the 1960’s. bay of pigs invasion april 17, 1961 an invasion of cuba by an anti-castro cuban exile...

The 1960’s

Bay of Pigs Invasion• April 17, 1961 an invasion of Cuba by an anti-

Castro Cuban exile force of about two thousand men.

• Organized and equipped by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and supported by the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, the exiled Cubans landed at the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of Cuba.

• They hoped to spark a general revolt against Cuba's Communist government.

• Crushed by Fidel Castro's forces, most of the invaders were killed or captured.

• The failure was a political setback for President John F. Kennedy and the United States in Latin America and drove Castro even more firmly into the Soviet camp.

Cuban Missile Crisis• October 22-November 20, 1962, a confrontation

between the United States and the Soviet Union regarding Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's placement of missiles in Cuba.

• The United States found evidence of missile bases capable of launching nuclear attacks on American cities and protested to the United Nations.

• President John F. Kennedy ordered a quarantine, or blockade of military equipment being shipped to Cuba and persuaded the Soviet Union to remove all offensive weapons from the island.

• This confrontation was the most crucial conflict between the two superpowers during the cold war and is considered to have been the closest brush with nuclear warfare in the 1960s.

Kennedy Assassination

Single Bullet Theory

JFK assassinationAs Jacqueline Kennedy reacts to her husband being fatally shot in the head, their open-air limousine races to nearby Parkland Hospital. The president died less than an hour later. CBS television news anchor Walter Cronkite cried as he told the nation the news. (National Archives)

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Civil Rights Movement

Dogs turned on Birmingham demonstratorsThe ferocious attempts by local authorities in Birmingham, Alabama, led by Eugene "Bull" Connor, to repel nonviolent black protesters using fire hoses (capable of 100 pounds of water pressure per square inch), electrically charged cattle prods, and police dogs were shown nightly on television. Tactics such as these made white supremacy an object of revulsion throughout most of the country and forced the Kennedy administration to intervene to end the crisis. (Wide World)


Little Rock--white student yelling at Elizabeth Eckford, September 4, 1957Elizabeth Eckford, age 15, one of the nine black students to desegregate Central High School, endures abuse on her way to school. Forty years later, the young white woman shouting insults asked for forgiveness. (Wide World)


Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycottA member of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP since 1943, and the organization's secretary, Rosa Parks had protested segregation by refusing to drink from fountains labeled "Colored Only" and by climbing stairs rather than using segregated elevators. Her act of protest against bus segregation inspired a whole black community to join her cause and sparked the massive nonviolent civil disobedience phase of the struggle against white supremacy. ((c) Bettmann/Corbis)


Drink Coca Cola--White Customers Only!

Signs like this were common in the South prior to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. (Library of Congress)


Sit-in--Jackson, Mississippi, May 28, 1963The sit-ins of 1960 initiated the student phase of the civil-rights movement. Across the south, young black activists challenged segregation by staging nonviolent demonstrations to demand access to public facilities. Their courage and commitment reinvigorated the movement, leading to still greater grass-roots activism. (World Wide)


President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act, 1964Surrounded by an illustrious group of civil rights leaders and members of Congress, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Standing behind the president is Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (Corbis-Bettmann)


Martin Luther King Jr.• Baptist minister and black civil rights leader. • King, who received a Ph.D. in divinity from Boston University,

returned south and led a successful bus boycott protesting segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.

• He founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957 to combat segregation and racism, following Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience.

• An eloquent and charismatic orator, he addressed over a quarter of a million supporters at the Lincoln Memorial with his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, D.C., in August 1963.

• King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. • Frequently arrested and the target of violence, he became the

subject of FBI investigations and harassment because of J. Edgar Hoover's conviction that he was a Communist and because of his stance against the Vietnam War.

• He called increasingly for help for the nation's poor and blacks, before assassin James Earl Ray shot and killed him April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee.

• In 1986 Congress established King's birthday, January 15, as a federal holiday, to be celebrated on the third Monday in January.

Martin Luther King, Jr. outside courthouse with wife, 1957When Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) and other African Americans, including twenty-three other ministers, provided support and leadership during the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott they were indicted by an all-white jury for violating an old law banning boycotts. In late March 1956 King was convicted and fined $500. A crowd of well-wishers cheered a smiling King (here with his wife, Coretta) outside the courthouse, where King proudly declared, "The protest goes on!" King's arrest and conviction made the bus boycott front-page news across America. (Corbis-Bettmann)


Malcolm X• Born Malcolm Little, the son of a Baptist minister who

followed the teachings of Marcus Garvey, he converted to Islam in 1952 while imprisoned for burglary and adopted the name Malcolm X, the X being symbolic of the slaves' stolen identity.

• He became a Muslim minister and spent a decade as a charismatic speaker on behalf of black separatism and black nationalism and pride.

• In 1963 Malcolm broke with the more militant wing of the movement and softened his black separatist views, forming a rival group, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU).

• In 1965, while giving a speech at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom, he was assassinated, allegedly by Black Muslims.

• His book The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), written in collaboration with Alex Haley, became a classic.

The Great Society - 1966• The term coined by President Lyndon B. Johnson to

characterize his domestic program. • Johnson believed government should be involved in

improving the quality of life for Americans and promised a "war on poverty."

• The program included Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA); a domestic peace corps; a Job Corps for school dropouts; and the Head Start program for preschool education for underprivileged children.

• Johnson also declared a war on crime and disease, and increased financial support for public education, urban renewal, job training programs, housing subsidies, and environmental initiatives.

• Medicare and Medicaid were two of the most enduring legacies of the Great Society, as well as three landmark Civil Rights Acts passed in 1964, 1965, and 1968.

– prohibited discrimination in voting, education, hiring and promotion of workers, and access to hotels, restaurants, theaters, and other public facilities

War on Poverty Johnson wanted to be remembered for his domestic programs, especially his effort to reduce poverty. During his presidency, Congress passed a variety of new programs, including Medicaid and Head Start, that targeted the 35 million Americans living below the poverty line. (Richard Wallmeyer/LBJ Library)


Johnson signing Medicare legislationPresident Johnson's Great Society greatly expanded the role of society in the lives of Americans through passage of civil rights, welfare, and education legislation. In this picture, President Johnson signs legislation establishing Medicare. His wife, Lady Bird, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey watch in the background. (Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library)


Voting Rights Act

• August 6, 1965• Law expanding the powers of the federal

government to eliminate discrimination in voting, especially against blacks.

• Supported and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the act authorized the U.S. attorney general to send federal examiners to register black voters in areas where discrimination existed.

• It also eliminated all literacy tests and prohibited the use of poll taxes.

Robert F. Kennedy• After running his brother John F. Kennedy's

successful senatorial and presidential campaigns, Bobby became U.S. attorney general (1961-64) and JFK's closest adviser.

• After his brother's death, he resigned to run for the Senate from New York in 1964.

• As a senator he became a leader of the liberal Democrats, speaking out against poverty and injustice.

• In 1968 he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president, running on an anti-Vietnam War platform.

• On the evening he won the California primary, June 6, 1968, he was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan following his victory speech.

Election of 1968

• With LBJ not seeking reelection it is left wide open.

• RFK is winning all Democratic primaries except Oregon– His Death sends Dem’s into tailspin– Chaos in Chicago– Republicans much more calm in Florida

• Nixon wins Republican Nomination• Humphrey just can’t catch up after earlier

chaos• Nixon wins presidential election

Violence at Democratic ConventionPhotographs and televised pictures of the Chicago police beating and gassing antiwar protesters and innocent bystanders at the Democratic convention in 1968 linked Democrats in the public mind with violence and mayhem. The scenes made Republican Richard Nixon a reassuring presence to those he would term "the silent majority." ((c) Bettmann/Corbis)

Violence at Democratic Convention


The Space Race1957

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite. "Sputnik" is the Russian word for "Traveler."1958

The United States launches its first satellite, Explorer I.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is formed in the United States. NASA is the federal agency devoted to exploring space.1959

The Soviet Union launches Luna 2. This is the first space probe to hit the moon.1961

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to orbit the Earth.

Alan Shepard, Jr. becomes the first American astronaut in space.

1962 John Glenn, Jr. becomes the first American

astronaut to orbit the Earth.1963

The first woman in space is Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.1968

The United States launches Apollo 8, the first manned space mission

to orbit the moon.1969

U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins make it to the moon. Armstrong is the first man to walk on the moon and was followed by Buzz Aldrin

1969 moon landingOn July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil A. Armstrong (shown above) and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin, Jr., plant an American flag on the moon, thus fulfilling President John F. Kennedy's pledge to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. (NASA)


the 1960’s. bay of pigs invasion april 17, 1961 an invasion of cuba by an anti-castro cuban exile...

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