Kennedy assassination

							Chapter 41
   John Kennedy
   First Roman Catholic
    president
   Senator from
    Massachusetts
   Charged Soviets with their
    nuclear bombs and Sputnik
    had gained in power and
    prestige
   Glamour and vitality          Richard Nixon
   Youngest ever elected         Twice Eisenhower’s vice
   Democrats swept both           president
    houses of Congress by         From California
    wide margins                  Forced to defend the
   Lyndon Johnson vice            Eisenhower administration
    president                     Televised debates
•Closest presidential
 election in American
 history
•Margin of 118,574
 popular votes out of
 68 million cast
   Youngest man ever elected/43
   First Roman Catholic
   Ancestors immigrated from Ireland in the
    1840s
   Maternal Grandfather was 2x mayor of Boston
   Son of Joseph Kennedy
       Self-made millionaire businessman
       Active in New Deal circles
       Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman
       Ambassador to Great Britain
   One of nine children
   Graduated from Harvard
   Wrote his first book at 22
   Naval war hero as a PT boat commander during
    WWII
   Elected three times to the House of
    Representatives (1946-1950)
   Won a seat in the Senate in 1952 and 1958
   Pulitzer Prize 1957 won for Profiles in Courage
John F. Kennedy sworn in as president January 1961
“My fellow Americans, Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you
can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, Ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
President John Kennedy and
wife, Jacqueline Bouvier
Kennedy leaving the White
House to attend a series of
inaugural balls in January 1961.
The young couple brought
beauty, style and grace to the
presidency.
 Youthful but experienced Cabinet
  and a highly intelligent group of
  personal advisors
 Robert S. McNamara
     Lured away from his position of
     president Ford Motor Company to
     serve as
      ▪ Secretary of Defense
   Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy
     (RFK) “Bobby” (35 years old)
     Attorney General
     RFK now in charge of the powerful
      ▪ J. Edgar Hoover at the FBI
   Dean Rusk—Secretary of State
The New Frontier
Space Exploration
   Kennedy ran on a platform which promised to revive
    government liberalism which had lost attention under
    Eisenhower
     Expand Social Security to benefit a greater number of
        Americans
       Help the elderly pay their medical costs
       Increase spending on education
       Raise the minimum wage
       Reduce income inequality among Americans
       Creation of the Peace Corps
       Making the US the first country to land a man on the moon
   Conservative Southern Democrats united with
    Republicans in Congress to block most of Kennedy’s
    New Frontier initiatives
   Housing Act of 1961
     Budgeted $5 billion for slum clearance
   Minimum Wage Act of 1961
     Increased minimum hourly wages to $1.25
   Amendments to Social Security extended
    coverage to children of unemployed workers
    and increased payments to retirees
   Federal Water Pollution Control Act
   Kennedy ran
    on a platform
    of civil rights
    but needed
    the support
    of
    southerners
    to pass other
    domestic
    agenda items                       Kennedy with Civil Rights leaders
                       Kennedy supported Civil Rights though it wasn't
                      until after his death that major legislation passed.
   Soviet Union
     Yuri Gagarin—first man in space
   Alan Shepard May 3, 1961
     First American in space
     Only 15 minutes
     Did not orbit Earth
   John Glenn February20, 1962                John Glenn and Friendship 7
     First American to orbit the earth (3 times)
   Kennedy June 1961 before a joint session of Congress
   Americans commit themselves
     “…To achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing
      a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”
Friendship 7 capsule with John Glenn and President Kennedy
John Glenn made history by flying completely around the Earth from space.
Kennedy starts Moon race
Kennedy set the space race goal of landing a man on the moon by
the end of the 60s.
Kennedy answered this
question at Rice University
•“And they may ask, why
climb the highest mountain?
Why, thirty-five years ago, fly
the Atlantic? Why does Rice
play Texas?”
•Twenty-four billion dollars
later in 1969 two American
astronauts walked on the
moon.
Peace Corps 1961
Alliance for Progress 1961
Bay of Pigs 1961
Vienna Conference 1961
Berlin Wall 1961
Flexible Response
Decolonization
Laos
Vietnam
Modernization Theory
Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 1963
   Established through Executive Order
   Congress put it on a permanent basis
   Help people help themselves by teaching them basic
    technical skills
   American volunteers would work in underdeveloped
    countries of the world for two or more years
   Peace Corps was also a Cold War weapon intended to
    show developing countries of the so-called Third
    World that there was a better way than communism
   Volunteers first began teaching in posts in the African
    nation of Ghana in 1962
   Most volunteers were college graduates
   Sargent Shriver
     First director
   By 1963 5,000 volunteers in 46 countries
   Proposed to fight
     Communist forces and
     Reduce income inequality in Latin America
   Inter-American Conference in Uruguay August, 1961
     Included representatives from the U.S. and nineteen other
      American republics resulting in the
     Declaration of Punta del Este
      ▪ U.S. agreed to contribute $10 billion over a ten-year period with
      ▪ Latin American countries coming up with $10 billion themselves
   Although Democrats claimed the plan to be the
     Marshall Plan for the Western Hemisphere
   Money did almost nothing to reduce the Latin
    American poverty rate
   Eisenhower broke diplomatic relations
    with Cuba days before Kennedy was
    sworn in
   JFK secretly authorized Cuban exiles
     La Brigada, to invade Cuba
     With help of the U.S. Air Force in an effort
      to
     Overtake Castro’s army and spark a
      popular uprising in Cuba
   Invasion April 17, 1961
     1,400 Cuban exiles with the help of the CIA
     La Brigada’s boats got stuck in coral reefs
   Kennedy cancelled the air strikes
   Castro’s forces
     Killed hundreds of members of La Brigada
      and
     Captured the rest
   Embarrassment for the
     US and specifically for the
     New Kennedy administration
   Kennedy accepted full responsibility for the
    failed invasion but continued to
     Authorize covert CIA missions to assassinate
     Castro
      ▪ All of which proved unsuccessful
 Kennedy met with Khrushchev
 Opportunity for both leaders to meet and
  assess each other
 Issues
       Berlin
       Cuba
       Laos
       Nuclear testing
   Mood = ugly
   Soviets difficult on all issues
     Khrushchev issued an ultimatum on Berlin   Nikita Khrushchev
        ▪ Demanded withdrawal of U.S.            with John Kennedy
   Sobering experience
     Kennedy—“It will be a cold winter.”
 June 1961 Khrushchev deployed soldiers to isolate
  Communist controlled East Berlin from the western sector
  controlled by West Germany
 Kennedy with congressional approval
       Added 300,000 troops to the military and
       Sent 40,000 to Europe
   July 1961 Berlin in an uproar
       30,444 refugees fled to western side
   August 1961
       First ten days another 16,500 fled
        ▪   High number of physicians, technicians skilled workers
       August 12 4,000 fled
   August 13, 1961 to stop the exodus of East German
       Soviets ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall
       Guarded by East German police until 1989
   Wall was concrete with barbed wire at the top
   Guard towers and the wall was booby trapped with mines
   Berlin Wall became the
       Ultimate symbol of the Cold War
       Wall of shame
       Showed glaring disparity between East and West
   Brushfire wars intensified the need for a new policy
   After Bay of Pigs
   Never have to decide between nuclear war and political
    humiliation
   Kennedy and
    devised the strategy
   “Flexible response”
     Enabled the president to combat Soviet advances around the
      world through a variety of means
       ▪ Money
       ▪ Troops to fight Communist insurgents or
       ▪ Authorize the CIA to topple an unfriendly government, or use nuclear
         weapons as a last resort
   Kennedy increased spending on conventional forces and gave
    special attention to developing
   Special forces such as the Green Berets
     Elite anti-guerrilla outfit
   Flexible response lowered the level at which diplomacy
    would give way to shooting and provided for a progressive
    increase in the use of force
 More and more new, independent
  countries were being formed from
  old European colonies in Africa,
  Asia, and the Middle East
 Kennedy faced the increasingly
  difficult task of ensuring that
  Communists did not seize power
 Laos
     Southeast Asian country affected by
      the decolonization of European
      possessions after WWII
     1954 Laos was given its
      independence from France
     1960-1961 Three rival factions faced   Geneva Conference 1962
      off in a civil war                         Cease-fire agreement was reached
       ▪ Pro-Westerners
       ▪ Pro-Communists and                        between JFK and Khrushchev
       ▪ “Neutralists”                           Based on the neutrality and
                                                  independence of Laos
  Diem government in Saigon
  had become corrupt
 Anti-Diem forces threatened to
  overthrow the government
 Most south Vietnamese
  resented the U.S. for keeping
  Diem in power
 1961 Kennedy increased
  American commitment by
  sending
     15,000 “military advisors” to
      Saigon
 November 1963 advisors’ help
  had not resulted in social
  reforms
 Kennedy encouraged a
  successful coup against Diem
   Because Kennedy sent troops
     Responsibility began to shift away
      from South Vietnam and onto the
      U.S.
 Floodgates were opened for
  sending additional troops
 Kennedy and his successors would
  find it politically impossible to
  recall U.S. forces without having
  first defeated the pro-Communist
  North Vietnamese
 Graceful pullout was becoming
  increasingly difficult
 Kennedy’s decision to send
  “military advisors” ultimately
  proved to be a costly mistake that
  entangled the U.S. in the longest
  and least successful war in
  American history
   Underpinnings for an activist foreign policy in
    the “underdeveloped” world believing that the
    traditional societies of Asia, Africa and Latin
    America could develop into modern industrial
    and democratic nations by following the
    West’s path
   Both the Peace Corps and the
   Alliance for Progress represented Kennedy’s
   “Modernization theory”
Fidel Castro: Following the failed CIA-supported Bay of Pigs Invasion in
1961, Fidel Castro increasingly turned to the Soviet Union for military aid. By
the fall of 1962, work was underway on a series of medium-range ballistic
missiles capable of reaching most American cities.
   October 14, 1962
   American U-2 spy plane
     Revealed Soviets were installing several nuclear
      missiles aimed at the U.S. in Cuba
   Satellite photos clearly revealed
     Presence of Soviet medium range missiles capable of
      reaching major targets on the U.S. mainland
   Soviets wanted to
     Protect Cuba and
     Blackmail the U.S. into backing down in Berlin and
      other trouble spots in the world
   U.S. needed to decide how to face off with the
    Soviets before the missiles became operational
Missile Launch Site in Cuba
On October 14, 1962, American aerial photographs of Cuba revealed
missile erectors, fuel tank trailers and oxidizer tank trailers.
Adlai Stevenson Addressing the United Nations
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, urged the Security Council to
approve a resolution calling for the dismantling and withdrawal of Soviet-
supplied missile bases from Cuba under the supervision of the U.N.
   Air Force generals proposed a
     “Surgical” bombing strike against the missile launching
      sites
   Kennedy ordered the
     U.S. Navy to Blockade/Quarantine of Cuba and
   Kennedy demanded that Soviet leader Khrushchev
     Remove the missiles
 Kennedy made the threat that any attack on the U.S.
  from Cuba would be viewed as coming from the
  U.S.S.R. and would trigger nuclear retaliation
  against Moscow
 October 22, 1962 Kennedy addressed the American
  public on national TV and announced the
     Blockade/Quarantine
     Kennedy warned that the U.S. Navy was prepared to
      turn back any ships carrying offensive weapons to the
      island
Kennedy signs Cuba quarantine October 23, 1962
At the height of the Missile Crisis Kennedy officially ordered a
quarantine of Cuba.
Cuban Blockade: Rather than order a missile strike, President
Kennedy decided on a naval blockade of Cuba, which prevented the
Soviets from continuing to arm Castro's regime.
   October 24, 1962 blockade “quarantine” went into
    effect
   U.S. forces were mobilized in Florida
   All U.S. forces worldwide were put on high alert
   Soviet ships headed to Cuba in spite of the blockade
   October 26, 1962 Khrushchev agreed to remove the
    missiles in Cuba on the condition that the U.S. would
    end the blockade and promise to never attack Cuba
   October 27, 1962 Khrushchev demanded that the US
    remove nuclear missiles in Turkey which were aimed
    at the U.S.S.R.
   Kennedy agreed to the first demand but only secretly
    agreed to the second
   October 28, 1962 Khrushchev agreed to Kennedy’s
    response
   Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest that the
    U.S. and the U.S.S.R. came to nuclear war
    during the Cold War era
   Khrushchev was quietly removed from his
    post at the Kremlin following the Cuban
    Missile Crisis
   “Hardliners” in the Kremlin committed to
    military expansion and build up
Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro: The crisis was eventually diffused
when Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange
for a public promise that the United States would not invade the island,
as well as a private back-room deal in which America would also remove
its own missiles in Turkey.
Kennedy with Khrushchev
"Cuban Missile Crisis" was a showdown between John Kennedy and Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev that brought the two nuclear superpowers to the
brink of war.
   U.S. and
    U.S.S.R.
   Agreement to
    stop nuclear
    testing in the
     Atmosphere
     Outer space
      and
                     Kennedy signing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
     Underwater
Kennedy and Civil Rights
Freedom Rides 1960-1961
“Ole Miss” 1962
March on Washington 1963
   Campaigned with a strong appeal to black
    voters
   Pledged to eliminate racial discrimination in
    housing
   Needed support of southern legislators to pass
    his economic agenda
   Believed black Americans would benefit from
    medical and education bills
   Birmingham, Alabama 1963
     After brutal attacks using attack dogs, electric
      cattle prods and high pressure water hoses on
      peaceful demonstrators
     Kennedy June 1963
       ▪ Delivered a memorable televised speech
          ▪ Called the situation a “Moral Issue”
          ▪ Declared the principle at stake
             “…is as old as the Scriptures and is as clear as the American
              Constitution.”
       ▪ Called for new civil rights legislation
Dogs turned on Birmingham
demonstrators
Eugene "Bull" Connor
      •Ferocious attempts to repel
      nonviolent black protesters
      •Using
           •Fire hoses (capable of
            100 pounds of water
            pressure per square
            inch)
           •Electrically charged
            cattle prods
           •Police dogs were
      •Shown nightly on television.
•Tactics such as these made white
 supremacy an object of revulsion
 throughout most of the country and
•Forced the Kennedy administration
 to intervene to end the crisis.
 Civil rights activists worked to end
  segregation in interstate bus
  transport
 White mob torched a Freedom Ride
  bus near Anniston, Alabama
 Anti-freedom ride riot in
  Montgomery, Alabama
     Attorney General Robert Kennedy’s
      good friend and representative was
      beaten unconscious
 Southern officials unwilling or unable
  to stop the violence
 Washington dispatched federal
  marshals to protect the Freedom
  Riders
   University of Mississippi
   Violent opposition to the
    registration of
     James Meredith
      ▪ 29 year-old Air Force veteran
   Kennedy sent in
     400 federal marshals and
     3,000 troops to enroll Meredith
   Medgar Evers June 1963
     Black Mississippi civil rights worker
     Shot down by a white gunman the night of the
     Kennedy speech
   Birmingham September 1963
     Explosion blasted a Baptist church killing four
     black girls
   By Kennedy’s death
     Civil rights bill was making little headway
     Frustrated blacks growing impatient
Sit-in Jackson, Mississippi, May 28, 1963
The sit-ins of the 1960s initiated the student phase of the civil-rights movement.
Across the south, young black activists challenged segregation by staging nonviolent
demonstrations to demand access to public facilities. Their courage and commitment
reinvigorated the movement, leading to still greater grass-roots activism.
   Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led
     200,000 black and white demonstrators on a
     peaceful

   In support of the proposed civil rights
    legislation
   Electrifying “I Have a Dream Speech” from the
    Lincoln Memorial
     “I have a dream that my four children will one day
     live in a nation where they will not be judged by the
     color of their skin, but by the content of their
     character.”
March on Washington August 28, 1963
Brought over 200,000 people to the nation's capital to protest racial
discrimination and show support for civil rights legislation that was
pending in Congress.
1963 Dr. King addressing the crowd at the March on Washington.
November 23, 1963
Dallas
Kennedy at the Berlin Wall 1963
Kennedy visited West Germany and infamously stated “Ich bin ein Berliner".
Kennedy arriving in Dallas
On November 23, 1963, tragedy
struck on a visit to Dallas, Texas.
Kennedy motorcade
Kennedy was assassinated while driving through Dallas.
 November 22, 1963 JFK shot in the head riding in the
  presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas
 Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) was sworn in as the 36th
  president on Air Force One
 Lee Harvey Oswald—Alleged assassin November 24, 1963
     Shot in a Dallas police station by Jack Ruby while millions of
      Americans watched on TV
   Conspiracy theories arose almost immediately
   Warren Commission formed by LBJ formed
     Headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice, Earl Warren to launch
      an official investigation into the assassination
     Commission’s report concluded that Oswald acted alone
 1979 Second congressional investigation questioned the
  Warren Commission findings
 Conspiracy theories and countless books circulate to this
  day
Kennedy assassination
As Jacqueline Kennedy reacts to her husband being fatally shot in the
head, their open-air limousine races to nearby Parkland Hospital. The
president died less than an hour later. CBS television news anchor
Walter Cronkite cried as he told the nation the news.
Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from the second story of a book
depository. Oswald was killed two days later by Jack Ruby on live television.
Johnson sworn in after Kennedy’s assassination on Air Force One
Funeral services in the Capitol rotunda
The Kennedys leave St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington
after the funeral mass for the slain president. November 1963
Caisson with flag-draped casket: Kennedy is buried in Arlington National Cemetery,
where an eternal flame burns in his memory.
John F. Kennedy Jr. Salutes his Father In this famous photo, Kennedy's son
salutes the horse-drawn caisson carrying his casket.
Kennedy as a Youth
Kennedy enrolled at Harvard
University and received a
degree in international affairs
with honors in 1940.               Kennedy in World War II
                                  Served on a Navy PT boat.
Brothers John, Robert and Ted In 1960
John —congressman, senator from Massachusetts and
       president
Robert —Attorney General, senator from New York
Ted—Senator from Massachusetts
Kennedy family
Hyannisport
 July 5, 1963
 Kennedy, his wife
Jacqueline, and
their two young
children, John Jr.
and Caroline,
symbolized
youthful energy
and idealism.
Great Society
Vietnam
 Born in Texas in 1908
 Worked his way through Southwest
  Texas State Teachers College
 At 23, went to Washington as
  secretary to a Texas congressman
 1934 Married Claudia Alta Taylor
     “Lady Bird”
   1935 FDR appointed LBJ as Texas
    administrator of the National Youth
    Administration
   1937 at 29, elected to Congress on a
    New Deal platform re-elected five
    times
   1948 Elected to Senate from Texas
   1952 Senate Minority Leader
   1955 Senate Majority Leader
   1960 Vice president
   1963 President
 Great Society
 Known as a master politician
 Wheeler-dealer
 High-pressure tactics
 Resented and suspected
  intellectuals
 Not completely trustworthy
 Deliberately misled America
  about U.S. involvement in
  Vietnam
     Disastrous mistake
     Ruined his record as president
                                 The Johnson treatment
      Johnson used his body as well as his voice to bend
            others to his will and to gain his objectives.
   “War on poverty”
     Major poverty relief
     Johnson believed the major cause of
        black anger was the large percentage
        of people in poverty
       Education aid
       Healthcare
       Voting rights
       Conservation and beautification
        projects
       Urban renewal
       Economic development in depressed
        areas
1. Rural conservation camps and urban training
   centers established
2. Work-training programs
3. Part time jobs to help 140,000 college students
   remain in school
4. Federal funds to urban and rural communities
   to combat poverty and illiteracy
5. Loans to farmers to improve land
6. Loans to small businesses to hire the
   chronically unemployed
7. Office of Economic Opportunity established to
   coordinate anti-poverty programs
LYNDON JOHNSON (D)                         BARRY GOLDWATER (R)
   Very liberal                               Ultra-conservative
   Great Society                              Hawkish
       Peace                                    Proposed U.S. field commanders
       Prosperity                                have discretionary authority to use
       Anti-poverty                              tactical nuclear weapons
                                               Aggressive against communism
       Prudence
                                               Condemned wasteful spending
       Progress                                and excesses of big government
   Hubert Humphrey (VP)                       Opposed
   Biggest popular vote in U.S.
                                                 Civil Rights Bill 1964
    history
   61% of total vote                            Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
   Two to one majorities in both              Personable
    houses of Congress                         Wealthy
   Negro vote overwhelmingly                  Senator from Arizona
    Democrat                                   Carried only five states
           Election of 1964 provided the American electorate with
           dynamic differences in the two major political candidates
Infamous daisy attack ad
•Televised only once as a paid
political advertisement
•Signaled the emergence of a
newly noxious style of
campaigning
•Child dreamily pulling petals from
a flower
•Her voice gave way to that of a
man reciting an ominous
countdown
•Followed by the legend
“Vote for Johnson on November 3.”
•Implying Goldwater was a trigger-
happy cowboy whose election
might bring Armageddon
States are
distorted
according to the
number of
electoral votes
indicated on each
state
Americans officially elected Johnson to the presidency by the largest
popular vote in the nation's history. Johnson used this mandate to push
for improvements he believed would better the American way of life.
Poverty
Housing
Big Four legislative achievements
          Education
          Medical Assistance to the Aged
          Immigration
          Civil Rights/Voting Rights
Pollution
Health
Arts
Highway and Auto Safety
Space Program
   Most impressive program of domestic
    innovation and reform since the New Deal
     Johnson regarded the Great Society as an
      ▪ Extension of the New Deal
   Two to one majorities in both houses broke
    the southern Democrats and Republican
    coalition, temporarily
   Flood of legislation
     440 major pieces of legislation in 6 days!
     Economic and welfare measures aimed at
     transforming the American way of life
   Escalating the war on poverty
     1965 Congress appropriated
      ▪ $2 billion to the Office of Economic
        Opportunity
      ▪ $1.1 billion in aid to Appalachia
        ▪ Stimulate industry
        ▪ Build roads
 Later Congress doubled the
  general anti-poverty program
  with $1.8 billion more
 Project Head Start
     Improved the educational
     performance of underprivileged
     youth
Lady Bird reads to Children at Head Start
Through the Economic Opportunity Act, Johnson fought a
"War on Poverty" by implementing improvements in early
childhood education and fair-employment policies.
   Department of Housing and Urban Development
    created by Congress 1965 (HUD)
   Dr. Robert Weaver
     Distinguished Negro economist
     Named Secretary of HUD
     First black Cabinet member
   Provided $1.5 billion in federal aid to
    elementary and secondary schools
   Allowed local boards to use funds to help
    students in parochial and private schools
     Share classrooms
     Help purchase textbooks and library materials
   $2.3 billion available for higher education plus
    scholarships for needy students
   (Johnson signed this in his Blanco, Texas
    elementary school with his first teacher
    present)
 Medical assistance to the elderly
  under the Social Security system
 Provided limited coverage for
  Americans over the age of 65 for
     Hospital
     Post-hospital and
     Nursing home care
 Financed by increased taxes for
  Social Security
 For those who made a $3/month
  payment
     Partial coverage for services of
      physicians and surgeons
   Signed in Independence, Missouri
    with former president Harry Truman
     Who had promoted the idea while he
      was president
   Abolished the national origins quota
    system in place since 1921
   Doubled the number of immigrants
    allowed to enter annually
   Set limits on the number of immigrants
    from the Western Hemisphere for the first
    time
   Established priorities for artists, scientists,
    professional people
   “Family unification” program allowed close
    relations of U.S. citizens to become citizens
   Immigration soon shifted heavily from
    Europe to Latin America and Asia
   (Signed at the foot of the Statue of Liberty)
   No discrimination in public
    accommodations
     Hotels, restaurants, lunch counters, gas
      stations, movie theaters, stadiums,
      arenas, lodging houses
   Schools
     Authorized Attorney General to bring suit
      to force desegregation of public schools
                                                        President Johnson shakes hands
   Employment                                          with Dr. King after the signing of
     Outlawed discrimination in                        the 1964 Civil Rights Act
      ▪ Hiring, firing, payment of employees
      ▪ On grounds of race, color, religion, national
        origin or sex
   Federal funds
     Barred discrimination in any activity
      receiving federal assistance
   Outlawed literacy tests
   Federal registrars if 50% of voting age
    population was not registered
   Marked the end of an era in the history of the
    civil rights movement
     Era of nonviolent demonstrations focused on the
      South
     Led by peaceful leaders like King
     Aimed at integrating blacks into society
   Five days after the signing
     Watts exploded in Los Angeles
Watts 1965
The first major race riot of the 1960s exploded in the Los Angeles neighborhood of
Watts. The bloodiest riots of 1967 were in Newark, New Jersey, and Detroit. Scores of
riots erupted in the aftermath of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in 1968.
After the 1965 Voting Rights Act, African American registration skyrocketed in
Mississippi and Alabama and rose substantially in other southern states.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Wins Nobel Peace Prize
November 8, 1964 Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. smiles with parishoners
on the day it is announced that he has won the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Martin Luther King leading march from Selma to Montgomery to
protest lack of voting rights for African Americans. Beside King is John
Lewis, Reverend Jesse Douglas, James Forman and Ralph Abernathy.
 Federal Water Pollution Control
  Administration established
 Increased funds for sewage treatment
  grants to the states
 Directed states to establish pollution
  standards for interstate waters
   Ralph Nader
     Lawyer, crusader
     Blamed auto manufacturers for
      ▪ Flimsy, chrome-plated death-traps
   Traffic Safety Act 1966
     Set auto safety standards for automobiles
   Highway Safety Act 1966
     Required states to adopt safety programs
      ▪ Driver education
      ▪ Vehicle inspections
      ▪ Highway design and maintenance
   Department of Transportation 1966
     Congress created the 12th Cabinet position
   Appropriated $350 million to aid research of
     Heart disease
     Cancer
     Stroke treatment
   Laws requiring cigarette packages and
    cartons carry warnings that smoking is
    hazardous to health
     1971 No more television advertising
   Funds for mental health centers and care for
    mentally impaired children
   Congressional legislation
    created
     National Endowment for the
     Arts and Humanities
   To lift the level of American
    cultural life
Dominican Republic 1965
Vietnam 1965-1969
Arab-Israeli Conflict
  Six Day War 1967
   April 1965- political unrest in the Dominican
    Republic was suggestive of a government
    takeover comparable to Castro’s Cuba
   LBJ sent 25,000 marines to restore order
   No real evidence of an attempted communist
    takeover
   1966- U.S. forces supervised elections in the
    Dominican Republic
   Two U.S. Navy destroyers
    in the Gulf of Tonkin
    reported that North
    Vietnamese gunboats
    attacked them without
    provocation
   American public
    demanded action
   LBJ requested
     “All necessary steps” to
      protect U.S. interests in
      Vietnam
   Gave LBJ complete authority
     A blank check to use force anywhere he saw fit in
      southeast Asia
     (Considered the same as a declaration of war)
   Controversy soon erupted over the incident
   Some claimed that the attacks were not
    entirely unprovoked because the U.S. was
    involved in covert actions against the north
    Vietnamese
   Outraged public opinion was used as
    justification to escalate the Vietnam War
 By 1965, Viet Cong attacks on U.S. forces
  were becoming more violent as the Viet
  Cong had many soldiers in South
  Vietnam
 Pleiku February, 1965
       Viet Cong guerrillas attacked the U.S.
        Marine base
       Resulted in the death of eight and wounded
        over a hundred
   LBJ ordered Operation Rolling Thunder
       Air strikes
       Consistent full scale bombing attacks of
        North Vietnam
   Troops were ordered to land in North
    Vietnam for the first time
       To halt the Viet Cong attacks; it had the
        opposite effect
   South Vietnamese had now become
    spectators in their own civil war
   Aerial attacks of the small country of
    North Vietnam by the American
    superpower drew worldwide criticism of
    the U.S. mission in Vietnam
 Anti-war protests began to grow in American
  colleges and universities
 Draft dodgers fled to Canada
 Protestors publically burned their draft cards
 Senator William Fulbright 1966-1967 head of
  the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held
     Televised hearings in which anti-war sentiment
      was expressed to Congress and the American
      people
      ▪ Public opinion turned against the war
 Senator of Defense Robert McNamara voiced
  doubts about the war and was quietly replaced
 LBJ 1967 ordered the CIA to spy on anti-war
  leaders
 LBJ had the FBI create
     “Contelpro” a law enforcement agency against
      peace movements and their leaders
Students on campuses from coast to coast protested against the
Vietnam war. Some protests were peaceful; others erupted into violent
confrontations between protesters and police and army troops.
U.S. Marines 163rd Helicopter Squadron Vietnam
 January 30, 1968 Vietnamese
  new year holiday, Viet Cong
  attacked twenty-seven
  different U.S. military
  installations throughout South
  Vietnam at the same time
 Fighting lasted for several
  weeks and was eventually
  considered a U.S. defeat
 Fighting occurred as far south
  as Saigon
 Associated Press photographer
  captured the South Vietnamese
  Chief of Police in Saigon
  executing a Viet Cong in the
  street at close range
     Image shocked the American
      public; symbol of the Vietnam
      “quagmire”
The Tet Offensive
January-February 1968
Although the Tet offensive
proved a major tactical
defeat for the communists,
it effectively undermined
American public support for
the war.
LBJ visited Vietnam to meet with leaders and inspect the troops.
Johnson was gaining little in Vietnam
while losing support at home.
Southeast Asia
      and the
 Vietnam War
    1964-1975
Southeast Asia and the
Vietnam War
To prevent communists from
coming to power in Vietnam,
Cambodia, and Laos in the
1960s, the United States
intervened massively in
Southeast Asia. The
interventions failed, and the
remaining American troops
made a hasty exit from
Vietnam in 1975, when the
victorious Vietcong and North
Vietnamese took Saigon and
renamed it Ho Chi Minh City.
The Vietnam War to 1968
Wishing to guarantee an
independent, noncommunist
government in South Vietnam,
Lyndon Johnson remarked in
1965, "We fight because we
must fight if we are to live in a
world where every country can
shape its own destiny. To
withdraw from one battlefield
means only to prepare for the
next."
   Between Israel and the Soviet backed
    Egyptians
     Resulted in new territories for Israel
      ▪ Sinai Peninsula
      ▪ Golan Heights
      ▪ Gaza Strip
      ▪ West Bank (including Jerusalem)
 Because of American involvement in
  southeast Asia, the US was not able to
  commit troops to other trouble spots in the
  world
 Results of the war
     1 million Arabs were now under Israeli control
     Middle East became even more hostile at a time
      when the U.S. was overcommitted in southeast
      Asia and unable to intervene
Tet Offensive (January)
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (April)
Assassination of Robert Kennedy (June)
Thousands of people follow the casket as the body of
Martin Luther King is brought to the memorial service.
Atlanta, Georgia April 9, 1968.
Coretta Scott King listens
to a sermon at the funeral
of her husband Martin
Luther King Jr.




                             Kennedys Pay Respects to Coretta Scott King
Lyndon Johnson's foreign policy is known mostly for the Vietnam War.
Johnson Won’t Run
Hubert Humphrey
Richard Nixon
George Wallace
   Eugene McCarthy (MN)
     Anti-Vietnam Democrat
      ▪ March 12, Surprisingly won 42% of the vote
        in the New Hampshire primary
   Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy (NY)
     March 14, 1968—announced his
      candidacy for the Democratic
      nomination for the presidency
     Brother of JFK
     Former Attorney General
     “Dove” on Vietnam
   President Johnson
     March 31, 1968 gave
     Televised address
      ▪ Will NOT run for re-election
      ▪ Freeze troop levels
      ▪ Scale down the bombing in Vietnam
   Following Johnson’s
    announcement
     Vice President Herbert H. Humphrey
      began his campaign for the
      Democratic nomination
     North Vietnamese agreed to peace
      talks in Paris
     ▪ Disputes led to a breakdown and the peace
       conference never occurred
   Kennedy, McCarthy, and Humphrey
    were now all running in the
    primaries
Sen. Robert Francis Kennedy (D- N.Y.), his wife Ethel standing behind him,
gives victory sign to huge crowd at the Ambassador Hotel June 5th, 1968.
A few minutes later, the 42 year old Senator was brought down by an
assassin's bullets upon entering a hotel corridor.
Robert Kennedy Lies Wounded
June 5, 1968
On the floor of the Ambassador
Hotel, after being shot by an
assailant, following his victory
speech in the California primary
election.
   Democratic party
     Split on the issue of Vietnam
     Nominated Humphrey while riot patrols
      controlled the anti-war protestors in Chicago
   Humphrey was in favor of continued armed
    force in Vietnam believing that force would
    eventually result in peace talks
   George C. Wallace of Alabama
     American Independent Party
      ▪ Third party candidate
      ▪ Concentrated on the domestic issue of law and
        order and believed in segregation
     Many anti-war protestors did not vote at all
     Nixon won the presidency
Violence at Democratic Convention
Photographs and televised pictures of the Chicago police beating and gassing
antiwar protesters and innocent bystanders at the Democratic convention in
1968 linked Democrats in the public mind with violence and mayhem. The
scenes made Republican Richard Nixon a reassuring presence to those he would
term "the silent majority."
   Richard M. Nixon
     Vice President under
      Eisenhower
     Senator and Congressman
      from California
     August, 1968
      ▪ Won the Republican
        nomination at the
        convention in Miami Beach
The popular vote was almost evenly
split between Richard M. Nixon and
Hubert Humphrey, but Nixon won
31 states to Humphrey's 14 and
triumphed easily in electoral votes.
George Wallace, the American
Independent Party candidate, won 5
states in the Deep South.
Johnson with Nixon: Richard Nixon was elected to replace Johnson
LBJ in his Youth: The brash, outspoken Johnson grew up in an impoverished rural
area in Texas and worked his way through a teachers training college before
entering politics.
LBJ met and married Lady Bird Johnson in 1934.
The Johnsons had two daughters, Lynda and Luci
Johnson died of a heart attack at his Texas ranch on January 22, 1973.
1969 moon landing
On July 20, 1969,
American astronauts Neil
A. Armstrong (shown
above) and Edwin E.
(Buzz) Aldrin, Jr., plant an
American flag on the
moon, thus fulfilling
President John F.
Kennedy's pledge to land
a man on the moon by
the end of the 1960s.
(NASA)