THE COUNTERCULTURE – THE 50S INTO THE 60S … A PHOTO FILE Scott Masters Crestwood College
40s & 50s Presidents Harry S. Truman Fair Deal GI Bill Baby Boom/ Suburbs Sunbelt Taft-Hartley Act Desegregation: Commission and military Containment Dwight D. Eisenhower Modern Republicanism Conservative/Laissez Fair yet continued Fair Deal (expanding Social Security) Interstate Highway System Little Rock Containment Housing, Economic Boom, Conformity
Significances of the 1960 Nixon Kennedy Campaign Television debate : Appearance versus substance Television ads: campaign spending $ Main Issues: –“missile gap” –religion Close election results com/watch?v=tRpxK HlRQUchttp:// com/watch?v=tRpxK HlRQUc
Inauguration Speech
Text of Inaugural Address
Kennedy’s Charisma: “…Our faith in him and in what he was trying to do was absolute, and he could impart to our work together a sense of challenge and adventure-a feeling that he was moving, and the world with him, toward a better time.” Pierre Salinger, Press Secretary Glencoe text p. 842
“New Frontier” Goals Increase aid to education Provide health insurance to the elderly Create Dept. of Urban Affairs Help Migrant Workers Tax Cut to Stimulate economy Medicare Civil Rights Legislation
Kennedy’s Critics: Despite Democratic large majorities in House and Senate, Kennedy could not pass his New Frontier legislation. –WHY?
Kennedy’s Critics: Despite Democratic large majorities in House and Senate, Kennedy could not pass his New Frontier legislation. –WHY?
Kennedy’s Critics Congress could follow their own interest: –“A good many [congressional representatives] were elected in 1960 in spite of his presence on the ticket rather than because his name was there.” Congressional Democrat US News & World Report
Kennedy’s Critics Republicans and Southern Democrats viewed New Frontier too costly Southern Democrats controlled Congress
Kennedy: the Pragmatist Minor deficit spending –Increased funding for defense and space exploration Supported supply-side economics and tax cuts –“A rising tide lifts all boats.” –Congress denied tax cuts out of fear of inflation
Kennedy: the Pragmatist Less of Ike’s “brinkmanship” and more “flexible response” more conventional troops and weapons –Support of Special Forces “Green Berets” Info/Story.htm
A “Marshall Plan” for Latin America? Poverty and corruption in Latin America Kennedy wants to thwart communist expansion in Latin America Alliance for Progress –$20 billion aid for better schools, housing and health care –Designed to counter leftist movements –Chile, Colombia, Venezeula, and Central America benefited
Kennedy’s Enduring Legacy: The Peace Corps Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of all Americans. story/Peace+Corps.htmhttp:// story/Peace+Corps.htm
The Space Race: “man on the moon” htmlhttp:// html – –
Bay of Pigs, Cuba: April 17, 1961 CIA trained 1,400 Cuban Exiles Kennedy cancelled air support Cubans did not rise up in support of exiles Castro personally led defense of island 1,189 captured/100 killed US paid $53 in food and medicine for their release flag.jpg&imgrefurl= &tbnid=EaDthiYRThqXLM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=141&prev=/imag
Berlin Wall June
Glencoe THE AMERICAN VISION Ch. 28 page Bush/Kennedy-John-F.html stopics/people/k/john_fitzgerald_kennedy/i ndex.html?inline=nyt-per BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERNCE SITES:
tch?v=l2ZyeG4tdOQhttp:// tch?v=l2ZyeG4tdOQ / /
The Great Society A War on Poverty The War in Vietnam The Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Texan’s Family
LBJ’s Resume Congressional Staffer Member of the House of Representatives U.S. Senator –Majority Leader Vice-President
“The Johnson Treatment” Reputation of being “overpowering and intimidating” Invaded personal space: nose to nose “persuasive and personable rather than elegant and charming” Glencoe American History text p.855
The Texan’s Style
War on Poverty “There are tens of millions of Americans who are beyond the welfare state. Taken as a whole there is a culture of poverty…bad health, poor housing, low levels of aspiration, and high levels of mental distress. Twenty percent of a nation, some 32,000,000.” Michael Harrington, author of the Culture of Poverty 1962
War on Poverty “The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice.” LBJ 1964 Medicare and Medicaid Head Start HUD Job Corps Water Quality and Clean Air Acts Highway Safety Act Fair Packaging and Labeling Act
The 1964 Election
1964 Republican Candidate AZ Sen. Barry Goldwater LYhttp:// LY Conservatives take over the 1964 Republican National Convention uQ&mode=related&search= uQ&mode=related&search= Y&mode=related&search= Y&mode=related&search= Ronald Reagan campaigns for AgH20
“The Daisy Ad”
/watch?v=Cl4awae0R0 M&mode=related&sear ch= /watch?v=Cl4awae0R0 M&mode=related&sear ch=
Johnson/Humphrey
The Results
Civil Rights Legislation Civil Rights Act 1964 Voting Rights Act 1965 “WE SHALL OVERCOME”
“We Shall Overcome” ?v=bKDVNSpsBZE&mode=rel ated&search= ?v=bKDVNSpsBZE&mode=rel ated&search= doc.php?flash=true&doc=97http:// doc.php?flash=true&doc=97 doc.php?doc=100http:// doc.php?doc=100
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Rk8zzAw&NR=1http:// Rk8zzAw&NR=1 A US ship was attacked on 2 August But was there a second?
Tet Offensive 1968
The 1968 Decision With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office--the Presidency of your country. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.
1968 Tet Offensive –Cronkite’s editorial states his doubts that America is winning in Vietnam –President Johnson “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost the American people.”