Reform and Conflict at Home: A Turbulent Era, 1961–1974 375
Chapter 30
Reform and Conflict at Home: A Turbulent Era,
1961–1974
Learning Objectives
After you have studied Chapter 30 in your textbook and worked through this study guide chapter, you should be able to:
1. Discuss John F. Kennedy’s personal and political background; examine the goals and accomplishments of the Kennedy administration, and evaluate the legacy of the Kennedy presidency.
2. Discuss John F. Kennedy’s assassination and its impact on American society.
3. Examine the goals and accomplishments of the Johnson administration, and evaluate the legacy of the Johnson presidency.
4. Discuss the issues and personalities and explain the outcome of the 1964 congressional and presidential elections.
5. Discuss the major rulings of the Warren Court, and explain the impact of these rulings on American life and society.
6. Discuss the accomplishments and failures of the black search for equality from 1961 to 1973; explain the transformation of the civil rights movement into the black power movement; and discuss the impact of black activism on American society.
7. Discuss the forces that gave rise to the New Left and the counterculture; examine the philosophy, goals, and actions of these two groups; and discuss their impact on American society.
8. Explain the emergence of the gay rights movement, and discuss the movement’s goals and its impact on American society.
9. Examine the crises that sent shock waves through American society in 1968.
10. Discuss the issues and personalities and explain the outcome of the 1968 congressional and presidential elections.
11. Explain the emergence, characteristics, and goals of the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and discuss the successes and failures of this movement and its impact on American society.
12. Discuss the issues that faced the Nixon administration in the late 1960s and early 1970s; explain and evaluate the administration’s actions concerning those issues; and discuss the consequences of those actions.
13. Examine the issues and personalities and explain the outcome of the 1972 congressional and presidential elections.
14. Discuss the illegal activities that constituted the Watergate scandal, and explain the threat these activities posed to constitutional government.
15. Examine the impact of the Watergate scandal on the American people, American society, and American institutions, and discuss and evaluate the reforms enacted in the scandal’s aftermath.
Thematic Guide
In Chapter 30, we examine the crises that engulfed American society during the 1960s and early 1970s. As we learn from the first section, “Civil Rights and the New Frontier,” the New Frontier was overly ambitious in light of the political distance between the new president’s liberal agenda and a Congress dominated by a conservative coalition. When he attempted to deal with this conservative coalition, Kennedy at first failed to press forward on civil rights issues. At this point, violence began to have an impact on developments. In the face of violent challenges from southern segregationists to an expanding black civil-rights movement, the Kennedy administration gradually committed itself to a decisive stand in favor of black equality. But only because of continuing racial violence and Kennedy’s assassination did Congress finally pass civil rights legislation.
The section “The Great Society and the Triumph of Liberalism” covers the legislative accomplishments of the Johnson administration—the most sweeping reform legislation since 1935. This legislation comprised the Civil Rights Act of 1964, establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and legislation associated with Johnson’s War on Poverty. The authors look closely at the legislation that constituted the War on Poverty and discuss the problems and successes of this program.
The liberal decisions rendered by the Supreme Court during the 1960s and early 1970s matched the liberalism reflected in the progressive legislation of the Johnson years. The authors examine these rulings, the aspects of American life and American society they affected, and the praise and criticisms they evoked.
As the three branches of the federal government slowly began to deal with such long-standing American problems as poverty and minority rights, frustrations that had built up over generations of inaction manifested themselves. Events convinced civil-rights activists in the South that the “power structure” in American society was not to be trusted. Northern blacks began to reach the same conclusions. Both the civil-rights movement and Johnson’s antipoverty programs had offered African Americans hope for a better day in American society. However, as discussion of the social, economic, and political plight of urban blacks reveals, that hope had not been fulfilled. Among other factors, unfulfilled expectations and the continued display of wealth and possessions in the consumer-oriented American society led to the urban riots of the 1960s. Militant black leaders gained prominence and questioned Martin Luther King’s philosophy of nonviolence as well as his goal of integration. Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, and the Black Panther Party called for “black power” within the context of black nationalism.
Along with this revolution of rising expectations among blacks, some whites involved in the civil rights movement began to become disillusioned with American society. Although their disillusionment stemmed from different sources than that of blacks, it led to the political and social activism associated with the New Left and the counterculture. The authors discuss the emergence, characteristics, and goals of both of these groups as well as the reaction of the middle class to their attacks on traditional values. In addition, the activism of blacks, the New Left and counterculture, and women gave rise to gay activism and to the gay rights movement. As the Vietnam War escalated and the New Left and the counterculture found common cause in their antiwar stance, the middle class became more and more convinced that traditional society was under siege.
The forces of frustration, rage, and anger born of racism, sexism, poverty, disillusionment, materialism, and the revolution of rising expectations practically ripped America apart in the tumult of 1968. After explaining the events of that year, the authors discuss the emergence, characteristics, and goals of both moderate and radical feminists. They also examine the problems encountered by many working women in the 1960s and note gains made by women against sexism in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Continuation of chaos into the 1970s convinced President Nixon and many Americans that society was on the verge of anarchy. Nixon attempted to use the perceived danger to his political advantage by portraying critics, including the Democratic opposition, as Communist pawns and enemies of American society. These tactics gained Nixon little in the 1970 congressional elections, and publication of the Pentagon Papers fostered more distrust of government. As Nixon prepared for the 1972 presidential election, he turned to Keynesian economics to deal with the country’s economic problems and opened relations with the People’s Republic of China.
In “Nixon’s Reelection and Resignation,” the authors first examine the factors that contributed to Nixon’s landslide victory in the 1972 election. These factors include the “southern strategy,” Nixon’s success in associating the Democratic Party with groups and movements that threatened traditional values, the nature of George McGovern’s campaign, and division within the Democratic Party. Even though the voters overwhelmingly chose to return Nixon to the White House in 1972, they also chose to leave both houses of Congress in the hands of the Democrats.
Unfortunately, Nixon’s landslide victory did not guarantee an end to the crisis atmosphere that had plagued the nation since the late 1960s. The Watergate scandal caused more disillusionment with government and increased the somber mood of the people, for it involved a series of illegal activities approved at the highest level of American government. Some of these activities, such as the break-in at Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist’s office, had been undertaken to discredit political opponents; others, such as the paying of hush money to witnesses, were part of an elaborate cover-up.
Beyond the illegal actions, the Watergate scandal was a constitutional crisis; the “imperial presidency” threatened the balance-of-power concept embodied in the Constitution and the guarantees of individual rights embodied in the Bill of Rights. We see the constitutional nature of the crisis in the clash between the executive and judicial branches of government, the impeachment hearings undertaken by the House Judiciary Committee, and ultimately the resignation of the president. Unlike the scandals of previous administrations, the activities linked to Watergate were aimed not at financial gain but at monopolizing political power. After citing the events associated with Watergate, the authors outline and briefly evaluate congressional attempts to correct the abuses associated with the scandal.
Building Vocabulary
Listed below are important words and terms that you need to know to get the most out of Chapter 30. They are listed in the order in which they occur in the chapter. After carefully looking through the list, refer to a dictionary and jot down the definition of words that you do not know or of which you are unsure.
inextricably
volatility
vigilante
alienate
eradicate
polarize
staid
verve
remedial
debilitating
altercation
languish
mystique
requisite
incursion
coddle
espouse
expunge
diligent
credible
tenuous
Identification and Significance
After studying Chapter 30 of A People and a Nation, you should be able to identify fully and explain the historical significance of each item listed below.
1. Identify each item in the space provided. Give an explanation or description of the item. Answer the questions who, what, where, and when.
2. Explain the historical significance of each item in the space provided. Establish the historical context in which the item exists. Establish the item as the result of or as the cause of other factors existing in the society under study. Answer this question: What were the political, social, economic, and/or cultural consequences of this item?
the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Identification
Significance
Fannie Lou Hamer
Identification
Significance
John F. Kennedy
Identification
Significance
“the best and the brightest”
Identification
Significance
the New Frontier
Identification
Significance
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Identification
Significance
the Freedom Rides
Identification
Significance
James Meredith
Identification
Significance
the March on Washington
Identification
Significance
Medgar Evers
Identification
Significance
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing
Identification
Significance
the assassination of John Kennedy
Identification
Significance
Lyndon B. Johnson
Identification
Significance
the Great Society
Identification
Significance
the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Identification
Significance
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Identification
Significance
the Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the Constitution
Identification
Significance
the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
Identification
Significance
the presidential and congressional elections of 1964
Identification
Significance
the Medicare and Medicaid programs
Identification
Significance
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Identification
Significance
the Voting Rights Act
Identification
Significance
the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
Identification
Significance
the Civil Rights Act of 1968
Identification
Significance
the Indian Bill of Rights
Identification
Significance
the War on Poverty
Identification
Significance
the Warren Court
Identification
Significance
Baker v. Carr
Identification
Significance
the Supreme Court’s school-prayer decision
Identification
Significance
Griswold v. Connecticut
Identification
Significance
Gideon v. Wainwright, Escobedo v. Illinois, and Miranda v. Arizona
Identification
Significance
J. Edgar Hoover
Identification
Significance
race riots of 1964
Identification
Significance
Watts race riot
Identification
Significance
Malcolm X
Identification
Significance
the Black Muslims
Identification
Significance
Stokely Carmichael
Identification
Significance
Black Power
Identification
Significance
the Black Panther Party
Identification
Significance
the Free Speech Movement
Identification
Significance
Students for a Democratic Society
Identification
Significance
the Port Huron Statement
Identification
Significance
the New Left
Identification
Significance
the counterculture
Identification
Significance
Woodstock
Identification
Significance
“Hashbury”
Identification
Significance
the birth-control pill
Identification
Significance
Stonewall Inn riot
Identification
Significance
antiwar protests
Identification
Significance
the U.S.S. Pueblo
Identification
Significance
the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Identification
Significance
the assassination of Robert Kennedy
Identification
Significance
the 1968 Democratic convention
Identification
Significance
the presidential and congressional elections of 1968
Identification
Significance
George C. Wallace
Identification
Significance
The Feminine Mystique
Identification
Significance
American Women
Identification
Significance
the National Organization for Women (NOW)
Identification
Significance
radical feminism
Identification
Significance
occupational segregation
Identification
Significance
Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972
Identification
Significance
the Equal Rights Amendment
Identification
Significance
Roe v. Wade
Identification
Significance
Reed v. Reed and Frontiero v. Richardson
Identification
Significance
Kent State and Jackson State
Identification
Significance
stagflation
Identification
Significance
wage, price, and rent controls
Identification
Significance
revenue sharing
Identification
Significance
the modern environmental movement
Identification
Significance
Nixon’s “southern strategy”
Identification
Significance
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Identification
Significance
the presidential and congressional elections of 1972
Identification
Significance
George McGovern
Identification
Significance
the Watergate scandal
Identification
Significance
CREEP and the Plumbers
Identification
Significance
John W. Dean III
Identification
Significance
the White House tapes
Identification
Significance
the Saturday Night Massacre
Identification
Significance
Spiro Agnew’s resignation
Identification
Significance
Gerald R. Ford
Identification
Significance
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
Identification
Significance
U.S. v. Nixon
Identification
Significance
the impeachment hearings of the House Judiciary Committee
Identification
Significance
Nixon’s resignation
Identification
Significance
the pardon of Richard Nixon
Identification
Significance
the War Powers Act
Identification
Significance
the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act
Identification
Significance
Organizing Information
Record reminders of the specific information provided in Chapter 30 concerning each of the groups listed in the first column in the chart “Social and Political Activism, 1961–1974”.
Try to insert your entries in a way that differentiates the various leaders and organizations in terms of the tactics they favored.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM, 1961–1974Organi- /
Favored /
Landmark / Assessment of the Group As Activists
Cause / Leaders / zations / Tactics / Events / Failings / Strengths
African Americans
Women
Homo-sexuals
Dissidents
Interpreting Information
Consider each of the important groups fighting for social and political justice listed in the Organizing Information chart “Social and Political Activism, 1961–1974.” Which do you consider to have been successful?
Referring to entries you made in the chart and additional information provided in Chapter 30 and your class notes— and considering your own estimation of how successful the groups were in advancing their causes— plan and compose the working draft of an essay that responds directly to this question: