietnamese
gun boat fired a torpedo at The USS
Maddox
• Two days later the Maddox and another
destroyer opened fire on the North
• The USS Maddox had been collecting
information off the coast of N. Vietnam
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• Johnson asked Congress for
permission to extend bombing into
North Vietnam
• Congress adopted the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution which gave LBJ broad
military powers in Vietnam – the
equivalent of a blank check in Vietnam
The Reality?
• LBJ had prepared the
resolution months
before hand
• Public was not aware
that we had been
conducting raids
against N. Vietnam
• Commander of one of
the Am. Destroyers not
really sure an attack
had taken place
Operation Rolling Thunder
• Limited bombing had failed to slow
movement of communists across the
border to S.V.
• Government in S.V. near collapse
• Vietcong fired on U.S. Marine base –
killing 8 marines and wounding 100+
• Reprisal against N. Vietnam
• Campaign of gradually intensifying air
raids
Escalation…
• In March 1965 LBJ began sending
troops
• Sec. of State advised LBJ to deploy
troops
• By June of 1965, 50,000 US troops were
fighting in Vietnam
• By the end of 1965, 180,000 US troops
were sent to Vietnam
• By 1967 there were 500,000 US troops
in Vietnam
War of Attrition?
• General William Westmoreland
• Bombing would exhaust N.V.
resources
• U.S. ground forces defeat the
Vietcong in S.V.
• VC defect and supporters scatter
• Restore political stability to South
Vietnam
War of Attrition?
• US bombers pounded VC and North
Vietnamese positions
- Napalm and Agent Orange
• VC would not surrender
- high casualties
- North supplied by China and USSR
• By 1967 - 3 million refugees due to US
Seek and Destroy missions
Search….
And Destroy…
Credibility Gap?
“We are not about
to send American
boys nine or ten
thousand miles
away from home
to do what Asian
boys ought to be
doing for
themselves.”
Credibility Gap?
• Americans viewed scenes of the war on
T.V.
• Told that we were defending freedom
• Saw human suffering
• Read about bombing of population centers
and destruction of southern villages
• Told that we were winning the war but
casualty figures mounted to 800/month in
1967
Senator J. William Fullbright
• Chaired Senate
Foreign Relations
Committee
• Criticized the war
• Called for a
negotiated
withdrawal
Financial Cost of the War?
• $21 billion/year
• Levied 10% surcharge on
individual and corporate taxes
• Tapped into Social Security
fund
• Inflation