Chapter 38Chapter 38

The Stormy Sixties1960-1968

JFKJFK

1961-1963= CamelotNew Frontier= foreign and domestic policySocial programs (Peace Corps), national defense, space program, tax cutsTo the moon by the end of the decade!In Europe, population pouring out of East Germany Berlin Wall August 1961Military strategy of Flexible Response

President John F. Kennedy and His Wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy and His Wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy

The Berlin Wall, 1961–1989The wall separating East and West Berlin stood for nearly thirty years as a hated symbol of the division of Europe into democratic and communist camps. East German soldiers stand guard as the concrete wall is constructed, November 20, 1961.

The Berlin Wall, 1961–1989The wall separating East and West Berlin stood for nearly thirty years as a hated symbol of the division of Europe into democratic and communist camps. East German soldiers stand guard as the concrete wall is constructed, November 20, 1961.

VietnamVietnamFlexible Response= ratcheting up US involvementUS backed South Vietnam (Diem) unpopular oppressive, corruptVietcong (National Liberation Front) with supplies from North Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh Trail attack South Vietnam withinKennedy sent “military advisors”Promoted coup of Diem in Nov. 1963

Vietnam and Southeast Asia, 1954–1975Vietnam and Southeast Asia, 1954–1975

BackboneThe United States supports South Vietnam.

BackboneThe United States supports South Vietnam.

CubaCubaBay of Pigs fiasco (April 1961) to overthrow Castro using Cuban exiles crushed without US air supportPushed Cuba more toward USSRCuban Missile Crisis (summer 1962)= nuclear weapons in Cuba from USSR

Naval quarantine of islandDeal made to remove arms

Limited Test Ban Treaty and “hotline”

Civil RightsCivil Rights

Freedom Rides= test segregated busing (continued on by SNCC)

Protection promised in Birmingham (beaten by police)= US marshals for protection

James Meredith in September 1962 attempted to integrate the University of Mississippi (barred by Governor Barnett)

Marshals sent in response to riots (2 dead)

Hosing Down Civil Rights Demonstrators, Birmingham, Alabama, 1963

Hosing Down Civil Rights Demonstrators, Birmingham, Alabama, 1963

Civil RightsCivil Rights

SCLC and King focused on Birmingham to desegregateApril 1963: King arrested after march (“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”)

Media attention because of brutalityVictory in Birmingham= proposed civil rights bill march on DC August 1963 to support (“I Have a Dream”)Voter registration drives in South

Martin Luther King, Jr., Addresses the March on Washington, August 1963

Martin Luther King, Jr., Addresses the March on Washington, August 1963

LBJLBJ

LBJ= New Dealer, balanced ticket in 1960Civil Rights Act of 1964Economic Opportunity Act 1964 $1 billion to antipoverty measuresWar on Poverty spurred by “The Other America” by Michael Harrington 1962The Great Society= domestic agenda (better quality of life- Era of Liberalism)

LBJ and VietnamLBJ and Vietnam

Gulf of Tonkin incident August 1964= US navy ship fired on by North VietnameseCongress responded with Tonkin Gulf Resolution= “blank check”Operation Rolling Thunder February 19651964 election: LBJ vs. Barry Goldwater (ultra conservative)Easy victory of LBJ but broke Solid South

The Great SocietyThe Great SocietyNew Deal-esque, some holdovers from New FrontierBig Four Reforms- social reform, racial justiceElementary and Secondary Education Act 1965, HeadstartMedicare, MedicaidImmigration and Nationality Act 1965

Voting RightsVoting Rights24th amendment= abolish poll tax, blacks still being denied right to vote in South!Voter registration drive during Freedom Summer 1964 (100,000 student volunteers)Selma Campaign with the SCLC and SNCC 1965 march to MontgomeryHoses, dogs, tear gas all seen on TVVoting Rights Act of 1965

Vietnam EscalationVietnam Escalation

Retaliatory bombing raids and troops entering Vietnam 1965 Americanized war quickly War Hawks= guard Vietnam or domino theory! escalationUS downfalls: no drive, not ready for jungle war, guerillas (VC)US advantages: military and technological power

Vietnam EscalationVietnam Escalation

Gradual change to opposition to war Living Room WarIncreasing casualties, napalm, Agent Orange, search and destroy missions, entire villages massacredGeneral William Westmoreland= “win the hearts and minds of the people”FBI- domestic spying on antiwar groups (Codename Cointelpro)

Vietnam EscalationVietnam Escalation

Tet Offensive January 30, 1968 (turning point)= surprise attack by VietcongCasualties in Saigon and HueAmerican confidence in a quick victory done credibility gap widenedMilitary leaders called for more troops! 50% of people felt war was a mistake

1968 Election1968 ElectionDemocratic opposition in primaries to LBJ from Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy- dovesMarch 1968: LBJ calls for end to escalation and was dropping out of electionHubert Humphrey= Democrats, Richard Nixon (law and order)= GOP, George C. Wallace= American Independent partyNixon= minority president

CountercultureCountercultureYouth movement in 1960’s had roots in the Beat movement of the 1950’s (Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac)Free Speech movement at UC Berkley 1964 morphed into counterculture (hippies)

“tune on in, drop out”Rebellion against tradition and establishment

Students for a Democratic Society (New Left)Sexual revolution in 1960’s- birth control, Dr. Alfred Kinsey, gay/lesbian movement