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