1960’s Project ideas – a lot here and probably missed some (let me know  )
JFK: “New Frontier”
1960 Presidential Election—Youngest President ever “elected”
Harry Byrd’s [segregationist] winning electoral votes from Miss./Alabama/Oklahoma
Roman Catholicism speech 9/12/1960 in Houston, TX (1st Catholic President)***
New Frontier speech—inaugural address*
LBJ VP
1st Televised Presidential Debate v. Richard Nixon***
New Frontier Domestic Agenda
Jacqueline Kennedy’s role as first lady
“Flexible Response” Foreign Policy idea –Creation of “Navy Seals” 1961 –increased spending for “Green
Berets’*****huge idea*******
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
Vienna Summit with NK 1961
Berlin Conflict –Trip-speech- Wall
Trade Expansion Act, 1962 –tariff cut by 50% to encourage trade with Europe
Speech May 5, 1960 on America’s conduct in the Cold War & Africa
Bay of Pigs Invasion-Disaster- TV speech to American people
Cuban Missile Crisis—TV Speech concerning Nuclear War—Red “Hot Line” put in white house to directly
communicate with Soviet Leader***
Alliance for Progress—Latin America
1962 Security Alliance with Israel—1st President to sell advanced weaponry to Israel
Peace Corp
Project Apollo (lands man on moon July 10,1969)*****huge****24 Billion$$ in cost
LBJ (VP) appointed head of US Space Council
Space Race Speech May 25, 1961 to Congress
Speech at Rice University 9/12/1962
9/63 speech to UN concerning cooperation between USSR & USA in Space
Support for CIA backed Coup in Iraq
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with USSR 10/1963
Expansion of US Troops to South Vietnam 15,000 by 1963***
Support for South Vietnam—“Strategic Hamlet” program, 1962
Operation Ranch Hand—use of “Agent Orange” in Vietnam= environmental concerns?
Increased Military support—troops etc to South Vietnam
Cable # 243— Coup that kills Ngo Dinh Diem, Nov.1st 1963
JFK’s plan to withdraw from Vietnam—just before his death (NSAM # 263 10/11/1963)
JFK’s Speech at American University June 10, 1963- ideas about World Peace**
1963 State of Union Speech---Tax Reduction pledge
Robert Kennedy as Attorney General –Televised hearings attacking the “Mafia”
Intervening in Steel Industry to control prices
Ending “Death Penalty” in D.C.
1st State of Union Speech Jan. 1961—in support of Civil Rights
Freedom Riders, 1961
Executive Order# 10925- to begin “Affirmative Action” for all government contractors
President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity
Voters Education Project—SNCC—MISS.
MLK –Birmingham Project v. Bull Connor (dogs, fire hoses, cattle prods all on TV)***
Federal Marshall’s sent to Oxford, Miss. to enroll James Meredith, 1962—riot on campus
Executive Order # 11063 – prohibiting racial discrimination in Federal Housing Projects
JFK v. Alabama Gov. George Wallace June 11,1963—
Famous Civil Rights Speech on National TV**June 11, 1963
Murder of Medgar Evers
Defeat of the Area Redevelopment Administration to combat poverty in Applachia
Created the Presidential Commission of the Status of Women, Dec. 1961
Equal Pay Act of 1963
March on Washington –famous for MLK jr.s speech—8/28/1963
9/15/1963 Bombing of the 16th Street Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama—4 children dead**2
other children shot to death
Civil Rights Act submitted to Congress (later approved in 1964****huge***)
J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI (with Robert Kennedy’s approval) begins to “wiretap” MLK and other
members of the SCLC—lasted until 1968
Proposed what later (1965) becomes the “Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965****huge*** which
shifts sources of immigration to USA from Europe to Asia and Latin America***end of “national origins
quotas.”
Nov. 22nd in Dallas, Texas – Lee Harvey Oswald –Jack Ruby—Warren Commission- Zapruder Film of event
“Eternal Flame” at Arlington National Cemetery—JFK’s Gravesite
Official White House Portrait – by Aaron Shikler
“Camelot” –Marilyn Monroe—questions of many Extra-Marital affairs--Interview with Walter Cronkite –anchor of CBS Evening News (9/2/1963) America’s 1s nightly news
broadcast
23rd amendment
May 1961 -Freedom 7 carries Alan Shepard Astronaut to be 1st American in space
Feb 1962 - John Glenn astronaut orbits the earth
Supreme Court Cases: Baker v. Carr, 1962 & Engel v. Vitale, 1962- Gideon V. Wainwright, 1963
Betty Friedan’s Book, “The Feminist Mystique,” is published Feb, 1963 beginning 2nd wave Feminist
Movement
SDS –Students for a Democratic Society---“The Port Huron Statement” @ 1st convention, 1962
LBJ—“Great Society”—“War on Poverty”-“escalation in Vietnam
“Cointelpro”- COunter INTELligence PROgram- COVERT (SECRET) AT TIMES ILLEGAL, PROJECTS
CONDUCTED BY THE USA aimed at discrediting, infiltrating, and disrupting DOMESTIC political
organizations ---Project Minaret ( aimed at civil rights leaders, congressmen who opposed the Vietnam
War, Journalists, athletes—using psychological warfare, false documents to discredit people, violence
including assassination, to “protect national security and to maintain the existing social and political
order.” Some of the Groups that were targeted by the CIA (illegal if domestic){ordered by LBJ and Nixon}
and FBI:
American Indian Movement (AIM)-SDS-Antiwar activists- MLK- SCLC-SNCC-Black Panthers-Albert
Einstein-Greenpeace-Muhammad Ali –Ella Baker-James Bevel-Sokely Carmichael- CORE-Jane Fonda-John
Lennon-Malcolm X-Mario Savio-SCLC-SNCC-Weathermen- “Doves”
FBI & CIA operation in place from 1956 until 1971 {and still today—some say?}
When this is “found out” all hell breaks loose—“Credibility Gap” for sure
Sworn in as President on Air Force One after JFK’s death Nov. 22nd 1963
Lee Harvey Oswald Shot by Jack Ruby, 11/24/1963
Clean Air Act, 12/1963
Speech to Congress –just after JFK’s death supporting Civil Rights Act (1964)
Creates/names Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral, Florida)
Public Broadcasting Act, 1967
“Affirmative Action”
Post 1965 Change in Civil Rights Movement—not entirely “non-violent” Stokely Carmichael’s take over of
SNCC—and slogan of “Black Power”***
24th Amendment—abolishes the “Poll Tax” to vote
Beatles make first visit to USA, 1964
LBJ announces his Domestic Program---“THE GREAT SOCIETY” ****
Freedom Summer- Mississippi Summer Project begins, 1964 (SNCC, SCLC, CORE, NAACP) BOB MOSES
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party—Fannie Lou Hamer***amazing speech at 1964 Democratic
Convention—Freedom Schools
Mario Savio—“Berkley Free Speech Movement”
****Civil Rights Act, 1964***Title VII (a part that dealt with Women)
****Tonkin Gulf incident***and later resolution from Congress that begins “ESCALATION” IN VIETNAM--FROM 15,000 TO A MILLION+ US SOLDIERS—GAVE LBJ A BLANK CHECK--Mississippi Burning---Murder of 3 civil rights workers –in Philadelphia, Mississippi***
Economic Opportunity Act, 1964---“WAR ON POVERTY”**** creates the “job corp & VISTA” as well as
“HEAD-START” PROGRAM---FOOD STAMPS---POVERTY DECLINES IN AMERICA DURING LBJ’S TIME BY
OVER 12% (HUGE)
Harlem Riots, 1964
Model Cities Program to rebuild
Gun Control Act of 1968—most significant ever passed in US History
LBJ’S SPEECH TO CONGRESS –when he supports civil rights stating, “We shall overcome,”
1964 speech at University of Michigan introducing his ideas of a “GREAT SOCIETY”
1964 Presidential Election---LBJ v. Barry Goldwater---Goldwater’s famous comment about “Extremism in
the defense of Liberty is no vice…” –the FAMOUS –“Daisy” Atomic Bomb—LBJ campaign commercial--(maybe best ever )
1964 –MLK wins Nobel Peace Prize—youngest person ever to win
1965- Malcolm X is shot to death in NYC
“Revolution is bloody, revolution is hostile, revolution knows no compromise, revolution overturns and destroys everything that gets
in its way. And you, sitting around here like a knot on the wall, saying, ‘I’m going to love these folks no matter how much they hate
me.’ . . . Whoever heard of a revolution where they lock arms, . . . singing ‘We shall overcome?’ You don’t do that in a revolution.
You don’t do any singing, you’re too busy swinging.”{Malcolm X - November, 1963}
1965—Operation “Rolling Thunder” begins in Vietnam
1965 –Selma to Montgomery Marches ---“Bloody Sunday”
1965 –SDS & SNCC lead the 1st March against Vietnam –Anti War demonstrations in DC
1965 –Social Security amendments—MEDICAIRE AND MEDICAID ESTABLISHED****
*****HUGE****VOTING RIGHTS ACT, 1965
1965—Watts Riots in LA***
May 1965 Televised Debate about Vietnam between McGeorge Bundy and Hans Morgenthau –on CBS
reporter
1965 1st “Teach-In” University of Michigan---Anti-War protest
Department of HUD established
Immigration Act of 1965—ending National Origins Formula---more immigrants from Asia and Latin
America
Higher Education Act, 1965--- low cost loans to more College Students, $$$ to universities, scholarships,
establishes National Teachers Corp
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 1965 doubled federal spending on education from 4 billion to
8 billion**
Creation of the National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts
Supreme Court Cases (still Warren as chief justice) : Miranda v. Arizona, 1966—Miranda Rights
Loving v. Virginia, 1967-court overruled laws preventing inter-racial marriage—Thurgood Marshall, 1st
African-American Supreme Court justice appointed by LBJ
1966- Militant African Americans form “Black Panther Party”
1966 SENATOR FULBRIGHT’S VIETNAM HEARINGS BEGIN (TV) OPPOSITION TO WAR ***
1966 – N.O.W. – national organization for women founded
National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act
Operation Cedar Falls, 1967, largest ground operation in Vietnam war—over ½ million troops
Super Bowl I, 1967
25th Amendment—Presidential Succession established, 1967
2 simultaneous HUGE ANTI-VIETNAM WAR PROTESTS over ½ million march in NYC and SF
1967-Summer of Love in San Francisco—Haight-Ashbury district
1967- USA supports Israel in “6-day war.”
1967-ROBERT KENNEDY PUBLICLY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST VIETNAM WAR
1968 –communist N. Vietnamese “Tet Offensive”***huge** surprise attacks---US people begin to question
our role in Vietnam after***PUBLIC HAS TURNED AGAINST LBJ IN VIETNAM*** “Hey, Hey, LBJ, how
many kids did you kill today?”
counter-culture---“peace” sign--- Flower children, Hippies, -“Hawks v. Doves”
FEB 1968 Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News becomes 1st critic of LBJ’s policies in Vietnam
1968 My Lai Massacre
1968 – FCC under LBJ creates the National Emergency Phone # 911
CIA’s Phoenix Program in Vietnam
US General Westmoreland’s News Conferences
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Jane Fonda –travels to North Vietnam called a traitor
Bob Hope’s Celebrity USO Shows
Vietnam Veterans Against the War (org.)
4/4/1968—MLK killed in Memphis—GREAT SPEECH JUST BEFORE IN NYC***
4/4 – 5/29 MLK Assassination RIOTS---IN MANY CITIES ACROSS THE NATION (over 100 cities “Burn
baby Burn”)
Draft dodgers go to Canada***
Civil Rights Act, 1968 –
Election of 1968---LBJ’s announcement to not run[“ THE CREDIBILITY GAP”****HUGE} for re-election
due to Vietnam***
6/5/1968 ****Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in LA just after winning California Democratic
Primary****by Sirhan Sirhan
1968 Democratic Convention Riots in Chicago
CCC-“Fortunate Son,” Marvin Gaye, “What’s Goin on,” Country Joe and the Fish, “I feel like Im fixin to Die,”
Buffalo Springfield, “For What its Worth,”
Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon –“Law and Order”—“Southern Strategy”-Watergate (70’s )
“Silent Majority”***promise of “Peace with Honor” in Vietnam
National Security Advisor _-Henry Kissinger
Nixon’s Secret Bombing of Cambodia (Ho Chi Minh Trail) 1969
Nixon wins 1968 --- Gov. Wallace of Alabama[American Independent Party] runs a strong 3rd Party
race—
Shirley Chisolm – 1st African American Woman EVER ELECTED TO CONGRESS FROM NY
1969 – “Stonewall Riots” in NYC –begins the Gay Liberation Movement in the USA
1969 –Chappaquiddick Incident---Teddy Kennedy car crash female passenger killed
1969 – Neil Armstrong’s famous quote as he “walks on the Moon”****
1969--- Famous Music Festival---“Woodstock” held in upper state NY
1969 –Nixon announces his “VIETNAMIZATION POLICY”***
1969 – “Sesame Street” premiers on PBS Television***
1969 –Largest “Anti-War” protest in history in DC over ½ million***
1969 – 1st big withdrawal of troops from Vietnam announced by Nixon
1969 –DÉTENTE-NIXON—1ST S.A.L.T. TALKS BEGIN (strategic Arms limitation talks)***
General
Gallon of Gas costs 35 cents in 1969 (31 cents 1960)
Postage stamp 6 cents
Average house in 1969 27, 900$
Color TV in early 60’s
“Don’t trust anyone over 30”
Rachel Carson’s Book—“Silent Spring” about the use of DDT begins a powerful Environmental movement
1962
1st Artificial heart, 1963
Gloria Steinhem- (founder of NOW) writes “bunny” article about being sexually harassed and injustices of
women
Surgeon General’s 1st warning issued that “smoking is dangerous to your health”- 1963
1965 word Hippie used for 1st time in San Francisco Newspaper
1966 Edward Brock is elected Senator from Massachusetts (1st African American in 85 years)
1966 TV Show “Star Trek” Debuts
W.I.T.C.H. (Women’s Terrorist group from hell) protests at the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City-they
are led by super feminist Robin Morgan
1969 1st e-mail message from UCLA to Stanford on the ARPANET
1969 Native Americans occupy Alcatraz Island to inspire the “Red” movement of Native American’s Civil
Rights
1962 Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta form the National Farm Workers Union (UFW)
1965- Delano Grape Strike led by UFW – March to Sacramento, 1966
1968 Olympics in Mexico City—Protests by Tommie Smith and John Carlos—giving the Black Gloved
“Black Power Fist Salute” with heads bowed while on the Medal stand while the national anthem
played***
1964 Wilderness Act –defines “wilderness” legally for the 1st time in America—creating the Wilderness
Preservation system and set aside 9 million acres of national forest wilderness
1964 Leonid Brezhnev becomes the new leader of the USSR
1968 Soviet invasion and destruction of the democratic revolution in Czechoslovakia
1969 Hurricane Camille (strongest hurricane ever recorded)
1960 – The “pill” (birth control)
1968 Led Zepplin is formed
Jimi Hendrix @ the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival
Films like 2001: A Space Odyssey
Dr. Zhivago
Dr. Strangelove
Easy Rider
Guess who’s coming to dinner
The Graduate
The Jungle Book
Mary Poppins
Sound of Music
The Pink Panther
The Manchurian Candidate
The Wild Bunch
TV Shows:
Twilight Zone
Star Trek
The Wonderful World of Disney
Batman
The Tonight Show
Gunsmoke
Laugh-In
Gilligan’s Island
Mission:Impossible
I Dream of Jeannie
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Alfred Hitchcock
Bikini swim wear 1963
The Frisbee is invented
William F. Buckley – The “Greatest” Conservative
Pop Art – Andy Warhol
Muhammad Ali—The Nation of Islam- Malcom X
Wilt Chamberlin – Mickey Mantle—Willy Mays
Joe Namath – AFL v. NFL
Charles Manson Murders, 1969