KENNEDY TO NIXON 1960-1975

Election of 1960: • John F. Kennedy (Democrat) beats Richard Nixon (Republican) • First televised debate proved to be the turning point • Kennedy becomes the first Catholic President

1961: Berlin Wall goes up • West Germany and West Berlin occupied by the Allies

(democratic) • East Germany and East Berlin occupied by Soviet Union

(Communist) • USSR builds a wall along the East/West Berlin border to

keep East Germans from escaping into West Berlin • The wall becomes a symbol of the Cold War

• Kennedy goes to Berlin to show US support for democracy and West Berlin

LATIN AMERICA

• need to bring reform, stability and economic development to combat communism

• Alliance for Progress - provided $20 million in aid to Latin America

• 1959 Fidel Castro overthrows the Cuban government and becomes a dictator CUBA On January 1, 1959, a young Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro drove his guerilla army into Havana and overthrew General Fulgencio Batista, the nation’s American-backed president. For the next two years, officials at the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attempted to push Castro from power.

In April 1961, the CIA launched what its leaders believed would be the definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. This became known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

However, the invasion did not go well: The invaders were badly outnumbered by Castro’s troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting.

Cuba aligned with the USSR, and tensions increased between the two superpowers. The Soviet Union, under Nikita Khrushchev, sent nuclear weapons to Cuba to protect it.

Kennedy orders a quarantine on Cuba. Then US Attorney General Robert Kennedy meets Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. They came to the following deal:

▪ US would remove missiles from Greece and Turkey. ▪ And promise never to invade Cuba. ▪ In exchange for the nuclear missile withdrawal from Cuba under UN

inspection. ▪ WWIII is avoided!

Domestic Affairs

• Kennedy’s program to “get the country moving again” o increased benefits for the elderly, federal money for education, urban renewal

• Peace Corps: sent 1,000s of American volunteers to developing nations to help and train

locals

• VISTA: volunteers serve to help American problem areas ex. Indian reservations, inner cities, Appalachia

November 22, 1963: o JFK is assassinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald o Oswald is killed by Jack Ruby before he could be put on trial o Warren Commission - concluded that Oswald acted alone

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT CONTINUES

1960: Greensboro Sit-in Black and white students stage a sit-in at a lunch counter in NC. Shows Civil disobedience and inspires others

1961: Freedom Riders Black and white students together ride buses through the south to protest racial segregation. Buses and riders attacked, set on fire

March on Washington: 1963

• 200,000 Blacks and Whites gather in Washington D.C. calling for equality and civil rights legislation

• Martin Luther King delivers his “I Have A Dream” speech • Kennedy did not push hard for civil rights legislation

o did not want to alienate southern voters o believed it was up to local government to bring change

Johnson’s Presidency • Johnson became a champion of racial equality

o “Civil righters are going to have to wear sneakers to keep up with me” - LBJ

Civil Rights Act of 1964: • outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin • Ended segregation in public places

Voting Rights Act of 1965:

• Protected voting rights for blacks in state and federal elections

JOHNSON’S GREAT SOCIETY • Johnson’s program to “declare war on poverty” and promote equality in opportunity

for the poor o by 1960, 25% of Americans lived below the poverty line

• Johnson inspired by FDR’s New Deal

• Job Corps: job training for the poor

• Head Start: program to teach the poor the skills needed for elementary school • extended welfare benefits • funds for low-income public housing (240,000 housing units built for the poor) • food stamps for welfare families • Medicare: hospital insurance for those over 65

• Medicaid: medical benefits for the poor • Elementary and Secondary Education Act: money for schools in poor areas • Higher Education Act: financial aid to college students • Immigration Act of 1965: ended the national origin system of admitting immigrants

o 290,000 immigrants admitted per year based on their skills and political asylum

Limitations:

o Tried to accomplish too many things too quickly o Problems were too big and programs cost too much money o Vietnam War consumes the government

Social Unrest: Consistent discrimination radicalized some black activists, who became skeptical of nonviolent, integrationist tactics and began to adopt a more extremist approach.

Black Radicalism • some Black leaders were unwilling to practice nonviolent

protest and call for immediate change • Black Muslims: led by Elijah Muhammad

o “What fool could love his enemy? o urged Blacks to rebel against White rule o called for a separate part of the US for Blacks to live in

Malcolm X: • urged Blacks to use violence against Whites • “No sane black man really wants integration! No sane white

man really wants integration. . . .We reject segregation! We want separation

• Assassinated in 1965

Black Power Movement • fed up with oppression and violence against Blacks, young

Black militants call for immediate equality and resistance to Whites

• led by Stokely Carmichael

• the raised black gloved fist becomes their symbol

Race riots erupt in Watts, Los Angeles in 1965 Martin Luther King is murdered on April 4, 1968 by James Earl Ray: led to riots throughout US cities

Black Panther Party: Black extremists who supported violent resistance to police

Student Radicalism • college students become activists against racism and bigotry • protests break out across college campuses

• students shut down UC Berkeley campus for weeks in 1964

Hippies: young people who retreated from the modern world and take refuge in drugs, peace, communes and mystical religions

WOMEN’S MOVEMENT Betty Freidan, The Feminine Mystique (1963)

• challenges the traditional role of women • calls for women to fulfill their potential

NATIONAL WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION (NOW) • called for equal rights - changes in the divorce laws and legalization of abortion • promoted gender neutral language (ex. chairperson, postal worker) • promoted a failed attempt at an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Roe v. Wade (1973): Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion

American Indian Movement • radical Indian group who demanded the return of ancestral lands and a revival of traditional

Indian culture • 1973: Indian group seize Wounded Knee, SD calling for a separate Indian nation • Indian Self-Determination Act (1975): gave tribes greater control over education and law

enforcement on reservations Mexican-American (Chicano) Movement • Cesar Chavez - organized migrant Mexican farm workers into a union • Hispanics become the fastest growing minority group

THE VIETNAM WAR

Background: ▪ 1954: Vietnam divided at the 17th parallel as French troops withdraw ▪ 1956: scheduled elections are cancelled in South Vietnam ▪ US sends “advisors” under Eisenhower and Kennedy ▪ Soviets and China give aid to Vietcong: communist guerillas led by Ho Chi Minh

DOMINO THEORY: If one country falls to communism, surrounding nations will also fall

1964: North Vietnamese gunboats “fire” on a US destroyed in the Gulf of Tonkin GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION

▪ Congress voted to give President Johnson (Commander in Chief) the power to take all necessary measures to fight communism.

o Unlimited war powers o Lyndon B. Johnson escalates war o US finds itself in a war it never declared

HAWKS Supported the war effort and the domino theory. Johnson sees it as a moral obligation to help South Vietnamese

DOVES Civil war between North and South Vietnam – US should not be involved. Objected to massive bombing, against killing of civilians and use of napalm/chemical warfare

Election of 1968: Johnson decides not to run

Growing Anti-War Sentiment

1965 180,000 American forces in Vietnam

May 1965 Draft card burning: During a protest at UC Berkeley, draft cards are burned for the first time

1967 500,000 American forces in Vietnam

Oct 1967 75,000 protest against the Vietnam War in Washington D.C.

1968 221 college protests against the Vietnam War

Feb 1968 60% of Americans disapprove of Johnson’s handling of the war

August 1968

Democratic National Convention: 10,000 anti-war protesters clash with policemen and National Guardsmen. The violence is caught on TV.

November 1969

My Lai Massacre: Americans first hear of the My Lai Massacre, which occurred in March 1968, when US troops brutally attacked 300 - 500 Vietnamese, mostly women and children. Knowledge of the incident sparked public outrage.

Richard Nixon wins the Election of 1968 ▪ 1969 announces Vietnamization: plan to slowly withdraw American troops and build up South Vietnam’s military ▪ 1974: Nixon orders attacks in Cambodia, escalating the war.

▪ Antiwar outrage grows

▪ KENT STATE SHOOTING END OF VIETNAM PARIS PEACE ACCORDS (1973): the United States and North Vietnam signed a peace treaty formally bringing the Vietnam War to a conclusion.

▪ North Vietnam keeps control over large areas of South Vietnam

▪ US POWs are released ▪ US troops pulled out

1975: North Vietnam takes control over all of Vietnam Vietnam goes Communist

RESULTS

▪ 57,000 Americans died, 300,000 Americans wounded, $150 billion to fight the war ▪ 15% were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after the war ▪ many veterans faced hostility from other US citizens when they returned home ▪ American prestige takes a hit – we lose our first war ▪ American becomes “gun shy” in foreign affairs – “not another Vietnam”

Other important effects:

▪ 26TH AMENDMENT (1971): lowers voting age to 18

▪ War Powers Act (1973): places limits on the President’s powers to fight an undeclared war. President must notify Congress within 48 hours of sending troops and troops can be withdrawn by Congress after 60 days

▪ Pentagon Papers: Leaked top secret documents that showed US government misled the

public about progress in Vietnam o Led to distrust in President and Government

NIXON AND THE COLD WAR Détente: easing of Cold War tensions

▪ 1972: Nixon visits China and agrees to recognize the communist government, open trade and accept China into the United Nations

▪ Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT): US and Soviet Union agree to limit the number of nuclear weapons

NIXON AND THE MIDDLE EAST

▪ 1973: US supports Israel in its war against Egypt and Syria ▪ Oil Crisis:

o Arab nations cut off oil supply to the United States in retaliation o Oil and gas prices skyrocket as do prices of oil-dependent products o OPEC formed in 1974 to control oil supply and prices o Result: Americans turn to smaller, more fuel efficient Japanese cars

WATERGATE SCANDAL ▪ June 17, 1972 - 5 men involved in the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) were

caught breaking into Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate apartment complex o caught going through files and installing eavesdropping devices o President Nixon denies any involvement by his staff

“I can say categorically that no one on the White House staff, no one in this Administration presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident”

-Pres. Richard Nixon, June 22, 1972

▪ James McCord, one of the men arrested, wrote a letter to the judge stating high Republican officials had known about the break-in and perjury was committed at the trial

The Cover-up ▪ Nixon finds out about the break-in after the

burglars are arrested and orders a cover-up ▪ Nixon wins the election of 1972 as details of the

cover-up are not yet known ▪ a congressional committee is set up to

investigate the break-in

The Investigation ▪ Nixon continually denies any knowledge of and

involvement in the cover-up ▪ Nixon refuses to turn over documents and

secret tape recordings, claiming “executive privilege”

▪ televised proceedings of the investigation turn the public against Nixon

▪ United States v. Nixon (1973) - Supreme Court orders Nixon to turn over all the tapes

Impeachment proceedings: obstruction of justice, misuses of the powers of office, failing to obey subpoenas (the abuse of presidential power)

Nixon resigns in disgrace on August 9, 1974 SIGNIFICANCE

▪ checks and balances work – the President is not above the law

▪ Americans lose faith in the White House and elected officials

▪ Gerald Ford pardons Nixon – need to move on and put scandal behind us