Transcript Life in the 1960’s

Life in the 1960’s
An Era of Change
Lyndon Johnson: The Great
Society
• The country led by Johnson was
originally one of prosperity.
• However despite the new roads, malls
and booming,bustling place there were
many many poor people in 1960’s
America
• There were nearly 50 million poor people
but they were “well hidden” in the slums
of cities, rural areas, in the Deep South
and on Native America reservations.
• Thus, LBJ made the elimination of
poverty a major policy goal.
Johnson's Task
• Johnson had a large task
after the assassination of
JFK
• He had to show the
country that he could hold
them together
• LBJ's First Speech
• Days after the
assassination he said the
Congress, “John
Kennedy’s death
commands what his life
conveyed—that America
must move forward.”
• Johnson was a Texan at
heart.
• He was the
opposite of
Kennedy, talking
directly and
roughly at times
• He had a large
stature and he
found it difficult to
gain acceptance
from the nations
capital.
War on Poverty
• People often wonder
why LBJ was so
concerned with the
poor
• The truth is he had
known hard times as
a young man himself
• He was also a teacher
in a low income area
which furtherer his
understanding of
what it meant to
suffer in poverty
• He felt that a wealthy
government should
try to help with the of
it’s citizens in poverty
• Plans for an antipoverty program were
already in place when
Johnson took office
• He knew that he
would get strong
support for any plan
that would link him to
Kennedy.
More
• The news at the time
of Johnson's address
• Johnson's address
• In the speech
Johnson clearly
states how much
emphasis needs to be
placed on ending
poverty
• He also declares
“unconditional war on
poverty”
• By the summer of
1964 Johnson had
already convinced
Congress to pass the
Economic Opportunity
Act
• This created a wide
range of programs
aimed at creating jobs
and fighting poverty
• The Office of
Economic Opportunity
was to help create
this programs
More on Poverty
• Many of the new programs
were for the young people
living in inner cities
• The Neighborhood Youth
Corps provided work-study
programs to help the
underprivileged young
men and women to earn a
high school diploma or
college degree
• The Job Corps tried to
help young unemployed
people to find a job.
• Then there was VISTA
(Volunteers for Service to
America)
• This was a
domestic Peace
Corps to help
young people with
a community mind
to work in poor
neighborhoods
The Election of 1964
• Johnson was able to
make a lot of changes
very quickly.
• This was a surprise to
many Americans
• Johnson had to
prepare to run again
in 1964 against
Republican Barry
Goldwater
• Goldwater was from
Arizona and was known
for being a conservative
• Goldwater was; however,
to conservative for a
nation that was deeply
concerned about a
nuclear war
• Johnson won by a
landslide only losing 5
Southern states and
Arizona.
• He said, “For the first time
in my life I truly felt loved
by the American people.”
The Great Society
• Johnson began
working on the Great
Society he had
promised
• He was also able to
make huge strides
with Civil Rights
• He passed the Civil
Rights Act of 1964
• Johnson remarks
about signing the Civil
Rights Act of 1964
• What is the Civil
Rights Act of
1964?
• Parts of the Bill
• Johnson also
passed the Voting
Rights Act of 1965
• The Voting Rights
Act of 1965
The Great Society
• The Great Society
was Johnson’s vision
of the more perfect
and equitable society
the United States
could and should
become
• Johnson’s goals
directly reflected
what was going on in
the country at the
time: civil rights and
poverty
• Johnson wanted to
build a better society
for all, a society
“where leisure is a
welcome chance to
build and reflect. . .
Where the city of man
serves not only the
needs of the body and
the demands of
commerce but the
desire for beauty and
the hunger for
community. . .”
The Great Society
• Between 1965 and
1968 more than 60
programs were
passed
• Two of the most
important were
Medicare and
Medicaid
• Medicare was
especially important
as it was for the
elderly people
• In 1965 half of those
over 65 had no health
insurance
• Medicaid financed
health insurance for
those on welfare,
living below the
poverty line
• This led to
entitlements, which
meant that they were
entitled to certain
Americans. . Today
they have become a
permanent part of the
United States budget
The Great Society
• Education was also
important to Johnson who
had once been a teacher
• The Elementary and
Secondary Education Act
of 1965 granted millions
of dollars to public and
private schools for
textbooks, library
materials and special
education programs
• Also Project Head Start
began which was aimed at
improving the lives of
preschoolers
• It was aimed at those
who had never been
given a proper start in
education, those who
hadn’t even looked at
a book
• Upward Bound was
created to provide
college preparation
for low income
teenagers
• See page 858
The Great Society
• Johnson also created
the Department of
Housing and Urban
Development in 1965
• Robert Weaver was
the 1st secretary and
the first African
American to serve in
a cabinet
• “Model Cities” was a
program created to
give federal subsidies
to cities around the
nation.
• This supported a lot
of funds:
transportation, health
care, housing and
policing to name a
few
• About 8 billion dollars
was authorized for
affordable housing for
low and middle
income people
The Great Society
• The Immigration Reform
Act of 1965 also changed
America
• This act limited the
number of immigrants
admitted to the USA each
year: 170,000 from the
Eastern Hemisphere and
120,000 from the Western
• This allowed for new
people to come from all
over where as before
there was always
preference given to those
from Northern Europe
• The Great Society
programs touched
thousands if not
millions of lives
• There has been
some discussion
lately about
whether or not the
Great Society was
a success
• What do you think?
Some problems
• Some of the programs failed
• Some programs grew so quickly they
couldn’t be managed
• In cities and states some eligible groups
of people began to expect immediate and
life changing benefits
• There was a lack of funds, this was
especially true when Vietnam began
• However, it did start people asking
questions like how can the government
help it’s disadvantaged members?
Life in the 1960’s
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The sixties were the age of youth, as
70 million children from the post-war
baby boom became teenagers and
young adults. The movement away
from the conservative fifties
continued and eventually resulted in
revolutionary ways of thinking and
real change in the cultural fabric of
American life.
No longer content to be images of
the generation ahead of them, young
people wanted change. The
changes affected education, values,
lifestyles, laws, and entertainment.
Many of the revolutionary ideas
which began in the sixties are
continuing to evolve today.
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FACTS about this decade.
Population 177,830,000
Unemployment 3,852,000
National Debt 286.3 Billion
Average Salary $4,743
Teacher's Salary $5,174
Minimum Wage $1.00
Life Expectancy: Males 66.6
years, Females 73.1 years
• Auto deaths 21.3 per 100,000
• An estimated 850,000 "war
baby" freshmen enter college;
emergency living quarters are
set up in dorm lounges, hotels
and trailer camps
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More
• During the sixties, college
campuses became centers
of debate and scenes of
protest more than ever
before. Great numbers of
young adults, baby
boomers, reaching military
draft age (selective
service)and not yet voting
age (minimum voting age
did not become 18 until
1971), caused a struggle
which played out on many
campuses as the country
became more involved in
the Vietnam War
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John F. Kennedy’s midnight
speech at the Michigan Union
in 1962, in which he proposed
what would later become the
Peace Corps, proved to be a
catalyst for student
empowerment.
Students rallied behind the
idea, excited to do their part
to help the global community.
This enthusiasm spread to
concerns in the United
States, concerns that ranged
from local campus issues to
US foreign policy.
Protests
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Teach-Ins
In March of 1965 a group of
professors decided to cancel
class to protest the US
occupation of Vietnam.
The professors faced
hostility from both Governor
George Romney and
University President Harlan
Hatcher. In addition to
opposition from the
administration and state
government, not all faculty
agreed about striking. After a
series of meetings, however,
the majority of the faculty
agreed upon the strike
option.
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The teach-in on March 24 and
25 consisted of guest
speakers, seminars, and
films. Over 3,000 students
attended and 200 faculty
members showed their
support.
Although the teach-in was
momentarily disrupted by a
bomb scare, it proved
overwhelmingly successful.
Other schools across the
country started using teachins on their own campuses,
and at Michigan teach-ins
were subsequently held on a
wide range of topics such as
the environment, drugs, and
women's issues.
The War in Vietnam
• To stop the Communists in
North Vietnam from taking
over South Vietnam the
United States decided to
get involved.
• The war was largely a
secret until 1965 when
there was a troop surge to
try to put an end to the
problem
• Drafts were begun and
college campuses like the
University of Michigan
worked to create protests
and anti-war sentiment.
• What is a Draft?
• “During the sixties, college
campuses became centers
of debate and scenes of
protest more than ever
before. Great numbers of
young adults, baby
boomers, reaching military
draft age (selective
service)and not yet voting
age (minimum voting age
did not become 18 until
1971), caused a struggle
which played out on many
campuses as the country
became more involved in
Protest Continued
• Draft Classification
• During the Vietnam War, the
Selective Service Office of
the United States requested
that colleges and universities
rank their male students to
determine their eligibility for
the draft.
• This was a system used
during the Korean War, and
participation was not
mandatory. In fact, a formal
request was not made until
March 1966. Women’s grades
were not considered in the
ranking process.
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All freshmen were
automatically classified as
“1-A” until the completion of
their first year of study.
After that time, those
students in the lower half of
their class retained the 1-A
ranking, while those in the
upper half were reclassified
as 2-S, and therefore
received student deferments
from the draft.
Additionally the lower third of
the sophomore men and the
lower quarter of the junior
men retained the 1-A status.
War Protest Continued
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“In October 15, 1965, a group
including many University of
Michigan students staged a sit-in
at the Selective Service office in
Ann Arbor.
The protestors were arrested,
charged with trespassing, and
subsequently convicted.
Although they were given 15-20
day jail sentences and fines, the
university re-classified 14 of the
students as 1-A in apparent
retaliation for the sit-in.
While many appealed their
sentences, one student, Bill
Ayers, served his time and wrote
an account of his tenure in jail,
which was published in two
installments on January 7 and 9,
1968 in the Michigan Daily.
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A group of teacher from the
Department of Economics issued
a statement opposing the
student rankings, citing the
inflation of the importance of
grades and the discrepancies in
grading practices between
professors and departments as
two of the many reasons why
grades were an inappropriate
measure of a student's eligibility
for the draft.
These teachers proposed that no
grades be submitted for male
students until the university
ceased the rankings so that their
grades would not be used for
these purposes.”
Thousands of Draft Dodgers fled
to Canada to avoid being drafted
into the military to fight in
Vietnam.
Sit-ins
Draft Dodgers and more
• Some young men refused to be drafted and fled
to Canada to avoid the draft
• If they were found they were arrested for not
serving their country or the call for service
• There were also reports of soldiers in Vietnam
who showed their disloyalty to the army by
shooting their officers rather than obeying
orders.
• This was largely blamed on LBJ along with the
failures of the war thus he decided not to run for
re-election in 1968.
• Robert Kennedy then decided that he would.
Assassinations
• Robert Kennedy planned
to campaign in California
because it was such an
important state, key to
winning an election.
• Kennedy had served as
Attorney General under
his brothers
administration and was
also a Senator
• As a Senator he looked to
relieve poverty through
legislation.
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Like his brother he was also
devoted to human rights
improvement around the
world and traveled often to
give speeches throwing his
support towards this in
different countries.
Kennedy was also for ending
the war in Vietnam.
He had originally supported
the Johnson administration in
it’s efforts.
However, Johnson continued
to bomb North Vietnam and
he was receiving little help
from the Southern
Vietnamese.
Kennedy decided to break
with the Johnson
Administration in 1966.
More
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Kennedy said, "Are we like
the God of the Old Testament
that we can decide, in
Washington, D.C., what
cities, what towns, what
hamlets in Vietnam are going
to be destroyed? ... Do we
have to accept that? ... I do
not think we have to. I think
we can do something about
it."
Kennedy was beloved and
received an immense amount
of support when he
announced his candidacy for
President on March 18th,
1968.
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He was able to win important
primaries in Nebraska and
Indiana before traveling to
California. He seemed to
speak to people worldwide.
Unfortunately, RFK was shot
on June 5th, 1968 in the
Ambassador Hotel moments
after announcing his victory
in the state primary by Sirhan
Sirhan who was a Palestinian
immigrant.
He died June 6th, 1968.
RFK assassination
Martin Luther King
• Martin Luther King was a leading person in the Civil
Rights Movement
• He was famous for his organized peaceful protests.
• People everywhere loved him and respected him for
bringing the issue of race to the forefront of the
government
• Sadly, he was assassinated by James Earl Ray at Lorraine
Motel in Memphis Tennessee while standing on a balcony
of the 2nd floor on April 4th, 1968, almost 2 months to the
day before RFK was killed.
• Abraham, Martin and John
Fads and more!!!
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The 1960's began with crew cuts on
men and bouffant hairstyleson
women.
Men's casual shirts were often plaid
and buttoned down the front, while
knee-length dresses were required
wear for women in most public
places.
By mid-decade, miniskirts or hot
pants, often worn with go-go boots,
were revealing legs, body wear was
revealing curves, and women's hair
was either very short or long and
lanky.
Men's hair became longer and wider,
with beards and moustaches.
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Men's wear changed: Bright colors,
double-breasted sports jackets, polyester
pants suits with Nehru jackets, and
turtlenecks were in vogue. By the end of
the decade, ties, when worn, were up to
5" wide, patterned even when worn with
stripes.
Women wore peasant skirts or granny
dresses and chunky shoes.
Unisex dressing was popular, featuring
bell bottomed jeans, love beads, and
embellished t-shirts.
Clothing was as likely to be purchased at
surplus stores as boutiques.
Blacks of both genders wore their hair in
an afro
The Styles of the 60’s
Music
• In 1960, Elvis returned
to the music scene
from the US Army,
joining the other white
male vocalists at the
top of the charts;
Frankie Vallie: Frankie
Valli and the Four
Seasons
• America was ready
to change!!!
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The Tamla Motown Record Company came
on the scene, specializing in black rhythm and
blues, aided in the emergence of female
groups such as Gladys Knight and the Pips: I
Heard it through the grapevine
Martha and the Vandellas: Heatwave
James Brown: I feel good
Jimi Hendrix: All along the watchtower
TheTemptations: My Girl
Bob Dylan helped bring about a folk music
revival: Like a Rolling Stone
The Beach Boys began recording music that
appealed to high schoolers: I Get Around
The Beatles from England, burst into popularity
with innovative rock music that appealed to all
ages: I want to hold your hand
The Righteous Brothers were a popular white
duo who used African American styling to
create a distinctive sound: Unchained Melody
Acid and Psychedelic Rock
• Psychedelic Rock
was started based
on the need of the
culture to attempt
to recreate the
mind altering
experiences of
psychedelic drugs
like LSD
• Jefferson Airplane:
The White Rabbit
• Acid Rock was Acid
rock is a form of
psychedelic rock in
which there are long
instrumental solos
and very few lyrics.
• In some songs music
is improvised and
there are no lyrics.
• The Doors: Light My
Fire
Works Cited
• A Decade of
Dissent: Student
Protests at the
University of
Michigan in the
1960s.
http://bentley.umic
h.edu/exhibits/diss
ent/warresearch.p
hp. November 2nd,
2009.
• Robert F. Kennedy
Memorial.
http://www.rfkmem
orial.org/lifevision/
biography/
• November 3rd,
2009.