The 60’s

Rock N’ Roll

The Election of 1960

• The Era of Television Politics

• Campaign focused on the economy & the Cold War.

Kennedy

• Believed in a Missile Gap = The U.S. was behind the Soviets.

Nixon Believed

• The U.S. Was on the Right Track

John F. Kennedy’s Obstacles

• Young

• Catholic

• Wealthy

• Inexperienced

• Dad, Joseph Kennedy

Solution

• Money = Campaign• Catholic= Promise to do what is

best for the country• Dad – Use his connections + the

large family campaigned for him• Youth = energy & new ideas

Kennedy vs. Nixon

Sick with the Flu Tan & Healthy

Kennedy won by a small %

• Camelot

• “Ask not what your

Country can do for you,

but what you can do for

Your country.”

The Kennedy Mystique

• Captured America’s Imagination

• Youth, charisma ,optimism for the future

• Glamorous wife

• Intelligent & Educated

• Extensive plans to modernize America

New Frontier Solutions

• Education

• Health Care for the Elderly

• Dept. of Urban Affairs

• Deficit Spending

More

• NASA

SPACE MAN N.A.S.A

For the Ladies……..

• Presidential Commission on the Status of Women –calling for federal action against gender discrimination *& equal pay

Warren Court Reforms

• Social Issues were a focus.

• The Supreme Court took an activist tone, helping shape national policy

• Civil Rights, freedom of the Press, separation of church & state, rights of the accused.

Due Process

• Required that the law not treat an individual unfairly, arbitrarily, or unreasonably.

Warren Court

• Was favored by some , but opposed by many.

• Had a major influence on our national policy.

• Reapportionment – moved political power to urban, liberal areas with “one man, one vote” policy of electoral voting.

Global Challenges

• Cold War – tried to curb communism & reduce the threat of nuclear war

Flexible Response

• buildup of conventional weapons & troops

Green Berets

• Special Forces =guerrilla warfare

Kennedy’s Successes• Alliance for Progress: improve relations

with Latin America Cooperative Aid projects

• Peace Corps – fight poverty, illiteracy in 3rd World Countries with American volunteers

• NASA – Space Race – the challenge for America to be the 1st to reach the moon

Crises of the Cold War

• Bay of Pigs: April 17, 1961

• Cuban exiles ( with American help( landed at Bay of Pigs to overthrow Fidel Castro.

Fiasco!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Americans did not get supplies in.

• Exiles are aged, out of shape soldiers

• Cubans did not rise up to help Exiles

• Disaster Struck & the revolution is an

embarrassment to JFK

• He looks weak.

Berlin Wall

• Nikita Khrushchev vs. Kennedy

Berlin Wall

Soviet leader built a wall through Berlin, stopping movement

between the Soviet side for 30 years.

Berlin Wall

• The Symbol of the Cold War

People try to escape

Involvement in Vietnam

• Kennedy begins to send in American “Advisors” and the first soldiers.

Cuban Missile Crises

• American spies discover that Soviet technicians & equipment had arrived in Cuba in the summer of 62

Military construction was in progress

Long Range Missiles

• “The Bomb”

Nuclear Holocaust was feared

• For 3 Long Days, The world was on the edge of a nuclear war as Soviet Ships continued to sail toward Cuba.

Show Down

• Who would blink First?

Resolution

• Kennedy agrees not to invade Cuba & remove missiles in Turkey.

Hot Line

• is Installed in Kremlin & the White House

Changes

• Treaties to ban testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere.

Result

• Khrushchev’s career is over. Next Soviet leader is less interested in reaching agreements with the West.

• Result = Massive Soviet arms buildup

The Death of a Hero

• November 22, 1963, JFK was shot twice while riding in a presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas.

• Lee Harvey Oswald, a Marxist, was accused of killing Kennedy.

Lee Harvey Oswald

• Was shot 2 days later & died by Jack Ruby

• Ruby was a nightclub owner , died of Cancer a short time later.

• It was suspected that Ruby killed Oswald to protect others involved in murdering the President.

Warren Commission

• Investigated the assassination of America’s President.

• The report left a few questions unanswered, but ruled that Oswald was the lone gunman.

• Conspiracy theories continue…. Castro, Soviets, Mafia, even LBJ?????

America Grieves

• The Funeral procession was televised & America Mourned the loss of their young President. Hope Died.

Lyndon Baines Johnson

Is sworn in as President on Air Force One

Johnson’s Presidency

• The Economy was suffering, ( 50 million poor)

• The Vietnam Conflict grows.

• LBJ spoke directly & roughly (cussed a lot)

• Had the ability ( & experience) to build consensus & build coalitions = success & powerful leaders in the Senate

The War on Poverty• Johnson’s plan to eliminate poverty,

illiteracy , crime, and other social problems.

• Office of Economic Opportunity – focused on finding jobs & fighting poverty

The Great Society

• Vision of a more perfect, equitable society

• Medicare (elderly) & Medicaid ( welfare)

• Head Start

• VISTA: Volunteers in Service to America

• HUD

• Immigration reform & limits

Legacy of the Great Society

• The impact was felt by all Americans & improved many lives.

• Some opposed the massive growth of federal funds and criticized the Great Society for intruding too much.

• Taxation & Budget Problems.

Civil Rights

MLK

Civil Rights Steps

• Sit Ins : Woolworth’s in Greensboro, N.C. in 1959

• SNCC: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

• Register Voters in the South

Freedom Riders

• Ride buses to Mississippi to insure that Interstate transportation systems were truly integrated.

Education

• James Meredith: 1962 U of Mississippi the Governor blocked his path. Kennedy sent in the Federal Marshals to escort him to class.

• Alabama Governor blocks admission for 2 black students.

• MLK is jailed several times. The non-violent protest continue.

I Have A Dream

• Dr. King leads 200,000 peaceful demonstrators of all races to Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.

Invention that Assists the Movement

• Americans see the violence

• They are forced to take a

Stand as the violence grows.

Civil Rights Act of 1964/65

• Kennedy began the process of stopping discrimination in public & work places & to end school segregation.

• Johnson pushed in through Congress.

Race Riots

• Prejudice Continues

• Riots in many American cities in the summers between 65 & 68.

• Watts burned for 6 days.

Black Power

• Turned away from the non-violent teachings

• Self Defense & live separately from Whites

• Stokely Carmichael, SNCC leader, believed that blacks should control the social, political, & economic direction of their struggle for equality.

Malcolm X

• Nation of Islam, known as the Black Muslims, believed that African Americans should separate themselves from whites and form their self-governing communities.

• Later he broke with the Nation of Islam, & believed an integrated society was possible.

• 3 members shot & killed him.

Black Panthers

• Militant African American leaders preaching “Black Power”, black nationalism, & economic self-sufficiency.

• The group believed that a revolution was necessary to gain equal rights.

Assassination of Dr. King

• Memphis, Tn. On April 4, 1968.

• Created a national mourning as well as riots in more than 100 cities.

• Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which contained a fair housing provision.

The Struggle for Voting Rights

• Black voters were often beaten, attacked, killed.

• Bombs exploded.• The March from Selma to Montgomery =

Bloody Sunday , Dr. King organized. The nation saw the violence (tv)as 200 State Troopers attacked the peaceful demonstrators.

Civil Rights Act of 1965

• Gave the Attorney General the right to send in federal examiners to register qualified voters,.

• 250,000 new African American voters.