Chapter 31 - New Frontiers: Political and Social Change in the 1960s
· I. Kennedy’s rise
o A. The election of 1960
§ 1. Backgrounds of the candidates
§ 2. The campaign
§ a. Kennedy’s Catholicism not a problem
§ b. Televised debates favor Kennedy
§ c. The civil rights issue
§ 3. Results
o B. Kennedy’s administration
§ 1. Cabinet appointments emphasize youth
§ 2. The “Kennedy style“ displayed at the inauguration
· II. The Kennedy record
o A. Congress Democratic but conservative
o B. Legislative successes
§ 1. The Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress
§ 2. Trade Expansion Act
§ 3. Domestic social legislation
o C. The Warren Court on civil liberties
o D. Civil rights under Kennedy
§ 1. Kennedy at first hesitant to act
§ 2. Greensboro sit-ins
§ a. Based on King’s “militant nonviolence“ philosophy
§ b. Creation of SNCC
§ 3. Freedom riders
§ 4. Integration of the University of Mississippi
§ 5. King’s Letter from Birmingham City Jail
§ 6. Kennedy endorses civil rights
§ 7. Wallace’s defiant gesture
§ 8. March on Washington
§ a. High point of movement
§ b. King’s “I Have a Dream“ speech
§ 9. Modest progress in cities such as Atlanta
· III. Foreign frontiers
o A. Bay of Pigs disaster
§ 1. 1,500 anti-Castro Cubans prepared by CIA
§ 2. Failure of invasion
o B. Berlin Wall
§ 1. Khrushchev threatens to limit access to Berlin
§ 2. Kennedy calls up Reserve and Guard units
§ 3. Soviets construct Berlin Wall
o C. Cuban missile crisis
§ 1. Discovery of missiles in Cuba
§ 2. Kennedy imposes naval quarantine
§ 3. Khrushchev blinks
§ 4. Aftereffects
§ a. Lowered tensions
§ b. Sale of wheat
§ c. Washington-Moscow “hot line“
§ d. Removal of obsolete missiles
§ e. Nuclear test ban treaty
o D. Vietnam
§ 1. Neutrality for Laos
§ 2. Premier Ngo Dinh Diem
§ a. Lack of economic and social reform
§ b. Opposition to Diem
§ c. Overthrow of Diem and later military regimes
· IV. The end of Kennedy’s administration
o A. Assassination in Dallas
o B. Lee Harvey Oswald
o C. Jack Ruby
o D. Chief Justice Earl Warren
· V. Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society
o A. Johnson’s background and style
o B. Passing Kennedy’s legislative program
§ 1. A major tax cut
§ 2. The Civil Rights Act of 1964
o C. Declaring war on poverty
§ 1. Michael Harrington’s The Other America
§ 2. An economic-opportunity bill
§ 3. The Great Society
o D. The election of 1964
§ 1. Republicans
§ a. Sought “a choice, not an echo“
§ b. Nominated Barry Goldwater
§ c. Goldwater’s weaknesses
§ 2. Johnson’s appeal for consensus
§ 3. Landslide victory for Johnson
o E. Landmark legislation
§ 1. Medicare
§ 2. Federal aid to education
§ 3. Appalachian Regional Development Act
§ 4. Housing and Urban Development Act
§ 5. Immigration and Nationality Services Act
o F. Assessing the Great Society
· VI. From civil rights to black power
o A. Voting Rights Act of 1965
o B. Rise of the black power movement
§ 1. Riots in 1965 and 1966
§ 2. Condition of urban blacks
§ 3. Philosophy of the black power movement
§ 4. Malcolm X and other leaders
§ 5. Positive effects of the black power movement
§ a. Helped African Americans take pride in their racial heritage
§ b. Forced King and others to focus attention on plight of inner-city blacks
· VII. The tragedy of Vietnam
o A. Efforts to avoid defeat
§ 1. Escalation
§ 2. The cost of the war
o B. The Tonkin Gulf resolution
§ 1. Response to attack on American destroyers
§ 2. Johnson interprets as congressional approval for war
o C. Escalation in 1965
§ 1. Attack at Pleiku
§ 2. Operation Rolling Thunder
§ 3. Combat troops to Vietnam
o D. The context for policy
§ 1. Consistent with containment
§ 2. Goal of American involvement
o E. The turning point
§ 1. The Tet offensive
§ 2. Further erosion of support
§ 3. Presidential primaries become referendums on Johnson’s Vietnam policy
§ 4. Johnson announces that he will not seek another term
· VIII. Sixties crescendo
o A. Tragedies of 1968
§ 1. Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
§ 2. Assassination of Robert Kennedy
o B. The election of 1968 - Narrow victory for Nixon
§ 1. Democrats
§ a. Nominate Hubert Humphrey
§ b. The disastrous Chicago convention
§ 2. Republicans
§ a. Nominate Richard Nixon
§ b. Represent stability and order
§ 3. George Wallace
§ a. Candidate of the American Independent party
§ b. Appeal to social conservatives