APUSH Chapter 29
Chapter 29: Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s
1950’s Conformity to 1960’s Change
The 1950s was a decade of conformity. The “Greatest Generation” wanted a comfortable life for their “Baby Boomer” children following the hardships of the Great Depression and WWII.
The “Baby Boomers,” however, wanted more than conformity. Despite the Civil Rights Movement starting in the 1950s, the 1960s is seen as the backlash decade to the 1950s. Change was being sought by almost every minority group (except conservative housewives and Dixiecrats).
Kennedy’s Inaugural Address—1961
At his inauguration, the young president set a challenging and inspiring tone. He called on Americans to be ready for the challenges of the Cold War (“We will pay any price, bear any burden”) and for a life of service to the country and the world (“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”).
Kennedy and the Cold War
Alliance for Progress
This charter, between the US and 22 Latin American countries, focused on the economic and social development of member countries as long as they maintained a democratic government.
Despite some minor improvements with the construction of schools, hospitals, and power plants, the agreement was largely a failure. US aid diminished over the years, while tensions rose between the US and Latin America.
Peace Corps—1961
The Peace Corps was a manifestation of the idealism of the inaugural address. It sent American volunteers to third world countries to teach, improve health care, and share advanced farming techniques. By 2009 195,000 volunteers had served in 139 countries around the world.
Flexible Response
JFK and his Defense Secretary Robert McNamara developed a strategy of flexible response. Where the tendency in the Eisenhower years had been to replace troops with nuclear weapons (to get “more bang for the buck”) and then to rely on massive retaliation to deter Soviet aggression, Kennedy wanted a range of options to enable the US to match the level of force to the provocation. To carry this out, Kennedy increased funding for conventional forces and strengthened the Green Berets.
The drawback to this approach is that it made US military involvement in foreign conflicts more likely since the military had options other than nuclear annihilation.
Bay of Pigs Invasion—April 1961
To eliminate the perceived menace of a communist Cuba ninety miles from the US, the Eisenhower administration had developed plans to invade Cuba with a force of Cuban exiles supported by the CIA. This would, the CIA thought, lead to a general uprising of the Cuban people who would overthrow Fidel Castro. When Kennedy became president, he approved the invasion.
The invasion was a disaster. Kennedy decided not to provide necessary air support in an attempt to hide US involvement. The Cubans captured 1,200 of the invaders, who were held for two years until ransomed for $62 million in medicine and humanitarian supplies.
Kennedy continued to work against Castro and support efforts to assassinate him.
Berlin Wall—1961 (NOT explicit in OpenStax)
When Soviet Premier Khrushchev met Kennedy in Vienna in April 1961, he told Kennedy that the US refusal to remove its troops from divided Berlin was a provocation that could lead to war. Kennedy responded by increasing draft calls, ordering reservists to active duty, and asking Congress for increased defense appropriations.
In August, the Soviets sealed off their zone of Berlin and constructed a wall to stop the flow of Germans from the communist East Berlin to the democratic West Berlin. The Berlin Wall became a visible symbol of the Soviet willingness to use force to maintain control over Eastern Europe. Over the years, 192 people died trying to cross the Wall into freedom.
Cuban Missile Crisis—October 1962
With clear evidence that the US was willing to take hostile actions against the communist regime in Cuba, the Soviet Union decided to put intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. This would serve as a deterrent to another US attack.
When US U-2 spy planes brought back photos showing the construction of launch sites, Kennedy demanded that Russia remove the missiles. He announced a naval quarantine (a blockade) to stop any additional missiles from being delivered. And he warned that the US would dismantle the missiles already in Cuba by force if the Soviets did not remove them.
Nuclear war appeared near, but the Soviets decided to respect the quarantine and removed the missiles in return for a US promise to never invade Cuba and to remove US “secret” nuclear weapons from Turkey (Yes, the KGB knew about those…).
We actually came much closer to nuclear war than what it seems.
Brinkmanship
During the Cold War, the US expressed its willingness to threaten nuclear war to deter Soviet expansion. The assumption was that the Soviets, seeing the US on the brink of war and apparently willing to take the next step, would back down rather than risk WWIII.
“Limited” Nuclear Test Ban Treaty—1963
Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, both nations took steps to reduce tensions. A hotline allowing instantaneous communication between Washington and Moscow in case of a crisis was installed. Kennedy gave an address at American University calling for both sides to rethink the Cold War.
In July the US, USSR, and Great Britain agreed to ban nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere (atmospheric tests had spread radioactive fallout around the globe), in space, and underwater. This was seen as a significant step toward a more peaceful world.
Dien Bien Phu—1954
In 1954 the Vietminh surrounded 12,000 French troops at the fortress of Dien Bien Phu. The French asked for American troops, Eisenhower refused, and the French had to surrender.
Following the French surrender, an international conference in Geneva arranged for Vietnam to be divided temporarily at the seventeenth parallel and for elections to be held in 1956 to choose the government of a unified Vietnam.
SEATO—1954 (NOT in OpenStax)
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, with the US, Britain, and France joining nations from the area, was a counterpart of NATO. SEATO pledged mutual aid to resist armed aggression including civil wars involving foreign aggression.
Ngo Dinh Diem
The US helped to install Diem, a fierce anti-communist, in power in South Vietnam. When it became clear that Ho would defeat Diem in the 1956 elections, Diem, with US backing, pulled out of the elections.
Diem was never popular in South Vietnam. A Catholic in a Buddhist country, he aroused anger by suppressing the Buddhist majority. He refused to implement land reform, and his government was marked by corruption.
Finally, with the approval of the Kennedy administration, Diem was overthrown in a coup and killed.
American Military Advisers in Vietnam
Like Eisenhower, JFK was a believer in the domino theory. Determined not to allow communism to gain more ground in Asia, Kennedy increased the number of American troops in Vietnam from 700 to 16,000 by the end of 1963. These troops were not supposed to fight the enemy but to train the South Vietnamese forces to fight effectively.
Back in the US
Greensboro Sit-Ins—1960
Four black college students went to a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, asked to be served, and refused to leave when they weren’t. They came back the next day, and others joined them. Over five months, the sit-ins in Greensboro grew and spread to other cities throughout the South.
In October, MLK, Jr. was arrested during a sit-in demonstration in Atlanta, GA.
Civil Rights Act of 1960
This act amended the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and set in place federal regulation of local voter registration polls. This included inspections of registration centers and penalties for anyone who obstructed one’s right to vote.
The Warren Commission
Speculation surrounded JFK’s assassination. Conspiracy theorists said it was the Russians, Castro, or even the US government. One theory suggested his brother, Robert Kennedy, who was head of the CIA at the time, may have had something to do with it.
To put these theories to rest, LBJ commissioned an investigation led by Chief Justice Earl Warren. The extensive investigation, despite a lack of hard evidence, concluded JFK’s assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald.
Despite this, there are still questions around JFK’s assassination. President Trump delayed the release of all federal documents associated with the assassination. As of right now, there over 54,000 documents related to JFK’s assassination: This is seriously the largest Excel Spreadsheet I have ever seen in my entire life…
LBJ’s Great Society
Johnson’s political hero was FDR. He proposed a New Deal-like program, the Great Society. This had two main goals: fighting a war on poverty and passing meaningful civil rights legislation.
In addition, LBJ pushed through Congress aid to education, Medicare and Medicaid, support for the arts, and immigration reform.
The Other America—1962 (NOT in OpenStax)
Michael Harrington’s book The Other America documented the persistence of poverty in the US. He noted the high rate of poverty among the elderly, among the working poor who often received less than minimum wage, and among minorities.
This book is credited with helping to stimulate Johnson’s war on poverty and win support for Medicare (health care for the elderly), Medicaid (health care for the poor), and an indexing of Social Security benefits to keep pace with rising inflation.
1964 Presidential Election (NOT in OpenStax)
The Democrats nominated Kennedy’s successor Lyndon Johnson and wrote their most liberal platform since Fair Deal. Johnson promised to keep American soldiers out of the fighting in Vietnam.
The Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater who supported an end to the graduated income tax, questioned Social Security, opposed civil rights legislation, and recommended bombing North Vietnam.
Johnson won by a landslide; the Democrats won large majorities in Congress as well.
Elementary and Secondary Education Act – 1965
LBJ, a former teacher and debate coach, knew education was fundamental to his “War on Poverty.” The ESEA authorized the federal government to direct federal funds to target the most disadvantaged children living in poverty in an attempt to equalize education access.
In the same year, LBJ also signed into law the Higher Education Act which focused on providing financial assistance to help students seek postsecondary education opportunities.
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
Establishes NPR and PBS.
The Hart-Celler Act—1965
The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, abolished the national origins quota system that had controlled US immigration policy since the 1920s. It established a new immigration policy based on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor to the United States.
In the thirty years following passage of the Hart-Celler Act, more than 18 million legal immigrants entered the United States, more than three times the number admitted over the preceding thirty years. The growth of immigration from Mexico was especially dramatic. Between 1965 and 2000, the highest number of immigrants (4.3 million) to the U.S. came from Mexico.
Immediate relatives of US citizens were not covered by the restriction on the number of visas; once immigrants had naturalized, they were able to sponsor relatives in their native lands in an ever-lengthening migratory process called chain migration.
Social Security Act of 1965
This act established Medicare, a basic program of insurance for people 65 and older. Medicaid was added to this act as an amendment; it provided health care to low-income families.
LBJ and the Civil Right Movement
Civil Rights Act—1964
With Johnson’s strong support, Congress passed the strongest civil rights law in American history. This law banned discrimination in public accommodations, gave the federal government new powers to fight discrimination in voting and education, and forbade discrimination in employment.
Twenty-Fourth Amendment—1964
This banned poll taxes in federal elections, one of the techniques that were still being used in five Southern states to discourage voting by African Americans.
A 1966 Supreme Court decision outlawed poll taxes in all elections.
Selma March and “Bloody Sunday”
To no one’s surprise, Southern cities were not following the various Civil Rights acts that had been implemented in the previous decade. This had reached a boiling point in March 1965, when MLK, Jr. and the SCLC were asked to help with voter registration efforts.
Originally, MLK, Jr. scheduled the demonstration on March 7, 1965. Although MLK, Jr. was going to join the march after his Sunday preaching, the marchers who started were immediately met with police violence after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They were spat upon, trampled by horses, and beaten. Over 50 people were hospitalized on “Bloody Sunday.” ABC interrupted its telecast of Judgement at Nuremberg to show millions of Americans the scenes of Southern police violently beating peaceful protesters.
The actual Selma March to Montgomery did not take place until March 21. A federal judge ruled it was lawful for the large group of people to organize and protest. The three to eight thousand marchers, led by King, would be protected by nearly 4,000 National Guardsmen, Army soldiers, federal marshals, and FBI agents. The march is estimated to have grown to 25,000 marchers throughout the five days, fifty miles, march to Montgomery.
Voting Rights Act—1965
This law authorized federal registrars to register voters and to suspend literacy tests in areas where less than half the eligible minority voters were registered.
The impact of this and the Twenty-fourth Amendment was to boost black voter registration in the South from one million in 1964 to three million in 1968.
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Commonly referred to as the Fair Housing Act (due to its Title VIII), this act prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
LBJ and Vietnam
Tonkin Gulf Resolution—1964
In early August of 1964, Johnson reported that North Vietnamese ships had engaged in two separate “unprovoked attacks” on the US destroyer Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. The North Vietnamese claimed that the Maddox had been engaged in an attack on its shores (which it was).
Johnson urged Congress to give him authority to respond. Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, an authorization “to take all necessary means to repel any armed attack against forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” This was not a declaration of war, but it gave the president almost unlimited power to expand the conflict.
Johnson used the Tonkin Gulf Resolution to escalate the war by bombing North Vietnam and by increasing the number of American troops to 525,000 in 1967.
Johnson’s War Aims
Johnson’s Administration laid out the following aims (from The Pentagon Papers):
70% --To avoid a humiliating US defeat (to our reputation as a guarantor).
20%--To keep SVN (and then adjacent) territory from Chinese hands.
10%--To permit the people of SVN to enjoy a better, freer way of life.
ALSO--To emerge from crisis without unacceptable taint from methods used.
NOT--To "help a friend," although it would be hard to stay in if asked out.
Operation Rolling Thunder—1965
In an attempt to force the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table, Johnson began bombing the North. Between 1965 and 1968, the US dropped three times the total tonnage of bombs used by all combatants in WWII.
Hawks and Doves (NOT explicit in OpenStax)
Hawks were supporters of the war in Vietnam. They generally based their support on the need to stop communist aggression, on the importance of protecting US national security, and on patriotic support for the president and the troops.
Doves were opponents of the war. Their position was based on several factors: The war in Vietnam was a civil war in which the US had no business intervening, the US could not act as the world’s policeman and solve every problem, and the expense of the Vietnam War was draining the resources the country needed for the Great Society’s social programs.
The Impact of the Tet Offensive—January 1968
At the end of 1967, the US commander General William Westmoreland told Americans that the North Vietnamese were losing and that the end of the war was near. But in January 1968, the Communists launched the Tet Offensive, attacked cities that the US had considered secure, and killed over 1,100 US troops.
Despite the fact that Tet was a major defeat for the communists in military terms, Americans lost confidence in official announcements of optimism about the war.
Credibility Gap
This term described the perception that what Lyndon Johnson was telling the American people about the war did not match what they were seeing on their television screens. The Tet Offensive increased the size of this gap, as did the later publication of the Pentagon Papers, which revealed that the government had been systematically deceiving the public about the war.
Mỹ Lai Massacre
At Mỹ Lai, a village in Vietnam, US soldiers looking for Vietcong forces killed anywhere from 347 to 508 old people, women, and children. About 20 women and children were raped. Although the military tried to hush up the story, it eventually came out. Lt. William Calley was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison; Richard Nixon pardoned him in 1974.
News of the massacre further reduced public support for the war.
Election of 1968
Opposition to the war was so strong that LBJ decided not to run for reelection. Until his assassination, Robert Kennedy was perhaps the leading contender. With Kennedy gone, Johnson’s vice president Hubert Humphrey won the nomination at a Chicago convention marked by huge antiwar protests and police brutality.
The Republicans nominated Richard Nixon who pledged to end the war with honor but provided no details.
Independent George Wallace attacked crime, antiwar protestors, civil rights, and Washington bureaucrats. Wallace won 13% of the popular vote.
In a very tight race, Nixon defeated Humphrey.
Back to Civil Rights (Prior to the Civil Rights’ Acts)
Greensboro Sit-Ins—1960
Four black college students went to a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, asked to be served, and refused to leave when they weren’t. They came back the next day, and others joined them. Over five months, the sit-ins in Greensboro grew and spread to other cities throughout the South.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
To coordinate the growing sit-in movement, SNCC was formed.
SNCC was one of the sponsors of 1964’s Freedom Summer, which trained black and white college students in the tactics of nonviolence to register blacks as voters in Mississippi.
By the mid-1960s SNCC leaders were losing patience with the slow pace of the mainstream civil rights movement led by the SCLC and NAACP and were calling for black power.
Freedom Rides—1961
The Supreme Court had desegregated interstate travel, but this ruling was widely ignored in the South. An interracial group sought to test this ruling by riding buses through the South with blacks using facilities designated for whites and vice versa.
The group was beaten by mobs and jailed, but the Freedom Rides forced the Kennedy administration to support the desegregation of interstate travel.
One notable figure was John Lewis. Then only twenty-one, Lewis went on to serve as the head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), to act as one of the Big Six organizing the 1963 March on Washington, to help organize Freedom Summer, to co-lead the March from Selma to Montgomery, and to serve as a long-time congressman from Georgia.
Police Dogs and Fire Hoses in Birmingham— May 1963
Birmingham, Alabama, was considered the most segregated city in the nation. Martin Luther King sought to use nonviolent confrontation to challenge the segregation laws.
Birmingham officials obtained an injunction barring protests. King and others were arrested. While in jail, King composed his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” defending nonviolent protest and asserting the moral obligation to break unjust laws. Wrote King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
The protests drew national attention when hundreds of children were jailed for marching and when Birmingham officials used police dogs and fire hoses to turn back the marchers.
Martin Luther King’s March on Washington—August 1963
Civil rights groups planned a massive march on Washington to show support for proposed civil rights legislation. Two hundred thousand people marched and heard King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Mississippi Freedom Summer—1964
Organized by SNCC and CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality), Freedom Summer targeted Mississippi as the state most hostile to racial equality and attempted to register as many black voters as possible. Only 6.7 percent of African Americans in the state were registered to vote, the lowest percentage in the country.
Black and white college students were trained in nonviolence. Facing threats and attacks including killings from the KKK and others, the students registered 1200 new black voters.
In addition, Freedom Summer volunteers ran Freedom Schools to improve education for black children and started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that sent a delegation to the national Democratic convention, demanding that the party recognize and eliminate racial discrimination within the party.
One notable individual was Fannie Lou Hamer, a former sharecropper who became vice chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and whose plainspoken eloquence drew national attention to her cause.
1968
1968 is considered to be one of the most pivotal years in the 20th Century. In fact, one of the history professors at LBCC spends 8/10 weeks of HST-203 (US History: 1920-2016) in 1968.
The Tet Offensive, the 1968 Summer Olympics, the assassination of MLK, Jr., the assassination of RFK, the 1968 election, resulting in the election of Nixon, were just some of the major events occurring in 1968. For more information, see this video. There is also the famous History Channel documentary narrated by Tom Brokaw (this was before History Channel became about aliens, pawn shops, and professional yard sale buyers).
Watts and Other Urban Riots—1965-1968
In August 1965, just days after the Voting Rights Act was signed, the black Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts exploded in a six-day riot, touched off by the arrest of a black motorist by a white police officer. Thirty-four people were killed, 900 injured, and 4,000 arrested. Millions of dollars of property, most businesses in the black neighborhood, were destroyed. In the following summers, similar riots broke out in dozens of other Northern cities.
According to the Kerner Commission Report, the riots in Northern cities were caused by the frustrated hopes of many blacks, the approval and encouragement of violence by both white and black extremists, and the sense many blacks had of being powerless in a white society.
Black Power Movement
SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) first popularized the term black power. This meant taking pride in black culture and history, the rejection of integration and assimilation as a goal, and urging blacks to act together for their common interest and to stand together to assert their rights.
One manifestation of the Black Power movement was the Black Panther party that monitored police behavior, provided meals to poor children, and got involved in a number of violent confrontations with police.
Malcolm X
A powerful spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X presented the message that African Americans needed to “wake up, clean up, and stand up” to achieve freedom. In other words, blacks couldn’t rely on whites granting freedom; blacks needed to seize their freedom “by any means necessary.” Rather than hoping for integration, Malcolm and the Nation of Islam favored separatism and black self-sufficiency.
Although he did not originate the term black power, Malcolm advocated many of its principles prior to his assassination in 1965.
Despite similar views, Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam had a fallout out in March 1964. Malcolm X saw a greater necessity for the Nation to join the larger civil rights movement. The Nation’s leaders disagreed and ordered Malcolm X to abide by a 90 day period of silence; Malcolm X disagreed and denounced the Nation’s separatist views. After converting to Sunni Islam, Malcolm argued the only solution to the racial problems of the US lies in orthodox Islam. In February 1965, Malcolm was assassinated; three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of his murder.
Mendez v. Westminster (NOT FROM THE SCOTUS) – 1947
In 1947, the US COURT OF APPEALS NINTH CIRCUIT declared the forced segregation of Mexican American students into “Mexican schools” was unconstitutional.
US District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick stated, “A paramount requisite in the American system of public education is social equality. It must be open to all children by unified school association regardless of lineage.”
Hernandez v. Texas – 1954
This SUPREME COURT decision held that the Fourteenth Amendment extends to all “race” groups, not just white and black. This extended the Fourteenth Amendment to those of Mexican Ancestry.
The context for the case was over the murder trial of Pete Hernandez. He was accused of murdering a white man and was put in front of an all-white jury.
Cesar Chavez
Born into a migrant farm-labor family, Chavez grew up and experienced countless examples of discriminatory prejudice in Arizona and California. He also served in the Navy from 1946-1948, which was still segregated.
Despite hating education as a child and adolescent, Chavez would embrace education after his honeymoon with his wife, Helen Fabela, where they explored all the California Missions from Sonoma to San Diego. This influence towards embracing education was furthered by reading about St. Francis, Gandhi, and other nonviolent movements and strategies. This would provide the foundation for Chavez’s legacy.
In 1962, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association, which would evolve into the United Farm Workers. This union sought to increase awareness of the importance and dignity of ALL farm workers. Their symbol was an Aztec Eagle.
This was the beginning of La Causa, a nonviolent movement, utilizing boycotts and picketing tactics, and supported by organized labor, religious groups, minorities, and students. Chavez personally fasted (like Gandhi); the longest lasting 36 days.
Chicano Movement
With its roots in the 1940s and 1950s, following the crucial Hernandez rulings (see above), the Chicano Movement had three primary goals: restoration of land, rights for farm workers, and education reforms.
With respect to the restoration of land, Mexican-Americans were increasingly questioning the legitimacy of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Chicano radicals were calling for the Southwest to be returned to their peoples because it constituted their ancestral homeland, known as Aztlán. I recommend reading “Yo Soy Joaquín” by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales.
The rights for farm workers were being spearheaded and led by United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez. At the height of UFW’s fight, and months before RFK’s assassination, Senator Robert Kennedy broke bread with Chavez after Chavez fasted for 23 days.
Students protested the Eurocentric curriculum and spoke out against high levels of dropout levels among Chicano students, as well as various bans on speaking Spanish in schools.
In the 1970s, the Supreme Court declared it unlawful to keep ELLs from getting an education. Congress also passed the Equal Opportunity Act of 1974, which resulted in more bilingual programs in public schools.
Challenging the Status Quo (Other than for African Americans and Latin@ Americans)
The New Left
The New Left
The term is associated to activists, educators, agitators, and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms on issues such as gay rights, abortion, gender roles and drugs. This was in contrast to the previous leftist/Marxist movements that had taken a vanguard approach to social justice and focused on labor struggles and questioning of social class.
In the U.S., the New Left was associated with the Hippie movement and anti-war college campus protest movements. While initially formed in opposition to the Old Left Democratic Party, groups composing the New Left gradually became central players in the Democratic coalition.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Separate from the counterculture (though often grouped together in the popular mind), leftist groups such as the SDS emerged from the socialist movement in America.
The 1962 Port Huron statement—the manifesto of the SDS—criticized the nuclear arms race, racial discrimination, and corporate power. It called for participatory democracy and nonviolent civil disobedience. The SDS became a leading student group protesting the war in Vietnam.
Berkley’s Free Speech Movement – 1964
This movement brought the mass civil disobedience of the civil rights movement to college campuses, most notably the sit-in, to protest against the Vietnam War. With combining the tactics of the Civil Rights Movements, the FSM would provide the foundation for various other movements led by students.
The Women’s Movement
The Women’s Movement
While the civil rights movement demanded equal rights for African Americans, women also began demanding equal rights. This movement was also known as the Second Wave of Feminism in US History. Which was the first?
Another notable figure of the modern women’s movement was Gloria Steinem, a journalist and political activist who co-founded Ms. magazine and advocated for abortion rights. She also went undercover as a Playboy bunny to expose its exploitative working conditions on its women workers.
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique – 1963
The spark to the women’s movement of the 1960s (Second Wave of Feminism) was a 1963 book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Friedan argued that the supposedly ideal life—mother, wife, homemaker—that society had directed women toward was unfulfilling, frustrating, and depressing.
National Organization for Women (NOW)
Co-founded by Betty Friedan, NOW dedicated their efforts to ending gender discrimination in all areas of American society. Their efforts initially focused on child care, pregnancy leave abortion rights, and pension rights. They also supported the passage and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Despite the amendments supposed defeat in 1982, NOW continues to fight for its ratification.
The Pill
In 1960, the first oral contraceptive, Enovid, was approved by the FDA as a contraceptive. This sparked mass controversy, which coincided with the second wave of feminism. Then, in 1968, the FDA approved intrauterine devices (IUDs).
Despite the FDA approving the Pill and IUDs, feminists were skeptical of the safety behind these contraceptives. In a well-publicized Congressional hearing, feminists challenged the FDA and drug companies who produced birth control. This resulted in a change to the formulation of the Pill and the creation of Patient Package Inserts (PPIs). These are guides for how to safely use a drug product.
Griswold v. Connecticut – 1965 (NOT in OpenStax)
The Supreme Court ruled that married couples could use birth control on the basis of privacy, guaranteed by the Constitution. This did NOT extended birth control to single women. 26 states still outlawed the sale and distribution of birth control.
Eisenstadt v. Baird – 1972 (NOT in OpenStax)
This extended the right for unmarried people to possess and use contraceptives.
Three Forms of Feminism (two pro and one anti)
Radical Feminists
Radical feminists, such as Ruby Doris Smith Robinson and Ti-Grace Atkinson, were often left out in the various organizations associated with the Civil Rights Movement, New Left, NOW, etc. For example, in 1964, Robinson presented a paper titled, “The Position of Women in SNCC” during an SNCC staff meeting. Stokely Carmichael supposedly responded, “The only position for women in the SNCC is prone.”
They saw the women’s movement (liberal feminism) as not going far enough. Radical feminists split from the movement and began forming liberation groups, such as the Redstockings and WITCH (the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell). Some radical feminists, such as Ti-Grace Atkinson denounced marriage as “slavery,” “legalized rape,” and “unpaid labor.”
Liberal Feminists
This was the more popular women’s movement, pushing for the ERA and who adopted “Rosie the Riveter” as their mascot. Liberal feminists, such as Friedan and Steinem, sought for the end of gender discrimination and equal rights for all.
Anti-Feminists
Yes, this group was composed of men, but the largest demographic of antifeminists were suburban housewives. Many housewives were concerned with the passage of the ERA because they thought it would take away “dependence status” via Social Security or be drafted in case of war. The most prominent antifeminist was Phyllis Schlafly, a constitutional lawyer, who organized the “STOP ERA” campaign. STOP was an acronym for “Stop Taking Our Privileges.”
Schlafly tried on several occasions to obtain a Cabinet position in Reagan’s administration. At one point, she also wanted to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Reagan, however, never offered her a position and appointed Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court.
Before her death in 2016, she endorsed candidate Trump in the 2016 election.
Chapter 29: Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s
1950’s Conformity to 1960’s Change
The 1950s was a decade of conformity. The “Greatest Generation” wanted a comfortable life for their “Baby Boomer” children following the hardships of the Great Depression and WWII.
The “Baby Boomers,” however, wanted more than conformity. Despite the Civil Rights Movement starting in the 1950s, the 1960s is seen as the backlash decade to the 1950s. Change was being sought by almost every minority group (except conservative housewives and Dixiecrats).
Kennedy’s Inaugural Address—1961
At his inauguration, the young president set a challenging and inspiring tone. He called on Americans to be ready for the challenges of the Cold War (“We will pay any price, bear any burden”) and for a life of service to the country and the world (“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”).
Kennedy and the Cold War
Alliance for Progress
This charter, between the US and 22 Latin American countries, focused on the economic and social development of member countries as long as they maintained a democratic government.
Despite some minor improvements with the construction of schools, hospitals, and power plants, the agreement was largely a failure. US aid diminished over the years, while tensions rose between the US and Latin America.
Peace Corps—1961
The Peace Corps was a manifestation of the idealism of the inaugural address. It sent American volunteers to third world countries to teach, improve health care, and share advanced farming techniques. By 2009 195,000 volunteers had served in 139 countries around the world.
Flexible Response
JFK and his Defense Secretary Robert McNamara developed a strategy of flexible response. Where the tendency in the Eisenhower years had been to replace troops with nuclear weapons (to get “more bang for the buck”) and then to rely on massive retaliation to deter Soviet aggression, Kennedy wanted a range of options to enable the US to match the level of force to the provocation. To carry this out, Kennedy increased funding for conventional forces and strengthened the Green Berets.
The drawback to this approach is that it made US military involvement in foreign conflicts more likely since the military had options other than nuclear annihilation.
Bay of Pigs Invasion—April 1961
To eliminate the perceived menace of a communist Cuba ninety miles from the US, the Eisenhower administration had developed plans to invade Cuba with a force of Cuban exiles supported by the CIA. This would, the CIA thought, lead to a general uprising of the Cuban people who would overthrow Fidel Castro. When Kennedy became president, he approved the invasion.
The invasion was a disaster. Kennedy decided not to provide necessary air support in an attempt to hide US involvement. The Cubans captured 1,200 of the invaders, who were held for two years until ransomed for $62 million in medicine and humanitarian supplies.
Kennedy continued to work against Castro and support efforts to assassinate him.
Berlin Wall—1961 (NOT explicit in OpenStax)
When Soviet Premier Khrushchev met Kennedy in Vienna in April 1961, he told Kennedy that the US refusal to remove its troops from divided Berlin was a provocation that could lead to war. Kennedy responded by increasing draft calls, ordering reservists to active duty, and asking Congress for increased defense appropriations.
In August, the Soviets sealed off their zone of Berlin and constructed a wall to stop the flow of Germans from the communist East Berlin to the democratic West Berlin. The Berlin Wall became a visible symbol of the Soviet willingness to use force to maintain control over Eastern Europe. Over the years, 192 people died trying to cross the Wall into freedom.
Cuban Missile Crisis—October 1962
With clear evidence that the US was willing to take hostile actions against the communist regime in Cuba, the Soviet Union decided to put intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. This would serve as a deterrent to another US attack.
When US U-2 spy planes brought back photos showing the construction of launch sites, Kennedy demanded that Russia remove the missiles. He announced a naval quarantine (a blockade) to stop any additional missiles from being delivered. And he warned that the US would dismantle the missiles already in Cuba by force if the Soviets did not remove them.
Nuclear war appeared near, but the Soviets decided to respect the quarantine and removed the missiles in return for a US promise to never invade Cuba and to remove US “secret” nuclear weapons from Turkey (Yes, the KGB knew about those…).
We actually came much closer to nuclear war than what it seems.
Brinkmanship
During the Cold War, the US expressed its willingness to threaten nuclear war to deter Soviet expansion. The assumption was that the Soviets, seeing the US on the brink of war and apparently willing to take the next step, would back down rather than risk WWIII.
“Limited” Nuclear Test Ban Treaty—1963
Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, both nations took steps to reduce tensions. A hotline allowing instantaneous communication between Washington and Moscow in case of a crisis was installed. Kennedy gave an address at American University calling for both sides to rethink the Cold War.
In July the US, USSR, and Great Britain agreed to ban nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere (atmospheric tests had spread radioactive fallout around the globe), in space, and underwater. This was seen as a significant step toward a more peaceful world.
Dien Bien Phu—1954
In 1954 the Vietminh surrounded 12,000 French troops at the fortress of Dien Bien Phu. The French asked for American troops, Eisenhower refused, and the French had to surrender.
Following the French surrender, an international conference in Geneva arranged for Vietnam to be divided temporarily at the seventeenth parallel and for elections to be held in 1956 to choose the government of a unified Vietnam.
SEATO—1954 (NOT in OpenStax)
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, with the US, Britain, and France joining nations from the area, was a counterpart of NATO. SEATO pledged mutual aid to resist armed aggression including civil wars involving foreign aggression.
Ngo Dinh Diem
The US helped to install Diem, a fierce anti-communist, in power in South Vietnam. When it became clear that Ho would defeat Diem in the 1956 elections, Diem, with US backing, pulled out of the elections.
Diem was never popular in South Vietnam. A Catholic in a Buddhist country, he aroused anger by suppressing the Buddhist majority. He refused to implement land reform, and his government was marked by corruption.
Finally, with the approval of the Kennedy administration, Diem was overthrown in a coup and killed.
American Military Advisers in Vietnam
Like Eisenhower, JFK was a believer in the domino theory. Determined not to allow communism to gain more ground in Asia, Kennedy increased the number of American troops in Vietnam from 700 to 16,000 by the end of 1963. These troops were not supposed to fight the enemy but to train the South Vietnamese forces to fight effectively.
Back in the US
Greensboro Sit-Ins—1960
Four black college students went to a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, asked to be served, and refused to leave when they weren’t. They came back the next day, and others joined them. Over five months, the sit-ins in Greensboro grew and spread to other cities throughout the South.
In October, MLK, Jr. was arrested during a sit-in demonstration in Atlanta, GA.
Civil Rights Act of 1960
This act amended the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and set in place federal regulation of local voter registration polls. This included inspections of registration centers and penalties for anyone who obstructed one’s right to vote.
The Warren Commission
Speculation surrounded JFK’s assassination. Conspiracy theorists said it was the Russians, Castro, or even the US government. One theory suggested his brother, Robert Kennedy, who was head of the CIA at the time, may have had something to do with it.
To put these theories to rest, LBJ commissioned an investigation led by Chief Justice Earl Warren. The extensive investigation, despite a lack of hard evidence, concluded JFK’s assassin was Lee Harvey Oswald.
Despite this, there are still questions around JFK’s assassination. President Trump delayed the release of all federal documents associated with the assassination. As of right now, there over 54,000 documents related to JFK’s assassination: This is seriously the largest Excel Spreadsheet I have ever seen in my entire life…
LBJ’s Great Society
Johnson’s political hero was FDR. He proposed a New Deal-like program, the Great Society. This had two main goals: fighting a war on poverty and passing meaningful civil rights legislation.
In addition, LBJ pushed through Congress aid to education, Medicare and Medicaid, support for the arts, and immigration reform.
The Other America—1962 (NOT in OpenStax)
Michael Harrington’s book The Other America documented the persistence of poverty in the US. He noted the high rate of poverty among the elderly, among the working poor who often received less than minimum wage, and among minorities.
This book is credited with helping to stimulate Johnson’s war on poverty and win support for Medicare (health care for the elderly), Medicaid (health care for the poor), and an indexing of Social Security benefits to keep pace with rising inflation.
1964 Presidential Election (NOT in OpenStax)
The Democrats nominated Kennedy’s successor Lyndon Johnson and wrote their most liberal platform since Fair Deal. Johnson promised to keep American soldiers out of the fighting in Vietnam.
The Republicans nominated Barry Goldwater who supported an end to the graduated income tax, questioned Social Security, opposed civil rights legislation, and recommended bombing North Vietnam.
Johnson won by a landslide; the Democrats won large majorities in Congress as well.
Elementary and Secondary Education Act – 1965
LBJ, a former teacher and debate coach, knew education was fundamental to his “War on Poverty.” The ESEA authorized the federal government to direct federal funds to target the most disadvantaged children living in poverty in an attempt to equalize education access.
In the same year, LBJ also signed into law the Higher Education Act which focused on providing financial assistance to help students seek postsecondary education opportunities.
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
Establishes NPR and PBS.
The Hart-Celler Act—1965
The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, abolished the national origins quota system that had controlled US immigration policy since the 1920s. It established a new immigration policy based on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor to the United States.
In the thirty years following passage of the Hart-Celler Act, more than 18 million legal immigrants entered the United States, more than three times the number admitted over the preceding thirty years. The growth of immigration from Mexico was especially dramatic. Between 1965 and 2000, the highest number of immigrants (4.3 million) to the U.S. came from Mexico.
Immediate relatives of US citizens were not covered by the restriction on the number of visas; once immigrants had naturalized, they were able to sponsor relatives in their native lands in an ever-lengthening migratory process called chain migration.
Social Security Act of 1965
This act established Medicare, a basic program of insurance for people 65 and older. Medicaid was added to this act as an amendment; it provided health care to low-income families.
LBJ and the Civil Right Movement
Civil Rights Act—1964
With Johnson’s strong support, Congress passed the strongest civil rights law in American history. This law banned discrimination in public accommodations, gave the federal government new powers to fight discrimination in voting and education, and forbade discrimination in employment.
Twenty-Fourth Amendment—1964
This banned poll taxes in federal elections, one of the techniques that were still being used in five Southern states to discourage voting by African Americans.
A 1966 Supreme Court decision outlawed poll taxes in all elections.
Selma March and “Bloody Sunday”
To no one’s surprise, Southern cities were not following the various Civil Rights acts that had been implemented in the previous decade. This had reached a boiling point in March 1965, when MLK, Jr. and the SCLC were asked to help with voter registration efforts.
Originally, MLK, Jr. scheduled the demonstration on March 7, 1965. Although MLK, Jr. was going to join the march after his Sunday preaching, the marchers who started were immediately met with police violence after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They were spat upon, trampled by horses, and beaten. Over 50 people were hospitalized on “Bloody Sunday.” ABC interrupted its telecast of Judgement at Nuremberg to show millions of Americans the scenes of Southern police violently beating peaceful protesters.
The actual Selma March to Montgomery did not take place until March 21. A federal judge ruled it was lawful for the large group of people to organize and protest. The three to eight thousand marchers, led by King, would be protected by nearly 4,000 National Guardsmen, Army soldiers, federal marshals, and FBI agents. The march is estimated to have grown to 25,000 marchers throughout the five days, fifty miles, march to Montgomery.
Voting Rights Act—1965
This law authorized federal registrars to register voters and to suspend literacy tests in areas where less than half the eligible minority voters were registered.
The impact of this and the Twenty-fourth Amendment was to boost black voter registration in the South from one million in 1964 to three million in 1968.
Civil Rights Act of 1968
Commonly referred to as the Fair Housing Act (due to its Title VIII), this act prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
LBJ and Vietnam
Tonkin Gulf Resolution—1964
In early August of 1964, Johnson reported that North Vietnamese ships had engaged in two separate “unprovoked attacks” on the US destroyer Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. The North Vietnamese claimed that the Maddox had been engaged in an attack on its shores (which it was).
Johnson urged Congress to give him authority to respond. Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, an authorization “to take all necessary means to repel any armed attack against forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” This was not a declaration of war, but it gave the president almost unlimited power to expand the conflict.
Johnson used the Tonkin Gulf Resolution to escalate the war by bombing North Vietnam and by increasing the number of American troops to 525,000 in 1967.
Johnson’s War Aims
Johnson’s Administration laid out the following aims (from The Pentagon Papers):
70% --To avoid a humiliating US defeat (to our reputation as a guarantor).
20%--To keep SVN (and then adjacent) territory from Chinese hands.
10%--To permit the people of SVN to enjoy a better, freer way of life.
ALSO--To emerge from crisis without unacceptable taint from methods used.
NOT--To "help a friend," although it would be hard to stay in if asked out.
Operation Rolling Thunder—1965
In an attempt to force the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table, Johnson began bombing the North. Between 1965 and 1968, the US dropped three times the total tonnage of bombs used by all combatants in WWII.
Hawks and Doves (NOT explicit in OpenStax)
Hawks were supporters of the war in Vietnam. They generally based their support on the need to stop communist aggression, on the importance of protecting US national security, and on patriotic support for the president and the troops.
Doves were opponents of the war. Their position was based on several factors: The war in Vietnam was a civil war in which the US had no business intervening, the US could not act as the world’s policeman and solve every problem, and the expense of the Vietnam War was draining the resources the country needed for the Great Society’s social programs.
The Impact of the Tet Offensive—January 1968
At the end of 1967, the US commander General William Westmoreland told Americans that the North Vietnamese were losing and that the end of the war was near. But in January 1968, the Communists launched the Tet Offensive, attacked cities that the US had considered secure, and killed over 1,100 US troops.
Despite the fact that Tet was a major defeat for the communists in military terms, Americans lost confidence in official announcements of optimism about the war.
Credibility Gap
This term described the perception that what Lyndon Johnson was telling the American people about the war did not match what they were seeing on their television screens. The Tet Offensive increased the size of this gap, as did the later publication of the Pentagon Papers, which revealed that the government had been systematically deceiving the public about the war.
Mỹ Lai Massacre
At Mỹ Lai, a village in Vietnam, US soldiers looking for Vietcong forces killed anywhere from 347 to 508 old people, women, and children. About 20 women and children were raped. Although the military tried to hush up the story, it eventually came out. Lt. William Calley was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison; Richard Nixon pardoned him in 1974.
News of the massacre further reduced public support for the war.
Election of 1968
Opposition to the war was so strong that LBJ decided not to run for reelection. Until his assassination, Robert Kennedy was perhaps the leading contender. With Kennedy gone, Johnson’s vice president Hubert Humphrey won the nomination at a Chicago convention marked by huge antiwar protests and police brutality.
The Republicans nominated Richard Nixon who pledged to end the war with honor but provided no details.
Independent George Wallace attacked crime, antiwar protestors, civil rights, and Washington bureaucrats. Wallace won 13% of the popular vote.
In a very tight race, Nixon defeated Humphrey.
Back to Civil Rights (Prior to the Civil Rights’ Acts)
Greensboro Sit-Ins—1960
Four black college students went to a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, asked to be served, and refused to leave when they weren’t. They came back the next day, and others joined them. Over five months, the sit-ins in Greensboro grew and spread to other cities throughout the South.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
To coordinate the growing sit-in movement, SNCC was formed.
SNCC was one of the sponsors of 1964’s Freedom Summer, which trained black and white college students in the tactics of nonviolence to register blacks as voters in Mississippi.
By the mid-1960s SNCC leaders were losing patience with the slow pace of the mainstream civil rights movement led by the SCLC and NAACP and were calling for black power.
Freedom Rides—1961
The Supreme Court had desegregated interstate travel, but this ruling was widely ignored in the South. An interracial group sought to test this ruling by riding buses through the South with blacks using facilities designated for whites and vice versa.
The group was beaten by mobs and jailed, but the Freedom Rides forced the Kennedy administration to support the desegregation of interstate travel.
One notable figure was John Lewis. Then only twenty-one, Lewis went on to serve as the head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), to act as one of the Big Six organizing the 1963 March on Washington, to help organize Freedom Summer, to co-lead the March from Selma to Montgomery, and to serve as a long-time congressman from Georgia.
Police Dogs and Fire Hoses in Birmingham— May 1963
Birmingham, Alabama, was considered the most segregated city in the nation. Martin Luther King sought to use nonviolent confrontation to challenge the segregation laws.
Birmingham officials obtained an injunction barring protests. King and others were arrested. While in jail, King composed his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” defending nonviolent protest and asserting the moral obligation to break unjust laws. Wrote King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
The protests drew national attention when hundreds of children were jailed for marching and when Birmingham officials used police dogs and fire hoses to turn back the marchers.
Martin Luther King’s March on Washington—August 1963
Civil rights groups planned a massive march on Washington to show support for proposed civil rights legislation. Two hundred thousand people marched and heard King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Mississippi Freedom Summer—1964
Organized by SNCC and CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality), Freedom Summer targeted Mississippi as the state most hostile to racial equality and attempted to register as many black voters as possible. Only 6.7 percent of African Americans in the state were registered to vote, the lowest percentage in the country.
Black and white college students were trained in nonviolence. Facing threats and attacks including killings from the KKK and others, the students registered 1200 new black voters.
In addition, Freedom Summer volunteers ran Freedom Schools to improve education for black children and started the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party that sent a delegation to the national Democratic convention, demanding that the party recognize and eliminate racial discrimination within the party.
One notable individual was Fannie Lou Hamer, a former sharecropper who became vice chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and whose plainspoken eloquence drew national attention to her cause.
1968
1968 is considered to be one of the most pivotal years in the 20th Century. In fact, one of the history professors at LBCC spends 8/10 weeks of HST-203 (US History: 1920-2016) in 1968.
The Tet Offensive, the 1968 Summer Olympics, the assassination of MLK, Jr., the assassination of RFK, the 1968 election, resulting in the election of Nixon, were just some of the major events occurring in 1968. For more information, see this video. There is also the famous History Channel documentary narrated by Tom Brokaw (this was before History Channel became about aliens, pawn shops, and professional yard sale buyers).
Watts and Other Urban Riots—1965-1968
In August 1965, just days after the Voting Rights Act was signed, the black Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts exploded in a six-day riot, touched off by the arrest of a black motorist by a white police officer. Thirty-four people were killed, 900 injured, and 4,000 arrested. Millions of dollars of property, most businesses in the black neighborhood, were destroyed. In the following summers, similar riots broke out in dozens of other Northern cities.
According to the Kerner Commission Report, the riots in Northern cities were caused by the frustrated hopes of many blacks, the approval and encouragement of violence by both white and black extremists, and the sense many blacks had of being powerless in a white society.
Black Power Movement
SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) first popularized the term black power. This meant taking pride in black culture and history, the rejection of integration and assimilation as a goal, and urging blacks to act together for their common interest and to stand together to assert their rights.
One manifestation of the Black Power movement was the Black Panther party that monitored police behavior, provided meals to poor children, and got involved in a number of violent confrontations with police.
Malcolm X
A powerful spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X presented the message that African Americans needed to “wake up, clean up, and stand up” to achieve freedom. In other words, blacks couldn’t rely on whites granting freedom; blacks needed to seize their freedom “by any means necessary.” Rather than hoping for integration, Malcolm and the Nation of Islam favored separatism and black self-sufficiency.
Although he did not originate the term black power, Malcolm advocated many of its principles prior to his assassination in 1965.
Despite similar views, Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam had a fallout out in March 1964. Malcolm X saw a greater necessity for the Nation to join the larger civil rights movement. The Nation’s leaders disagreed and ordered Malcolm X to abide by a 90 day period of silence; Malcolm X disagreed and denounced the Nation’s separatist views. After converting to Sunni Islam, Malcolm argued the only solution to the racial problems of the US lies in orthodox Islam. In February 1965, Malcolm was assassinated; three members of the Nation of Islam were convicted of his murder.
Mendez v. Westminster (NOT FROM THE SCOTUS) – 1947
In 1947, the US COURT OF APPEALS NINTH CIRCUIT declared the forced segregation of Mexican American students into “Mexican schools” was unconstitutional.
US District Court Judge Paul J. McCormick stated, “A paramount requisite in the American system of public education is social equality. It must be open to all children by unified school association regardless of lineage.”
Hernandez v. Texas – 1954
This SUPREME COURT decision held that the Fourteenth Amendment extends to all “race” groups, not just white and black. This extended the Fourteenth Amendment to those of Mexican Ancestry.
The context for the case was over the murder trial of Pete Hernandez. He was accused of murdering a white man and was put in front of an all-white jury.
Cesar Chavez
Born into a migrant farm-labor family, Chavez grew up and experienced countless examples of discriminatory prejudice in Arizona and California. He also served in the Navy from 1946-1948, which was still segregated.
Despite hating education as a child and adolescent, Chavez would embrace education after his honeymoon with his wife, Helen Fabela, where they explored all the California Missions from Sonoma to San Diego. This influence towards embracing education was furthered by reading about St. Francis, Gandhi, and other nonviolent movements and strategies. This would provide the foundation for Chavez’s legacy.
In 1962, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association, which would evolve into the United Farm Workers. This union sought to increase awareness of the importance and dignity of ALL farm workers. Their symbol was an Aztec Eagle.
This was the beginning of La Causa, a nonviolent movement, utilizing boycotts and picketing tactics, and supported by organized labor, religious groups, minorities, and students. Chavez personally fasted (like Gandhi); the longest lasting 36 days.
Chicano Movement
With its roots in the 1940s and 1950s, following the crucial Hernandez rulings (see above), the Chicano Movement had three primary goals: restoration of land, rights for farm workers, and education reforms.
With respect to the restoration of land, Mexican-Americans were increasingly questioning the legitimacy of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Chicano radicals were calling for the Southwest to be returned to their peoples because it constituted their ancestral homeland, known as Aztlán. I recommend reading “Yo Soy Joaquín” by Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales.
The rights for farm workers were being spearheaded and led by United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez. At the height of UFW’s fight, and months before RFK’s assassination, Senator Robert Kennedy broke bread with Chavez after Chavez fasted for 23 days.
Students protested the Eurocentric curriculum and spoke out against high levels of dropout levels among Chicano students, as well as various bans on speaking Spanish in schools.
In the 1970s, the Supreme Court declared it unlawful to keep ELLs from getting an education. Congress also passed the Equal Opportunity Act of 1974, which resulted in more bilingual programs in public schools.
Challenging the Status Quo (Other than for African Americans and Latin@ Americans)
The New Left
The New Left
The term is associated to activists, educators, agitators, and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms on issues such as gay rights, abortion, gender roles and drugs. This was in contrast to the previous leftist/Marxist movements that had taken a vanguard approach to social justice and focused on labor struggles and questioning of social class.
In the U.S., the New Left was associated with the Hippie movement and anti-war college campus protest movements. While initially formed in opposition to the Old Left Democratic Party, groups composing the New Left gradually became central players in the Democratic coalition.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Separate from the counterculture (though often grouped together in the popular mind), leftist groups such as the SDS emerged from the socialist movement in America.
The 1962 Port Huron statement—the manifesto of the SDS—criticized the nuclear arms race, racial discrimination, and corporate power. It called for participatory democracy and nonviolent civil disobedience. The SDS became a leading student group protesting the war in Vietnam.
Berkley’s Free Speech Movement – 1964
This movement brought the mass civil disobedience of the civil rights movement to college campuses, most notably the sit-in, to protest against the Vietnam War. With combining the tactics of the Civil Rights Movements, the FSM would provide the foundation for various other movements led by students.
The Women’s Movement
The Women’s Movement
While the civil rights movement demanded equal rights for African Americans, women also began demanding equal rights. This movement was also known as the Second Wave of Feminism in US History. Which was the first?
Another notable figure of the modern women’s movement was Gloria Steinem, a journalist and political activist who co-founded Ms. magazine and advocated for abortion rights. She also went undercover as a Playboy bunny to expose its exploitative working conditions on its women workers.
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique – 1963
The spark to the women’s movement of the 1960s (Second Wave of Feminism) was a 1963 book The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. Friedan argued that the supposedly ideal life—mother, wife, homemaker—that society had directed women toward was unfulfilling, frustrating, and depressing.
National Organization for Women (NOW)
Co-founded by Betty Friedan, NOW dedicated their efforts to ending gender discrimination in all areas of American society. Their efforts initially focused on child care, pregnancy leave abortion rights, and pension rights. They also supported the passage and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Despite the amendments supposed defeat in 1982, NOW continues to fight for its ratification.
The Pill
In 1960, the first oral contraceptive, Enovid, was approved by the FDA as a contraceptive. This sparked mass controversy, which coincided with the second wave of feminism. Then, in 1968, the FDA approved intrauterine devices (IUDs).
Despite the FDA approving the Pill and IUDs, feminists were skeptical of the safety behind these contraceptives. In a well-publicized Congressional hearing, feminists challenged the FDA and drug companies who produced birth control. This resulted in a change to the formulation of the Pill and the creation of Patient Package Inserts (PPIs). These are guides for how to safely use a drug product.
Griswold v. Connecticut – 1965 (NOT in OpenStax)
The Supreme Court ruled that married couples could use birth control on the basis of privacy, guaranteed by the Constitution. This did NOT extended birth control to single women. 26 states still outlawed the sale and distribution of birth control.
Eisenstadt v. Baird – 1972 (NOT in OpenStax)
This extended the right for unmarried people to possess and use contraceptives.
Three Forms of Feminism (two pro and one anti)
Radical Feminists
Radical feminists, such as Ruby Doris Smith Robinson and Ti-Grace Atkinson, were often left out in the various organizations associated with the Civil Rights Movement, New Left, NOW, etc. For example, in 1964, Robinson presented a paper titled, “The Position of Women in SNCC” during an SNCC staff meeting. Stokely Carmichael supposedly responded, “The only position for women in the SNCC is prone.”
They saw the women’s movement (liberal feminism) as not going far enough. Radical feminists split from the movement and began forming liberation groups, such as the Redstockings and WITCH (the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell). Some radical feminists, such as Ti-Grace Atkinson denounced marriage as “slavery,” “legalized rape,” and “unpaid labor.”
Liberal Feminists
This was the more popular women’s movement, pushing for the ERA and who adopted “Rosie the Riveter” as their mascot. Liberal feminists, such as Friedan and Steinem, sought for the end of gender discrimination and equal rights for all.
Anti-Feminists
Yes, this group was composed of men, but the largest demographic of antifeminists were suburban housewives. Many housewives were concerned with the passage of the ERA because they thought it would take away “dependence status” via Social Security or be drafted in case of war. The most prominent antifeminist was Phyllis Schlafly, a constitutional lawyer, who organized the “STOP ERA” campaign. STOP was an acronym for “Stop Taking Our Privileges.”
Schlafly tried on several occasions to obtain a Cabinet position in Reagan’s administration. At one point, she also wanted to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Reagan, however, never offered her a position and appointed Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court.
Before her death in 2016, she endorsed candidate Trump in the 2016 election.
