The Stormy Sixties (1960-1968)

Kennedy's "New Frontier" Spirit(Brittan)

• John F. Kennedy inaugurated on January 20, 1961
• Appointed Robert Kennedy as attorney general. 
• Had one of the youngest cabinets ever
• "New Frontier" policy
• Peace Corps and army of idealistic and youthful volunteers to bring American Skills to underdeveloped countires

The New Frontier at Home(Bryce)

 -Southern Democrats and Republicans didn't like the New Frontier plan.

-Kennedy campaigned on revitalizing the economy after the recession of the Eisenhower years.

-He curbed infaltion and in 1962 made a noninflationary wage agreement with the steel industry. Steel industry still continued to inflate its prices, so Kennedy became extremely upset and caused them to lower their prices.

-Kennedy was against to stimulate the econonmy by cutting taxes and putting more money into the hands of the citizens.

-Kennedy proposed a multibillion-dollar plan where an American would be able to land on the moon.

Rumblings in Europe (Chad)

• President Kennedy met with Soviet leader Khrushchev at Vienna in June 1961.  After making numerous threats, the Soviets finally acted.  In August 1961, the Soviets began to construct the Berlin Wall, which was designed to stop the large population drain from East Germany to West Germany through Berlin.

• Western Europe was prospering after the Marshall Plan aid and the growth of the Common Market, the free-trade area later called the European Union.  Focusing on Western Europe, Kennedy passed the Trade Expansion Act in 1962, authorizing tariff cuts of up to 50% to promote trade with Common Market countries.
• American policymakers were dedicated to an economically and militarily united "Atlantic Community" with the United States the dominant partner. 
• President of France, Charles de Gaulle, was suspicious of American intentions in Europe and in 1963, vetoed British application for Common Market membership, fearing that the British "special relationship" with the United States would allow the U.S. to indirectly control European affairs.

Foreign Flare-ups and "Flexible Response"(Jordan)

• During the Eisenhower administration America paid money to France to keep the French Indo-China region, but lost Laos to Communism,
• Laos had a Civil War which ended with a shakey peace agreement.
• Secretary McNamara had pushed a strategy called the "Flexible Response" which had an array of military options pending on the situation.

Stepping into the Vietnam Quagmire(Bryce)

 -"Flexible response" led to a build up of forces in Vietnam.

-1961, Kennedy increased the number of military adivisers in South Vietnam to help protect Diem from the communists.

-Nov. 1963 U.S. got fed up with Diem and encouraged a successful coup and that killed Diem.

Cuban Confrontations (Laura)

•  Alliance for Progress (similar to Marshall Plan in Europe)

  • created by JFK in 1961
  • goal = to help close the gap between rich and poor
  • little positive results
• Bay of Pigs - April 17, 1961
  •  CIA plan to overthrow Fidel Castro
  • Cuban anti-Communist exiles attacked Cuba - forced to surrender
  • pushed Cuba farther towards Soviet Union
• Cuba Missile Crisis - Oct. 1962
  • US spy planes take pictures of Soviet missles in Cuba
  • JFK orders naval quarantine of Cuba and immediate removal of missiles
  • On Oct. 28 Khrushchev agreed to pull missiles of out Cuba
    • US removed missiles in Turkey

The Struggle for Civil Rights (Carlson)

• Kennedy needed support of southern legislatures to pass anything
• After anti-freedom rider riot, Kennedy administration reluctantly got involved with Civil Rights movement
• "March on Washington"
• Kennedy tried finding many solutions; little was accomplished before his death

The LBJ Brand on the Presidency(Carlson)

• Took over after JFK's death in 1963
• "Johnson Treatment"-persuade/pressure you into something smoothly
• Civil Rights Bill of 1964- banned discrimination in most private facilities

                         -strenghtened government power of desegregation

                         -created Equal Employment Oppurtunity Commission

• Domestic policy- "Great Society"- took New Dealish economic and welfare measures

Johnson Battles Goldwater in 1964 (Dan)

• Johnson nominated as Democrat. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona is nominated as Republican.
• During his campaign, Goldwater attacked the federal income tax, civil rights legislation, the Social Security system and most notably the Great Society.
• On the other hand, Johnson stated the Goldwater would lead the U.S. into WWIII. The Tonkin Gulf incident was were U.S. Navy had been working alongside S. Vietnam to fight N. Vietnam. Two U.S. destroyers were allegedly fired upon by N. Vietnam and researchers say that N. Vietnam was provoked by the U.S. Johnson later claimed that the Navy was shooting at whales.
• Johnson wanted limited action in the war, whereas Goldwater wanted more. With this, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed.
• When election time came, Johnson dominated Goldwater 486 to 52 in the electoral vote.
• The American public praised Johnson for his fondness of Kennedy's legacy, his faith in the Great Society and fear of Goldwater.

the Great Society Congress

•  The Great Society was a bunch of social reforms out in the presidency of LBJ.
• Office of Economic Oppurtunity- given $2 billion to escalate the war on poverty
• Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development created, which Robert C. Weaver first black cabinet secretary in history.
• LBJ Big Four legislative achievements:

                    1) aid education- aid was given to students not to schools

                    2) medicare and medicade were passed

                    3) immigration reform- quotas were abolished, doubled the # of immigrants allowed annually.

                    4) voting rights bill

Battling for Black Rights(Hill)

Voting Rights Act of 1965 gave blacks right to vote

problems with ballots that still barred blacks from voting

-poll tax

-literacy tests

-intimidation and threats

24th amendment abolished poll taxes

in 1964 a black and two white civil rights workers disappeared in MI but white juries refused to convict the persecuters

Martin Luther King JR. resumed voter registration campaign but were stopped by tear gas and were assaulted by state troopers in Selma

Johnson then quickly passed Voting Rights Act.

MAJOR STEP UP!

Black Power (Chad)

• Days after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, a bloody riot erupted in Watts, a black ghetto in Los Angeles.  Blacks were enraged by police brutality and burned and looted their own neighborhoods for a week. 

• The Watts explosion marked increasing militant confrontation in the black struggle. 
• Malcolm X (Malcolm Little) deepened the division among black leaders.  He was first inspired by the militant clack nationalists in the Nation of Islam.  He rallied black separatism and disapproved of the "blue-eyed white devils."  In 1965, he was shot and killed by a rival Nation of Islam.
• The violence or threat of violence increased as the Black Panther party emerged, openly carrying weapons in the streets of Oakland, California.  Just as the civil rights movement had achieved its greatest legal and political triumphs, more riots erupted.  Black unemployment was nearly double than for whites.
• On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed by a sniper in Memphis, Tennessee.  Black voter registration eventually increased, and by the late 1960s, several hundred blacks held elected office in the Old South.

Combating Communism in Two Hemispheres (Brittany)

• Discontented Dominicans rose in revolt against their military government in April 1965
• Johnson immediatly dispatched American troops, some 25,000, to restore order
• Veit Cong guerrillas attacked an American air base in South Vietnam in February 1965
• Johnson ordered retaliatory bombing raids against military installations in North Vietnam and for the 1st time ordered attacking U.S. troops to land
• Johnson kept ordering more troops over to Vietnam and by 1968 he had poured over a half a million troops into Southeast Asia and the annual bill was exceeding $30 billion

Vietnam Vexations(Brittan)

• Charles de Gaulle ordered NATO off French soil in 1966
• Isreal stunned the Soviet-backed Egyptians in Six-Day war in June 1967
• Israel now occupied new territories in the Sinai peninsula, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank of Jordan River, including Jerusalem
• Israeli victory brought some 1 million Palestinian Arabs under direct Israeli control wile 350,000 Palestinian refugees fled to Jordan
• Israelis withdrew from the Sinai, moved Jewish settlers into West Bank
• Yasir Arafat headed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
• Draft caused many yount ment to flee to Canada while others burned their draft cards.
• marchers filled streets in New York and San Francisco saying "Hell no, we won't go" and "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"

Vietnam Topples Johnson

The Presidential Sweepstakes of 1968(Jordan)

• LBJ said he would not run for another term.  The Democratic party then nominated Huber H. Humphrey.  The Republicans then nominated Richard M. Nixon.
• Nixon won 301 electoral votes and Humphery won 191.  Wallace an Independent won 46 electoral votes.
• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/ElectoralCollege1968-Large.png/400px-ElectoralCollege1968-Large.png

The Obituary of Lyndon Johnson(Hillary)

 NO president since Lincoln had done more for civil rights

AND none had shown more compassion for the poor, blacks, and the ill-educated

-spent tons of money on Vietnam and Great Society programs

-inflation blocked prosperity and war on poverty was defeated

-upset both "hawks" and "doves" by his war decisions "damned if he did and damned if he did not"

The Cultural Upheaval of the 1960s(Brittan)

• Struggles agianst racism, poverty, and war in Vietnam were momentous
• Newly negative attitude towards authority took place
• Rebeling against authority is historical in america
• Seen in religion, poetry such as "Beat" poets like Allen Ginsberg and novelists like Jack Kerouac.
• Movies like Revel Without a Cause showed restlessness of young people
• Mahy turned to mind-bending drugs
• Patriotism became a dirty word
• "Sexual revolution" of the 1960's was often exaggerated
• Birthcontrol made unwanted pregnacies easy to avoid and appetites easier to satisfy
• Students for a Democratice Society or SDS wpawned an undergroud terrorist group called the weathermen.