THE 1960S & EARLY 1970S
CHAPTERS 31 & 32
“Each time you stand up for an ideal, you send forth
a tiny ripple of hope.
- Robert Kennedy
Mrs. Price / APUSH
THE SIXTIES
LIVING WITH GREAT TURMOIL
ELECTION OF 1960
R: Nixon
 D: Kennedy
 Importance of TV: Debates
 Close election

THE CAMELOT YEARS 1961-1963
JFK’S DOMESTIC POLICY

New Frontier
Promised end to racial discrimination
 Federal aid to farmers
 Federal aid to education
 Medical care for elderly


Difficulty getting proposals passed
JFK’S FOREIGN POLICY

Flexible Response


Expanded Green Berets
Expanding US influence in peaceful ways
Alliance for Progress
 Agency for International Development
 Peace Corps

BERLIN WALL
Aug 13, 1961: East German govt begins
construction of wall separating East & West
Berlin
 To stop flow of East Germans

BAY OF PIGS
Project began by Eisenhower
 CIA trained Cuban exiles in Central America
 April 17, 1961: exiles land at Bay of Pigs, Cuba
 No US air support, no support from locals
 failure

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
Oct 1962
 Oct 14: US learned USSR was building sites on Cuba
for nuclear weapons
 Oct 22: JFK orders blockade & to prepare for air
attacks
 Oct 26: Khrushchev agrees to remove missiles in
exchange for US not invading Cuba

COLD WAR TENSIONS


Kennedy and Khrushchev establish a
telephone hot line.
The US and USSR sign the Limited Test Ban
Treaty-barring nuclear testing in the
atmosphere, this eased Cold War tensions
IMPACT OF JFK
Forced integration of colleges
 Inspired idealism
 Space program
 Death allowed LBJ to accomplish his goals

TRAGEDY IN DALLAS


JFK is
assassinated on
Nov. 22, 1963
Vice President
Lyndon Baines
Johnson is sworn
in aboard Air
Force One.
TRAGEDY IN DALLAS


Lee Harvey Oswald
is arrested and
charged with the
murder of the
President.
The Warren
Commission
concludes that
Oswald acted alone.
LBJ AND THE GREAT SOCIETY
LBJ’S PATH TO POWER:



Johnson's imitates
FDR’s leadership
style.
LBJ’s connection in
Congress and
Southern Protestant
background secure
him a slot with JFK.
The “Johnson
Treatment”
JOHNSON’S DOMESTIC AGENDA: THE
GREAT SOCIETY


Civil Rights Act of 1964: banned
discrimination based on race, religion,
national origin and gender.
Created the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC): to try
to eliminate discriminatory hiring
WAR ON POVERTY





LBJ declares an “unconditional war on
poverty.”
Economic Opportunity Act (1964):
provided $1 billion for youth programs,
antipoverty measures, small business
loans and job training (Job Corps)
VISTA (volunteers in Service to
America) and Head Start are formed to
help the poor.
Food Stamps
Aid to Families with Dependent
Children
ELECTION OF 1964



LBJ vs. Barry Goldwater
LBJ plays to American fears of nuclear
war.
LBJ wins by a landside, the Democrats
increased the majority in the Congress.
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964/peace-little-girl-daisy
BUILDING THE GREAT SOCIETY



Medicare: hospital insurance and low cost
medical insurance for over 65.
Medicaid: health insurance to welfare
recipients
24th Amendment: eliminated poll taxes
THE WARREN COURT




The Supreme Court decisions become more liberal
Baker v. Carr – one person, one vote
Engel v. Vitale – outlawed required prayers in public
schools
Griswold v. Wainwright – declared a state law that
outlawed the use of birth control by married persons
unconstitutional
RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED



Mapp v. Ohio - evidence seized illegally cannot
be used in court.
Gideon v. Wainwright - free legal counsel.
Miranda v. Arizona – suspects must be read
their rights.
IMPACT OF THE GREAT SOCIETY
Extends the power of the federal
government
New awareness of social problems.
Debates over the effectiveness of the Great
Society programs result in a conservative
backlash.





In 1966 Ronald Reagan a conservative wins the
California governorship.
Costs of the programs have skyrocketed.
FREEDOM RIDERS



CORE attempts to test the
Supreme Court decisions
banning segregated
seating on interstate
buses
College Students rode the
buses
Exposes Southern
resistance to federal
desegregation rulings.
INTEGRATION OF COLLEGES

Federal troops are
needed to get James
Meredith into all
white University of
Mississippi.
BIRMINGHAM 1963




From 1957-1963: 18
bombings in Birmingham.
MLK Jr. came to town to
test methods
King led small band of
marchers on April 12, 1963
MLK Jr. is arrested by Bull
Conner
BIRMINGHAM 1963




King writes, “Letter
from a Birmingham
Jail”
On May 2nd, King plans
a children’s march,
Conner arrests 959 of
them.
Press coverage shocks
nation
Boycotts & protests
convinces Birmingham
to end segregation
MARCH ON WASHINGTON


To pressure Congress
into passing the civil
rights bill.
August 28, 1963:
Martin Luther King
Jr. delivered the "I
Have a Dream" speech
at the March on
Washington
MORE VIOLENCE

September 1963: a bomb exploded in the
16th Street Baptist Church killing four
young girls.
FREEDOM SUMMER (1964)



Violence and intimidation prevent millions of
African-Americans in the South from
registering to vote.
CORE and SNCC planned a voter registration
drive in Mississippi
Three civil rights workers are killed because of
their work involving voter registration
SELMA MARCH



In 1965 the SCLC decided
to march on Selma
King hopes for violent
white response to the
march to push through a
voting rights act.
Over 2000 African –
Americans were arrested,
Selma sheriff Jim Clark
and his men attacked
civil rights
demonstrators.
VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965
 enabled
federal
officials to register
voters and outlawed
voter literacy tests.
AFRICAN-AMERICANS SEEK GREATER
EQUALITY



Divisions in the civil rights movement
over tactics
De jure segregation: segregation by law.
(In the South)
De facto segregation: segregation from
habit and tradition (the North)
URBAN VIOLENCE



July 1964: race riot
in New York
Aug 11, 1965: riot
in Watts (Los
Angeles)
1967: riots in over
100 cities
MALCOM X
Became a member of
the Nation of Islam
 1st advocated
separatism; later
moderated views
 Insisted blacks had a
right to defend
themselves
 Assassinated in 1965 by
rivals in the Nation of
Islam

BLACK PANTHERS

Advocated Black Power,
Black nationalism and
community development.
1968-A TURNING POINT


Martin Luther
King, Jr. Tries to
organize a Poor
People’s Campaign
to counter the
angry rhetoric of
Black Power.
On April 4, 1968 ,
King is
assassinated by
James Earl Ray.
REACTION TO KING’S DEATH


Worst wave of
race riots in the
nation’s history.
June 4, 1968,
Robert F. Kennedy
is assassinated by
Sirhan Sirhan.
LEGACY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS
MOVEMENT.



Civil Rights Act of 1968: banned
discrimination in housing.
The number of African – Americans elected
increased
Affirmative Action: the government passed
laws requiring companies and colleges to hire
or enroll groups that suffered from past
discrimination.
ELECTION OF 1968
D: Humphrey
 R: Nixon
 American Independent Party: G. Wallace
 Violence at Democratic Convention in Chicago
 Nixon wins

MOBILIZATION OF MINORITIES
Native Americans (AIM: American Indian
Movement)
 Hispanics (United Farm Workers – Cesar
Chavez)
 Women (NOW)

COUNTER CULTURE
Youth reject traditional values of middle class
 Long hair, shabby clothes
 Hippies
 Drug use

NIXON’S FOREIGN POLICY
Nixon Doctrine: US would honor its existing defense
commitments but in future countries would have to
fight their own wars
 Period of Détente with China & Russia

1972: Nixon visits China
 1972: SALT I Treaty with USSR

NIXON’S DOMESTIC POLICY
Economically conservative
 New Federalism: shifting responsibilities back to
states
 Active on the Environment:

EPA (1970)
 Clean Air Act (1970)
 Clean Water Act (1972)

THE BURGER COURT
Nixon appoints Warren Burger, Harry
Blackmun, Lewis Powell, William Rehnquist
 Was supposed to move court in a more
conservative direction

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg BOE (1971): forced
busing to integrate schools
 Furman v. Georgia (1972): ruled current practice of
capital punishment unconstitutional
 Roe v. Wade (1973): struck down laws forbidding
abortions
 Bakke v. Board of Regents of CA (1978):banned
quotas in admissions but race can be considered

ELECTION OF 1972
R: Nixon
 D: McGovern
 Nixon wins in a landslide (60.7% of popular vote)

WATERGATE
Begins with burglary at Democratic
headquarters
 Men were working for CREEP
 Misuse of CIA, FBI, & IRS
 Nixon refuses to cooperate & tries to interfere
with investigation
 Nixon resigns Aug 1974
