1. The 1960s:
Big Changes in America

2. John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) First Catholic elected as POTUS
Promises to get “America moving again”
The New Frontier
Massive investment in the space program and military technology
Minuteman missile program
Man on the moon by the end of the decade
Bay of Pigs disaster

3. Showdown with the Communists
Ousting Fidel Castro in Cuba
Renewing our commitment to Berlin
Increasing the number of military advisors to Vietnam
Cuban Missile Crisis

4. Cuban Missile Crisis

5. Dialogue with the Soviets
After Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK & Khrushchev renew commitment to discuss peace
Red line from the White House to the Kremlin
Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

6. Commitment to Vietnam

7. Tackling Civil Rights 1st took office = not at the top of his agenda
Numerous clashes in the South
Urged by his brother, Bobby Kennedy, to take action
Televised national address
Introduction of new Civil Rights legislation
Stalls because of Southern opposition

8. Kennedy Assassination
November 22, 1963
Trip to Dallas to smooth over differences within the Democratic Party over Civil Rights
Dealey Plaza = shots ring out
Lee Harvey Oswald
Warren Commission Report
Conspiracy???

9. Dealey Plaza & The Book Depository

10. A Different View

11. JFK’s Burial Funeral patterned after Lincoln’s
Buried at Arlington National Cemetery

12. Compare to his brothers’ gravesites at Arlington Nat’l Cemetary

13. LBJ’s Great Society Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)
From Texas = Very different from JFK
Great Society Programs
War on Poverty
Massive increase in programs to fight hunger, poverty, homelessness, etc.

14. Civil Rights Legislation
Civil Rights Act of 1964 = Outlawed discrimination in restaurants, housing, motels/hotels, public bathrooms, libraries, public schools, etc.
Banned unequal interpretations of voter registration standards
24th Amendment = elimination of poll taxes
Voting Rights Act of 1965 = Literacy tests & grandfather clauses are illegal; voter intimidation is illegal

15. Huge Escalation of Troops to Vietnam
Domino Theory
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Gave the president broad powers to wage war in Vietnam
Massive increase in the number of troops sent to Vietnam
To check communism
US troops vs. peasant farmers (communist rebels led by Ho Chi Minh)
Beginning of the War = Strong US support
By the end = many had turned against it

16. Counter Culture of the ’60s

17. Election of 1968
Eugene McCarthy (D) = peace candidate forced to drop out because of RFK
Robert Kennedy (D) = peace candidate who is assassinated
Hubert Humphrey (D) = LBJ’s VP ends up being the Democratic nominee
Richard Nixon (R) = secures the Republican nomination & wins a narrow election

18. Many Factors

19. Nixon Wins Richard Nixon wins the 1968 election
Promises that he has a secret plan to get America out of Vietnam