The Stormy Sixties
1960-1968
The Election of 1960
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The election of 1960 ushered in a new era in American politics
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The mood of the country was restless in 1960
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Television found it’s place & revolutionized politics
Sputnik, Communism in Cuba, & a perceived missile gap had Americans questioning whether
the U.S. was losing the Cold War
The Democrats nominate Massachusetts senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy & the
Republicans nominate Vice-President Richard Nixon
Many voters questioned whether Kennedy at 43 was too inexperienced & were worried
about having a Roman Catholic in the White House
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Afraid that his faith would bring the Pope into American politics
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Instead of dodging the issue Kennedy openly addressed it & by doing so he made it not an issue
On Sept. 26, 1960 Kennedy & Nixon squared off in the first ever televised presidential
debate
The Debate
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70 million viewers tuned in with
millions more listening on radio
Nixon an expert on foreign policy had hoped to expose
Kennedy’s inexperience
Kennedy had been coached by television producers,
wore make-up, was tan and seemed more confident
than did Nixon who had just gotten over the flu & wore
no make-up
In post-debate polls radio listeners said that Nixon won
the debate but when television viewers were polled they
said that Kennedy had won the
debate
Kennedy and Civil Rights
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The second major event of the campaign took place
in October
Police in Atlanta, Georgia arrested civil rights leader
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & 33 other
African-American demonstrators for sitting at a
segregated lunch counter
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The demonstrators were released but King was sentenced
to months of hard labor supposedly for a minor traffic
violation
Pres. Eisenhower refused to intervene & so VP Nixon
took no public stance on the issue
Senator John Kennedy telephoned King’s wife
Coretta Scott King to express his sympathy while
JFK’s brother Robert Kennedy persuaded the judge
to release King on bail
This news traveled fast in the African-American
community & secured many votes for Kennedy that
would be crucial in the tight election
Martin Luther King Jr.
Coretta Scott King
The Election
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The election of Nov. 1960 was the closest since 1884
Senator Kennedy won by fewer than 119,000 votes
There were many close states & debatable results
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Many believe that Mayor Daley of Chicago used his mafia
connections to fix the elections in that city & swung the
state of Illinois in favor of Kennedy, sealing the election
Despite these mysterious events Vice-President
Nixon choose not to drag it out by asking for a
recount
Senator Kennedy became the President of the United
States
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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JFK becomes the youngest man ever
elected to the White House
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Born into a wealthy Irish-Catholic family
Dad was a well known businessman
Educated at Harvard
Served in the Navy in WWII
Married with 2 kids
Kennedy challenged Americans to face the future
with confidence
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In his inaugural address he set the tone for his policies
Domestically: “ask not what your country can do for you
but what you can do for your country”
Foreign Policy: “We will pay any price, bear any burden,
meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in
order to assure the survival and success of liberty”
Left: JFK with
Jackie
Below: a young
JFK aboard
PT 109 during
World War II
The New Frontier 1961-1963
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JFK’s policies and programs were called the “New
Frontier”
Kennedy surrounds himself with the best and the
brightest
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Sec. of Defense
Robert McNamara
Advisors from Ivy League schools (Harvard, Yale, Princeton,
MIT) who became known as the “Wiz Kids” because most
were young
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One of JFK’s first programs was the Peace Corps
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Attorney General
Robert Kennedy
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Robert McNamara (Sec. of Defense) President of Ford Motor Co.
Dean Rusk (Sec. of State) President of the Rockefeller foundation
Robert Kennedy (Attorney General)
McGeorge Bundy (National Security Advisor) a Harvard dean
Young eager volunteers sent overseas to poor nations to help
They attempted to win the “hearts and minds” of poor nations
away from the communists
Most of Kennedy’s presidency however was defined by
Foreign Policy and the Cold War
The Camelot Years 1961-1963
President Kennedy with his daughter Caroline
Pres. Kennedy with son John Jr.
Camelot
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The Kennedy family fascinated the public
more than any other first family
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The Kennedy’s entertained many famous
guests from Hollywood, sports, etc…
Newspapers and magazines filled with
stories & pictures of President Kennedy’s
daughter Caroline & infant son John
Jackie became the national fashion queen &
women tried to imitate her style
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They were young & energetic with a young family
unlike many prior presidents
Kennedy was one of the first presidents to appear
regularly on television
Jackie spent much of her time renovating &
decorating the White House
With JFK’s glamour & young advisors it
reminded people of a modern day version of
Camelot, the mythical court of King Arthur
Kennedy’s transgressions
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Despite the public image of Camelot, in the
Kennedy household all was not well
Pres. Kennedy who had been injured in WWII
& had a notoriously bad back, took an
assortment of drugs, steroids & pain killers to
cope
The Kennedy family had many connections
including many Hollywood celebrities such as
Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford (Kennedy’s
brother-in-law), etc…
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John F. Kennedy whose sex drive was believed to be
heightened by the steroids & drugs he was taking
often used these connections to meet many actresses
Kennedy had many one night stands & a few
affairs during his marriage to Jackie
The most famous of these affairs was with
famous actress & model Marilynn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
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Marilyn Monroe became the blonde
American bombshell of the 50’s & 60’s
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She married one of her producers but was
most famous for her later marriage to retired
baseball legend and American icon Joe
DiMaggio
After a very brief marriage Monroe &
DiMaggio divorced
After being introduced to
John Kennedy she and JFK
had a brief affair before
Kennedy called it off to
avoid a public scandal
J. Edgar Hoover & the FBI
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J. Edgar Hoover was the head of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation & carried a great deal of power with that
position
Hoover despised the Kennedy’s especially JFK’s brother Robert
who as the Attorney General dealt a great deal with Hoover
Hoover had been accustomed to having a great deal of influence
over Attorney Generals
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J. Edgar Hoover
RFK’s relationship with his brother forced Hoover to lose power
Robert Kennedy also was involved in the vigorous campaign against organized crime
that reached all the way to Jimmy Hoffa the leader of the Teamsters Union
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Hoover did wield some power over the Kennedy’s
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Hoover & the FBI had fostered a relationship with some of organized crime in order to
fight other crimes
His FBI files included embarrassing information about Kennedy’s transgressions
This information caused Kennedy to give in to Hoover’s pressure & allowed the
FBI to put illegal wire taps on Martin Luther King’s phones
Flexible Response
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During his presidential campaign JFK had attacked the
Eisenhower administration for not doing enough about the
Soviet threat
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The U.S. policy under Eisenhower was known as Massive
Retaliation
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The Soviets were gaining loyalties with less-developed third world
countries in Asia, Africa, & Latin America
This policy called for the U.S. to use the threat of nuclear weapons to
deter communist aggression
President Kennedy changed the U.S. policy to that of Flexible
Response
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Flexible Response called for the U.S. to respond to communist aggression
based upon the level of the aggression
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Allowed the U.S. to use conventional forces to avoid nuclear war
Kennedy then increased defense spending in order to boost
conventional military forces (troops, ships, artillery, air force) &
created the Special Forces (Green Berets)
Kennedy also tripled the nuclear capabilities of the U.S.
The Berlin Wall
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In 1961 Berlin was in great turmoil
In the 11 years since the Berlin Airlift 3 million East Germans
(20% of their population) had fled to West Berlin to free
themselves of Communism
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The Soviets wanted Berlin all to themselves but realized that the U.S. would not
give it up & so Khrushchev threatened to once again close off all access roads to
West Berlin
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These defections were publicly humiliating to the communists
& was also seriously hurting their economy
President Kennedy refused to give up U.S. access prompting Khrushchev to angrily
declare that “I want peace. But, if you want war, that is your problem”
Pres. Kennedy returned to the U.S. & made a public speech declaring that “Berlin
was the great testing place of Western courage & will” he pledged “We cannot and will not
permit the Communists to drive us out of Berlin”
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Kennedy also in his speech hinted that the U.S. would permit a wall to be built by the
Soviets
Better a wall than a war
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall
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Kennedy’s determination & America’s
superior nuclear power prevented
Khrushchev from closing air & land
routes
Khrushchev instead began constructing
a wall just after midnight on August 13,
1961
East German troops began unloading
concrete posts & rolls of barbed wire
separating East Berlin from West Berlin
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Over the years the wall became more
elaborate & in many places concrete
replaced barbed wire
Armed sentries patrolled the fence to
prevent people from defecting
The Wall severely limited the number of
East Germans defecting to the West
It became a symbol of communist
oppression
Brandenburg Gate
Ich bin ein Berliner
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In an attempt to solidify
relations with West Germany
& prove that the U.S. had no
intention of abandoning
them President Kennedy
made a trip to West Berlin
He & his wife Jackie were
extremely well received on
this Europe wide tour
In a famous address JFK
announced to a jubilant
crowd that “Ich bin ein
Berliner” meaning “I am a
Berliner”
Cuba
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President Eisenhower had cut off diplomatic relations
with Cuba in late 1960 because their new leader Fidel
Castro was a self proclaimed communist & welcomed
aid from the Soviet Union
Eisenhower also began to assemble Cuban Exiles for a
possible overthrow of Castro’s regime
In March of 1960 Pres.
Eisenhower gave the CIA
permission to secretly train
these exiles for an invasion
of Cuba
The Bay of Pigs
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President Kennedy learned of this plan only 9 days after his election
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On April 17, 1961 approximately 1,300-1,500 Cuban exiles landed on the islands southern
coast at Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs)
The attack went poorly from the beginning
An air strike failed to knock out the Cuban air force, a small diversionary force failed to
land
When the main force landed it faced 25,000 Cuban troops backed by Soviet tanks & jet
aircrafts
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Reluctantly Kennedy approved this plan
Thousands of Cuban nationalists were slaughtered; the rest imprisoned
Cubans sensationalized the defeat of the “North American mercenaries”
One United States commentator observed that
Americans “look like fools to our friends, rascals to
our enemies, and incompetents to every one else”
President Kennedy publicly accepted blame for the
event but privately blamed the CIA and the Pentagon
Kennedy negotiated the release of the surviving
commandos and paid a ransom of $53 million in
food and medical supplies
The Cuban Missile Crisis
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By 1962 Castro had firmly allied himself with
Moscow & Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
The Soviet Union began sending nuclear
weapons to defend Cuba
On October 14 of 1962
the U.S. became aware of
this when a U2 spy plane
photographed missile sites
in Cuba
From Cuba these missiles
could reach Wash. D.C. in
10 minutes
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis
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On Oct. 22, 1962 President Kennedy announced to
the nation the existence of Soviet missile sites in Cuba
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He made it clear that any missile attack from Cuba
would trigger an all out attack on the Soviet Union
For the next 6 days the world would be at the brink
of nuclear war
Kennedy had to make a decision on how the U.S.
should react to this event without starting WW 3
The U.S. couldn’t allow the weapons to stay in Cuba
& had a limited amount of time to get them out before they could become
operational
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U.S. could launch a full scale invasion of Cuba & prompt the Soviet Union to invade
Berlin starting WWIII
The U.S. could try to negotiate with the U.S.S.R. for a removal but the Soviets would
only stall till the missiles were operational
U.S. could launch air strikes & destroy the sights they knew about risking leaving
unknown sites & risking nuclear war & the Soviets could install more sites
Possible Invasion
Quarantine
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While the U.S. figured out this dilemma they
instituted a quarantine of Cuba
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This was basically a blockade of Cuba but under
international law a blockade of another nation was an
act of war so they simply called it something else to
sound better in world opinion
Soviet ships carrying more missiles to Cuba were
stopped 500 miles away from Cuba
In Florida the U.S. began to assemble an invasion
fleet of 100,000 troops
The first Soviet ships were steaming towards the
quarantine line with no indication of stopping
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In a high seas game of chicken the Soviet ship was
protected by a Soviet submarine & heading toward the
line
The U.S. fired a warning shot over the ship & at the
last second the ship suddenly stopped & turned
around, avoiding a conflict at sea
Sec. of State Dean Rusk said “We are eyeball to eyeball,
and the other fellow just blinked”
The United Nations
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Throughout the Crisis the U.S. had
been pleading their case in the UN
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As U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson
lobbied, the Soviet Ambassador ignored
the charges
Finally Stevenson pressed the Soviets
& forced them to deny the charges
that such missile sites existed
Stevenson then produced evidence of
the missiles sights to the world & the
amazement of the bewildered Soviet
ambassador
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Public opinion favors the U.S.
Above & Below: UN Rep Adlai
Stevenson producing visual evidence
of the existence of the missile sites
Back channel dealings
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As Pres. Kennedy agonized over what to do a local
reporter approached Kennedy when one of his sources
had contacted him with a proposed deal from Premier
Khrushchev
In this deal Premier Khrushchev offered to remove
the missiles in return for an American pledge not to
invade Cuba and the removal of missiles from Turkey
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A day later an official telegram from Moscow offered a
similar proposal but with harsher demands in Turkey
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Pres. Kennedy & his staff had to figure out if these back
channel negotiations were legitimate
Low level flight photo of the missile site
Pres. Kennedy’s dilemma lied in the fact that if he publicly
taken by Commander Ecker
agreed to these demands & removed the missiles from Turkey
he would be seen as abandoning his allies in exchange for U.S. security
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force) pushed for full scale military effort
against Cuba
During this time the U.S. made low level flights over Cuba to get a better idea as to the state
of readiness of the missiles
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These flights were dangerous b/c the Soviets were trying to shoot them down & any incident
could insight WW3
During the last of these flights an American was shot down & killed
The Brink
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Finally President Kennedy decided to
accept the Soviets first offer & ignore the
second offer
He sent his brother Attorney General
Attorney General
Robert Kennedy to meet with the Soviet
Robert Kennedy
Ambassador to try to reach an agreement
The U.S. agreed to the pledge not to invade Cuba again
& promised to remove the missiles (which were out of
date anyway) from Turkey at a later date
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the second part of this agreement was to be kept secret & any
mention of the agreement by the Soviets would negate the deal
The Soviets reluctantly agreed
The Aftermath
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The Crisis severely damaged Khrushchev’s prestige in the
Soviet Union & the world
Pres. Kennedy received heat as well
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Opinion varied over the event the crisis coupled with the fiasco
of the Bay of Pigs, some people doubted Kennedy’s ability in
foreign policy yet others pointed to this as an example of success
in foreign policy
Some were upset that Kennedy didn’t use this opportunity to
drive communism out of Cuba
Regardless of public opinion the world had been to the
brink of nuclear war & not fell over the edge
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Any mistake by the thousands of humans that made decisions
during the two weeks of this crisis could have set in motion a
nuclear war
Cuban Missile Crisis
Hot Line
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After the seriousness of the Cuban Missile
Crisis both Kennedy & Khrushchev
understood that only split-second
decisions separated the world from
nuclear disaster
In 1963 the two world leaders decided to
establish a hot line between the White
House & the Kremlin to allow the two
countries to communicate directly with
each other in case of another such crisis
Also in 1963 the U.S. & the U.S.S.R.
agreed to a Limited Test Ban Treaty
that barred nuclear testing in the
atmosphere
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Above & Below: Kennedy w/ Khrushchev
To prevent nuclear fallout from traveling
around the globe
Above: Kennedy meeting w/ Soviet ambassador
The New Frontier
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With Kennedy’s youth & vigor he inspired hope & energy into
the country
In his inauguration he stated that “We stand today at the edge of a
New Frontier” he called Americans to be “new pioneers” and to
explore “uncharted areas of science and space, … unconquered pockets of
ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus”
Despite these ideals Pres. Kennedy struggled to get new program
proposals through a conservative Republican & Southern
Democratic congress (medical care for the aged, aid education,
etc…)
Kennedy forever the politician tried to play it safe politically but
was able to get funding for defense, the space program, &
international aid
As part of his deficit spending package Kennedy was also able to
increase the minimum wage to $1.25 an hour & extend
unemployment insurance
The Peace Corps
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In 1961 Pres. Kennedy fulfilled his first campaign promise when
he established the Peace Corps, an organization to provide
volunteers to help in impoverished nations of Asia, Africa, &
Latin America to win the “hearts & minds” of those people as to
prevent the communist influence there
Most volunteers for the Peace Corps were just out of college &
worked as teachers, agricultural advisors, health aides in these
countries
By 1968 over 35,000 volunteers had served in 60 nations
The Alliance for Progress offered economic & technical
assistance to Latin American countries
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From 1961 to 1969 the U.S. invested $12 billion in L. America to prevent
another Cuba from invading the Western hemisphere
Race to the Moon
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On April 12, 1961 Soviet cosmonaut
Yuri A. Gagarin became the first human
in space
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Less than a month later the U.S. duplicated
the feat
Next the U.S. launched a communications
satellite called Telstar that could relay live
television pictures across the Atlantic ocean
The U.S. had begun construction on new
NASA facilities on Cape Canaveral, Florida &
a mission control center in Houston, Texas
Pres. Kennedy with astronaut John Glenn
7 years later the space program would pay off when on July 20, 1969
U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong landed on the surface of the moon
The Space industry provided billions of dollars to American business
& industry
Research done by this industry also provided the American public
with many new consumer goods
Poverty in America
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While $ was spent on the space program & on
international aid many people lived in poverty
This problem was brought to the attention of
America when Michael Harrington wrote the
book The Other America which profiled the 50
million Americans that lived on less than $1,000
a person
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Most Americans were shocked at the large
number of people in poverty
Kennedy had spent much of the first two years
of his presidency on foreign policy now with
the election nearing he began to spend more
time on domestic issues
Kennedy began a “national assault on the
causes of poverty” & had his brother Robert
Kennedy (Attorney General) begin to
investigate racial injustices in the South &
presented Congress with a new civil rights bill
and a proposed $10 billion dollar tax cut
Above: JFK meeting with Martin Luther King Jr.
Below: JFK giving his State of the Union address
Civil Rights in America
Civil Rights in America
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In the United States in the 1960’s segregation
was the law of the land
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State sanctioned discrimination had perpetuated
hate & racial bigotry in the south since the end of
reconstruction
Businesses, restaurants, water fountains, public
transportation, movie theaters, schools were all
segregated into black & white
Jim Crow laws such as literacy tests, poll taxes, &
basic discrimination had prevented millions of
African-Americans from not only voting but
even registering to vote in the south
The years of discrimination & repression of
opportunities had forced the overwhelming
number of African-Americans into a state of
poverty & despair
Being treated as inferior and having unequal
education and being denied access to jobs &
resources had kept most A-A from advancing
financially in the south
Civil Rights
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As part of the non-violence movement in February of
1960 the SNCC (Student Non-Violence Coordinating
Committee) organized African-American students from
North Carolina’s Agricultural and Technical College to
stage a sit-in at a whites only lunch counter at a
Woolworth’s store in Greensboro
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These sit ins were covered on television & suddenly the
whole country was able to see the realities of racism in
America
Day after day news reporters captured the scenes of
beatings, verbal abuse, humiliation of food being
dumped on students who refused to fight back
As more people became aware of the issue
more sit-ins were organized even in the north
Stores removed counter seats, raised the price
of food, & brought in the police but nothing
worked
Above: Woolworth store
Below: Sit-in at the white only
lunch counter
Sit-Ins
Freedom Riders
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In 1961 a groups of civil rights activists (white & black) decided to draw
attention to the failures of the Supreme Court decision that banned
segregation on all interstate buses & bus terminals
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They planned a two bus trip that would test this law
The first bus ran into violence at the Alabama line when it was stopped by white
racists carrying chains, brass knuckles, & clubs
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The second bus ran into trouble in Anniston, Alabama when 200 angry whites
attacked it
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The mob followed the bus out of town and blew one of the tires out of the bus
They smashed the windows and tossed a fire
bomb into it
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The riders were brutally beaten but carried on to Birmingham
The freedom riders escaped just moments
before the bus exploded
The bus company refused to take the
freedom riders any farther
A group of SNCC volunteers in Nashville
decided to pick up were the others stopped
& rode into Birmingham again
Freedom Riders
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When this new band of Freedom Riders
entered Birmingham policemen pulled
them from the bus, beat them, & drove
them back to Tennessee
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The riders returned to their bus in
Birmingham but the driver refused to
transport them
The riders then occupied the “whites only”
Bloodied Freedom Riders
waiting room for 18 hours until Attorney General
Robert Kennedy convinced the bus company to transport them
The Freedom Riders then continued on to Montgomery
Alabama officials promised RFK that the riders would be
protected
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However when they arrived they were greeted by a mob of angry whites
only carrying bats & lead pipes
John Doer a Justice Department official was with them in Montgomery &
witnessed the beatings, being beaten himself
Freedom Riders
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The violence provoked the
response the freedom riders
wanted
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Newspapers around the nation and
abroad denounced the beatings
President Kennedy arranged to
give the freedom riders direct
support
The Justice Department sent 400
U.S. marshals to protect the riders
for the rest of their journey to
Jackson, Mississippi
As a result of all this the Interstate
Commerce Commission banned
segregation in all interstate travel
facilities, including waiting rooms,
restrooms, and lunch counters
Civil Rights
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In September of 1962 Air Force veteran James
Meredith won a federal court case that allowed
him to enroll in the all-white University of
Mississippi (Ole Miss)
When Meredith arrived on campus, Mississippi
Gov. Ross Barnett refused to allow him to
register as a student
Pres. Kennedy ordered federal marshals to escort
Meredith
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On Sept. 30 riots broke out on campus resulting
in 2 deaths
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Gov. Barnett made a radio address that called for
“every Mississippian to keep his faith and courage. We will
never surrender.”
White demonstrators showed up by the thousands
It took thousands of soldiers & 15 hours to stop
the rioters
In the next several months federal officials
accompanied Meredith to class & protected his
family whose house was shot at
Federal officials escorting
James Meredith at Ole Miss
Birmingham
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In the 1960’s Birmingham, Alabama was the most
segregated city in America
Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth felt that it would be the perfect
place to make a stand & test non-violence
On April 12, 1963 Martin Luther King was arresting
during a demonstration
While in jail king wrote a famous open letter titled
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
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“I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging
darts of segregation to say, Wait.” But when you have
seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at whim;
when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick,
brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters;…
when you see the vast majority of your twenty million
Negro brothers smothering in the air-tight cage of poverty;
… when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old
son asking…’Daddy, why do white people treat colored
people so mean?’…then you will understand why we find
it difficult to wait.”
Above: MLK with family
Birmingham
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On April 20, King posted bail & began planning more
demonstrations
On May 2 more than a thousand African-American
children marched in Birmingham
Police commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor arrested
959 of them
The next day a second demonstration came head to
head with helmeted police force
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Police swept marchers off their feet w/ high pressure fire
hoses, set attack dogs on them, & clubbed those who fell
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TV camera’s captured all of it
Continued protests, economic boycotts, and
negative media coverage finally convinced
Birmingham officials to end segregation
These actions finally convinced President Kennedy
that only a new civil rights act could end racial
violence
Birmingham Police commissioner
“Bull” Connor stopping protesters
Above: Attack dogs in Birmingham
Kennedy takes a stand
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On June 11, 1963 President Kennedy sent troops
to force Alabama Governor George Wallace to
honor a court order to desegregate the Univ. of
Alabama
That evening Kennedy address the nation & asked
“Are we to say to the world – and much more importantly
to each other – that this is the land of the free, except for the
Negroes?”
Kennedy demanded that Congress pass a civil rights bill
In the hours just after Kennedy’s speech a sniper murdered
Medgar Evers, the NAACP field secretary and WWII veteran.



Police arrested white supremacist Byron de la Beckwith
Beckwith was released after two trials resulted in hung juries
This decision resulted in a new militancy movement in African Americans

Many began to demand “Freedom Now!”
The March on Washington
The March on Washington


On August 28, 1963 more than 250,000
people including 75,000 whites
converged on the nations capital to
persuade Congress to pass the current
Civil Rights bill
They assembled on the grassy lawn of
the Washington Monument & marched
to the Lincoln Memorial


A host of speakers demand the passage
of the bill
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. appeared
& gave his famous “I have a Dream”
speech which appealed for racial
harmony & peace
More Violence

Above: KKK soliciting in downtown Atlanta
Below: Freedom march in Seattle
Two weeks after the March on
Washington four Birmingham
girls were killed when a rider in a
car hurled a bomb through a
church window & blew up the
church


Two more African-Americans died
in the civil unrest that followed
By the mid 1960’s organizations
such as the KKK and the White
Citizen’s League became more
violent and more active
Four Days in November

On November 22, 1963 Air Force One
landed in Dallas, Texas




President & Mrs. Kennedy & Vice President
Johnson had come to Texas to smooth over
Democrats there in preparation for the 1964
election
Pres. Kennedy made an appearance in
Above: Pres. Kennedy speaking at Fort Worth
Below: Pres. & Mrs. Kennedy arriving in Dallas
Fort Worth before going to Dallas
President Kennedy received a warm welcome
upon arrival as crowds lined the streets of
downtown Dallas to see him
Jacqueline & JFK sat in the back of an open
air limousine while Governor John Connally
& his wife sat in front
Dealey Plaza
Four Days in November

As the motorcade approached the
state building known as the Texas
School Book Depository Mrs.
Connally turned to Pres. Kennedy
& remarked “You can’t say that
Dallas isn’t friendly to you today.”

A few seconds later shots rang out
Above: Pres. Kennedy’s motorcade in Dallas
Below: Crowd of school children lining the streets
Assassination







The first shot seemingly went over the
motorcade
Next a bullet struck Kennedy in the neck
prompting him to lurch forward grasping at his
neck
Governor Connally hearing the shots looked
back over his shoulder
Gov. Connally was struck by the same bullet
that had just hit Pres. Kennedy in the neck
The next shot seemingly from in front of the
motorcade hit Pres. Kennedy in the head,
fatally wounding him
Jackie Kennedy then climbed onto the back of
the Presidential limo either trying to retrieve
some brain matter from JFK or trying to escape
the shooting
The motorcade raced to the hospital but
Kennedy was dead on arrival despite several
attempts to revive him
Above: Polaroid of Kennedy after the first hit in the neck
Below: Presidential motorcade racing away
The Aftermath



Bedlam ensued after the
assassination police raced to find
witnesses; people were left in
shock & disbelief
Much of the commotion was
directed at the grassy knoll that
was directly beside the
Presidential motorcade when
President Kennedy was hit
Several famous photographs
were made of the assassination

Most notable of these was a home
movie taken from behind the
grassy knoll by Abraham Zapruder
Assassination
The Aftermath


For the next four days television
provided almost around the clock
coverage of the assassination the
investigation & the apprehension of
the murderer
Vice President Lyndon Johnson taking
the oath of office aboard Air Force One
with Jackie at his side was televised


The President’s body was loaded aboard
Air Force One & sent with President
Johnson back to Washington for an
autopsy
Soon, audiences watched as Dallas
police charged Lee Harvey Oswald
with the murder of a local police
officer & the President
Above: Pres. Johnson being sworn in aboard Air Force 1
Below: Pres. Kennedy’s casket being loaded aboard AF1
Four Days in November



Dallas police rushed to find clues and witnesses
Police checked both the School Book Depository
as well as the grassy knoll
Although there were no eyewitnesses of his direct
involvement the investigation immediately
surrounded around a man named Lee Harvey
Above: Oswald being transfer between floors
Oswald
Below: Dealey Plaza in Dallas
Below: Oswald at a press conference after he was charged
with the assassination of President Kennedy
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
while in the Soviet Union


Oswald was a 24 year old ex-Marine that had been dishonorable discharged
After his discharge Oswald lived for a brief time in the Soviet Union & became a
supporter of Castro


Some believe that Oswald was a U.S. CIA agent & that was the reason for his Soviet ties & proCastro activity
Oswald’s palm print was found on the rifle in the School Book Depository building

Oswald himself was seen on the first floor of the building drinking a pop moments after the
shooting


Lee Harvey Oswald
while in New Orleans 
Some doubt that he could have stashed the gun across the room & traveled down 7 flights of stairs in
the time between the shots & police officers entering the building
Oswald was apprehended in a Dallas movie theater hours after the assassination when he
entered without paying

Oswald was charged with shooting Officer Tippet a Dallas Police officer & later with the
shooting of President Kennedy
Oswald’s killed
Oswald’s killed
Jack Ruby



On Sunday November 24 as millions watched on TV
Oswald was to be transferred from Dallas city jail to a
more secure location
Live on television a nightclub owner from New Orleans
with Mafia ties broke through the crowd & shot Oswald
fatally wounding him
Ruby said that he just wanted to spare Jacqueline
Kennedy from having to go through a trial


Many people dispute this
simplistic reason and ask
how Ruby was able to get
into the guarded & secure
basement in the first place
Above: Ruby at his N.O. Nightclub
Below: Oswald moments before his shot
Ruby would ask later to be
brought to Washington to
tell his story but was never
allowed to & died of a disease Above: Jack Ruby at a press conference
before Oswald’s transfer
in prison
Conspiracy

The magnitude of the event left many people wondering why




The country was in shock
All work stopped for the televised funeral of President Kennedy
as the nation mourned
Many eye witnesses claimed to have heard gunshots from a
grassy knoll area in front of the motorcade & believed that a
second shooter was involved
The possibility of a second shooter sparked conspiracy theories

Many other bizarre events also fed fire to these thoughts







Oswald’s questionable past
The unlikely hood of 3 shots being able to have done all the damage
Mysterious police actions
Suppression of some witnesses
The Zapruder film
Jack Ruby with mob ties shooting Oswald
In the turmoil filled 60’s there were many groups to
suspect of conspiracy such as the Communists, Organized
Crime (Mob), pro-Castro forces, some even suspected the
CIA & the American gov’t, especially the military
establishment that did not like Kennedy, especially after
the Cuban Missile Crisis & Kennedy’s planned withdraw
from Vietnam
Above: Kennedy’s body in the capitol
Below: Kennedy’s funeral procession
The Warren Commission

In 1963 the Warren Commission was created to investigate the
Kennedy assassination


This was a congressional committee headed by Supreme Court
Chief Justice Earl Warren that also included such members as
future President Gerald Ford
Many witnesses were not allowed to testify for the Warren
Commission and not all of the available evidence was given


Much of the commission’s time was spent on proving Oswald guilt
alone & no true investigation to a possibility of a conspiracy existed
The Magic Bullet theory arose when the commission concluded
that only three shots were fired from the School Book Depository
Building




Supreme Court Chief
Justice Earl Warren
They agreed that one of the shots missed, leaving only two to injure
both Pres. Kennedy and Governor Connally and one for the fatal head
wound
This magic bullet supposedly entered Pres. Kennedy in the back, exited
& hit Gov. Connally in the shoulder, exited, hit Connally on the wrist,
then lodged itself in his leg changing directions several times
Another bullet supposedly from the head wound was found on the
President’s stretcher
The Warren Commission concluded that Oswald had been
acting alone
Congressman & Future
President Gerald Ford
Magic Bullet
Weird Assassination Facts

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Lincoln 's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
Weird Assassination Facts

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was
born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was
born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford.'
Kennedy was shot in a car called ' Lincoln' made by
'Ford.'

Lincoln was shot in a theater and his assassin ran and
hid in a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin
ran and hid in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
Lyndon Baines Johnson



Born a fourth generation Texan to a low middle class family
Worked one year in a minority school in Cotulla, Texas to finance
his education from South West Texas State Teachers College
Became a public speaking & debate teacher in 1930 and taught in Sam
Houston High School in Houston, Texas






At age 26 he began the state director of the National Youth Administration
LBJ entered politics in 1937 to fill a vacancy in the U.S. House of
Representatives
In congress Johnson caught the eye of Pres. Roosevelt who helped him to
secure key committee assignments
In 1948 Johnson won the Democratic primary for Senate by a margin of 87
votes out of 988,000 he went on to win the general election
Johnson proved to be a masterful politician and rose to the rank of Senate
Majority leader in 1955  youngest majority leader ever at 46
He was the driving force behind the Civil Rights Bill of 1957
The Great Society



Johnson began his presidency by
urging congress to pass the civil
rights & tax-cut bills that Pres.
Kennedy had sent to Capitol hill
In February 1964 Congress passed a
tax reduction bill of $10 billion dollars
which spurred economic growth
In July, Johnson pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
through congress

Johnson was able to use his influence to persuade Southern
senators not to block the passage of this bill


Strom Thurmond was the leader of the southern senators in
opposition to this bill
The bill prohibited discrimination based on race, religion,
national origin, and sex
Senator Strom Thurmond
from South Carolina
LBJ’s War on Poverty

Working with impoverished children before entering
politics shaped Lyndon Johnson’s political agenda



He was determined to end poverty in America & had developed
great ideas for how to do this
In 1964 LBJ announced a war on poverty in America
In August of 1964 Congress enacted the Economic
Opportunity Act approving nearly $1 billion for youth
programs, anti-poverty measures, small-business loans,
and job training




Created the Job Corps Youth Training Program
VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America)
Project Head Start, an education program for underprivileged
preschoolers
The Community Action Program, which encouraged poor
people to participate in public works programs
Election of 1964

In 1964 Republicans nominated Barry
Goldwater of Arizona to opposed Johnson




Goldwater believed the federal gov’t had no
business trying to right social and economic wrongs such as
poverty, discrimination, & lack of opportunity
Goldwater also scared people by hinting that the U.S. should
use nuclear weapons on Cuba & North Vietnam
LBJ won in a landslide getting 61% of the popular vote
& 486 electoral votes to Goldwater’s 52
Democrats also increased their majority in congress
making reliance on Southern Democrats for votes
unnecessary
The Great Society

Like his idol FDR, Pres. Johnson wanted to change
America




He envisioned an America without poverty and social injustices
and pushed 206 acts through Congress during his presidency to
accomplish this
Johnson’s plan did involve government even more in the lives of
Americans & increased the power of the Federal government
Greatest increase in gov’t legislation since FDR & the New Deal
Education was a prime target of Johnson’s Great Society
programs


Johnson said that educations was “the key which can unlock the door
to the Great Society”
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965


Gave $1 billion in federal aid to help public and parochial schools to
purchase textbooks and new library materials
1st major federal aide package for education in the nation’s history
The Great Society

LBJ and Congress established Medicare and Medicaid in 1965



LBJ established the Department of Housing & Urban
Development (HUD)




Johnson then appointed Robert Weaver to be the Secretary of HUD;
Weaver became the first African-American cabinet member in U.S. history
LBJ also passed the Immigration Act of 1965 this reversed the previous
immigration practices that discriminated strongly against people from outside
western Europe


Medicare: provided hospital insurance & low-cost medical
insurance for almost every American 65 or over
Medicaid: extended health insurance to welfare recipients
Immigration prior to the 1965 Act only allowed a % of people based on the number of
people from that country already in the U.S.
Since most people in the U.S. at that time were from Western Europe & not Asia or
Eastern Europe then these groups could not immigrate to the U.S.
Johnson passed the Water Quality Act of 1965 that required states to clean up
rivers & search out the worst chemical polluters to prevent them from using rivers
to dump toxic waste
LBJ also convinced congress to pass laws that forced accurate labels on foods &
higher safety standards on automobiles
The Supreme Court




As the gov’t began to assume power with much legislation &
reforms the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren
began to take action
They banned prayer in public schools & ironically increased
the support to freedom of speech, especially for anti-war
Supreme Court Chief Justice
Earl Warren
protests
In a landmark decision in Baker v. Carr 1962 the SC said that they had the right
to tell states to reapportion their districts for federal representatives to be
representative of the population of the states
States had left their districts the same despite an increased shift in the
population to urban areas



Thus giving more power to the rural areas who had less people per representative
than did the urban areas who often times had a large African-American minority
In Gideon v. Wainwright 1963 the SC ruled that criminal courts had to provide
free legal counsel to those who couldn’t afford it
In Escobedo v. Illinois 1964 they ruled that a person accused of a crime had the
right to have a lawyer present during police questioning
The Warren Court


Miranda v. Arizona 1964
The Court ruled that citizens must be informed of their rights
prior to questioning


Now known as the Miranda Rights



"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can, and will be used
against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot
afford one, one will be appointed for you."
Engel v. Vitale 1962
New York State Board of Regents wrote and adopted a prayer which was supposed
to be nondenominational


Any evidence or statement obtained prior to a suspect being read
his/her rights is inadmissible
The school argued that the prayer was nondenominational and did not attempt to
"establish or endorse" a religion and thus that it did not violate the establishment clause.
The court ruled Prayer in schools was to be considered unconstitutional
The Warren Court
The Supreme Court ruled in
Griswold v. Connecticut 1965 that the
Constitution protects an individuals
general right to privacy
 The case involved a Connecticut law that
prohibited the use of contraceptives.


The Warren Supreme Court
By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court invalidated
the law on the grounds that it violated the "right to marital privacy."

Said that the right to privacy was implied by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Amendments




3rd: No quartering of troops in any house….
4th: Right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures….
5th: private property be taken for public use……
The Supreme Court under Warren expanded the scope of individual
rights

Criminal Rights, Right to Privacy, etc…
Legacy of the Great Society


Many people debate the effectiveness of the
Great Society programs but there is little
debate that it was the largest increase in the
power & influence of the federal government
since FDR
The war on poverty helped many poor
people


Unemployment dropped from 21% in
1962 to 11% in 1973
Above: LBJ throwing out the first pitch
Below: LBJ working the phones pushing legislation
Johnson’s massive tax cut spurred the
economy but left the country with a large
budget deficit

Much of this was caused by the large cost of
the Vietnam war
Fighting for Voting Rights





In 1964 the Congress Of Racial Equality (CORE) and
SNCC workers in the South began registering as many
African-Americans as they could to vote
The project became known as Freedom Summer
Activists knew that the more African-Americans that
voted the more politicians were going to listen to their
views & the easier it would be for civil rights
legislation to pass
These activists, white & black faced extreme
discrimination & violence
In June of 1964 three civil rights workers and one
summer volunteer disappeared in Neshoba County,
Mississippi


Authorities later found that Klansmen & local police
had murdered three of the men (2 of whom were white)
Racial beatings, murders, church bombings, home
bombings, cross burnings continued all throughout
the summer
Above: Civil Rights workers 1964
Below: Voter registration in the south
Mississippi Burning
Selma, Alabama

At the start of 1965 the SCLC conducted a
major voting rights campaign




After this death Martin Luther King, Jr.
announced a 50 mile protest march from
Selma to Montgomery (state capital)
On March 7, 1965 about 600 protesters set
out for Montgomery



By the end of 1965 over 2,000 A-A had
been arrested in SCLC demonstrations
Demonstrator Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot
& killed
That night television camera’s captured the
mayhem that ensued
Police swung whips & clubs, and shot cans
of tear gas into the crowds
On March 21, 1965 3,000 marchers again
set out for Montgomery, this time with
federal protection

Soon the number of marchers grew to
25,000
Above & Below: MLK marching on
Montgomery for voting rights in 1965
Voting Rights Act of 1965

Two weeks after the Selma-Montgomery
March Congress passed the Voting
Rights Act of 1965




This act eliminated literacy tests that had
disqualified many voters
It also stated that federal examiners can grant
the right to vote to individuals if the states are
denying them suffrage
MLK at church speaking about
the Voter Rights Act of 1965
In Selma the proportion of A-A registered to vote raised
from 10% in ’64 to 60% in ’68
The overall percentage of A-A voters in the South tripled
Northern Segregation

In the North segregation wasn’t the law but de facto segregation
which was segregation that exists by practice & custom


De facto segregation is harder to end than de jure segregation (seg. by
law) because if there are no laws to change then you have to change
people’s attitudes
After World War II many AA moved into the inner cities &
whites moved out to the suburbs

With AA getting paid less than white suburbanites tax dollars from areas
like the inner city were small & so public transportation & facilities,
especially schools declined rapidly




When these schools became inadequate it prevented other AA from receiving
the education needed to raise them out of the state of poverty & perpetuated
the condition
Housing in the inner city deteriorated to slums run by landlords who
didn’t comply with health & housing ordinances
Unemployment in the inner city rose to disproportionately high rates
In many cities realtors would not sell homes in the suburbs to
those African-American families that could afford it
March on Chicago





In 1966 MLK led a campaign in Chicago
to end de facto segregation & create an
“open city”
On July 10 King led 30,000 AA in a
march on City Hall
In late July King led demonstrators
through a predominately white Chicago
neighborhood while angry whites threw
rocks & bottles at him
On August 5 hostile whites stoned King
as he led 600 marchers
In all little was accomplished in Chicago
compared to the marches in Birmingham
& other southern cities
MLK after being hit by a rock in a
Chicago neighborhood
J. Edgar Hoover vs. MLK
Text from a classified memo from
Hoover in the FBI files about MLK
“We must mark [King] now, if we
have not before, as the most
dangerous Negro in the future of
this nation from the standpoint
of communism, the Negro, and
national security.
…..it may be unrealistic to
limit [our actions against King] to
legalistic proofs that would stand
up in court or before
Congressional Committees”
Race Riots


Violence began to erupt in cities in the North in the mid-60’s
In NYC in July of 1964 in a confrontation between a group of AA teens &
some white police officers ended in the death of a 15 year old student


On August 11, 1965, five days after LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act violent
riots raged in the predominantly AA Watts neighborhood in Los Angles broke
out




police arrested an African American but people were angry and frustrated over a
series of police abuses & poor living conditions
34 people were killed, 1,032 injuries, 4,000 arrests, & hundred of millions of dollars
of property was destroyed
In 1967 more than 100 race riots took place in America’s major cities
Many whites couldn’t understand why AA were so upset


This sparked a riot in Harlem
They felt that AA had achieved so many victories in the south why were they still
upset
By the late 60’s much of the money for LBJ’s Great Society had been diverted
to the growing war in Vietnam
Pictures from the race riots
in the Watts section of L.A.
Black Power






The violence & riots that sprung up around the
country was not caused just by hateful whites it
was also caused by African-Americans that began
to demand equality
As the civil rights movement progress it gave rise
to people with much different methods than the
non-violent resistance preached by MLK
Leaders such as Malcolm X emerged who proclaimed early the “If you think we
are here to tell you to love the white man, you have come to the wrong place”
Black Power became the calling cry for many AA’s during this time
This movement had some positive effect for AA’s but also caused many to hate
all whites & this sparked more violence
This violence by African-Americans in many cases only worked to reinforce the
beliefs of many whites that African-Americans and whites could not live
together peacefully
Malcolm X

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little & was sent to jail at the age
of 20 for burglary




Above: Malcolm X
Below: Elijah
Muhammad
Malcolm was a brilliant thinker & engaging speaker that developed
quite a following




Malcolm X preached the teachings of Elijah Muhammad that whites
were the cause of the black condition and that blacks should separate
from white society
Many African-Americans were drawn to Malcolm’s ideas because the
movement had aroused a new since of racial pride
In stark contrast to MLK, Malcolm X advocated self-defense
against white violence


In prison he studied the teachings of Elijah Muhammad the head of
the Nation of Islam or the Black Muslims
Malcolm dropped his slave name & became Malcolm X
Malcolm became an Islamic minister in 1952 after being released
from prison
Because of these controversial views Malcolm X received a great deal
of publicity
His call for self-defense frightened most whites & many moderate
AA’s
The attention that Malcolm X received sparked resentment in
some of the other members of the Nation of Islam
City Desk w/ Malcolm X
J. Edgar Hoover vs. Malcolm X
Infiltrators in the Nation of Islam
spread rumors and provoked
conflict between Malcolm X,
Elijah Muhammad and other
leaders
 FBI sought to create dissention,
conflict, and violence
 Took credit for provoking the
assassination of Malcolm X in
1965

Troubles in the Nation of Islam

In March of 1964 Malcolm X broke with
Elijah Muhammad over differences in
strategy & doctrine



In April Malcolm X went on a pilgrimage to Mecca
(in Saudi Arabia) that was required of followers of
orthodox Islam
In Mecca Malcolm learned that orthodox Islam
preached racial equality



While in Mecca, Malcolm worshiped alongside people
from many countries & many races
Said Malcolm of his trip to Mecca “I have [prayed]….with fellow Muslims whose eyes were the
bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white.”
When Malcolm returned from Mecca he arrived a changed person.


He formed another Muslim group
His views on violent revolt & hatred for whites were replaced with a new attitude of
cooperation & tolerance
On February 21, 1965 while giving a speech in Harlem the 39 year old Malcolm
X was shot & killed by members of the Nation of Islam
Growing Unrest

In 1966, James Meredith, the man who had
integrated Ole Miss University set out on a 225
mile “walk against fear” from Tennessee to
Jackson, Mississippi


MLK of the SCLC and Stokely Carmichael of the
SNCC decided to finish Meredith’s march




Along the way he was shot & too injured to
continue
Along the march Stokely Carmichael set up a tent
on the grounds of an all-black high school in
Greenwood, Miss.
The police arrested him
Later Carmichael arrived at a rally with his face
swollen from a beating suffered while in custody
& incited the crowd
Carmichael begins to advocate Black Power &
for AA to take pride in themselves & no longer
take the abuse from whites
Above: James Meredith beside the road after
being shot on his “walk against fear”
Below: Stokely Carmichael at a rally calling
for Black Power
Black Panthers

In 1966 in response to the growing
radicalism in the fight for AA equality a
new political party formed in Oakland,
California ; the Black Panthers




They dressed themselves in black leather
jackets, black berets, & sunglasses
They preached self-defense & sold copies
of the writings of Mao Zedong (leader of
China’s communist revolution)


The party advocated self-sufficiency in AA
communities and full employment and
decent housing
They also believed that AA’s should be
exempt from further military service in
Vietnam b/c of the already
disproportionate number of AA’s drafted
A number of violent altercations took place
between members of the Black Panthers &
police & the FBI investigated them heavily
The Panthers however also did many good
things in the communities
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Established daycare centers
Free breakfast programs
Free medical clinics
Assisted the homeless
Memphis
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After two sanitation workers in
Memphis were killed while
seeking shelter in the back of a
garbage truck because they were
denied entrance into the all white
lobby of the company MLK led a
demonstration in Memphis that
faced police violence
MLK Assassination
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Martin Luther King objected to
the Black power movement & felt
that these violent ways would only
lead to more problems
On April 3, 1968 King addressed a
crowd in Memphis where he was
striking for the garbage workers
there & made an eerie speech that
was almost a premonition
The next day April 4, 1968 while
standing with friends on his hotel
balcony MLK was murdered by
James Earl Ray when he was shot
from afar with a high powered
rifle
Right: MLK with friends including
Jesse Jackson moments before he
was assassinated
Above: Friends of MLK pointing
to the location of the shooter
Right: James Earl Ray 
MLK Assassination
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The night that MLK was killed Robert F.
Kennedy was campaigning for the
Democratic presidential nomination in
Indianapolis, Indiana
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Despite warnings of possible violence Robert
Kennedy arrived anyway & made an
impassioned speech imploring non-violence
Despite Kennedy’s plea urban rioting took
place in over 100 cities including Baltimore,
Chicago, Kansas City, and Washington D.C.
Thousands marched with MLK’s casket
during his funeral
MLK funeral precession 
Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement
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One of the legacies of the CR Movement
was that it infused African Americans
with greater pride in their racial identity
The “Color bar” in entertainment was
lifted & more minorities were seen on
television
By 1970 2/3 of eligible African American voters were
registered to vote
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Because of this many more AA’s were elected to office
Support for the Civil Rights movement among whites
declined as urban riots & groups such as the Black
Panthers came along
Affirmative Action
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By the 1990’s white flight to the suburbs reversed the
progress of school integration
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In the 1960’s the gov’t began to promote affirmative
action programs that made a special effort to hire
groups of people that have suffered discrimination
(minorities) in order to have diversity in the workforce
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Suddenly minority students were in schools with very few
whites
Many companies with federal contracts were encouraged to
do this
By the 1970’s many began to criticize affirmative action
programs as being a form of “reverse discrimination”
denying whites of opportunities
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These issues are still very much in debate today!