

Students were taught to
“duck and cover” in
the event of a surprise
attack through training
films and special drills
While such efforts
reassured the public, in
reality they offered
little, if any, real
protection in the event
of an actual nuclear
attack


Many families
constructed special
underground bunkers
which they stocked
with food, water, and
other essentials in case
of an attack
Cities also designated
subway tunnels and
other reinforced
underground
structures as public
shelters



1938 – 1975
Tasked with investigating
“any suspected threats of
subversion or
propaganda that attack
the form of government
guaranteed by our
Constitution.”
In 1947, at the urging of
FBI Director J. Edgar
Hoover, HUAC began
holding public hearings
aimed at rooting out
high-profile communists


HUAC first began to
investigate suspected
communists within the
entertainment industry,
issuing hundreds of
subpoenas to testify
One group refused, and
came to be known as the
“Hollywood Ten.” They
were convicted of
contempt and
imprisoned, after which
they were unable to find
work in Hollywood




1904 – 1996
High-ranking State
Department official who was
accused of being a Soviet
spy
Could not be convicted of
espionage, but was
convicted of perjury (lying
under oath) for his
supposedly false testimony
before HUAC in 1950
Spent nearly 4 years in
prison, even though his case
was extremely controversial
and the evidence was
suspect



American couple accused of
helping the Soviets acquire
information on the American
atomic bomb program
Convicted of treason in a
highly controversial trial,
both were sentenced to
death and were executed
simultaneously via electric
chair
Evidence later surfaced
showing that while Julius was
most likely guilty, many
historians still doubt Ethel’s
involvement




1935 – 1977
“The King of Rock and
Roll”
Had his first major hit
record, “Heartbreak Hotel,”
and film “Love Me Tender”
in 1956
Recorded over 100 Top 40
hits in his 20 year career
before dying of drugrelated heart failure



1960 – 1970
Rock group who led the
“British Invasion” of
English musical acts
which became popular in
the US
The band would reflect
the youth culture of the
’60s – fairly innocent and
clean-cut at the beginning
of the decade and heavily
immersed in the antiVietnam War, pro-peace
drug culture at the end


Authorized the spending of
$25 billion in federal funds
to build 41,000 miles of
highways over a period of
20 years
Interstate highways were
built in order to allow the
speedy movement of
troops and supplies around
the country in case of
invasion or other national
emergency


Merged the Department of
War and the Department of
the Navy into the newly
created Department of
Defense and separate
military branch (the US Air
Force)
Created the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA)
to gather intelligence on
foreign governments



Created by President
Truman to screen all federal
employees and remove
those who showed signs of
communist sympathies
6 million employees were
screened, with about 14,000
investigated more
thoroughly by the FBI
Only 212 were actually
identified as having
“questionable loyalty” and
fired
 Relaxing
of tensions
between US & USSR
in order to ease the
tension between U.S.
and communist
nations
 Biggest
step forward
in Détente was when
Nixon visited
communist China.


Nixon created a 5 year
agreements to limit
nuclear weapons
between US & USSR
This agreement included
all weapons from
intercontinental ballistic
missiles to launched
submarines.
 Fair
Deal: Truman’s
program to extend
ideas of the New Deal;
was largely
unsuccessful due to
opposition by
Congress
 Taft-Harley
Act (1947):
allowed the President
to end strikes for 80day “cooling-off”
period in industries
important to the nation.
 AFL-CIO
(1955):
merger of 2 largest
labor unions
 National
Highway
Act (1956): provided
money to create a
national highway
system



New Frontier: Kennedy’s
program to help the poor, invest
in space program and improve
the economy
Peace Corps (1961): program to
send volunteers to other
countries as teachers, health
workers or do to other public
works projects
Kennedy not able to achieve
many of his goals because he was
assassinated– Johnson took on
many of his programs/ideas
 Great
Society: Johnson’s
programs to help the poor,
fund education, healthcare,
regulate housing and
protect the environment
 HUD
(Housing and Urban
Development): oversee
housing for the country
and housing help for poor
 Head
Start: preschool
program for low-income
children
 VISTA
(Volunteers in
Service to America):
volunteers to help poor
areas
 Medicare:
healthcare
for elderly (>65 years
old)
 National
Endowment
for the Humanities: give
money to artists and
academics



Johnson decided not to run
for President.
Now democrats were split
over who they should choose
to run.
They had to decide between
McCarthy and Humphrey .
The convention was
surrounded by violence as
police tried to stop protesters
outside. They nominated
Humphrey, but the party was
hurt by split positions.
 Martin
Luther King, Jr.
was visiting Memphis to
organize the poor. He
was assassinated on the
balcony of his hotel. The
nation erupted in
violence. Many people
lost faith in MLK’s ideas
of nonviolent change.
 Series
of attacks by the
North on the South greatly
eroded American’s faith in
their role in the Vietnam
conflict.
 My
Lai: Americans
massacred hundreds of
women and children.
Further deteriorated
American’s support for
war.
 After
the Soviets
acquired the
atomic bomb,
Americans
became highly
paranoid about
the potential for a
nuclear attack
against the US


After WWII, the
government decided to
not end the military draft,
due to the potential
threat presented by the
Soviets
In 1951, the draft’s
parameters were
adjusted to include only
men between the ages of
18 – 26 and change the
time of enlistment to 21
months


In Eisenhower’s Farewell
Address, he warned against
unchecked military
spending, stating “we must
guard against the acquisition
of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought,
by the military-industrial
complex”
Essentially, Eisenhower was
warning that defense
contractors were becoming
too friendly with the military
high command, creating a
conflict of interest where
their profits were more
important than what was in
the best interests of the
nation




1947 – 1951
Created by President
Truman to screen all
federal employees and
remove those who showed
signs of communist
sympathies
6 million employees were
screened, with about
14,000 investigated more
thoroughly by the FBI
Only 212 were actually
identified as having
“questionable loyalty”
and fired




1908 – 1957
Senator from Wisconsin
Claimed in 1950 to have a
secret list of members of
the Communist Party and
members of a spy ring
within the US State
Department
Went on to make other
claims about communists in
the Army, even going so far
as to accuse former Sec. of
State George Marshall of
communist sympathies


McCarthy’s claims led to
widespread hysteria over
the supposed level of
communist infiltration
into the US government
Eventually, however,
when McCarthy could
not produce any valid
evidence, he was
censured by the Senate
and died just 3 years
later from complications
from alcoholism





Legislation which required all
Communist Party members
and organizations to register
with the US Attorney General’s
office
Banned communists from
getting passports and
traveling abroad
In cases of national
emergency, it provided for the
arrest and detention of
communists
Vetoed by Truman, but
Congress overrode his veto
Much of the Act has since
been declared
unconstitutional or repealed


Both the US and USSR had
captured German rocket
scientists at the end of
WWII and were pursuing
missile technologies
Starting in 1957, these
technologies were used to
compete against each
other for control of outer
space – a multi-billion
dollar “space race” to see
who could accomplish
certain objectives or
discoveries first
 Intercontinental
Ballistic Missiles
 The development of
missile technologies
allowed both sides to
mount atomic
warheads onto longrange rockets which
could be launched
against distant
targets



The first man-made object
to attain orbit around the
earth (satellite)
Sputnik I launched by the
Soviets in Oct. 1957,
followed by Sputnik II
(which carried the first
living creature into space, a
dog named Laika) in
November
These launches triggered a
panic in the US, as
Americans worried that the
Soviets were gaining a
technological advantage
over the US



Law which provided for
dramatically increased
spending on education,
especially in science, math,
and foreign languages
Passed in response to the
belief that the US was
falling behind the Soviets in
scientific and technological
fields
Increased the number of
high-school graduates who
went on to college from
less than 15% in 1950 to
over 40% by 1970
National Aeronautics
and Space
Administration
 Created in 1958
 Civilian agency which
was created to take
over space exploration
programs from the
various military
branches to increase
coordination and
efficiency





1934 – 1968
Soviet “cosmonaut” who
became the first man in
space in April of 1961
Declared a “Hero of the
Soviet Union,” he was never
allowed to return to space
due to his value as an
instrument of propaganda;
instead, he was sent on a
world tour to promote
Soviet superiority
Ironically, he later died in a
plane crash
1959 – 1963
 NASA’s first program
designed to put an
American in space
 Capsule could carry
only a single astronaut
 Cost $384 million, but
succeeded at getting
the US’ manned space
program off the
ground

1921 – Present
US Marine pilot who
became the first
American to orbit the
earth in 1962
 Went on to serve as US
Senator from Ohio from
1974 – 1999
 In 1998, became the
oldest person to fly in
space when he took
part in a shuttle
mission at age 77



“[We] commit … before this
decade is out, to landing a man
on the Moon and returning him
safely to the Earth … But why,
some say, the moon? Why
choose this as our goal? And
they may well ask why climb
the highest mountain? …We
choose to go to the moon in this
decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy, but
because they are hard, because
that goal will serve to organize
and measure the best of our
energies and skills, because
that challenge is one that we are
willing to accept, one we are
unwilling to postpone, and one
which we intend to win”




1965 – 1966
Could carry 2 astronauts
10 manned flights cost
$5.4 billion
Purpose was to develop
the technologies that
would be needed to
make longer space
flights possible (such as
a trip to the moon and
back)




Series of 6 manned
missions to the moon
between 1969 and 1972
Each Apollo craft carried
3 astronauts
Suffered two major
accidents: during the
Apollo I training exercise
in 1967, 3 astronauts died
in an oxygen fire, and an
explosion onboard Apollo
13 forced the crew to
abort the mission
Cost $25.4 billion
July 20, 1969
Apollo 11 became the
first manned-mission to
land on the moon after a
4 day journey
 Represented a major
victory for the US, since
we had finally
surpassed Soviet
achievement in space
(to this day, no other
nation has landed
astronauts on the moon)


1930 – Present
 The first of only 12 men
to walk on the moon
 Former Navy pilot and
Korean War veteran,
Armstrong retired from
NASA almost
immediately after
returning from the
moon and became a
college professor

“… one giant leap for
mankind.”
 After the success of the
Apollo program,
Americans tired of the
“space race” – we had
clearly beaten the
Soviets and Americans
were now distracted by
more “down to earth”
matters such as the
Vietnam War, Civil
Rights, and Watergate

 What
are ways in which people protest today if
they see unfair practices?
 How effective are protest movements today?
 What are some modern examples of protest
movements?
HW: Test 5/3
1954
 Supreme Court
overturned Plessy v.
Ferguson, rejecting the
idea that racially
segregated schools
could offer equal
services
 Court ordered the
desegregation of public
schools “with all
deliberate speed”

 Sept. 1957
 AK
governor tries to
stop integration of a
high school in the
city of Little Rock.

Eisenhower sends
in troops to protect
9 African American
students to enter
Central High in
Little Rock
 1955
 Rosa
Parks challenges
segregation on buses
by sitting in the front,
this was against the
law.
 Led
to boycott of bus
system; supreme court
rules bus segregation
is illegal
Founded in 1942
 Interracial
organization Created to
apply the Gandhi’s
model of non-violent
resistance to the
American civil rights
movement


Opposed Jim Crow laws
in the South & housing
and employment
inequities in northern
cities



1929 – 1968
As a young minister,
King was chosen to
organize the
Birmingham bus boycott
and chose to do so
using only non-violent
means of protest
The success of the
boycott propelled him
and his technique of
“civil disobedience” to
national fame


Organization for young
African Americans to
participate in Civil Rights
Movement; want
immediate change- later
associated with Black
Power movement
In 1964, 3 SNCC
members were
murdered in Mississippi
while attempting to
register black voters
 Action
used to protest
segregation; if denied
service simply sat
until they were
served
 Woolworth’s
relented
and desegregated
their lunch counters
What
were some of the major Civil
Rights events from the 1950-1960s?
What tactics did the movement uses?
 HW- Test
5/3


Protesters test laws
desegregating buses by
riding buses in to the
south; troops sent to
protect them
These riders were
attacked by angry white
mobs in Alabama, and in
Birmingham were met
and beaten by members
of the KKK who had been
tipped off by the local
police
 >200,000
people
come to Washington
D.C. to protest civil
rights; where MLK Jr.
gives his “I Have a
Dream” speech
 More
than 200,000
attended to hear King
and others speak


Made segregation illegal
in public facilities such
as restaurants, parks,
libraries, and theaters
Banned discrimination in
the workplace and
created the Equal
Employment
Opportunity Commission
(EEOC) to monitor
discrimination



Allowed the Attorney
General to circumvent
local voting examiners in
cases where
discrimination is
suspected
Banned literacy tests as a
voting requirement
Highly successful
 Specifically
banned
the use of poll taxes
(a tax that must be
paid in order to
vote)
 South
could no
longer prevent poor
blacks from voting in
Southern states
 1925
– 1965
 Important
figure in
black power
movement; later
changed his views to
believe in non-violent
protest; assassinated
1965
 Assassinated
for
criticizing the Nation
of Islam
 Militant
group who
fought for civil rights;
called for African
Americans to uniteblack nationalism;
used tactics that
opposed MLK’s nonviolent strategies
 Movement
dissipated
in the mid-1970s


As the gains of the civil
rights movement began to
slow, many blacks,
especially those in the
urban North, began to
question the non-violent
tactics of Dr. King and his
supporters
Many also began to call for
the expulsion of whites
from civil rights groups like
CORE and the SNCC and
for blacks to take sole
power over civil rights
movements into their own
hands
1913 – 2005
Civil rights activist even
before her famous
refusal to give up her
bus seat on Dec. 1, 1955
 Parks was arrested for
violating the city of
Birmingham, AL
segregation laws which
required that blacks
surrender their seats if
necessary to
accommodate white
passengers


1929 – 1968
As a young minister,
King was chosen to
organize the
Birmingham bus boycott
and chose to do so
using only non-violent
means of protest
 The success of the
boycott propelled him
and his technique of
“civil disobedience” to
national fame


 1941
– Present
 Student at NC A&T
who was inspired by
the sit-ins and went
on to become a
major, if often
controversial, civil
rights leader and
later candidate for
President in the 1980s
1908 – 1993
Brown v BOE decision
vaulted Marshall to the
forefront of civil rights
lawyers
 Marshall had been
Chief Counsel for the
NAACP since the 1940s,
until being appointed as
federal judge in 1961,
and eventually became
the first AfricanAmerican on the
Supreme Court in 1967







1941 – 1998
Participated in the Freedom
Rides and other civil rights
activities, but over time
became more radical and
more involved with the Black
Power movement
As president of SNCC, he
expelled all white members,
not out of racism, but out of
the belief that the two groups
had separate interests
Later became involved with
the Black Panthers and began
to endorse violent tactics in
retaliation to police brutality
Ended his days living in Africa
supporting a new Pan-African
movement
1925 – 1963
WWII veteran who
became a civil rights
activist and officer in
the NAACP who helped
gain James Meredith
admission to Univ. of
Mississippi
 Was shot and killed in
front of his home by a
member of the KKK
 No one was convicted
of his killing until 1994





1927 – 1993
Organized a largely
Hispanic labor workforce
to demand better wages,
benefits, and union
recognition from
California grape-growers
When growers resisted,
he organized a boycott
on grapes which forced
the growers to relent



1930 – Present
Directed the grape
boycott and helped
Chavez found the United
Farm Workers in 1966,
which went on to become
a part of the powerful
AFL-CIO
More politically active
than Chavez – he
organized the workers
while she organized the
political support
 1896
 Supreme
Court
ruled that
segregation was
legal, so long as
services and
facilities provided
were “separate but
equal”
 Opened the door for
Jim Crow laws
throughout the South
 1935
 Supreme
Court
overturned the rape
conviction of
Clarence Norris in
Alabama due to the
fact that there were
no black members on
the jury, which
violated his 14th
Amendment rights



1946
Irene Morgan was
convicted for refusing to
surrender her seat on a
bus going from Virginia
to Maryland
Supreme Court ruled that
the bus was engaged in
interstate commerce and
the Virginia law was
therefore
unconstitutional



1950
Herman Sweatt sued
after being refused
admission to the
University of Texas law
school
Texas created a new
black law school, but the
Supreme Court ruled that
the new school was
inferior in quality and
decided in favor of
Sweatt


In the Democratic
primary leading into the
1948 presidential
elections, Southern
Democrats became
angered by Harry
Truman’s support of civil
rights and stated
intentions of
desegregating the
military
Rather than support
Truman, they created
their own party



The States’ Rights
Democratic Party
Supported the right of
Southern states to
continue the practice of
racial segregation without
interference by the
federal government
Although dissolved by
1950, the Dixiecrats
permanently weakened
the Democratic Party in
the South, opening the
door for Southern
Republicans





1902 – 2003
Gov. of SC (1947–51)
Dixiecrat nominee for
President in 1948
Later served as Senator
from SC from 1956 –
2003, despite his vocal
support for segregation
Switched from
Democratic to
Republican Party in 1964
July 1948
 President Truman
issued Executive Order
9981, ordering equal
treatment and
opportunities for all
members of the US
armed forces,
regardless of race
 Last all-black units
were dissolved in 1954


The Brown decision
angered many white
Southerners and in 1956,
over 100 Southern
members of Congress
signed the “Southern
Manifesto” declaring the
Court’s decision to be
“abuse of judicial power”
and pledging to support
segregation through
every legal avenue
available
Created in 1957
 Civil rights organization
composed of mainly
Southern AfricanAmerican ministers
which worked to end
segregation and to
encourage blacks to
register to vote
 First president was Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.



President Eisenhower
supported civil rights, but
believed that racism and
segregation would have to
end gradually, stating “I
don’t believe you can
change the hearts of men
with laws or [court]
decisions”
Still, once the Supreme
Court ordered schools
desegregated,
Eisenhower felt obligated
as President to enforce
that decision
 Designed
to protect
black’s right to vote
 Created a civil rights
division within the
Dept. of Justice and
the US Commission
on Civil Rights to
investigate and
prosecute allegations
of voting violations




1933 – Present
In Sept. 1962, tried to register
at the Univ. of Mississippi
under a court-order, but was
blocked by Gov. Ross Barnett
President Kennedy ordered
500 US Marshalls to escort
Meredith onto campus, but an
angry mob attacked the
Marshalls, forcing Kennedy to
use US Army troops to protect
Meredith
Meredith went on to be a civil
rights activist, was shot while
leading a protest march, and
later served on the staff of
Sen. Jesse Helms



1897 – 1973
Public Safety Commissioner in
Birmingham, AL, known for his
use of brutal police tactics to
enforce segregation and who
allowed the attacks on the
Freedom Riders
In 1963, Connor was running
for mayor when Dr. King
decided to stage protests in
Birmingham designed to
provoke a violent response
and discredit Connor’s
campaign



King was arrested and held in
solitary confinement
King used the time to
compose a letter which
explained his rationale for
using non-violent protest even
when faced with brutally
violent tactics by his
opponents
After King was released,
Connor ordered police to use
clubs, dogs, and fire-hoses on
King’s supporters, all of which
was shown on national
television to a stunned
American audience



1919 – 1998
June 1963: Alabama
Governor blocked the
admission of black students
at the Univ. of Alabama,
provoking President
Kennedy to call on
Congress to enact a new
civil rights bill
Wallace later went on to
run for President 4 times,
backing away from his
segregationist stance and
was shot and paralyzed
while campaigning in 1972




Sept. 15, 1963
Birmingham, AL
Members of the KKK
bombed a black church
which was frequently
used as a meeting place
for civil rights leaders,
killing 4 girls aged 11 to
14
No one was convicted of
the crime until 1977



"I have a dream that one day this
nation will rise up and live out the
true meaning of its creed: 'We
hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created
equal.'"
"I have a dream that my four little
children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be
judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their
character.“
“And when this happens … we
will be able to join hands and
sing in the words of the old Negro
spiritual: Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free
at last!”

President Kennedy was
assassinated before he
could gain passage of
the new civil rights bill,
but President Johnson, a
Southerner, committed
himself to pushing the
bill through in
Kennedy’s memory and
had the connections in
Congress to make it
happen.




1965
Dr. King led a demonstration
in Selma, AL to register black
voters
White law enforcement
attacked, beat, and arrested
over 2000 demonstrators
In protest, King organized a
march from Selma to
Montgomery, but the
marchers were attacked and
beaten by law officers while
kneeling in prayer – an attack
now known as “Bloody
Sunday” – all on national
television


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Poor living conditions for
blacks in American urban
areas led to high racial
tensions
In August 1965, a race riot
broke out in the Watts
neighborhood of Los
Angeles over police
brutality, killing 34 and
doing over $45 million in
damage before order was
restored by 14,000 National
Guardsmen
Violent riots would follow
in other major US cities
over the next 3 years


President Johnson
appointed a commission
to study the causes for
urban unrest and to make
recommendations for
preventing future riots
The commission
concluded that white
racism was to blame and
recommended the
creation of inner-city jobs
and the construction of
affordable inner-city
housing to ease economic
burdens on urban blacks

Dr. King also attempted
to enact economic
reforms in poor, black
urban areas by moving
into an urban slum in
Chicago in 1965, but
met with little success
other than empty
promises about
improving the slums
from city officials
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

Founded in 1930
Sometimes called the
“Black Muslims,” they
preached black
nationalism and that
blacks should separate
themselves from white
society and its trappings
Attempted to create their
own separate society
within a society
April 4, 1968
King was shot while
standing on the balcony
at the hotel he was
staying at in Memphis,
TN
 The killing triggered
race riots across the
United States
 Escaped convict James
Earl Ray was convicted
of the murder, but
controversy surrounds
his conviction


 Banned
discrimination in the
sale, rental, or
financing of housing
due to race, ethnicity,
or color
 Passed in response to
many blacks being
forced to live in poorquality slums due to
no other housing
being open to them
 Many
Southern
school systems had
been deliberately
slow to integrate
 In 1971, the Supreme
Court ordered that
students be bused,
districts redrawn, and
racial quotas be used
to fully integrate
schools
Founded in 1971
 African-American
members of the US
Congress created the
CBC in order to work
together on matters of
interest to black
Americans and other
minority groups,
especially economic
development, health
care, and crime


Policy which requires
any companies or
institutions which do
business with or receive
funding from the federal
government to actively
recruit minorities and
often sets required
quotas for how many
minorities must be
hired for jobs or
admitted to colleges


1978
Supreme Court handed
down a complex ruling
regarding affirmative
action, stating that racial
quotas are not
permissible, but that
considering race when
accepting students for
admission is OK if the
college is attempting to
achieve racial diversity
 As
the number of
Hispanic-Americans
swelled during the
1960s, so did their
political power and
their desire to be
treated as equals in
employment,
housing, and
education



Political party founded in
1969 by Jose Angel
Gutierrez
Created to mobilize
Mexican-American
voters in support of job
training programs and
greater access to loans
Demonstrated the
increased political
strength of Latino voters


Passed in response to
protests by Hispanic
students who claimed
that they were at a
disadvantage to Englishspeaking students when
they were required to
learn in English before
they had truly mastered
the language
Created ESL programs to
accommodate nonEnglish speakers


One of America’s smallest
minority groups, making
up less than 1% of the
population
Suffered from high
unemployment, extremely
low standard-of-living,
very little education, and a
life-expectancy 7 years
shorter than other
American citizens
1961
67 Native American
groups met in Chicago
to discuss ways to
address the problems
faced by their peoples
 Called for the
government to create
policies which would
allow for more
economic
development on
reservations





1968
Guaranteed Native
Americans who lived on
reservations full
protection under the Bill
of Rights while also
recognizing the
legitimacy of tribal laws
Native Americans no
longer had to choose
whether to exercise their
constitutional rights or
their tribal rights – they
could have both
 Militant
group
created in the mid1960s to take a more
aggressive stance
against the US
government in
standing up for
better treatment of
Native Americans
and better living
conditions on
reservations

AIM engaged in acts of
occupation as staged
media events, such as
seizing Alcatraz Island
for 19 months in 1969
and taking the replica of
the Mayflower at
Plymouth Rock,
occupying Mt. Rushmore,
and seizing the
Washington DC offices of
the Bureau of Indian
Affairs in 1971

AIM’s protests became
more serious and more
violent in 1973 when AIM
members seized the
town of Wounded Knee,
site of the famous Indian
massacre, and engaged
in a standoff with the FBI
for 70 days that left 2 AIM
members dead in
intermittent fighting
 1975
 Congress
agreed to
increase funds for
education and allow
more local control
over federal aid
programs
 Allowed more Native
Americans to assume
decision-making
roles within the BIA

Native American
groups were given
more autonomy over
reservation lands, such
as being allowed to
impose taxes and to
open casinos to create
revenues which
allowed for improved
standards-of-living for
Native Americans
Introduced just before
WWII, by 1957, over 40
million televisions
were in use in the US
 TV quickly became
Americans’ primary
means of receiving
information, whether it
was the news, the latest
fads and fashions, or
what new products
were available for
purchase




Facing the stiff
competition from
television, Hollywood
was forced to adapt
Introduced 3-D movies in
the 1952
Introduced Cinemascope
(a special projection
system which required a
large, curved screen) to
make the movie-going
experience “grander”
than watching TV



Bill Haley and the Comets
are usually credited with
having the first #1 rock hit
with “Rock Around the
Clock” in 1955
Rock-n-roll originated as a
fusion of AfricanAmerican based Rhythm
& Blues with jazz and
country music influences
The sound caught on with
teens, but was widely
considered “immoral” and
too sexual by the older
generation


Group of writers who
criticized the
meaningless conformity
of American life in the
1950s and encouraged
young people to
experience new artistic
forms, and engage ain
experimentation with
drugs and sex
Needless to say, they
were considered
shocking and obscene to
mainstream American
society
1926 – 1997
Poet; most famous work
is Howl
 Shocked readers with
his depictions of
homosexual acts and
drug use
 Ginsberg was
essentially everything
that mainstream
America was not – a
bisexual, communist
Buddhist who endorsed
the use of LSD and
marijuana

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


1922 – 1969
Wrote on a wide variety of
topics, often spontaneously
deciding what his next topic
would be
A writer of many personal
contradictions – he was
Catholic and anti-communist,
but freely used marijuana and
supported homosexuals and
other marginalized minorities
Most famous work is the novel
On the Road
Died from complications from
alcoholism


Upper and middle class
white youth began to
abandon the mores of their
parents’ generation and
create a new society, one
that promoted the virtues of
“sex, drugs, and rock and
roll”
Sometimes these “hippies”
lived and worked together in
classless communes,
pursuing the ideals of
tolerance and cooperation,
or pursuing new religious
experiences such as
Unification (a messianic cult)
or Hare Krishna (an offshoot
of Hinduism)
 August
1969
 Music festival, held in
upstate New York
 Over 500,000 hippies
attended this
celebration of love,
peace, and rock and
roll that was the
pinnacle of the
counter-culture
movement
 1941
– Present
 Singer-songwriter
who began to move
rock away from the
innocent sounds of
the 1950s and early
’60s to a format used
to promote real social
change and to protest
injustices


Organization run by college
students which, in its 1962
Port Huron Statement, urged
ordinary Americans to stop
idly standing by while the
nation was run by wealthy
elites and powerful
corporations who oppressed
the poor and other minority
groups
Carried out protests against
the Vietnam War, racism,
poverty, and a variety of
other social injustices



In 1964, the Univ. of California
moved to restrict students’
rights to distribute literature
and recruit for political causes
on campus
Students responded by
boycotting classes and
staging a sit-in at the school’s
administration building,
prompting police to arrest
over 700 protesters
Eventually, the Supreme Court
upheld the students’ right to
free speech on campus


The Women’s Liberation
Movement began to take
shape in the 1960s as women
became resentful of
discriminatory practices that
denied them access to equal
education, credit, job
opportunities, and pay
Women were also upset over
their lack of a political voice
at a time when many other
oppressed groups, such as
African Americans, were
suddenly experiencing
wide-spread gains



Oral contraceptives first
became available to American
women in 1960, giving them
the power over whether or not
they had children for the first
time
Griswold v Connecticut: in
1965 the Supreme Court
ruled that the states could not
restrict married couples
access to contraception
Eisenstadt v Baird : in 1972 the
Court ruled that single women
had the same right to
contraception as married
ones
 Established
in 1961
by President
Kennedy and
headed by former
First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt to consider
women’s rights and
roles within the
workplace and
propose new
legislation on such to
the government
 Banned
discriminatory
practice of paying
women less than a
man for the same
work, unless the
employer pays on
basis of seniority,
merit, or
productivity



1921 – 2006
Her book The Feminine
Mystique, published in
1963, is often called the
beginning of the modern
feminist movement
The book focused on the
dissatisfaction felt by
American women with
their roles as housewives
and mothers and led to
creation of women’s
groups around the nation




NOW was founded in
1966 by Betty Friedan
Pushed for greater
educational
opportunities for women
Pushed for women to be
more included in
professions such as law,
politics, engineering, and
medicine
Targeted unfair practice
of paying women less
than men engaged in the
same types of work



1934 – Present
Feminist journalist who
helped found and edit
Ms., a magazine
designed especially for
the women’s liberation
movement
In many ways, Steinem
became the national
spokesperson for the
movement due to her
willingness to do
televised interviews and
speeches
As the feminist
movement spread,
women began to
express their rejection
of male-dominated
culture by rejecting the
use of bras, high-heeled
shoes, and other
“beauty” products
 They also became
outspoken in their
distaste for
objectification of
women in beauty
pageants, advertising,
and pornography

 Passed
by Congress
in 1972, but failed to
be ratified by the
states
 Designed to protect
women from
discrimination, but
many feared that if
passed it would cost
women many of their
traditional rights such
as alimony in divorce




1924 – Present
Political activist and
outspoken opponent to
the feminist movement
Organized the STOP-ERA
movement (Stop Taking
Our Privileges) which is
credited with defeating
ratification of the ERA
Argued that ERA would
lead to women being
drafted into the military,
unisex public bathrooms,
and loss of marital perks




1973
Supreme Court ruled that
women have the right to
decide whether or not to
terminate a pregnancy
because of a
constitutionally implied
right to privacy
States can not restrict
abortion during the first
trimester, but can create
limits during the 2nd and 3rd
trimesters of pregnancy
Case remains extremely
controversial to this day
 Throughout
the
1960s, Americans
became increasingly
concerned with the
damage being done
to the environment
through pollution,
logging, and manmade alterations to
natural habitats, such
as dams, mines, etc.



1907 – 1964
Marine biologist who wrote
the book Silent Spring in
1962 which warned of the
dangers posed by overuse
of pesticides by farmers –
mainly that the pesticides
also killed creatures like
birds and fish which ate the
insects
The book sold well despite
opposition by chemical
companies, and led many
Americans to reconsider
their impact on the
environment


Created in 1970 to set
and enforce pollution
standards
Tasked with enforcing
the Clean Air Act of 1970,
Clean Water Act of 1972,
and Endangered Species
Act of 1973, all of which
are aimed at limiting the
human impact on the
environment and wildlife



Neighborhood in Niagara
Falls, NY which discovered in
the mid-1970s that the
unusually high levels of
health problems
experienced by residents
was caused by the fact that
the entire area was built on
top of a toxic waste dump
The government relocated
over 800 families and spent
millions on clean-up
Led to tighter restrictions on
development in areas which
had been used for storage of
toxic waste



The US began to experience
serious energy crises in the
late 1960s and 1970s due to
oil shortages
At the same time, antipollution laws made burning
coal to generate electricity
more expensive
Many began to see nuclear
power as the answer to the
nation’s energy needs,
despite the possible danger
of catastrophic radioactive
accidents in the event of a
malfunction




March 28, 1979
One of the nuclear reactors at
the Three-Mile Island power
plant in Pennsylvania suffered
a core meltdown, releasing
radioactive gas into the
surrounding environment
Although there were no
deaths directly contributed to
the accident, cancer and
infant mortality rates in the
areas downwind showed
marked increases in the years
immediately following
Since the accident, use of
nuclear power has declined in
the US
First electronic computer,
called ENIAC (Electronic
Numerical Integrator and
Computer) was developed for
the US Army in 1946
 By the end of the 1950s,
computers were being used
by business and industry to
handle large volumes of data
• The personal home computer
would not arrive until the
mid-1970s and would not be
common-place until the mid1990s with the arrival of the
internet
