Chapter 38: The Stormy Sixties

Question 1

New Frontier

Answer 1

1960-1963
Kennedy’s campaign platform. It promised improvements in civil rights, education, and health care. It also promised to revive the stagnant economy

Question 2

Peace Corps

Answer 2

1961
A program established by JFK that would send young American volunteers around the world to spread American skills. It helped thaw the Cold War

Question 3

Berlin Wall

Answer 3

1961
A wall separating East Berlin (communist) and West Berlin (capitalist). It prevented East Berliners from escaping and symbolized the division between capitalism and communism

Question 4

European Economic Community (EEC)

Answer 4

1957
An economic organization established to reduce tariff barriers and promote trade among the countries of Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and West Germany. It later evolved into the European Union

Question 5

Trade Expansion Act

Answer 5

1963
An act passed by Kennedy that lowered foreign tariffs by up to 50%. This greatly increased trade with foreign nations. It led to the Kennedy Round of Tariff negotiations, which ended in 1967.

Question 6

Flexible Response

Answer 6

A foreign policy philosophy pioneered by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara that was inspired by the “brush fire” wars in places like Laos. It stated that the army should build up standard weapons in their arsenal and match the severity of their response to the severity of the situation. However, it lowered the point at which diplomacy could be reached and enabled an endless stepping-up of power

Question 7

Alliance for Progress

Answer 7

Dubbed “Latin America’s Marshall Plan.” It attempted to close the gap between the rich and poor (therefore quieting communist agitation), but it generally ended up being a failure. Latin Americans resented America’s attempts to intervene

Question 8

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Answer 8

1961
An invasion of Cuba by CIA-trained anti-communist exiles through the Bay of Pigs. Kennedy inherited it from Eisenhower, yet he authorized it. The invasion was a complete failure and the Cuban military easily beat back the exiles, to whom the US refused to provide aid. This pushed Castro closer to the Soviet Union

Question 9

Cuban Missile Crisis

Answer 9

1962
Due to its ties with communist Russia, Americans established a quarantine on Cuba, threatening them that they would use nuclear power against them if they tried to breach the quarantine. A tense standoff occurred, but Khrushchev finally yielded and removed the nuclear weapons from Cuba if the US ended the quarantine and removed some of its missiles from Turkey

Question 10

Cuban Missile Crisis Consequences

Answer 10

1. Khrushchev was exiled
2. A US-Moscow hotline was established to provide direct communication if anything were to go wrong
3. Democrats did well in the midterm elections of 1962 since Republicans were “Cubanized”
4. The Soviet Union launched a military expansion program
5. A pact prohibiting atmospheric nuclear tests was established in 1963
6. Kennedy called for “honorable peace” at American University

Question 11

Freedom Riders

Answer 11

Started in 1961
Civil Rights activists who traveled across the South on a crusade to end segregation in facilities serving interstate bus passengers; their efforts were frequently met with protests and violence; when southern officials failed to come to their aid, JFK dispatched federal marshals to protect the riders

Question 12

Voter Education Project

Answer 12

1962
An organization created by the SNCC and other civil rights organizations and backed by the Kennedy administration that helped register the South’s historically disenfranchised black people

Question 13

March on Washington

Answer 13

1963
A march led by MLK in which 200,000 peaceful demonstrators expressed their support for Kennedy’s proposed civil rights legislation. Here, MLK gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech

Question 14

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Answer 14

Passed under LBJ’s presidency. The act outlawed racial discrimination in most private facilities open to the public and strengthened the federal government’s power to end segregation in schools and other public places. Conservatives tried to derail it by adding a prohibition of sexual discrimination, thinking that the Democrats would not pass anything that singled out women. This plan backfired and the Act was passed with Title VII intact

Question 15

Title VII

Answer 15

A part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that barred employers from discriminating based on race or national origin in hiring and empowered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce the law

Question 16

Affirmative Action

Answer 16

LBJ issued an executive order requiring all federal contractors to take affirmative action against discrimination. Affirmative action calls for steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded. Prioritized individuals rather than groups

Question 17

Great Society

Answer 17

1964-1968
An ambitious series of policy initiatives, legislation, and programs spearheaded by President Lyndon B. Johnson with the main goals of ending poverty, reducing crime, abolishing inequality, and improving the environment.

Question 18

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

Answer 18

1964
Unbeknownst to the American public or Congress, American navy ships were cooperating with South Vietnamese ships in raiding the coast of North Vietnam. Two of the destroyers were fired upon and Johnson called the attack unprovoked (even though it was likely in self-defense). He ordered a limited retaliatory war proclaiming that he did not want to escalate the conflict like Barry Goldwater would. He also used the incident to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Question 19

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Answer 19

1964-1971
Congress essentially abdicated their war-making powers and handed Johnson a blank check to use further force in Southeast Asia. It was repealed in 1971

Question 20

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

Answer 20

Abolished the last of the “national-origins” quota that was in place since 1965. IT doubled the number of immigrants allowed to enter annually (290,000) and set limits on immigrants from the Western hemisphere (120,000) for the first time.
It also provided for the admission of close relatives of US citizens outside those numerical limits, which over 100,000 people took advantage of. This caused the immigrant stream to swell beyond expectations
The sources of immigration shifted from Europe to Latin America and Asia, changing the racial and ethnic composition of the American population

Question 21

Project Head Start

Answer 21

1965
A U.S. federal program that provides poverty-stricken children with a year or two of preschool along with nutritional and health services and that encourages parent involvement in program planning and children’s learning. It was a part of Johnson’s Great Society and improved the educational performance of underprivileged youth

Question 22

24th Amendment

Answer 22

1964
Abolished the poll tax in federal elections

Question 23

Freedom Summer

Answer 23

In the summer of 1964, black people joined hands with white people in a massive voter registration drive in Mississippi. This was met with a lot of violence from white people. White juries refused to convict the perpetrators

Question 24

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party

Answer 24

A political party organized by civil rights activists to challenge Mississippi’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention, who opposed the civil rights planks in the party’s platform. Claiming a mandate to represent the true voice of Mississippi, where almost no black citizens could vote, it demanded to be seated at the convention but was denied by party bosses. The effort was both a setback to civil rights activism in the south and a motivation to continue to struggle for black voting rights

Question 25

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Answer 25

An act shepherded through Congress by Johnson that abolished literacy tests for black people and sent federal voter registrants into southern states. It was somewhat motivated by violent action against peaceful black protests in Selma, Alabama
While the act did not end discrimination in the South, it was a huge victory for Civil Rights and gave black people power. White southerners began to court black votes and, for the first time since emancipation, black people began migrating into the South

Question 26

Black Panther Party

Answer 26

An organization of armed black militants formed in Oakland, California, in 1966 to protect black rights. They represented a growing dissatisfaction with the non-violent wing of the civil rights movement and signaled a new direction to that movement after the legislative victories of 1964-1965

Question 27

Black Power

Answer 27

A doctrine preached by Stokely Carmichael and other militant black protestors. It claimed that it would “smash everything Western civilization has created.”
Some advocates of black power insisted that the slogan described an effort to exercise the political and economic rights gained by the civil rights movement and to speed the integration of American society
Other black people, recalling earlier nationalist movements, breathed a separatist meaning into Black Power. They emphasized African American distinctiveness, promoted “Afro” hairstyles and dress, shed their “white” names for new African identities, and demanded black studies programs in schools and universities
In the North, the Black Power movement focused more on economic demands like black unemployment than civil rights

Question 28

Operation Rolling Thunder

Answer 28

1965-1968
A massive air bombardment of North Vietnam in April of 1965 was launched by President Johnson. The targets were directly chosen by the president. These were regular full-scale bombing attacks against Vietnam.

Question 29

Six-Day War

Answer 29

1967
Soviet-backed Egypt, Jordan, and Syria attacked Israel. Israel won the conflict and gained access to new land in the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank of the Jordan River, including Jerusalem.
1 million Palestinian Arabs were brought under their control and another 350,000 Palestinian refugees fled to Jordan
The Israelis eventually withdrew from the Sinai but refused to withdraw from other territories without a treaty, beginning to move Jewish settlers into Arab districts in the West Bank
The Six-Day War increased tensions in the Middle East, especially between Israelis and Palestinians. For decades the Palestinians wanted “pre-1967 boundaries.” The US was unable to diffuse tensions in the Middle East

Question 30

The Tet Offensive

Answer 30

1968
During a time when Viet Cong was supposedly licking their wounds, they attacked 27 Ket South Vietnamese cities, including the capital Saigon. Even though they were defeated, this demonstrated to the public that the victory was not anywhere close to Johnson’s policy of gradual escalation. American public opinion demanded an end to the war as opposition against Johnson grew
American military leaders responded to this with a staggering demand of 200,000 more troops, which alarmed many policymakers

Question 31

Free Speech Movement

Answer 31

Started at the University of California at Berkeley in 1964. Students protested an administrative ban on the use of campus space for political debate and accused the Cold War of promoting corporate interests rather than humane values

Question 32

Mattachine Society

Answer 32

An organization founded in Los Angeles in 1951 that was a pioneering advocate for gay rights as gay people demanded tolerance

Question 33

Stonewall Rebellion

Answer 33

1969
Off-duty police officers brutally attacked gay men at New York’s Stonewall Inn. The victims fought back in the Stonewall Rebellion

Question 34

Students for a Democratic Society

Answer 34

A movement in the 1960s that initially held antipoverty and antiwar campaigns. By the decade’s end, it spawned an underground terrorist organization called the Weathermen. This reflected the violence and cynicism of the 1960s

Question 35

Robert F. Kennedy

Answer 35

The Attorney General under the Kennedy administration and Kennedy’s brother. He set out to recast the priorities of the FBI, focusing on “internal security” work yet barely targeting organized crime. He paid little to no attention to civil rights.
In 1968, he threw his hat in the ring for the presidential nomination and stirred a response among workers, African Americans, Latinos, and young people. He was against the Vietnam War
He was shot and killed in 1968 by a young Arab who was resentful of his pro-Israel views just as his campaign was gaining momentum

Question 36

Robert S. McNamara

Answer 36

The former president of the Ford Motor Company who took over the Defense Department during Kennedy’s presidency. He expressed doubts about America’s involvement in the Vietnam war and was dismissed by LBJ. “Flexible response” doctrine

Question 37

Charles de Gaulle

Answer 37

The president of France who vetoed a British application for a Common Market Membership. He feared deepening American control over Europe and deemed America to be unreliable in a crisis. He tried to preserve French freedom by developing a small atomic force and demanded an independent Europe free of American influence

Question 38

Ngo Dinh Diem

Answer 38

The corrupt, right-wing leader of the Diem regime in South Vietnam. He was initially favored by the Americans due to his pro-American policies, yet American troops eventually overthrew his government in a coup because of his inability to cooperate. He was assassinated in 1963.

Question 39

Walt Whitman Rostow

Answer 39

One of the most influential modernization theorists who charted the route from traditional society to “the age of high-mass consumption” in his book The Stages of Economic Growth (1960). He was an influential advisor to the Kennedy and Johnson administrations

Question 40

J. Edgar Hoover

Answer 40

The director of the FBI who followed Robert Kennedy’s orders to wiretap MLK’s phone in late 1963, fearing that King had communist advisors

Question 41

James Meredith

Answer 41

An air force veteran who tried to register at the University of Mississippi in 1962. Kennedy was forced to send in 400 federal marshalls and 3,000 troops to enroll Meredith in his first class

Question 42

Lee Harvey Oswald

Answer 42

Kennedy’s supposed assassin who was later killed by Jack Ruby

Question 43

Michael Harrington

Answer 43

Wrote The Other America (1962), which roused support for LBJ’s Great Society. It revealed that 20% of the population and 40% of the black population suffered in poverty

Question 44

Robert C. Weaver

Answer 44

A respected economist who became the first black cabinet secretary in American history. Johnson named him the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development

Question 45

Malcolm X

Answer 45

A prominent black militant leader who was inspired by black nationalists like Eljiah Muhammad in the Nation of Islam. He changed his last name to show how black people lost their identity in white America and advocated for black separatism
He later turned away from Muhammad’s extremist policies and moved toward mainstream Islam, which was America’s fastest-growing religion. He was killed in 1965 by a rival Nation of Islam gunman

Question 46

Stokely Carmichael

Answer 46

A leader of the SNCC who began to preach the doctrine of Black Power.

Question 47

Yasir Arafat

Answer 47

Head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which led a struggle against the Israelis and contributed to tensions in the Middle East

Question 48

William Fulbright

Answer 48

The head of the antiwar Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He was a thorn in LBJ’s side and staged widely viewed televised hearings in 1966 and 1967 where prominent personages aired their antiwar views

Question 49

Eugene McCarthy

Answer 49

A Democratic Senator from Minnesota who was a contender for the 1968 presidential nomination. He was a peaceful Catholic who gathered a small group of antiwar people to campaign for him, and he gained an impressive 41.1% of the Democratic vote in the New Hampshire primary

Question 50

George C. Wallace

Answer 50

The candidate for the American Independent Party in the election of 1968. He called for segregation and increased war in Vietnam

Question 51

Geneva Conference 1962

Answer 51

Established a Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos and a three-part coalition government divided between pro-American, pro-Communist, and neutral factions.

Question 52

Modernization Theory

Answer 52

Stated that the traditional societies of Asia, Africa, and Latin America could develop into democratic nations by following America’s path
It was the intellectual framework for policymakers during the Cold War

Question 53

Watts Riot

Answer 53

1965
Occurred a few days after the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It heralded a new phase of the civil rights movement marked by militant struggle mostly in northern and western cities aimed at black separatism
A second wave of militant black leaders including Malcolm X attacked MLK’s nonviolent policies

Question 54

Johnson’s Social Reform Policies

Answer 54

Escalating the War on Poverty, Johnson doubled the appropriation to the Office of Economic Opportunity to $2 billion and granted more than $1 billion to redevelop Appalachia
He created two new offices: The Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to which he named the first black cabinet secretary in American history, respected economist Robert C. Weaver
He also established the National Endowments for the Arts, which was designed to lift the level of American cultural life

Question 55

Johnson’s Big Four Legislative Achievements

Answer 55

1. Johnson avoided the issue of the separation of church and state by giving educational aid directly to students rather than to schools
2. Johnson established Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor in 1965. They conferred rights on certain categories of Americans without the need for continuous Congressional approval. These programs were part of a “rights revolution” that improved the lives of millions of Americans but undermined the federal government’s financial health
3. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished the national origins quota that had been in place since 1921 and helped change the immigrant makeup of the nation
4. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 abolished literacy tests for black people and sent federal voter registrars into southern states

Question 56

Barry Goldwater

Answer 56

The Republican candidate in the election of 1964. Goldwater attacked the federal income tax, the Social Security System, the TVA, civil rights legislation, the nuclear test-ban treaty, and the Great Society and was portrayed as a trigger-happy cowboy who would escalate the Vietnam War.

Question 57

Herbert H. Humphrey

Answer 57

LBJ’s heir and the Democratic candidate for the election of 1968

Question 58

Richard Nixon

Answer 58

The Republican candidate for the election of 1968. He was a hawk on Vietnam and a right-leaning moderate on domestic issues. He pleased Goldwater conservatives and southerners and was acceptable to party moderates. His VP Spiro R. Agnew noted for his stands against dissidents and black militants, gained the support of the south

Question 59

George C. Wallace

Answer 59

The candidate for the American Independent Party in 1968. He was a fervent segregationist and highly pro-war

Question 60

LBJ’s War on Poverty

Answer 60

1. Project Head Start
2. Upward Bound: The same as Project Head Start for older children
3. Job Corps: Trained the unskilled so they could get better jobs
4. Legal Services for the Poor: Guaranteed poor people legal counsel
5. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Increased federal aid to low-income housing, built more federal housing projects, established Medicare and Medicaid
6. Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA): A domestic Peace Corps