Americans were enjoying their superpower status…tract housing sprouted…

the tailfin was invented in ‘55…Seemed like the American dream was coming true!

One little thing disturbed this peaceful scene…

a little satellite launch called Sputnik– and it was Russian

The truth …

Russia could now deliver annihilation to your back yard in about half an hour

The Effect on the U.S. …

Govt. upped support for space program…Science education…

The Result…

Now both sides could deliver annihilation…

Very relieving right…

And what was with those teenagers?

What were they listening to?It like the 1920s all over again:

Govt. mind control was failing to take hold below!

Again, Black dance music was crossing over: Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Little Richard …and the

Message was SEXY

Between the “respectable” parents and their children, a generation gap opened

up…

Meanwhile, back in the real world, something was happening that affected the ’60s and everything

afterward:DECOLONIZATION

Remember: Until 1945, a few Euro. Countries were more than countries—

they were Empires.

Britain Ruled:India

BurmaSudan Kenya

UgandaRhodesia

etc etc etc…

France ruled:AlgeriaTunisia

VietnamCambodia

LaosChad

etc etc etc…

As America vaguely remembered, being a colony was no fun.

And like America in 1776, a few of these 20th Century colonies had

independence movements!

After WWII some of these movements succeeded….

India & Pakistan (1947)Burma ‘(48)

Vietnam & Cambodia (‘55)Indonesia ‘(56)

Sudan (’56)

Part II

Revolution Now?

As Britain, France, Holland & Co. withdrew from their overseas

colonies, the U.S. often stepped in.

This was called NEO-Colonialism, because even though countries kept independence, they were subject to U.S.

priorities.

Woe to the country that showed real independence…

Two Examples: VIETNAMAfter defeating the French the

Vietnamese agreed to fair elections (1956) for French withdrawal

But HO CHI MINH, (Viet. Leader) was a Marxist. The U.S. stepped in, set up a puppet govt. in the

South & blocked elections realizing that HO would likely win

CUBA, sort of free, but really, more or less, owned by the USA…

In ’59, FIDEL CASTRO led a revolution w/ other ideas…

It was unknown at the time if Castro was communist—but he was a threat to US economic interests so

the CIA began plotting against him…

The Bubbling Brew of the ‘60s…another ingredient was the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

After WWII the govt. realized racism was a blot on America’s image so barriers vs.

blacks began coming down.

The 1st- Major League Baseball in ’48…Truman ordered military desegregated

in ’48…Supreme Court issued Brown v. Board

of Education banning segregated public schools

Progress was slow…

Montgomery Bus Boycott (triggered by Rosa Parks)- 1st direct action of Civil Rights Mvmt. …

Boycott’s leader- 27 yr. old minister Martin L. King Jr.

1960: Ike bows out with a warning vs. America’s growing “military-industrial

complex”…

In comes young John F. Kennedywho appeals to young Americans’

idealism.He calls his program the NEW

FRONTIER

Some respond by joining the Peace Corps & seeing the world

Some join the Civil Rights movement and see the South.

1963Civil Rights demonstrations in 186 US cities

… a black student enrolled at the Univ. of AL…250,000 marched peacefully to D.C. where MLK gave

his famous speech…

Meanwhile, in Cuba, Kennedy carried out Ike’s plan” to overthrow Castro…

their Bay of Pigs invasion failed (think John Brown’s Raid & you’ll get the idea)

So the CIA turned to more exotic ideas while Castro turned to the USSR for

military aid.

Russia sent missiles …Kennedy sent the Navy to confront

them…For a few days the world teetered on

the brink …

The crisis ended when the USSR agreed to remove the missiles and the US promised to leave Castro in peace.

In Saigon, South Vietnam, a big slum, land reform was in the hands of a “landlord”…opposition grew against Diem’s corrupt

govt.

Kennedy concluded that Diem was no longer useful, gave the nod, and the Vietnamese president was assassinated on

11.1.1963

Three weeks later the American President was assassinated…

A few days later, Kennedy’s assassin was assassinated, on live TV !!!!!!

Now the ’60s had really begun…

Psychedelic drugs hit the news when Harvard Professor Tim Leary was fired for

turning on to LSD with his students

By ‘65 a drug culture had sprouted

Unaware, VP LYNDON JOHNSON took the oath of office..

The tall Texan fulfilled JFK’s pledge w/ 5 years of civil rights and social

legislation

Examples….

Voting Rights ActFood Stamps

MedicareOffice of Economic Opportunity

Occupational Safety and Health AdministrationWar on Poverty

Sadly, the war on poverty wasn’t Johnson’s only war…

While celebrating an election win, he began sending ground troops to

Vietnam.

UP THE ESCALATOR

In 1964 US had 20,000 “military advisers”* propping up Diem’s replacement. The

opposition North waged a guerilla war and seemed to be winning.

*mostly helicopter pilots

August 5th- Johnson accused N. Vietnam of attacking US ships in

Gulf of Tonkin

Aug. 7th Congress ok’d ‘Tonkin Gulf Resolution” allowing Johnson do

“whatever is necessary”

Johnson began bombing Vietnam—2 days before the agreement

passed!!

1964 – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held anti-war “teach-

ins”.--People burned their draft cards

Meanwhile… blacks were losing patience w/ white racism…

Elijah Mohammed preached “whites are devils” and “black is

beautiful”…

But Malcolm X (Muslim’s best speaker) had vision of racial

harmony & so separated from Mohammed…

1965 Malcolm was assassinated.

In ‘66 the swelling rage broke in the tidal wave of LA’s Watts Riots:

final toll: 40 deadhundreds of acres charred

’68an election year…550,000

Americans in Vietnam, mass bombing of N. Viet….US troops

massacre 400 women/kids at My Lai… MLK speaks out vs. the war…

Democrats begin deserting Johnson…

Johnson announces that he won’t run again…he eases the bombing…peace talks begin…a few anti-war

candidates emerge, including Robert Kennedy.

April 4MLK is shot…

In June Bobby Kennedy falls…

In Nov. …Richard Nixon wins the election & claims to have a “secret

plan” to end the war…

The plan “operation duck hook” would make threats vs. N. Viet.

(use of nukes)…before seeing how this turned out

let’s note a couple other events from ’69…

American Neil Armstrong landed on the moon…

Another American Charles Manson programmed teenage girls w/ LSD

to commit pointless, gruesome murders

Nixon’s escalation began: he mined Haiphong Harbor; bombed N. Viet.’s irrigation dikes; later wasted the little country w/ more explosive power than all the

bombs of WWII

As the war dragged on & widened to Cambodia & Laos– it started to

look like war at home…bombs demolished banks, ROTC

buildings…FBI gunned down black radicals, guardsmen killed students at Kent State (Ohio) & Jackson St.

(Miss.)

1971 a disgruntled Pentagon analyst Dan Ellsber leaked the

“Pentagon Papers” to the press documenting Govt. lies on

Vietnam.

The public was almost as stunned as the President!

Nixon created the “plumbers” a secret team to plug leaks.

They burgled Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office looking for something to smear him with.

Then as the ‘72 elections neared, the plumbers were caught tapping

phones in the Democrats’ headquarters at the Watergate

Apt. Complex

Nixon escaped responsibility, until after the election (he won by a

landslide) …then the amazing story came out:

*the existence of the plumbers* Ellsburg Burglary

* “enemies” harassed by IRS/ beaten by thugs

* suitcases full of $100 bills (“hush money”)

*money-laundering operation* cover-up involving FBI & CIA &

White House

…the most incredible?

A secret White House taping system recording it all!!

(18 crucial minutes had been erased though)

Facing impeachment Nixon resigned and a no. of assistants

went to jail

Before retiring Nixon “Vietnamized” the war (turned the fighting over to the S. Viet. Army)

To no one’s surprise the S. Vietnamese army collapsed & communists took Saigon on April

25 1975

Part I

1. Explain the effect of Russia’s launching of Sputnik on the US education system?

2. List a few examples of how there is a “generation gap” between yourself and the adults in your life.

3. Briefly explain “decolonization” in your own words…

Part II

4. Explain Neo-Colonialism in your own words. ..

5. How did the civil rights movement begin?

6. Why did the US enter the war in Vietnam?

7. Besides Vietnam, what was Pres. Johnson’s other ‘war’ on?

8. Why is 1968 considered a year of upheaval?

9. What crisis brought down the Presidency of Richard Nixon?