PROMISES AND TURMOIL: THE 1960S

HIST 202 - HESEN

The 1960s Best and worst times in

history Postwar economy

peaked in 1960s Racial strife, Vietnam,

radicalism tore country apart

U.S. learned its limits in East Asia and at home

John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier Election of 1960

Republicans – Richard Nixon

Democrats – John F. Kennedy

Results – Kennedy won by 100,000 votes

Domestic Policy The New Frontier

Called aid to education Federal support for

health care Urban renewal Civil rights Mostly were struck

down in Congress Most were passed

under Johnson

Foreign Affairs Bay of Pigs

Invasion (1961) Fidel Castro – Cuba Central Intelligence

Agency Anti-Castro followers Kennedy denied the

incident

Foreign Affairs Berlin Wall (1961)

Called to meet with Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna

Demanded U.S. troops pulled out of Berlin

Soviets built wall separating East and West Berlin

1963 – JFK – “Ich bin ein Berliner”

Foreign Affairs Cuban Missile Crisis

(1962) Intel – Soviet

missiles in Cuba ICBMs could reach

U.S. in minutes U.S. naval blockade

– 13 days Nuclear Test Ban

Treaty – no more testing of nukes

Foreign Affairs Flexible response

Proactive rather than reactive

Rely heavily on intelligence from CIA

Use of Special Forces (Green Berets)

RETALIATE ONLY IF NECESSARY!

Assassination in Dallas November 22,

1963 Dallas, TX Two bullets critically

injured JFK (throat and head)

Lee Harvey Oswald Warren Commission

– Chief Justice Earl Warren

Conspiracies abound!

Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Johnson becomes

president after JFK Johnson wanted:

Civil Rights Act – 1964 Outlawed major forms

of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and also women

Voter’s Rights Act – 1965 outlawed

discriminatory voting practices

Cut income taxes

Election of 1964 Democrats –

LBJ/Hubert Humphrey

Republicans – Barry Goldwater Extreme

conservatism Hawkish qualities 1964 commercial

Great Society Reforms Medicare/Medicaid Elementary and

Secondary Education Act

Cut quota laws on immigration

Department of Transportation

Increased funding for public education and housing

Long Hot Summers… 1964--Riots in Harlem

and Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York City

1965--Riots in the Watts section of Los Angeles. Malcolm X killed in New York (Mujahid Abdul Halim)

1968--Martin Luther King, Jr. killed on April 4th (James Earl Ray); Robert Kennedy killed on June 5th (Sirhan-Sirhan)

Race riots broke out around the country.

Vietnam Early stages:

Eisenhower Kennedy – “domino

theory” Sent “advisors” to

Vietnam By 1963 – 15,000

troops in Vietnam

Vietnam Tonkin Gulf

Resolution Gulf of Tonkin - 1965 N. Vietnamese

gunboats Resolution gave LBJ

power to take “all necessary measures” in Vietnam

Vietnam Operation Rolling

Thunder - 1965 USAF bombing

attacks 1965 – 184,000

troops in Vietnam 1967 – 480,000

troops/16,000 dead Gen. Westmoreland

– “light at the end of the tunnel”

Vietnam 1968

Tet Offensive Massive invasion on

U.S. N. Vietnamese

attacked U.S. positions in S. Vietnam

Attacks seen on TV LBJ doesn’t run for

reelection

Coming Apart at the Seams Election of 1968

Democratic convention in Chicago Herbert Humphrey George McGovern

Antiwar demonstration Students for a

Democratic Society (SDS)

Richard Daley’s response

Richard Nixon Won election Pledged for “victory

with honor” in Vietnam