Chapter 39: The Stormy Sixties, 1960-1968

The Killing of Kennedy November 1963 Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was soon after shot to death by Jack Ruby New president Johnson kept most of Kennedy's advisors, despite distrusting the Harvards Kennedy's ideals and spirit were more influential than his concrete achievements

The LBJ Brand on the In earlier years, Johnson was a liberal and supported the New Deal, but appeared to shift Presidency to the right because lacked support Johnson used the Johnson treatment, or arm-twisting and getting in people's faces, to get politicians to do what he wanted Johnson had a big ego and was vain As president, Johnson returned to liberalism, ex. his domestic program of Great Society of economic and welfare measures: Passed Kennedy's Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned racial discrimination in private facilities open to the public, strengthened government's power to end segregation, created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to end discrimination in hiring, and whose Title VII prohibited discrimination in the workplace on the bases of gender, race, etc. Also passed Kenney's tax bill and included proposals to a War on Poverty, esp. in Appalachia 1962 Michael Harrington's The Other America revealed that 1/5 of Americans lived in poverty among prosperity The Democrats nominated Johnson for presidential candidate, and had an extremely Johnson Battles Goldwater in 1964 (or, liberal platform the Election of 1964) The Republicans nominated AZ senator Barry Goldwater, who was very conservative The Tonkin Gulf episode: August 1964 a US Navy ship, which had been cooperating without the public's knowledge with South Vietnamese gunboats to raid the North Vietnamese coast, was fired upon in unclear circumstances by a North Vietnamese ship Johnson seized this opportunity to order a limited retaliation, implying that Goldwater would want to fight a larger war, and to get Congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that gave the president a blank check to use further force in Southeast Asia Results: Johnson won because of the Kennedy legacy, faith in the Great Society program, and fear of Goldwater The once-Democratic South was a major supporter of Goldwater Democrats won strong majorities in both houses of Congress The Great Society Congress Johnson finally delivered on Democratic promises of social reform, because felt he had the economic and political room To escalate the War on Poverty, funding for the Office of Economic Opportunity was increased, and money granted to redevelop Appalachia

 New cabinet offices were created, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (to which the first black cabinet member Robert Weaver was appointed) To stimulate American culture, the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities was established The Big Four legislative achievements of the Great Society program were: Aid to education; passed a bill that gave education aid to students, not schools, so avoided the issue of separation of church and state Medical care for the elderly and needy; 1965 Medicare and Medicaid were established that created entitlements, or conferred certain rights on certain categories of Americans in perpetuam without the need of repeated congressional approval This rights revolution improved Americans' lives but would strain the government financially Immigration reform; 1965 the Nationality Act replaced the national-origins quota system in place since 1921, doubled the number of immigrants allowed to enter, set limits for the first time on immigrants from the Western Hemisphere, and made exception for close relatives of US citizens Many would take advantage of the family unification provision, and immigration sources would shift from Europe to Latin American and Asia New voting rights bill Critics of the Great Society programs said that they just threw money at the problems But the Great Society programs succeeded in reducing proverty among the elderly, improved educational performance among the underprivileged, and reduced infant mortality in minorities The Presidential Sweepstakes of 1968 (or, the Election of 1968) The Democrats: The three preliminary candidates vying for nomination were vice president Hubert Humphrey, senator McCarthy, and senator Robert Kennedy But June 1968 Kennedy was killed by an Arab immigrant for his pro-Israel stance So August 1968 at the Democratic convention, both the Democrats and the police sent to control them rioted (Fort Daley) Humphrey ended up being nominated, and the platform supported armed force against uncooperative enemies The Republicans nominated Nixon, who appealed to both moderates and conservatives, and vice candidate MD governor Spiro Adnew, who appealed to Southern whites; platform called for victory in Vietnam and a strong anticrime policy The American Independent party ran George Wallace, who supported segregation of races (prodding blacks back into their place) Both candidates supported honorable peace in Vietnam, AKA American victory Nixon on the election because of divisions over the war and protest about the draft, crime, and rioting, but with a slim popular majority, and with no Republican majority in Congress The Democrats had the support of the blacks and the major cities Wallace was supported by Deep South states and had the largest third-party popular

Victory for Nixon

support in history The Obituary of Lyndon Johnson Johnson's legislative achievements were comparable to those of FDR's New Deal, but the War on Poverty declined because the Vietnam War was a money sink Johnson was in a tight spot with regards to the Vietnam War because offended the Hawks by not escalating the war further than he did, and offended the doves by not backing off