1960s

1. 1960s Thanks for coming in…

2. Stormy Sixties? • Civil Rights revolution • Beginnings of the feminist revolution • Introduction of Youth Culture • Introduction of the Drug Culture • War not supported by the people • Brink of World War 3 • 3 Assassinations in one year • First man on the moon • Sexual revolution • Riots • Blackouts • Charles Manson murders

3. Background Info • Vietnam • Ho Chi Minh • Leader of the nationalists • Fighting against French colonization since 1919 (Pres. Wilson) • Divided at the 17th parallel • America supports France ‘54 • 1 billion a year • 80% of the funding for the war • Eisenhower did not want to intervene despite S.o.S Dulles and VP Nixon’s requests • Ngo Ding Diem • Western friendly leader • Saigon

4. Cuba • Fulgencio Batista • Invested in American capital • “enemy of Communism” • Corrupt, ruthless, inefficient

5. Cuba • Dr. Fidel Castro ‘59 • Help from Ernesto “Che” Guevera • Overthrew Cuban government • Released Cuba from “imperialistic slavery” by cutting off sugar • Economic and military satellite to Soviet Union • 90 miles off the coast

6. Two New States • 1959 • Alaska • Hawaii

7. 1960 Election • Richard Nixon • Vice president • Anti communist hero • Huge experience with Khruschev • Ruthless • Kennedy • US Senator 14 years • Young, handsome, and rich • Catholic • 36

8. Camelot • JFK Inaugural Address • Personified the glamour and vitality of the new administration • Youngest President ever elected • “Bobby” 35 year old attorney general • Robert McNamara – Defense Department • Peace Corps • “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” • Robert Frost • “Be more Irish than Harvard”

9. “Flexible Response” • Develop an array of military options that could be precisely matched to the gravity of the crisis at hand. • Green Berets in Vietnam • Lowered level for diplomacy to give way to warfare • Provided a mechanism for progressive (possibly endless) increase in force

10. Bay of Pigs • Alliance for Progress (Alianzapara el Progreso) • Close the gap between rich and poor • Leaflets • Eisenhower leftovers • CIA trained and armed invasion of Cuban exiles • Supported by American air power • April 17, 1961 • 1200 exiles invade • No direct American intervention • Later ransomed for pharmaceutical/humanitarian supplies • “victory has a hundred fathers, and defeat is an orphan”

11. Cuban Missile Crisis

12. Cuban Missile Crisis • October 22, 1962 • Spy planes revealed missile sites • “nuclear chicken,” “staring contest” • Ordered a naval quarantine and demanded immediate removal

13. Cuban Missile Crisis Fall out • October 28 • Khrushchev blinks • Agrees to remove missiles, if US missile sites in Turkey are removed too • Khrushchev was disgraced, and became an “unperson” in Russia • Increase in nuclear expansion • Détente • Moscow-Washington “hot-line” • relaxation

14. Tough times in Texas • November 22, 1963 • While riding in an open limousine in downtown Dallas, President Kennedy was shot in the brain by a concealed rifleman and died within seconds. • Lee Harvey Oswald • Was shot to death in front of the television cameras by Jack Ruby • Chief Justice Earl Warren • Leads a commission in sorting through the circumstances

15. Conspiracy • How it happened • Who would want him dead? • Magic bullet?

16. Civil Rights • De facto segregation – by custom or practice • Segregation of schools today • Expectations of giving up your seat on the bus • “White flight” • De jure segregation – by law • Jim Crow laws

18. New Leaders • Malcom X • Nation of Islam • Hajj • “Concerning nonviolence: it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks. It is legal and lawful to own a shotgun or a rifle. We believe in obeying the law… the time has come for the American Negro to fight back in self-defense whenever and wherever he is being unjustly and unlawfully attacked”

19. New Leaders • Black Panthers • Huey Newton & Bobby Seale • Self-sufficient • Communist leanings • Free daycare, medical centers, homeless aid, free student breakfasts

20. Civil Rights: Kerner Report • Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the commission on July 28, 1967, while rioting was still underway in Detroit, Michigan. • Los Angeles (Watts Riot of 1965), • Chicago (Division Street Riots of 1966), • Newark (1967 Newark riots). • Johnson asked for answers to three basic questions about the riots: • "What happened? Why did it happen? What can be done to prevent it from happening again and again?"

21. Civil Rights: Kerner Commission • Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders or Kerner Report was released on February 29, 1968 after seven months of investigation. • over two million Americans bought copies of the 426-page document. • Its finding was that the riots resulted from black frustration at lack of economic opportunity. • Martin Luther King Jr., pronounced the report a "physician's warning of approaching death, with a prescription for life."

22. Civil Rights: Kerner Report • The report berated federal and state governments for failed housing, education and social-service policies. The report also aimed some of its sharpest criticism at the mainstream media. • "The press has too long basked in a white world looking out of it, if at all, with white men's eyes and white perspective." • "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal." • Its results suggested that one main cause of urban violence was white racism and suggested that white America bore much of the responsibility for black rioting and rebellion. • Called to create new jobs, construct new housing, and put a stop to de facto segregation in order to wipe out the destructive ghetto environment. • Government programs to provide needed services, to hire more diverse and sensitive police forces and, most notably, to invest billions in housing programs aimed at breaking up residential segregation.

23. The History of Vietnam • 207 BCE: Earliest record political entity • 212 BCE: China takes control until 938 CE • 1853 CE: France takes over • 1920: Ho Chi Minh fails at kicking France out • 1940s: Japan becomes involved and France creates a separate southern government • 1946-54: France vs. Vietminh • France defeated • Geneva Accord: 17th parallel divides Republic of South Vietnam

24. US Involvement in Vietnam • 1950s – Over 1 billion dollars annually goes to France, supporting 2/3rds the cost of their war. • 1956 – Eisenhower sends 300 advisors to replace the French to assist the South Vietnamese government. (Green Berets) • 1959 – First two Americans killed in Vietnam • 1961 – Kennedy sends “support troops.” 16k troops by the end of his presidency.

25. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution • August, 1964: Gulf of Tonkin incident • US Navy aiding South versus the North Vietnamese in naval bombings and raids • 2 Destroyers fired upon • “For all I know, the Navy was shooting at whales out there.” • Blank Check • “like grandma’s nightshirt- it covered everything.”

26. American Escalation • 1965: 27k US troops • 1967: 525k US troops • 1969: 543k US troops

27. 1968 Tet Offensive • Vietnamese new year • Coordinated attack (80k troops attacking 100 different cities) • Viet Cong, Communist guerilla group infiltrated in South Vietnam, and North Vietnamese Army attacked the South from Hue to Saigon. • US casualties were extremely heavy. • War now being fought in democratic South Maybe things aren’t going as well as we thought.

28. Vietnamization • Announced by President Nixon; US troop withdrawal and turning over the war to the South Vietnamese. • ‘69 – starts • ‘70 – withdrawal continues, but bombing in Cambodia • ‘70 – Kent State University incident kills 4 • ‘72 – Nixon orders blockade of N. Vietnam harbors • ‘73 – US and North Vietnam sign armistice • ‘75 – April: final Americans leave S. Vietnam by helicopter as Communist complete the takeover of Saigon and rename the city, Ho Chi Minh City

29. War Powers Act • President is required to report to Congress about US troop intervention on foreign soil. • The act imposes a 60 day time limit to end the intervention before a declaration of war is required.

30. LBJ • Texas • Backslapping, and arm twisting • Crass • Egotistical and Vain • Civil Rights Acts of 1964 • Banned discrimination in public buildings • Equal opportunity commission • Title VII • Executive Order to take “affirmative action” against discrimination • War on Poverty (Appalachia)

31. Great Society Questions • According to Johnson, what constitutes a Great Society? • How would you define a Great Society? • What are the challenges that Johnson saw facing America in the 1960s? • In terms of cities? The countryside? Classrooms? • How do you see these challenges as being similar and/or different to those facing America today? • When in your lives have you faced these challenges? • Can the challenges that Johnson describes ever be truly fixed? • Should the government take an active role in addressing society’s ills? • How much government intervention is too much? • Were you surprised that Johnson addressed environmental issues? • How does this speech act as a cornerstone for the civil and equal rights movement that followed? For the development of healthcare and the war on poverty

32. LBJ • The Great Society • War on Poverty: forty programs that were intended to eliminate poverty by improving living conditions and enabling people to lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty. • Education: sixty separate bills that provided for new and better-equipped classrooms, minority scholarships, and low-interest student loans. • Medicare & Medicaid: guaranteed health care to every American over sixty-five and to low-income families. • The Environment: introduced measures to protect clean air and water. • National Endowment for the Arts and the Humanities: government funding for artists, writers and performers. • Head Start: program for four- and five-year-old children from low-income families.

33. Election of 1964 • Barry Goldwater • Arizona • Hardcore conservative • Attacked Great Society programs • “In your heart you know he’s right” • “In your guts you know he’s nuts” • “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” • “Moderation in the pursuit of justice is not virtue” • American field commanders be given discretionary authority to use tactical nuclear weapons