UNIT XVI NOTES

Turmoil of the 1960’s

The Kennedy/Johnson Years (1960-1963)

Election of 1960

- Television image proved a powerful weapon in deciding this election– Defense spending was the key issue in this election

In President John Kennedy's inaugural address, he pledged that the United States would "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." In the same address, he also said, "Ask not what your country can do for you;, ask what you can do for your country."

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/mediaplay.php?id=8032&admin=35

• During the Cold War era, millions of Americans served in the military, defending freedom in wars and conflicts that were not always popular. Many were killed or wounded. As a result of their service, the United States and American ideals of democracy and freedom ultimately prevailed in the Cold War struggle with Soviet communism.

Nov 1963

- President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 in Dallas, Texas, in an event that shook the nation’s confidence and began a period of internal strife and divisiveness, especially spurred by divisions over U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Great Society

- President Johnson’s program that declared a “war on poverty”

Medicare

- a health insurance program for those who are 65 or older.

Medicaid

a health insurance program for those under 18 who can’t afford it

George Wallace

- 1968 presidential candidate who argued against busing of school children for racial integration, expanding government regulations and social programs, and soft treatment of rioters and demonstrators were destroying America.

Nixon was elected in 1968

- Supported nuclear energy to wean the U.S. off its dependency on foreign oil.

- Believed civil rights had gone too far.

- Moon landing happened during his presidency in 1969.

Change in America: The Civil Rights Movement

Desegregation of the armed forces

- President Harry Truman was responsible for helping to desegregate the entire armed forces.

Civil Disobedience

- a strategy for causing social change by means of non-violent resistance to unfair law.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

(NAACP) - this organization challenged

segregation in the courts.Thurgood Marshall –

of the NAACP Legal Defense Team later became the First African American Supreme Court Justice

member

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

- Supreme Court decision that segregated schools were unequal and must desegregate - Change in the “separate but

equal” interpretation of Plessy v. Ferguson to mandate integration of schools

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) - was a boycott of the bus system

in Montgomery, AL intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transportation system- Rosa Parks –

woman who helped start the boycott when she refused to give up her bus seat and was arrested.

was the

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956) - Considered the start of the

Civil Rights Movement

Little Rock Nine (1957) - was a group of students

who helped to desegregate at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. - Orval Faubus was the

Governor of Arkansas who led the white citizens who were against the Civil Rights movement.

-

Little Rock Nine (1957) - President Eisenhower

sent in federal troops to help the students go to class.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) (1957)

- It was founded it by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to improve voter registration. Martin Luther King Jr. –

believed in non-violent resistance and was a great speaker.

Greensboro Four (1960) - are North Carolina A&T

students who staged a sit-in at Woolworth’s dept store, where the lunch counter served only whites.- sit-in –

non-violent protest in which a group entered a public place and

refused to leave.

a strategy of

United Farm Workers of America (1962)

- formed to help Mexican-American workers get fair treatment. Caesar Chavez –

concerned with the discrimination toward Mexican Americans and founded the UFWA

was

March on Washington (1963) - was a demonstration in

Washington DC called by African American leaders to show support for President Kennedy’s Civil Rights Bill. There were over 200,000 people under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -

March on Washington (1963) - was a demonstration in

Washington DC called by African American leaders to show support for President Kennedy’s Civil Rights Bill. There were over 200,000 people under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -

March on Washington (1963) - Participants were

inspired by the “I have a dream” speech given by Martin Luther King.

March on Washington (1963)

March on Washington (1963) - Participants were inspired by the “I

have a dream” speech given by Martin Luther King.

- The march helped influence public opinion to support civil rights legislation.

- The march demonstrated the power of non-violent, mass protest.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 - was a federal law that barred

discrimination in employment and public facilities and prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and gender. - It also desegregated public accommodations.- President Lyndon B. Johnson played an

important role in the passage of the act.

Nixon was elected in 1968

- Supported nuclear energy to wean the U.S. off its dependency on foreign oil.

- Believed civil rights had gone too far.

- Moon landing happened during his presidency in 1969.

Voting Rights Act of 1965 - a federal law that put voter registration under government control.

- This act outlawed literacy tests.- Federal registrars were sent to the South to register voters.- The act resulted in an increase in African American voters.- President Lyndon B. Johnson also played an important role in the passage of

this act.

24th amendment (1964) - increased the ability of blacks to vote by

eliminating the poll tax.

Watts Riots (1965) - In the summer of 1965, there were many racial riots.

The most famous was the Watts in Los Angeles

Swann v. Charlotte- Mecklenberg (1971)

- was the court case that ordered Busing to desegregate the public schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area.

Black Power - an African American movement

that focused on gaining control of economic and political power to achieve equal rights by force if necessary.

Malcolm X- championed black separatism and

called for freedom to be brought by any means necessary. killed in 1965 for his disagreement with Black Muslims.

Black Panthers (1966-1976) - a black community organization

that promoted self-determination for blacks. – They said that blacks could not trust

white police officers to protect them.

American Indian Movement (AIM) (1973)

- a Native American group that protested the problems faced by Native Americans on the reservations. – They did this at Wounded Knee

in 1973. Termination

Baker vs. Carr or Wesberry v. Sander (1962-64)

- the court case that dealt with the “one person one vote” philosophy.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

- said that the states must provide poor defendants with a lawyer.

Woodstock

- big music festival in a town in New York where drugs were used and people stayed for three days in 1969

VISTA (Volunteers in Services to America)

- put young people with the skills and community-minded ideals to work in poor neighborhoods and rural areas to help people overcome poverty.

Peace Corps

- an organization that sent young Americans to perform humanitarian services in third world countries

Silent Spring

- book written by Rachel Carson that was concerned about pollution. helped form Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Women liberation

- a movement that happened in the 1960s to get women equal pay and to get women to think of themselves as equals.