Turbulent 1960s Before

Question 1

During the 1960 Presidential Election, John F. Kennedy’s religion troubled some potential voters. Why?

Answer 1

Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic candidate running for President from a major party. Although anti-Catholic animus had faded since the 1800s, Kennedy was still forced to publicly clarify that, as President, he would not take direction from the Pope.

Question 2

Which innovation in Presidential campaigning debuted during the 1960 Presidential elections, driven in part by the rise of television?

Answer 2

Televised Debates

During the 1960 election, Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy held four televised presidential debates, the first of which was watched by an estimated 70 million people.

During the first debate, Nixon (who had recently been in the hospital) looked tired and he had refused makeup, while Kennedy looked tan and well rested. Historians often attribute Kennedy’s appearance in the first debate to his election victory in a tight race.

Question 3

Define:

Missile Gap

Answer 3

During the 1960 presidential election, Kennedy contended that the U.S. had significantly fewer missiles than the Soviet Union, a “Missile Gap” that he promised to remedy in the event he was elected.

Question 4

What was Richard Nixon’s campaign strategy during the 1960 election?

Answer 4

Nixon played upon his foreign policy expertise, earned while he was a Senator and Vice President, and criticized Kennedy as being soft on communism.

Kennedy narrowly won the election (some think he won by fraud), by a mere 0.1% of the popular vote.

Question 5

During his Inagural Address, Kennedy said “Let the word go forth … that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.” What did Kennedy mean?

Answer 5

Kennedy represented a new generation of leadership, that had come of age during the Second World War. Kennedy viewed the future with optimism, and called for a New Frontier, with greater civil rights, health care reforms, and urban renewal.

Kennedy also promised that the United States would put a man on the moon by the end of the 60s.

Question 6

In 1961, President Kennedy established the Peace Corps. What is the Corps’ mission?

Answer 6

The Peace Corps’ mission is primarily related to fostering social and economic development in developing nations. The Corps provides technical assistance, instructs people in American culture, and helps Americans understand the culture of other countries.

Kennedy founded the Peace Corps to counter the “Ugly Yankee” impression that many citizens of developing nations had of the United States.

Question 7

What was the Bay of Pigs invasion?

Answer 7

In April 1961, Cuban dissidents, funded by the CIA, invaded Cuba in an operation approved by President Kennedy. The attack was a miserable failure, embarrasing President Kennedy.

Question 8

In 1961, President Kennedy met with Premier Kruschev of the U.S.S.R. in Vienna. What was the primary point of discussion at the Vienna Summit?

Answer 8

Once again, the Soviets demanded that the United States abandon West Berlin, which Kennedy refused to do. Otherwise, Kennedy came off as a weak leader.

Kennedy, who had injected a drug cocktail for back pain before the summit, admitted that Kruschev had “beat the hell out of me.” Kruschev would continue to challenge Kennedy, who he perceived as weak, by erecting the Berlin Wall and placing missiles in Cuba.

Question 9

Why did the East German government, at the direction of the Soviet Union, erect the Berlin Wall in November 1961?

Answer 9

The Berlin Wall was erected to prevent East Germans from escaping into West Germany, where economic opportunities and political liberties abounded. Kennedy responded by calling up military reserves and positioning tanks in crucial locations. Neither side called each other’s bluff, and tensions relaxed.

Kennedy would continue to show U.S. solidarity with the people of West Berlin in a speech in that city in 1963, when he said “Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich Bin Ein Berliner’” (I am a Berliner).

Question 10

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 10

In 1962, an Air Force U-2 discovered the Soviets preparing to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, 90 miles from the U.S. Kennedy responded by placing a blockade around Cuba, and threatening war if any Soviet ship crossed the blockade line.

It was the closest the two superpowers came to nuclear war; Kruschev backed down when Kennedy vowed not to invade Cuba.

Question 11

Who was the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi?

Answer 11

James Meredith

Meredith’s admission to Ole Miss was part of a long struggle, and he was assisted by the NAACP in a court case which ruled that Ole Miss had denied Meredith admission based on his skin color.

Meredith’s admission, and Kennedy’s dispatch of American troops to protect him, caused a riot in which 60 U.S. Marshals and 40 soldiers were injured.

Question 12

In the Spring of 1963, Dr. King and the Southern Christian Leadership Counsel sought to draw attention to segregation in which Southern city?

Answer 12

Birmingham, Alabama

The SCLC called for non-violent boycotts and protest marches. Birmingham’s police, lead by “Bull” Conner, dispersed the marchers with firehoses.

The images of children being hit with water from hoses set at a level that would peel bark off tree shocked the North, as did the use of police dogs. The photos were given credit for shifting international support to the protesters.

Question 13

Jailed for his part in the Birmingham Movement, Dr. King wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963. What did Dr. King’s letter state?

Answer 13

Dr. King cited the nonviolent nature of the protest, and contended that it was in the interest of all Americans, black and white, to grant civil rights. King wrote, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly…”

Dr. King was inspired by previous non-violent protest arguments from men such as Thoreau and Gandhi.

Question 14

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech during what event?

Answer 14

The March on Washington

Some 200,000 Americans converged on Washington, ostensibly in support of a Civil Rights bill pending in Congress, but also with a larger purpose in mind – raising both civil rights and economic issues to national attention.

The Civil Rights Bill of 1964, supported by President Kennedy before his death, was passed in part in response to the March.

Question 15

What was the Warren Commission?

Answer 15

Chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Warren Commission investigated the death of President Kennedy in Dallas, in November 1963. The Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but the lax investigative techniques employed have promoted scepticism of the Warren Report and the government.

Question 16

Immediately after he became President, Lyndon Johnson convinced Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which had originally been proposed by President Kennedy. What did the Civil Rights Act establish?

Answer 16

The Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce based on race, color, religion or national origin. They also prohibited state and municipal governments from denying access to public facilities on grounds of race, color, religion or national origin.

Question 17

In a measure originally suggested by President Kennedy, President Johnson signed into law a tax cut on high-income earners. What effect did this have on the economy?

Answer 17

Where the economy had been in a slight recession during the Kennedy years, the tax cut instituted a period of economic growth.

Question 18

Who ran against President Johnson in the 1964 Presidential Election?

Answer 18

Barry Goldwater, Republican Senator from Arizona

Goldwater advocated an end to the welfare state, but Johnson painted Goldwater as irrational and untrustworthy.

Johnson won in a landslide; Goldwater carried only the states of the Deep South and Arizona.

Question 19

What did Johnson nickname the set of domestic programs he championed?

Answer 19

Johnson’s programs were known as the Great Society, and were aimed at the elimination of poverty and racial injustice.

As part of the Great Society, Johnson declared a War on Poverty, greatly expanding social welfare programs at a high cost.

Question 20

As part of his Great Society, President Johnson proposed Medicare and Medicaid. What did these new programs establish?

Answer 20

Medicare provided health insurance for those over age 65, and Medicaid provided health insurance for the poor.

Question 21

In 1968, President Johnson signed into law the _____ _____ Act, which banned racial discrimination in the sales and renting of homes and apartments.

Answer 21

Fair Housing

As part of his Great Society program, Johnson had vowed to combat racial injustice.

Question 22

Which cabinet level agency did President Johnson sign into law in 1965, to develop and execute policies on housing?

Answer 22

Housing and Urban Development (HUD), originally known as the House and Home Financing Agency.

HUD was responsible for building and administering government housing as part of President Johnson’s War on Poverty.

Question 23

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished the immigration quotas of the 1920s. What was the effect of the Act?

Answer 23

Over the next decade there would a sharp upsurge of immigrants from Mexico and Central America. Further, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fleeing the war in Vietnam would use the opportunity to immigrate to the United States.

The Immigration and Nationality Act was one of a number of Great Society program passed during President Johnson’s Administration.

Question 24

The publication of which book gave birth to the modern environmental movement?

Answer 24

Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson

Carson argued that DDT (a common insecticide) was causing adverse effects on the thickness of birds’ eggshells, which led to a ban on the product.

Critics have questioned Carson’s research methods, and the ban on DDT, which had been useful in the fight against yellow fever and malaria.

Question 25

In 1965, who published Unsafe at any Speed, which detailed efforts by American automakers to resist measures designed to increase user safety?

Answer 25

Ralph Nader

Although many of the results of Nader’s tests could not be duplicated by either the auto industry or the government, his book marked the beginning of the consumer safety movement.

Question 26

In response to a North Vietnamese attack on the USS Turner Joy and the USS Maddox, Congress passed which measure, that allowed the President to conduct all necessary measures to ensure that South Vietnam survived?

Answer 26

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution

The Resolution allowed Johnson to vastly increase the scope of U.S. operations in Vietnam; from a few thousand troops in 1964 to 450,000 troops in 1967.

The attack itself may never have happened; some historians suspect that radar readings of an attack weren’t accurate.

Question 27

Who were the Việt Cộng?

Answer 27

The Việt Cộng were communist rebels from the government of America’s South Vietnamese allies. They were aided in their struggle by the North Vietnamese, Chinese, and Soviet Union.

Question 28

During the Johnson Administration, what counter-insurgency tactic did the United States against the Việt Cộng and their North Vietnamese adversaries.

Answer 28

The United States employed a strategy of “search and destroy;” with the assistance of helicopters, U.S. troops were airlifted into hostile territory, sought out the enemy, and destroyed them, before returning via helicopter to friendly territory.

Question 29

What was the Tết Offensive (1968)?

Answer 29

During a Vietnamese holiday in January, 1968, the Việt Cộng and North Vietnamese launched a massive attack, capturing Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital. Although U.S. forces were able to drive their adversaries back and deliver a victory, Walter Cronkite, the most trusted news reporter declared that the war is lost.

Question 30

In the context of the Vietnam War, what is the difference between “hawks” and “doves”?

Answer 30

Hawks were those who felt that the United States should carry out all measures necessary to achive victory in Vietnam.

Doves felt that the War was unnecessary and unjustified, and suggested that the money spent fighting the War would be better used at home.

Question 31

Where did most of the more virulent protests against the Vietnam War take place?

Answer 31

College campuses were hotbeds of protests against the War. During the late 1960s, students held sit-ins against the war, struck from attending classes, burned their draft cards, and protested in Washington D.C.

Question 32

Why did Lyndon Johnson choose not to run for President in 1968?

Answer 32

Although he’d won in a landslide four short years before, Johnson faced widespread opposition to his handling of the Vietnam War. Anti-war dove Demcorats and pro-war hawk Democrats bitterly divided the party, and it is doubtful whether Johnson could have won the nomination, let alone another presidential election.

Question 33

In 1968, two political leaders were assassinated within only a few days of each other. Who were they?

Answer 33

Martin Luther King Jr. was killed outside a hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray, whose motive remains unclear.

In Los Angeles, where he was campaigning in the California presidential primary, Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian angered by Kennedy’s pro-Israel stance.

During his campaign, Kennedy had sharply critiqued further involvement in Vietnam.

Question 34

Who were the Chicago Seven?

Answer 34

During the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, young anti-war Democrats rioted in the streets in protest of Johnson’s handling of the Vietnam War. Eight of the protesters were arrested, and a seventh tried for conspiracy to incite a riot. All were found not guilty.

Question 35

Although he had little chance of winning the popular vote, Alabama Governor George Wallace ran for President in 1968, hoping for what result?

Answer 35

Wallace hoped to deny both Nixon and Humphrey a majority in the electoral college, and to throw the election to the House of Reprsentatives, but his strategy failed. Wallace was a segregationist Democrat, and sharply opposed to the Civil Rights measures of the Johnson administration.

Question 36

Why did anti-war Democrats oppose Hubert H. Humphrey’s candidacy for President on the Democratic ticket?

Answer 36

As the incumbent Vice-President, Humphrey was suspected of wanting to continue Johnson’s Vietnam War policies.

Question 37

How did Republican nominee Richard Nixon address the Vietnam War, the preeminent campaign issue of the 1968 Presidential contest?

Answer 37

Nixon called for “Peace with Honor,” and contended that he had a “secret plan” to end the War in Vietnam. Nixon never revealed the details of his plan, but won a resounding victory in the 1968 election, thanks in part to votes from Democrats and Republicans who’d had enough of protests, violence, and the permissiveness of the counterculture movement.

Question 38

Describe:

Counterculture

Answer 38

In the 1960s, counterculture was identified with the rejection of convential societal norms including racial segregation, religious morality, condemnation of premarital intercourse, women’s rights, and materialism.

Question 39

What decision did the Supreme Court reach in Roe v. Wade (1973)?

Answer 39

Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court held that the right to privacy contained within the “penumbras” of the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman’s choice to have an abortion. The decision prompted a national debate (which still continues), on the issue of abortion.

Question 40

What requirement did the Supreme Court place upon arresting officers in Miranda v. Arizona (1966)?

Answer 40

In Miranda, the Court required police to read arrested persons their rights, such as the right to remain silent.

Miranda was freed, and was later found stabbed in an Arizona bar.

Question 41

What was the Nation of Islam?

Answer 41

The Nation of Islam was a religious movement, that preached black separatism, black nationalism, and self improvement.

Question 42

Under what circumstances did Malcolm X suggest violence would be appropriate?

Answer 42

Malcolm X contended that black violence was appropriate to counter white violence. A former memberof the Nation of Islam, who’d formed the Organization of African-American Unity, Malcolm Little was assassinated by followers of Elijah Muhammad in 1965.

Question 43

The _____ _____ advocated militant self rule for blacks, and were characterized by a distinct all black attire.

Answer 43

Black Panthers

The Panthers voiced slogans such as “Burn, baby, burn” and “Get Whitey” but their violent rhetoric was tempered, in part, by their organized literacy and food campaigns for inner city blacks.

Question 44

What was the Long Hot Summer?

Answer 44

During the summer of 1967, 159 race riots erupted throughout the United States, the most violent of which took place in Newark, New Jersey, and Detroit, Michigan. The Riots continued the next year, especially after the assassination of Dr. King.

Question 45

What statement did the Students for Democratic Society issue?

Answer 45

The Students for a Democractic Society issued the Port Huron Statement, which called for university decisions to be made through student participatory democracy.

Question 46

What was the Weather Underground?

Answer 46

The Weather Underground was a radical leftist group, organized as an offshoot of the Students for a Demcractic Society. The Weather Underground conducted a series of bombings, including at the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol, in protest of the Vietnam War, and what they saw as continued racial prejudice at home

Question 47

The widespread availability of birth control and antibiotics to treat venereal disease led to what revolution?

Answer 47

The Sexual Revolution

Sex out of wedlock became more common, leading in turn towards an increased acceptance of homosexuality and abortion.

Question 48

What were the Kinsey Reports?

Answer 48

The Kinsey Report, authored by Dr. Alfred Kinsey, was an extended study of sexual mores and practices in the United States. Kinsey’s work revealed that more far Americans were sexual active, unfaithful to their spouses, or homosexual than had previously been suspected. Kinsey’s two books were titled Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953)

Question 49

The _____ _____ arose out of a police raid on a gay bar in 1968.

Answer 49

Stonewall Riots

During the 1960s, police raids on establishment suspected to be homosexual gathering places were common. When the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, the situation quickly got out of hand, and resident organized activist groups to resist the police. The Stonewall Riots are considered the start of the organized Gay Pride movement.

Question 50

Who published The Feminine Mystique in 1963?

Answer 50

Betty Friedan

Friedan surveyed a number of American housewives, and contended that women were not fulfiled by the “feminine mystique” - the idea that women were satisfied by a life as homemakers.

Question 51

What is second-wave feminism?

Answer 51

Second-wave feminism began in the 1960s with the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, and continued with the organization of the National Organization for Women. Second-wave feminists focused on women’s equality in the workplace, allowing women to attend all-male institutions such as West Point, and illegalizing gender discrimination. The second-wave feminists’ sole legislative loss was the failure to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.

First wave feminism is the term for those who advocated for ending legal restrictions on women and for the vote during the 1860s to 1920s.

Question 52

Who is Cesar Chavez?

Answer 52

Chavez was a Latino civil rights activitist, who founded the National Farm Workers of America. His work led to numerous improvements for poor farm workers, including collective bargaining rights.

Question 53

What 1969 event gave rise to the American Indian Movement?

Answer 53

In 1969, 89 Indians and their supporters occupied Alcatraz, a former prison in San Francisco Bay, requesting the Islands return to Indian control. Their activism brought renewed focus to the Federal government’s relations with the Indian tribes; many tribes were granted increased sovereignty, and Indian cultural movements blossomed.