Chapter 21 Section 2

1. Chapter 21 Section 2 • The sixties were a time of change, counter culture and political movements. • Many young people involved themselves in trying to make America a better place for all people, no matter what gender or race they were. • The sixties began with the election of America's youngest president, John F. Kennedy. • During his period in office people stepped out and said how they felt. • They thought that with Kennedy leading America, anything was possible. 

2. Chapter 21 Section 2 • By 1963 another great leader began to draw attention to another important issue, the treatment of African Americans. • Martin Luther King, Jr. had such composure and such dignity that hearing him publicly speak was not only a privilege but an honor. • King inspired people and made them believe that they could make a difference. • King believed in nonviolent protest against segregation and racial discrimination. • Many people, blacks and whites alike, joined his March on Washington in 1963, and others later helped change the way Americans treated one another.

3. Chapter 21 Section 2 • The assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963 shocked the country. • Violence in the south was still in the headlines as a black church in Alabama was blown up with killing four children inside. • In 1964 President Johnson declared "War on Poverty" and promised Americans a "Great Society." • The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law.  • Rioting in Watts in 1965 nearly destroyed Los Angeles. 

4. Chapter 21 Section 2 • Americans increasingly grew opposed to the war in Vietnam. • The war had burst into the country's living rooms on the nightly news like an open floodgate and many in the country were horrified at what they saw. • 1968 was a year of great tragedy, both Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy were assassinated. • The Democratic National Convention was the scene of horrible violence. • There were some bright moments, man orbited the earth for the first time in Apollo 8 in 1968 and at the close of the decade America entered a new frontier as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon for the first time.

5. Chapter 21 Section 2 • Race to the Moon-* At the beginning of the 20th century, the idea that humans might travel to the Moon was generally regarded as a wild fantasy. • However, after World War I a number of pioneering researchers began to develop new rocket technologies that opened the possibility of sending people into space. • In World War II, advanced rocket technologies were applied to the development of long-range weapons, most significantly the German "V-2" missile. • The V-2 was a true "wonder weapon", something that seemed like sheer science fiction at the time, and though it was not very effective as a weapon it opened doors to great possibilities in both war and peace.

6. Chapter 21 Section 2 • With the invention of the atomic bomb in 1945, visionaries could see that the long-range missile might have the potential to upset the strategic balance of power. • With the onset of the Cold War in the 1950s and the development of improved missile technologies, that potential became only too vivid in both East and West, and the superpowers began a race to develop nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles. • Military leadership also realized that the new rockets could be used to place reconnaissance satellites into orbit that could spy on adversaries, or orbit satellites to support military communications. • The rocket pioneers had always been interested in sending humans into space, and proved shrewd in using military agendas to promote their own agenda.

7. Chapter 21 Section 2 • In late 1957, the Soviet Union placed the first artificial Earth satellite, "Sputnik 1", into orbit, almost inadvertently setting off a massive superpower competition in space exploration, resulting in the American "Apollo" program that put men on the Moon in 1969.

8. Chapter 21 Section 2 • Kennedy shot on November 22, 1963 during a parade in which he was in an open air limousine • During next 4 days public found out that police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24 year old ex marine, and charged him with the murder • Oswald had been dishonorably discharged from the military and had lived in the Soviet Union and supported Castro in Cuba. • People watched Oswald being transported to jail when Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner, broke in and shot Oswald. • Kennedy’s funeral was televised and attended my hundreds of thousands

9. Chapter 21 Section 2 • The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 29, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22. • Its 888-page final report was presented to President Johnson on September 24, 1964, and made public three days later. It concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the killing of Kennedy a nd the wounding of Texas Governor John Connally. • The Commission's findings have since proven controversial and been both challenged and reaffirmed. • The Commission took its unofficial name—the Warren Commission—from its chairman, Chief Justice Earl Warren.

10. 1.) Give the best description of the Sixties? a.) They were a time of little change b.) They were of time where young people focused more on conservatism c.) It was a time of change and the counter culture 2.) What president was elected at the beginning of the sixties? a.) John F. Kennedy b.) Gerald Ford c.) Dwight D. Eisenhower 3.) Name the most famous civil rights activist of the 1960’s? a.) Jesse Jackson b.) Booker T. Washington c.) Martin Luther King Jr. 4.) What type of protesting did King believe in? a.) Non-Violent b.) Violent c.) He did not believe in protesting 5.) What year was Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated? a.) 1968 b.) 1963 c.) 1973 6.) Who else was assassinated the same year as King? a.) John F. Kennedy b.) Robert Kennedy c.) Elvis 7.) Name one major war of the sixties? a.) WWII b.) The Korean War c.) The Vietnam War 8.) What year did the Americans land on the moon? a.) 1969 b.) 1959 c.) 1979 9.) When was the atomic bomb invented? a.) 1945 b.) 1955 c.) 1965 10.) What year was John F. Kennedy assassinated? a.) 1963 b.) 1973 c.) 1969 Chapter 21 Section 2 Quiz