Title: Chapter 39 The Stormy Sixties
1Chapter 39 The Stormy Sixties Kennedys New
Frontier Spirit Kennedys advisors were young
bright rallied nation to seek the future
started Peace Corps The New Frontier at
Home Congress economy problematic JFK takes on
business aims for bold achievement (the
moon) Rumblings in Europe USSR walls off Berlin
in 1961 US moves toward better trade w/ Europe
France unfriendly to US Foreign Flare-ups and
Flexible Response Matched military options to
type of crisis US forces flexible for the
situation (Africa, Vietnam)
2- Stepping into the Vietnam Quagmire
- US orders more military advisors to area
encouraged coup against President Diem
(N.Vietnam) - Cuban Confrontations
- JFK inherits Eisenhower plan to support invasion
of Cuba by Cubans in America - failure _at_ Bay of Pigs Cuba chummy w/ USSR US
locates ready missile sites October, 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis JFK orders naval quarantine
of Cuba Soviet fleet on the way - USSR backs down JFK gambled won USSRs
Kruschev humiliated
3The Struggle for Civil Rights mighty march on
Washington (I have a dream!) comes after JFK
lacked political clout w/ Congress to proceed
violence put JFK into partnership w/ ML King The
Killing of Kennedy JFK killed by assassin on
November 22, 1963 VP JohnsonPOTUS The LBJ
Brand on the Presidency-President Johnson (LBJ) a
tall, tough Texan powerful Senator who knew
Congress Civil Rights Act passed in 1964
started war on poverty ? LBJs plan for America
called The Great Society Johnson Battles
Goldwater in 1964 LBJ bombs N. Vietnam after
(dubious) attack on US ships in Gulf of Tonkin
big victory in election
4The Great Society Congress Big 4 education,
medicare, immigration reform, new voting
rights Growing economy big Democratic majority
means Great Society legislation flows from
Congress Battling for Black Rights Brutal
killing of 1 black 2 white civil right workers
sparked call for action on voting rights civil
rights Black Power the era of nonviolent
demonstrations was over bloody riots in Watts
(LA) King killed Combating Communism in Two
Hemispheres US becoming more deeply involved in
Vietnam Latin American nations exploring the
value of Communism LBJs triumph in domestic
laws overshadowed
5Vietnam Vexations War in Vietnam appears
unwinnable American people question government
(credibility gap) Vietnam Topples Johnson N.
Vietnamese launch huge, surprise attack Jan,
1968 (TET Offensive) LBJ shocks nation in March,
68 announcing he would not run for another term
(challengers low polls) The Presidential
Sweepstakes of 1968 Democratic race exciting
Robert Kennedy gaining momentum until he was
murdered June, 1968
6Victory for Nixon Nixon wins a close election no
urban support no Congressional support Vietnam
not a big as predicted The Obituary of LBJ
great legislation overshadowed by growing doom of
Vietnam died 73 The Cultural Upheaval of the
1960s calm 50s replaced by turbulent
60s Negative attitude toward everything
experimentation in drugs relationships