Promises and Turmoil: The 1960S
Download
Report
Transcript Promises and Turmoil: The 1960S
HIST 202 - HESEN
Best and worst times in
history
Postwar economy peaked
in 1960s
Racial strife, Vietnam,
radicalism tore country
apart
U.S. learned its limits in
East Asia and at home
Election of 1960
Republicans – Richard
Nixon
Democrats – John F.
Kennedy
Results – Kennedy won
by 100,000 votes
The New Frontier
Called aid to education
Federal support for health
care
Urban renewal
Civil rights
Mostly were struck down in
Congress
Most were passed under
Johnson
Bay of Pigs Invasion
(1961)
Fidel Castro – Cuba
Central Intelligence
Agency
Anti-Castro followers
Kennedy denied the
incident
Berlin Wall (1961)
Called to meet with
Nikita Khrushchev in
Vienna
Demanded U.S. troops
pulled out of Berlin
Soviets built wall
separating East and West
Berlin
1963 – JFK – “Ich bin ein
Berliner”
Cuban Missile Crisis
(1962)
Intel – Soviet missiles in
Cuba
ICBMs could reach U.S. in
minutes
U.S. naval blockade – 13
days
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty –
no more testing of nukes
Flexible response
Proactive rather than
reactive
Rely heavily on
intelligence from CIA
Use of Special Forces
(Green Berets)
RETALIATE ONLY IF
NECESSARY!
November 22, 1963
Dallas, TX
Two bullets critically
injured JFK (throat and
head)
Lee Harvey Oswald
Warren Commission –
Chief Justice Earl Warren
Conspiracies abound!
Johnson becomes
president after JFK
Johnson wanted:
Civil Rights Act – 1964
Outlawed major forms of
discrimination against
racial, ethnic, national and
religious minorities, and
also women
Voter’s Rights Act – 1965
outlawed discriminatory
voting practices
Cut income taxes
Democrats –
LBJ/Hubert Humphrey
Republicans – Barry
Goldwater
Extreme conservatism
Hawkish qualities
1964 commercial
Medicare/Medicaid
Elementary and
Secondary Education
Act
Cut quota laws on
immigration
Department of
Transportation
Increased funding for
public education and
housing
1964--Riots in Harlem
and BedfordStuyvesant, New York
City
1965--Riots in the
Watts section of Los
Angeles. Malcolm X
killed in New York
(Mujahid Abdul Halim)
1968--Martin Luther
King, Jr. killed on April
4th (James Earl Ray);
Robert Kennedy killed
on June 5th (SirhanSirhan)
Race riots broke out
around the country.
Early stages:
Eisenhower
Kennedy – “domino
theory”
Sent “advisors” to
Vietnam
By 1963 – 15,000 troops
in Vietnam
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Gulf of Tonkin - 1965
N. Vietnamese gunboats
Resolution gave LBJ
power to take “all
necessary measures” in
Vietnam
Operation Rolling
Thunder - 1965
USAF bombing attacks
1965 – 184,000 troops in
Vietnam
1967 – 480,000
troops/16,000 dead
Gen. Westmoreland –
“light at the end of the
tunnel”
1968
Tet Offensive
Massive invasion on U.S.
N. Vietnamese attacked
U.S. positions in S.
Vietnam
Attacks seen on TV
LBJ doesn’t run for
reelection
Election of 1968
Democratic
convention in Chicago
Herbert Humphrey
George McGovern
Antiwar demonstration
Students for a
Democratic Society
(SDS)
Richard Daley’s
response
Richard Nixon
Won election
Pledged for “victory
with honor” in Vietnam