reactions to counter-culture Flashcards
what was the silent majority?
- ameircans that viewed protest and counter-culture as un-american
- horrified by the protests of the 60s
- ensured nixon victory in 1968
how did nixon characterise the silent majroity?
- not the first to use it but polularised it in a speech supporting the vietnam war
- those who did not protest the war (opposite to the vocal minority)
- middle-america same as silent majority
what was the immpact of the tet offensive?
- credibility gap between what was being reported and what was actually happening
- johnson didnt stand for re-election due to public histility
- silent majority wanted peace with honour - nixon promised this
what was the impact of the assassination of Martin Luther King?
1968
* blakc race riots in 100 cities
* federal troops and nationl gurd needed to restore order
* silent majority saw america as a divided country with political dialogue replacced with violence.
what was the impact of the democratic national convention?
- young protestor gather to oppose the american elctoral process
- protestors aggrivated chicago police
- police removed their name tags and beat the protestors brutally
- 56% of ameircans supported tese actions
- DNC cuased and increased support for nixon
what was the appeal of richard nixon in the 60s?
- americans craved law and order after protests of the 60s
- moderate republican that prmised peaced adn prosperity
- return to the conformity of the eisenhower years (not an actual policy impiled)
- promised end to vietnam
examples of youth counter-culture that middle-america disapproved of.
- woodstock
- kent state
- radicalisma and violence
examples of student bombings 1969-70?
- anti-capitalists set fire to san diego banks
- pro-balck panther activists set fire to books in yale law
- colorado uni buildings exploded due to black scholoarships frozen
what were the kent state protests?
consequences?
clash between national gaurdsmen and anti-war student protests.
bombs deployed agaisnt the school and natioan gaurd fired indiscrim at students killing 4
over 1/2 of americans supported the crackdown on students
examples of nixons war on welfare?
- closed 59 job corps
- Familt Assisstance Plan - made 13 million americans eligible fo social welfare, conservaties liked the work requirements
- vetoed 1971 child development act - said it was too communism-esque
actually spent more on welfare than than johnson
what was nixons stance on affirmative action?
claied not to like it
* supreme court onservtives ended bussing of black children to white schools
* HOWEVER
* pressured federl contractors to employ more ethnic workers
* gap between what he did and said about affirmative action
how did film and tv challenge or promote conservative military values?
- green berets - supported vietnam
- MASH - about koren war but also criticised vietnam
- more important the quality of film rather than the politicl message - popularity
how did news and media assist the civil rights movement?
- images of the mistreatment of black people in birmingham helped to pss the civil rights act 1964
- programming of the violence of bloody sunday helped to pass the voting rights act 1965
- HOWEVER
- gehtto riots pushed white sympathies away from civil rights
what was the my lai massacare?
impact?
- 347 unarmed south vietnamese were murdered by american soldiers in the villaige of my lai
- army attempted to cover up the attrocities
- seymore hersh - exposed the my lai massacare in 1969
didnt change much of the attitudes towards the war
* pro-war - saw it as an inevitablilty of warfare
* antiwar- shocked and horrified
* changed some - seen as truning americans into killers
