JFK and LBJ
Hippie
Black Votes
JFK had a lot of help in this
election, esp. from his brother
Bobby Kennedy, who was his
campaign manager
Bobby helped secure the black
vote when he got Martin Luther
King, Jr. released from a jail in the
south
King had been arrested for a
minor traffic violation and
JFK Wins
What were some of
Kennedy’s drawbacks? #3
He was Catholic
Young (43)
Inexperienced
JFK turned these around
to make him look good
Ask not what your country can
do for you, ask what you can do
Ike’s Farewell Address #4
Kennedy’s
Platform was
the
New
Frontier #5
Congress fought him
on some of these
JFK pushed for money for
space: this was a psychological
race with the Soviets
They had the first satellite, first
man in space (Yuri Gagarin)
and we wanted to be first to the
moon
Alan Shepard was the first
American in space
John Glenn
circled the Earth 3
times
The first American to orbit
Earth (1962)
Neil Armstrong
was the first
known
human to step on the
moon (July 1969)
Apollo 11 spacecraft
Nixon’s administration
Tell them what they’ve won,
Johnny……..
"That's one small
step for a man,
one giant leap
for mankind."
Neil Armstrong,
Buzz Aldrin
•
Neil Armstrong
Government
Spending
After the election, JFK
had began to build up
US defenses
How will he pay for this?
He wanted to build up
the conventional
military and nuclear
capability; the special
forces were created
(Green Berets)
Flexible Response (6)
Sec of Defense (7)
Vietnam
As the problems
of Vietnam
escalated, JFK
still pushed for
only limited
involvement in
Vietnam
Diem alienated many
people moving them
from villages, killing,
etc.
Buddhists
The US realized that
Diem was a problem
and had to be replaced;
the US aided in his
overthrow and Diem
was assassinated (JFK
wasn’t happy about it)
A few weeks later, JFK
was assassinated
By the time of his death;
15,000 men in Vietnam
Other foreign policy (10)
Peace Corps
Alliance for
Progress
Why do we care
what happens in
Latin America?
Containment
Reduce the
The
Bay of Pigs (11)
Over 90 were killed and
others taken prisoner; some
were US people
This failure embarrassed
the US and JFK
JFK had to negotiate the
release of some of the
prisoners and paid 53
million dollars in food and
supplies as ransom
Berlin Crisis (12)
Summer 1961:
Western Berlin was
prosperous and the
East was not
People were fleeing to
the west and the
Soviets didn’t like that;
it showed that
Communism was not
as good as they said
3 million had fled to
the west in 3 years
The Soviets tried to
Berlin Wall
August 1961:
Soviets
troops constructed a
wall to divide east and
west Berlin
•100 miles border line around West Berlin
•29 miles Wall between the Eastern and Western Part of Berlin
•45,000 concrete segments weighing more than 2.5 tons
•116 Watchtowers
•10,000 border guards
The families of Wetzels and Strlzycks bought small amounts of
nylon cloth. The buying of the cloth secretly and in small
The Trojan Cow – hid
escapees in the belly of a
display cow. Only two
people escaped this way.
By the time the cow went
back and forth across the
border for a third time,
guards became suspicious
and captured the third
Cuban Missile Crisis
(13)
A year later, another crisis emerged in
Cuba
A U2 spy plane found missile bases in
Cuba ready to launch that could hit any
city in the US
Oct. 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
The
Soviets supported Cuba and were sending
missiles to them
The US organized an invasion army for
Cuba set up a blockade around Cuba
The Soviets backed down (make JFK look
good…finally) but provisions were made
The US had to promise never to invade
Cuba
This was the most dangerous part of JFK’s
foreign policy actions
Cuban Missile Crisis Reading
Groups of 3
Each person reads one
document and then
explains to the other
person in the group
Better Relations with the USSR
To insure better relations with the
Soviets the US did two things
under JFK
A
hot line
was set up between
Political Concerns
JFK had pledged to fight discrimination
It took a while to happen
He needed to keep southern Democrats on
his side for social and economic programs
He hoped these measures would aid blacks
Freedom Rides
Freedom Rides
Pushed for civil rights and
voter membership
They were testing the
Supreme Courts verdict and
found that many southern
buses were not desegregated
Some faced dangers as some
Concerns about Martin
Concerns about Martin
Luther King, Jr
Luther King, Jr
JFK would become
partners with King in the
Civil Rights movement
Some were concerned
with King’s relations to
communist affiliations
(King’s advisors)
Robert Kennedy ordered
1962: James Meredith (15)
The Governor refused to admit him and JFK had
to send troops to escort him into school
Riots occurred on campus and his parents home
was shot at
At the University of Alabama a similar problem
occurred when Governor George Wallace refused
entrance to Vivian Malone and Jimmy Hood
(Gump)
George
Wallace
At the University of
Alabama a similar
problem occurred when
Governor George
Wallace refused entrance
to Vivian Malone and
Jimmy Hood (Gump)
Gov. of Alabama who
Birmingham, Alabama
March 1963: Birmingham
Seen around the world
More
violence.
..
Attacks against civil rights
leaders continued
Medgar Evers
was shot in
front of his home
June 12, 1963
The accused killer, a white
supremacist named Byron
De La Beckwith, stood
trial twice in the 1960s,
but in both cases the
all-white juries could not
reach a verdict.
Finally, in a third trial in
1994 (and thirty-one years
after Evers’ murder),
Beckwith was convicted
and sentenced to life in
prison
JFK Blown Away…what else
do I have to say?
The
Warren
Oswald Assassination: Conspiracy??
Within 48
hours,
Oswald
would be
assassinate
d by Jack
Ruby
Conspiracy
theories
Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860 John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters. Both were particularly concerned with civil rights
Both wives lost their children while living in the White House. Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head. Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners. Both successors were named Johnson.
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908. John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839. Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
Both assassins were known by their three names. Both names are comprised of fifteen letters. Lincoln was shot at the theater named “Ford”.
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln".
Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials. And here's the kicker....
Lyndon Johnson is President
LBJ Takes Over
After Kennedy’s
assassination,
Lyndon B.
Johnson
took the
oath of office and
became President
Johnson served
He immediately
began to get
ready for
re-election
1964 Election:
key issues were
poverty and civil
rights
Johnson v. Barry
Goldwater
The G-r-r-r-eat Society
LBJ’s idol was FDR and he
wanted to create a New Deal of
his own
Johnson planned the
Great
Society
War on Poverty
LBJ wanted to attack poverty in
several ways
Other parts of the Great Society
VISTA
Volunteers in service
to America
Working in
communities to fight
poverty
Head Start
Program for
I’ve fallen and I can’t get up
–
Medicare
:
–
low cost
insurance for
the elderly
–
Medicaid:
–
low cost
Give me a home, where the
water does flow……
–
HUD
Mountain men (and women)
National Endowment for the
Humanities
Created in 1965
Provides grants to promote education and
cultural resources
Museums, documentaries, research,
Entitlements:
Entitlements:
Rights given to certain
Rights given to certain
categories of
categories of
Americans without
Americans without
need for repeated
need for repeated
Congressional approval
Congressional approval
Examples:
Medicare and
Immigration and
Immigration and
Nationality Act, 1965:
Nationality Act, 1965:
Removed quota system
Removed quota system
of 1921 and set limits
of 1921 and set limits
on immigrants from the
on immigrants from the
Western Hemisphere
Court Cases you need to know. Look in
your AMSCO or Text
Chief Justice Earl Warren
led the way for more liberal
court decisions
He would be involved in
Brown v. BOE
Mapp v. Ohio, 1961
–
evidence seized illegally
cannot be used against
you\exclusionary rule
Gideon v. Wainwright,
1963
–
free legal counsel to
those who cannot afford it
Escobedo v. Illinois,
1964
–
Police must inform
arrested person of
their right to remain
silent
Miranda v.
Arizona,1966
–
Extended
Escobedo;
right to a lawyer when
being questioned
Some felt the courts
25
th
Amendment
Deals with Presidential
succession and disability
Passed after JFK
assassination
Clears up ambiguity of
Article II of the
Constitution
Results of the Great Society
The number of poor did fall
The deficit increased
Some supported more
conservative ideas and
Republicans made gains
Wasn’t as effective due to Vietnam
Bring it on!
LBJ saw Vietnam as a way to re-establish US credibility (so did JFK before
his assassination); he saw it as a war between the US and China, not
Vietnam
Aug. 2, 1964: In the Gulf of Tonkin:
LBJ asked Congress to pass the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions the
President could take any means to
protect US forces against attack
–
No need for Congressional
approval to declare war
By June 1965, 50,000 troops were
in Vietnam
Civil Rights Legislation
Voting Rights Act, 1965
States may discriminate against voters
Black votership tripled….1964 10% of
1965: Selma to Montgomery
1965: Selma to Montgomery
#29
#29
It began with 300 and grew to over
25,000
Bloody Sunday was the result of a
planned march in Selma, Alabama on
March 7, 1965. Marchers that were
crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge were
charged by police on horseback. Many of
1965: Watts Riots #30
1965: Watts Riots #30
The blacks in the north and west had to deal with de facto
segregation. Riots emerged in the California area of
Watts
A routine DWI arrest of a black LA resident started 6
days of rioting in the mainly black sector of Los Angeles
known as Watts. 34 people were killed and more than
200 million dollars in damage was done
Many asked: Why were blacks reacting this way after
being given all these rights??
Other black leaders #31
New black leaders emerged
from the north who challenged
King’s beliefs
Malcolm X
(real name
Malcolm Little) member of the
Nation of Islam called for black
power and retaliation; militant
leader
Associated with Black
Separatism
“X” wanted to strengthen the
black community by blacks for
blacks
This upset King because it
Break Away from the Nation
“
X” formed his own group
“
If you don’t use the ballot,
we’ll have to use the bullet.
Let’s try the ballot.”
“X” was
assassinated Feb. 21,
1965
while giving a speech in
Harlem….some say by
“X” was
assassinated
Feb. 21, 1965
while giving a
speech in
Our forefathers weren't the Pilgrims. We didn't land on Plymouth
Rock; the rock was landed on us.
Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry
over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a
change.
Militant: Black Panthers #32-33
Other militant groups
formed along with
Malcolm X
Black Panthers
They supported the idea of
black communities for
blacks
Preached some of the
ideas of Mao Zedong
(who was he?)
They dressed in military
uniforms and had several
conflicts with police and
the FBI
Other leaders
Stokely Carmichael
Former leader of
SNCC;promoted black
power
Many followed the
ideas of Marcus
Garvey
1968 Olympics
John Carlos and Tommie Smith
•Because of their actions, the
Olympic Committee barred
them from competing in other
events.
•Back in the United States,
instead of receiving a
celebration of their
achievements, they were
subjected to death threats and
their actions were the subject
of widespread debate.
Who are we?
Who are we?
Thurgood
Marshall-1967
Some of the leaders
#34
He supported the war as did
many citizens of the US
(containment)
#35
Westmoreland wasn’t
impressed with the South’s
Army (our ally) and asked for
more troops
This was unlike other wars the US had fought: a
war without fronts: you couldn’t look on a map and
tell who was winning
Problems:
>Hard to tell who the enemy was
>”
We will fight for decades or centuries if needed”
>The North had plenty of men and the VC didn’t
need to win, just keep from losing
>1940’s: “
You can kill ten of my men for every one
I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose
and I will win.”
a
The War without Fronts
Search and Destroy Missions
War on Land
The US believed that because of
its superior military power, they
would win; we were not used to
the jungle terrain and guerrilla
tactic (the same tactics we used
against the British in the
Revolutionary War)
The ground war consisted of
search and destroy missions:
–
go into suspected VC villages
–burn it and kill livestock
–
many innocents killed
–
measure success by body counts
–the VC began to set booby traps
so when bodies were counted they
would go off and hit US soldiers
–
It is hard to fight back against an
If the guerillas don’t lose, they
win.
You can never deter an enemy
who is willing to sacrifice
Tunnels
Many VC hid in underground
tunnels and some lived there
Others would hide in Cambodia
and Laos
One problem with search and
destroy was that the enemy could
hear the US machinery coming
and hide
The guerrillas controlled the pace
of the war
We hoped it would be a war of
attrition
The Air War
Rolling Thunder
More tonnage of bombs were
dropped on Vietnam than those
used in WWI, WWII and Korea
It had little effect; special decoy
buildings by the VC and
protection shelters
We dropped things other than
explosives
Napalm\Agent Orange
Napalm
was dropped from
planes: jelly-like gasoline that
clung to flesh and burned; used
to set fire to jungles
Agent Orange
was a defoliant
(kill plants)
13 million gallons of this was
dropped in Vietnam
Many time our troops were also
effected
Led to cancer and other skin
diseases
Morale Falls
As the war dragged on, morale
fell among the troops in
Vietnam
–
Young soldiers (average age
was 19)
–
Inexperienced
–
Drug abuse
The tour of duty for soldiers
was one year
FORTUNATE SON (J.C. Fogerty)
Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no,
Yeah!
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no.
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer More! more! more! yoh,
Black Troops in Vietnam
Black Troops:
The number of black
troops in Vietnam were
greater than their
representation in the US
(Blacks made up 11% of
the US population, but
accounted for 16% of
people drafted)
People began to get
Disillusioned with War
At first, many supported the war, but after seeing the war
every night on TV, many changed their mind
This is why it is called a
living room war
People began to
dodge the draft
get out of going to war
–
college
–
leave the country
–
join the Coast Guard\National Guard
–
medical excuses
–
Am. Exp.
Matters of Conscience: Stephan
Gubar
–
Turn these in after the video (counts as a document)
1.
Why wasn’t Stephan drafted at first?
2.
When was he drafted?
3.
What were his views on the war?
4.
What were his options instead of going to war?
5.
What position in the military did he get due to his
anti war views (conscientious objector)?
6.
How did he describe getting off the plane in
Vietnam?
7.
How did he describe friendships?
8.
Describe Stephan’s problems after returning home.
Protest Groups
New Left
#36
Youth protest groups
–
Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS)
–
Free Speech Movement
Many students organized
demonstrations, burned
draft cards, etc.
Weathermen (Weather Underground)
#37
June 1970:
New York City police
headquarters are bombed and the
Weathermen take credit, issuing a
communiqué from underground.
July:
Thirteen Weathermen are
indicted by a federal grand jury on
charges of conspiring to engage in acts
of terrorism. A New York bank is
bombed in retaliation
1970 – WUO bombs the National Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., in retaliation for Kent State University shootings.
1971 – WUO bombs Capitol building in retaliation for secret U.S. bombings in Laos.
1972 – WUO bombs Pentagon in retaliation for continued military activity in Vietnam.
1973 – WUO bombs ITT Latin American offices in New York City in retaliation for CIA-assisted coup in Chile. 1975 – WUO bombs State Department building in Washington, D.C., and Department of Defense office in Oakland, Calif.
America Picks Sides
Americans had to choose sides in the war.
Those for the war were called
hawks
and
those against the war were called
doves
.
What would be an
argument of the hawks
for war?
What would be an
Tet Offensive: Jan. 1968
Tet was the Vietnamese New Year
and they used this to inspire an
attack
Tet Offensive
:
–
invasion of the south by the
north
–
over 100 towns taken
–
attacked US bases and embassy
in Saigon
The US finally halted the invasion but the damage was done:
Results of Tet
–it showed the south couldn’t protect its own people
–many turned against the southern government
Khe Sahn
The battle of Khe Sahn was
one of the the diversionary
attacks
There was a small US base
there and lasted 77 days
15,000 Vietnamese killed\250
Americans
After Khe Sahn and Tet,
Johnson
Johnson didn’t run for re-election
(1968) due to TV coverage of Vietnam
A credibility gap was created by what
Johnson said was happening and what
was really happening
1968 Democratic Convention
#38
Outside the convention
were war protesters
The convention was
surrounded by barbed
wire, police, etc.
The demonstrators
were attacked by the
police and it was
caught on TV and
made the Democrats
look bad
The Republicans
The Republicans
nominated
Richard Nixon
for President
The
1968 election
would
be over two issues:
Vietnam and law and order
Other groups also ran
candidates
–
Black Panthers:
Eldridge Cleaver
–
American Independent
Party George Wallace
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…..
Nixon said he
1968 is called the year
1968 is called the year
everything went wrong
Martin Luther King, Jr
April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King,
Jr. was assassinated by James Earl
Ray (three names)
Ray died in 1998 proclaiming his
innocence
King was shot on a motel balcony
in Memphis, Tn
His death cause riots all over the US
Ray was found 2 months later in
England and was sentenced to 99
years
Many claim there was a conspiracy
Bobby Kennedy: June 4, 1968
Bobby Kennedy, JFK’s
brother, was running for
President
At the height of his
popularity, he was
assassinated by Sirhan
Bashara Sirhan, a
Jordanian Arab
Columbia University: students took
over several administrative buildings
for 6 days to protest unequal facilities
Police were sent in and were pretty
brutal: beating students, throwing
them down stairwells, etc.
700 were arrested and 73 expelled
Other Problems of
Other Problems of
1968
Lots of other problems
Lots of other problems
too...
too...
Massive civil servant
strikes (police,
teachers, firefighters,
garbage collectors, etc.
Demonstrators at the
Democratic
More Changes…...
Civil Rights Act, 1968
Prohibited segregation in public housing
In the 1960’s, blacks began to form their
own identity: afros, dress styles, etc.
Black studies at universities, more blacks
on TV and movies, etc.
More blacks in government esp. in the
Support Declines
Support Declines
People began to lose interest in
the civil rights movement by the
late 1960’s
There was a lack of support
from government, from whites
(due to militant groups), and
other issues came up like
Counter culture aka hippies
Some began to question the
conformity of the US and
formed their own culture to
break away (influenced by
what group in the 1950’s?)
Made up of middle class
whites mainly
They established a society
based on peace and love
They had a new culture
based on music, drugs, and
new clothes styles, long hair
Many didn’t like the “new
culture”, esp. guys with long
hair
Signs went up: Make
America Beautiful. Give a
Leary taught psychology at
Harvard and by 1960 was
doing experiments with LSD
and other hallucinogens, first
on prison inmates and then on
himself and his friends. LSD
was not illegal at the time.
Wanted to colonize space.
According to his initial plan,
5,000 of Earth's most virile
and intelligent individuals
would be launched on a
vessel (Starseed 1) equipped
with luxurious amenities.
One of the earliest protests in
1964 at the University of
California-Berkley
Called for an end to restrictions on
Hippie Life
Many hippies lived in
communes: large groups
living together
Several cities had districts
known for hippies and
also had problems with
crime, drugs, runaways,
etc. eventually
Haight-Ashbury
seemed
to be the center of the
hippie movement and was
located in San Francisco
Many went because
hallucinogenic drugs were
not illegal in California
until 1966
Many hippies rejected
traditional religions also
(followed Buddhism, etc.)
The worst case of
commune life involved
Charles Manson
and his
family who murdered
actress Sharon Tate
•By 1970, there was widespread use of drugs that further
eroded the counter culture movement
•Janis Joplin (heroin)
•Jimmy Hendrix (sleeping pills and choked on vomit)
•John Bonham (alcohol…choked on vomit)
•Brian Jones…Rolling Stones (drowned related to drugs\alcohol)
•Keith Moon…The Who (OD)
We were together at the level of
peace and freedom and
love.
We fell apart over who would cook
and wash the dishes and pay the
bills”
Many hippies found they needed some of the
society they had turned their back on
Woodstock:
Aug. 1969; three days of music and love
1. Richie Havens
2. Swami Satchidananda
3. Country Joe McDonald
4. John B. Sebastian
5. Sweetwater
6. Incredible String Band
7. Bert Sommer
8. Tim Hardin
9. Ravi Shankar
10. Melanie
11. Arlo Guthrie
12. Joan Baez
day two:
1. Quill
2. Keef Hartley Band
3. Santana
4. Canned Heat
5. Grateful Dead
6. Mountain
7. Creedence Clearwater Revival
8. Sly & The Family Stone
9. Janis Joplin
day three
1. Jefferson Airplane
2. Joe Cocker
3. Country Joe & The Fish
4. Ten Years After
5. The Band
after midnight
6. Blood Sweat And Tears
7. Johnny Winter
8. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
9. Paul Butterfield Blues Band
10. Sha-Na-Na
Attitudes in society
change
More casual approach to marriage=more divorces
Rating system developed for movies as more sex
was now in films
Led to anti-war movement and conservative
growth
Medicine and technology aided in the
revolution
Antibiotics for disease
Birth control pills
Sexual themes in advertisements, movies and
magazines
2006 Hill Pearsall-Topsail High School 154
