Cultural and Legal Change in the Vietnam Era

1. Cultural and Legal Change in the Vietnam Era

2. Cultural and Legal Change in the Vietnam Era • Counter Culture • Warren and Burger Courts • Supreme Court Decisions

3. Why the Counterculture? • The 1960s saw a widening of the generation gap.  Young Americans were not satisfied with the values of their parents • They were disillusioned by the discovery that American society was not free of racism, sexism, imperialism, and oppression • The baby-boom generation was now graduating from high school and moving into college • Many students regarded the war as American imperialism.  Others thought that it was a civil war that should be left for the Vietnamese to fight alone • 3 P’s – youthful population bulge, protest against racism and the Vietnam War, and the apparent permanence of prosperity

4. Counterculture • Many Americans in the 1960s began to look for alternatives to traditional patterns of living.  Young people, in particular, adopted values that ran counter to, or against, the mainstream culture.  This is called the counterculture • People’s appearances reflected the social changes that were taking place.  Hippies – people who were “hip,” or aware of the latest styles - wanted to look different.  They wore blue jeans with bell bottoms, T-shirts, and had long hair, sideburns, and beards

5. The Sexual Revolution • Partly caused by the introduction of the birth-control pill • Led to more open discussion of sexual subjects.  Newspapers, magazines, and books published articles that might not have been printed a few years earlier • More and more people simply lived together as couples, without getting married • Increased worries in the 1980s about sexually transmitted disease like genital herpes and AIDS slowed, but didn’t reverse, the sexual revolution

6. Drugs • Many members of the counterculture turned to psychedelic drugs.  These powerful chemicals cause the brain to behave abnormally.  Users of these drugs experience hallucinations and other altered perceptions of reality • Marijuana and LSD use became widespread • The possibility of death from an overdose or from an accident while under the influence of drugs became much greater than before

7. Churches Decline • The weekly churchgoing rate declined from 48% in the late 1950s, to 41% in the early 1970s • Protestant denominations suffered the most • Educated Americans became more secular, while the less educated became more religious • Catholics changed some of their traditions: • Stopped Latin language • Meatless Fridays were done away with • No Gregorian chants

8. Free Speech Movement • In September 1964 at the University of California at Berkeley, students became angry when the administration refused to allow them to distribute antiwar leaflets outside the main campus.  However, the students distributed the leaflets anyhow • The university decided to hold student leaders responsible for their actions and filed charges against them • In December 1964, thousands of students protested.  700 were arrested • The agitation at Berkeley spread to other campuses across the U.S.

9. Woodstock Music and Art Fair • In New York in 1969, 400,000 members of the counterculture came together • For 4 days, people sat and listened to bands playing.  Police avoided confrontations at the Woodstock festival by choosing not to enforce drug laws • The people who attended recalled the event with something of a sense of awe for the fellowship they experienced there

10. End of the Counterculture? • Ended because: • They had grown older • Had children of their own • Civil rights movement ended • The war ended • Economic stagnation began • Needed a job in the system

11. Cultural and Legal Change in the Vietnam Era • Counter Culture • Warren and Burger Courts • Supreme Court Decisions

12. Three Branches (Review) • Executive – President • Legislative – Congress • Judicial – Supreme Court and Lesser Courts

13. Power to Make the Courts (Review) • "The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” -U.S. Constitution

14. Judiciary Act (Review) • Judiciary Act of 1789 and 1801 • Organized federal judiciary • Supreme Court = Six Members • John Jay became first Chief Justice • Established federal courts in each state • Authorized the Supreme Court to review state court decisions

15. Federal Judiciary Today (Review)

16. Supreme Court (Review) • Supreme Court consists of 9 supreme court justices. • The head of the Supreme Court is the Chief Justice

17. Appointment to the Supreme Court (Review) • Presidents have the constitutional power to nominate Supreme Court Justices. • Senate approves Supreme Court nominees • Members of the Supreme Court are appointed for life.

18. Duty of the Supreme Court (Review) • Marbury v. Madison: • Established Judicial Review. The Role of the judicial branch to evaluate the constitutionality of legislative and executive branches.

19. Warren and Burger Courts • Chief Justice Earl Warren • Appointed by Eisenhower • Served 1953-1969

20. Warren and Burger Courts • Chief Justice Earl Warren • Appointed by Eisenhower • Served 1953-1969 • Chief Justice Warren E. Burger • Appointed Nixon • Served 1969-1986

21. Cultural and Legal Change in the Vietnam Era • Counter Culture • Warren and Burger Courts • Supreme Court Decisions

22. Religion

23. Engel v. Vitale (1962) • Held that a prayer created by the New York State Board of Regents was unconstitutional • Even though this prayer was “non-denominational,” the Court held that state-sponsored prayer of any type went against the First Amendment’s separation of church and State

24. School District of Abington Township v. Schempp (1963) • Over whether a State pass a law requiring each public school day to begin with readings from the Bible • The Supreme Court said no because public schools cannot sponsor religious exercises

25. Due Process

26. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) • Supreme Court held that all persons charged with a felony (later expanded to other charges) must be provided legal counsel

27. Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) • Supreme Court held that the police must honor a person’s request to have an attorney present during interrogation

28. Miranda v. Arizona (1966) • The Supreme Court provided an arrested person with the right to: • Remain silent • Be told that whatever he said could be used against him • To be represented by an attorney • To have a lawyer even if he could not afford one • To one phone call to obtain a lawyer

29. Furman v. Georgia (1972) • The Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional unless fairly applied (judges and juries were given too much discretion in deciding the death penalty) • To apply the death penalty fairly, there must first be a trial to settle the issue of guilt or innocence and a second hearing to decide whether the circumstances justify a sentence of death

30. Civil Rights

31. Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. (1964) • A motel operator refused to serve an African American customer • The Supreme Court upheld the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in schools, places of work, voting sites, public accommodations, and public areas

32. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) • The Supreme Court struck down a State law that prohibited the use of contraceptives, even among married couples • The Court proclaimed a “right of privacy.”

33. Roe v. Wade • Many states outlawed or severely restricted access to abortion.  • In 1973, the Supreme Court legalized abortion.  The justices based their decision on a constitutional right to personal privacy (in the 14th Amendment) and struck down state regulation of abortion in the first three months of pregnancy