Civil Rights and Conservatism
Unit 12
Timeline
John F. Kennedy
• Elected in 1960.
• JFK became the 35th
president
• Youngest U.S. president ever
elected at 43 years old.
• Democrat
• Cold War President (Cuban
Missile Crisis)
Assassination
• November 22, 1963
• JFK was in Texas raising money for re-election
• Shot while the motorcade was driving through
downtown Dallas, TX
• Shot by Lee Harvey Oswald
• Many conspiracy theories revolving around his
death.
LBJ
• Lyndon Baines Johnson was
vice president under JFK.
• When JFK was assassinated,
Johnson was sworn in as the
36th president. (only
President to give the oath in
Texas)
• Born in Texas
• Focused on Civil Rights
movement and the Vietnam
war during his presidency.
LBJ and the Great Society
• included a number of sweeping reforms designed
to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.
• In 1964 and 1965 the Johnson administration
introduced bill after bill to Congress to support
this goal.
• in 1969, more than 200 of his proposed bills had
been signed into law.
*example, Medicare and Medicaid,
-designed to improve health care for older and
disabled Americans.
Vietnam
• The government of South Vietnam was fighting
communist forces backed by North Vietnam.
• 1964 fight b/w U.S. Navy and Northern
Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin.
• LBJ saw this as an act of war by North Vietnam.
• Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution,
-let LBJ send troops into combat.
• Johnson could not end the war. Continued into
the 1970s.
-58,000 Americans died
-3,400 of them Texans.
Civil Rights Movement
• Civil rights movement had begun after World
War II. It picked up momentum in the 60s
• Minority groups across the nation began to
engage in various forms of activism to end
discrimination and segregation.
– Sit Ins - protests that involve sitting down in a
public facility and refusing to leave.
LBJ and Civil Rights
• Civil Rights Act 1964- banned segregation in
public places. Outlawed discrimination in the
workplace on the basis of race, sex, religion, or
national origin.
• Voting Rights Act 1965 - gave the federal
government the power to protect the voting
rights of all citizens.
– outlawed literacy tests.
– gave the government the power to oversee election
processes.
New Politicians
• With the successes of the civil rights
movement, African Americans gained more
positions in the government.
• In Texas, African Americans began to win state
offices for the first time since Reconstruction.
– In 1966 Barbara Jordan of Houston was elected as
a state senator.
– Barbara Jordan became the first African American
to represent Texas in the U.S. Congress.
Barbara Jordan
C.O.R.E.
• Texan, James Farmer, was a national leader of
the civil rights movement.
• The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE),
Farmer led civil rights protests.
• He also organized activists on bus rides—
called Freedom Rides—through the South.
Hispanic Rights
• Hispanic Americans also pushed for civil rights
through protests, marches, and political
organizations.
• League of United Latin American Citizens
(LULAC) led the movement for equal rights for
Hispanic Americans.
– leadership from Hector P. García & Albert Peña Jr.
Henry B. Gonzales
• The first Mexican American elected to the
Texas Senate in the 1900s.
• In 1961 González was elec ted to the U.S.
House of Representatives, where he served for
37 years. He was the first Mexican American
to represent Texas in the U.S. Congress.
Raymond Telles
• Elected mayor of El Paso—the first
major American city to elect a
Hispanic mayor.
• Telles later held several national
positions, including the
ambassadorship to Costa Rica.
• He also served as an adviser to
President John F. Kennedy.
Chicano Movement
• In June 1966, farm
laborers in Texas went on
strike to demand a
minimum wage.
• La Raza Unida Party
(RUP). The RUP hoped to
highlight issues affecting
Hispanic Americans.
Women’s Movement
• 1966 author Betty Friedan and other feminists
founded the National Organization for Women
(NOW).
– “the time has come for a new movement toward true
equality.”
• By the mid- to late 1970s, women were making
successful bids for local office as well.
– For example, Carole Keeton McClellan (later
Strayhorn) became the first female president of the
Austin school board and was mayor of Austin from
1977 to 1983.
Post-War Politics in Texas
• With the successes of the civil rights movements of the
1960s, Texans of all backgrounds became involved in
deciding the direction of state government.
• Texas also began to shift to a Republican dominated
state.
• Texas had been led primarily by the Democratic Party
state since Reconstruction.
• After World War II Texans felt that the Democrats were
becoming too liberal.
• At the same time, the Republic Party was beginning to
support more conservative viewpoints.