America: The Last Best Hope, Volume IIE, Chapter 11—Passing the Torch 1961-1969
Chapter Overview Handout for Students
Key Historical Points
1.
2.
3.
4.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon in a close election. He promised to lead America toward a "New Frontier."
Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic elected president of the United States.
Kennedy faced key foreign policy confrontations with the Soviet Union, particularly in Cuba and Berlin.
The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. competed in a space race, the major challenge being to land men on the moon and bring them home
safely.
5. The decade of the 1960s was a key period for the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as a key leader of
that movement.
6. Upon the assassination of President Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson became president. He was able to lead Congress to pass
major civil rights legislation that had been proposed by Kennedy.
7. Johnson won the 1964 election in a landslide over Barry Goldwater. Goldwater did, however, help launch a new conservative
movement.
8. The new conservative movement was in large measure a response to Johnson's "Great Society" and "War on Poverty"
programs.
9. After the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed Congress, President Johnson rapidly escalated U.S. involvement in the Vietnam
War.
10. Bennett calls 1968 the "Annus Horribilis." The war in Vietnam, two tragic assassinations, riots in America's cities, and a
tumultuous presidential campaign divided the nation.
11. Richard Nixon won the presidential election of 1968.
Timeline of Key Events
1961 John F. Kennedy is inaugurated; beginning of "the New Frontier;” Bay of Pigs invasion; Vienna summit; Freedom rides in
the south; Soviets launch first man into space; Berlin wall is constructed
1962 John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth; Cuban Missile Crisis
1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed; March on Washington; Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech; John F. Kennedy
delivers his ”Ich Bin Ein Berliner” speech; John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas
1964 Civil Rights Act passed into law; Lyndon Johnson announces "the Great Society;" Gulf of Tonkin resolution; LBJ defeats
Barry Goldwater in a landslide
1965 Voting Rights Act; U.S. combat troops are sent to Vietnam
1966 Anti-war protests spread
1967 Six Day War in the Middle East; The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; "Summer of Love" in San
Francisco
1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam; Eugene McCarthy announces run for the presidency; Lyndon Johnson announces his withdrawal
from the 1968 presidential contest; Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles; Riots at the Chicago Democratic
Convention; Richard Nixon defeats Hubert Humphrey for the presidency on a platform for "Peace with Honor" in Vietnam
1969 Richard Nixon is inaugurated president
Historical Questions
1.
2.
3.
Evaluate the way President John F. Kennedy handled the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In what ways did the presidency of John F. Kennedy reflect key ideas put forth in his inaugural address?
What were key components of Lyndon Johnson’s "Great Society" programs and what were their key successes and failures?
Key People
"Bull" Connor
Adlai Stevenson
Alan Shepard
Alexander Dubcek
Barry Goldwater
Charles DeGaulle
Clarence Mitchell
Eugene McCarthy
Everett Dirksen
Gamal Abdel Nasser
George Wallace
Harold MacMillan
Hubert H. Humphrey
Jack Ruby
Jane Fonda
Jeremiah Denton
John F. Kennedy
John Glenn
John Lewis
Lee Harvey Oswald
Leonid Brezhnev
Lyndon B. Johnson
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Medgar Evers
Nelson A. Rockefeller
Ngo Dinh Diem
Nguyen Van Thieu
Nikita Khrushchev
Pope John XXIII
Ralph Nader
Richard Daley
Richard Nixon
Robert Kennedy
Robert McNamara
Ronald Reagan
Thurgood Marshall
Yuri Gagarin
Key Events
Apollo 8 Mission to the moon
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Assassination of Robert Kennedy
Bay of Pigs failure
Beginnings of environmental movement
Consumer Rights Movement
Cuban Missile Crisis
Death of Churchill
East Germany builds a wall to divide Berlin
Freedom Riders
Gulf of Tonkin incident
JFK’s speech in Berlin
Kennedy assassination
Kennedy-Nixon televised debates
Kennedy’s stirring inaugural
1963 March on Washington
Historical Terms and Places
rump regime
territorial integrity
New Frontier
Upper Body
Project Mercury
"the right stuff"
NASA
Apollo Program
Berlin Wall
VOPOs
Kremlin
Laws and Legislation
Pre-emptive strike
Quarantine
Détente
Hotline
KGB
"Camelot"
Poll taxes, literacy tests,
grandfather clauses
ICC
Civil disobedience
Space program
1968 Democratic National Convention
Presidential elections of 1960, 1964, 1968
Race Riots of 1960s
Selma March
Six-Day War
Split between USSR and China
Vienna Conference
Filibuster
NAACP
Urban League
Nuclear saber rattling
Edmund Pettis Bridge
Great Society
"War on Poverty"
Domino theory
Dienbienphu
"hawks" and "doves"
U-2 Spy flights
"credibility gap"
"guns and butter"
ARVN
Vietcong
Tet Offensive
New Left
"Prague Spring"
Brezhnev Doctrine
"balm in Gilead"
annus horribilis
Peace Corps program sends American volunteers all over the world to aid in many areas of economic and educational
development; overriding goal is to promote international goodwill
Alliance for Progress program specifically targeted economic development of Latin America
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 1963 treaty with the U.S.S.R.; bans the testing of nuclear weapons above ground in the atmosphere
Civil Rights Act of 1964 made illegal the Jim Crow traditions and laws of much of the country; prohibited discrimination based
on race, color, religion, or national origin in public facilities, government programs, or employment
Voting Rights Act of 1965 law banned all forms of literacy tests that local officials used to prevent blacks from voting and
enabled the U.S. Department of Justice to oversee voter registration
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution the resolution, in lieu of a declaration of war, gave President Johnson the authority to use military
force in Southeast Asia and "to take all necessary measures to repel armed attack"
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) provided funds for professional development and instructional materials;
provided additional funds to schools with a high percentage of low-income families ("Title I" schools)
Medicare implemented a government health insurance program for elderly American
National Endowment for the Arts NEA funds artistic efforts throughout the nation
Five Themes of Geography
Location Bay of Pigs, Vietnam’s 17th parallel, Vienna, Moscow, Beijing, Berlin, Dallas, Birmingham (AL), Washington D.C., Gulf of
Tonkin, London, Selma (AL), Dienbeinphu, Watts, West Bank, Gaza Strip, Chicago, Prague
Place Cuba, Vietnam, Israel, Egypt
Human/Environment Interaction missions to space, growing impact of industrialism on environment
Movement Freedom rides, Moon voyage
Region Indochina, 1960 electoral map, US cities with racial disturbances in 1960s
Key Economic Points
1.
2.
3.
President Kennedy cut income tax rates (actually signed by Johnson in 1964) and with it came a booming economy in the
1960s
Government revenue increased 71% between 1964-1969 due to economic boom (note: the federal government still ran a
deficit because spending increased faster than revenue, except for in 1969 when there was a surplus)
The first use of the Internet (1969) will bring on another revolution in communications and technology within 25 years