The Counterculture Movement, the Rise of the New Right, and the End of the Cold War

Counterculture and the Broader Social Movements of the 1960s and 1970s

• The $1960s$ and $1970s$ in America were defined by a larger counterculture movement. Historians define this as a period when society decided to challenge and change the established status quo.

• This era encompasses several distinct movements targeting different groups and social norms:

  • Civil Rights Movement: Focused on changing laws, legislation, and social norms affecting Black Americans.

  • Anti-war Movement: Focused specifically on ending the Vietnam War.

  • Black Power Movement: A subset of the broader civil rights struggle.

  • Cesar Chavez Movement: Aimed at bettering the conditions and rights of Hispanic Americans.

  • American Indian Movement: Sought to gain more legislation and control for Native Americans over their reservations.

  • Asian American Movement: Another key component of the diverse civil rights expansions during this period.

• This widespread social change triggered a reactionary movement known as the New Conservative Movement. This group viewed the various liberal movements as overstepping and, in some cases, labeled them as communist.

The Second Wave Feminist Movement

• Historical Context: The First Wave of feminism occurred roughly from the $1870s$ to $1919$, focusing primarily on suffrage and securing the right to vote.

• Second Wave Feminism: This movement arose alongside the civil rights and counterculture movements, moving beyond suffrage to address broader social and economic issues.

• Betty Friedan and The Feminist Mystique ($1963$):

  • Friedan authored the book The Feminist Mystique, which articulated a widespread sense of dissatisfaction among stay-at-home mothers.

  • The book highlighted that domestic work and raising a family did not provide total fulfillment or gratification for all women.

  • It urged women to look outside the home for identity, including work, fundraising, and protesting.

  • The publication provided a "political consciousness" for women, similar to how the Populist movement helped farmers realize they shared common problems.

• National Organization for Women (NOW):

  • NOW was organized to address women's issues collectively.

  • The organization successfully convinced President Lyndon B. Johnson to include women in Affirmative Action.

  • Affirmative Action: A policy resulting from Supreme Court decisions requiring educational and work institutions to include a certain number of minorities. Women were classified as a minority in terms of gender.

  • Impact of Affirmative Action: This allowed more women to enter medical school, law school, and graduate school, facilitating careers that allowed for personal wealth creation rather than reliance on husbands.

  • Legislative and Social Goals:

    • Equal Pay Act of $1963$: Aimed at closing the wage gap between men and women.

    • Civil Rights Act of $1964$: Gender was added as a protected category.

    • Paid Maternity Leave: NOW advocated for women to be paid during the first few months of a child’s life for bonding and development. Previously, women could be fired for becoming pregnant; the movement secured the right to sue in such cases.

    • Day Care and Tax Deductions: The movement called for day care facilities and tax deductions for child care costs to support working mothers.

Internal Divisions and Opposition within Feminism

• By the $1970s$, the feminist movement began to divide over two primary issues: the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and Roe v. Wade.

• The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA):

  • The ERA was a massive legislative article designed to grant women equal access to work and equal pay.

  • Congress passed the ERA in $1972$, but it was never ratified by the required number of states to become law.

  • Phyllis Schlafly: She organized the "Stop ERA" movement. Schlafly argued that the ERA would strip women of natural privileges.

  • The Draft Argument: Schlafly claimed that if the ERA passed, women would be subject to the military draft, a highly controversial topic during the Vietnam War.

• Roe v. Wade ($1973$):

  • A Supreme Court decision stating that medical records and history are private.

  • This ruling made abortion procedures legal within the first three months of pregnancy.

  • Medical Impact: Statistically, legalizing abortion in the first three months led to a decrease in the maternal mortality rate across the country.

  • Social Backlash: Many women, including Catholic, evangelical, and conservative women, left the feminist movement following this ruling, arguing it was immoral or against their religion.

The Gay Rights Movement and the Lavender Scare

• Early Organizations ($1950s$): Organizations like the mache machine society formed to fight against violence and police targeting of the LGBTQ community. Social acceptance was a primary goal alongside legal safety.

• The Lavender Scare:

  • Occurring as part of the Red Scare/anti-communist movement, the federal government targeted LGBTQ individuals for dismissal from federal jobs.

  • The fear was based on the assumption that LGBTQ people were "too far liberal" or "left" and thus must be communist.

  • This forced many individuals "out of the closet," leading to social shunning, loss of community, and loss of employment for many, including school teachers.

• Stonewall Riots (June $1969$):

  • The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar in New York City frequently raided by police.

  • In June $1969$, patrons fought back against a police raid, arguing they were not disturbing the peace or doing anything wrong.

  • The riots were broadcasted nationally, raising awareness and serving as a catalyst for the modern gay rights movement.

• Declassification as a Mental Disorder:

  • Prior to $1974$, homosexuality was medically classified as a mental disorder.

  • Lobotomy: A brutal procedure where an ice pick-like tool was inserted under the eyelid into the frontal cortex to sever nerves. While it "cured" homosexuality, it essentially destroyed the patient's personality, humor, and empathy, often requiring life-long institutionalization.

  • Shock Treatment: High-voltage machines applied to the temples to scramble the brain in hopes of changing sexual orientation.

  • In $1974$, homosexuality was removed from medical books as a mental disorder, ending the threat of involuntary institutionalization and these operations.

The Rise of the New Right

• The Conservative Movement or "New Right" emerged as a response to the perceived radicalism of the $1960s$ movements.

• Religious Justifications: The New Right utilized religious arguments to oppose equal rights:

  • Race: Argued that God created different colors, justifying racial distinctions.

  • Gender: Argued God created different genders with distinct roles.

  • LGBTQ Rights: Argued being LGBTQ went against God’s design.

• Evangelicalism and Prosperity Theology: Evangelicals promoted the idea that economic success is tied to moral behavior and following the Bible. They argued poverty in cities was a result of immorality rather than deindustrialization or wage gaps.

• Megachurches: The move toward large-scale, televised Sunday sermons allowed conservative messages to reach broad audiences and encouraged political activism.

• Concerned Women of America (CWA): An organization that opposed homosexuality, pornography, abortion, the ERA, and no-fault divorce.

  • No-fault Divorce: The CWA argued that divorce should only be legal in cases of infidelity (fault), as they believed falling out of love was not a biblical justification.

• Social and Economic Stances:

  • Busing: Opposed the practice of transporting students to different parts of the city to achieve school integration, citing costs and student comfort.

  • Labor Unions: Generally opposed by the New Right.

  • Affirmative Action: Opposed the policy, arguing it was unnecessary and based on a lie regarding discrimination.

  • Immigration: Desired an end to immigration from South America, Europe, and Africa, claiming it threatened American values.

  • Environmental Reform: Opposed the "green movement" and saw environmental regulations as unnecessary "hocus pocus."

  • Welfare: Opposed food stamps, Medicaid, and school lunches, arguing the government should not pay for the poor and that middle-class taxes should not fund these programs.

The Presidency of Ronald Reagan and Reaganomics

• Election of $1980$: Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter in a major landslide. Carter, though viewed as a good man, was hindered by a poor economy and high inflation.

• Reagan’s Background: A former actor and Governor of California. Notably, in $1967$, he signed a major gun reform law in California to prevent the Black Panther Party from carrying weapons.

• Economic Strategy (Trickle-down Theory):

  • Reagan implemented massive tax cuts for the upper class through the Economic Recovery Tax Act.

  • Trickle-down Theory: The belief that reducing taxes on the wealthy and corporations would lead them to reinvest in their factories and pay workers more, with benefits eventually "trickling down" to the working class.

  • Critique: Opponents characterized this as "pissing in the face" of the working class, represented by a famous meme from the $1984$ election.

• Deregulation and Spending Cuts:

  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Reagan cut spending and stopped investigations into waste sites and toxic materials in water.

  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): Spending was reduced, leading to fewer investigations into toxic or dangerous work environments (e.g., scaffolding safety).

  • Social Programs: Cut funding for food stamps, Medicaid, and school lunches.

• Outsourcing: This process, which began under President Richard Nixon, continued under Reagan. Companies moved jobs to other countries (such as China or other parts of Asia) to avoid minimum wage laws and safety regulations.

• Economic Statistics under Reagan:

  • Unemployment reached $6\%$.

  • Poverty levels ranged from $11\%$ to $15\%$.

  • Inflation dropped below $2\%$, fueled largely by the lower cost of goods produced through outsourcing.

The End of the Cold War

• The Berlin Wall: The physical wall separating West Berlin (Democratic Capitalism) and East Berlin (Communism/USSR) began to fall as the Soviet Union lost control.

• Dissolution of the USSR:

  • Countries including Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia revolted and left the Soviet Union.

  • The USSR could not stop these revolutions because its resources and soldiers were tied up in a war in the Middle East.

  • In December $1991$, Mikhail Gorbachev signed the paperwork to officially end the Cold War while Reagan was in power.

  • The Soviet Union dissolved, and Russia briefly became a democratic capitalist nation in $1993$.

• Cultural Symbolism: The introduction of Western corporations like Pizza Hut and McDonald’s into Russia symbolized the shift away from collective ownership. A famous advertisement featured Gorbachev promoting Pizza Hut to celebrate the arrival of capitalism.

Contemporary Media and Reporting

World News Tonight with Peter Jennings - Berlin Report:

• Observations: Thousands, and eventually tens of thousands, of West Germans gathered at the Berlin Wall. The crowd shouted, "The wall must go."

• Status of the Wall: Jennings reported the wall had become "suddenly irrelevant," described as being in a party-like atmosphere.

• Government Response: The East German government announced they would use bulldozers to create at least a dozen more openings in the wall. Additionally, the East German communist leadership announced a new election law.