The 1960s
Overview
The 1960s was a decade when hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans gave new life to the nation's democratic ideals. African Americans used sit-ins, freedom rides, and protest marches to fight segregation, poverty, and unemployment. Feminists demanded equal job opportunities and an end to sexual discrimination. Mexican Americans protested discrimination in voting, education, and jobs. Native Americans demanded that the government recognize their land claims and the right of tribes to govern themselves. Environmentalists demanded legislation to control the amount of pollution released into the environment.
Summary
Early in the decade, African American college students, impatient with the slow pace of legal change, staged sit-ins, freedom rides, and protest marches to challenge segregation in the South. Their efforts led the federal government to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination in public facilities and employment, and the 24th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, guaranteeing voting rights.
The example of the civil rights movement inspired other groups to press for equal rights. The women's movement fought equal educational and employment opportunities and a transformation of traditional views about women's place in society. Mexican Americans battled for bilingual education programs in schools, unionization of farm workers, improved job opportunities, and increased political power. Native Americans pressed for control over their lands and resources, the preservation of native cultures, and tribal self-government. Gays and lesbians organized to end legal discrimination based on sexual orientation.
In a far-reaching effort to reduce poverty, alleviate malnutrition, extend medical care, provide adequate housing, and enhance the employability of the poor, President Lyndon Johnson launched his Great Society Program in 1964. But the Vietnam War, ghetto rioting, and the rise of a militant antiwar movement and the counterculture, contributed to a political backlash that would lead the Republican party to control the presidency for ten of the next fourteen years.
Our Online Textbook
Classroom Handouts
Tumultuous 1960s
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/us38.cfm
Interpreting Primary Sources:
Issues
Interpreting Statistics:
The Civil Rights Revolution
America in Our Time
Study Aid:
Great Society Legislation
Newspaper Articles
Election of John F. Kennedy
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
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Court Curbs Police Power to Interrogate
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Kennedy Announces Blockade of Cuba
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Kennedy Killed by Sniper
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Warren Commission Says Lone Gunman Killed Kennedy
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Martin Luther King Assassinated
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Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated
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Johnson Says He Won't Run for Reelection
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Robert F. Kennedy Obituary
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Astronauts Land on Moon
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Speeches and News Broadcasts
John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon Presidential Debate, New York City, October 21, 1960 (5:36)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/kennix60.asx
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address, Washington D.C., January 17, 1961 (9:51)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/ikefarewell61.asx
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, Washington D.C., January 20, 1961 (13:55)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/jfkinaug61.asx
John F. Kennedy, The Cuban Missile Crisis, White House, Washington D.C., October 22, 1962 (7:33)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/jfkcuba62.asx
Adlai Stevenson, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Confrontation over the presence of Russian Missiles in Cuba, October 25, 1962 (4:39)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/stevenson62.asx
Richard M. Nixon, Concession Speech (Governor of California election), Los Angeles, California, November 7, 1962 (16:20)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/nixconces62.asx
Martin Luther King Jr., Address to Civil Rights Marchers, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963 (16:14)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/mlkwash63.asx
News broadcasts announcing that President Kennedy had been shot, November 23, 1963, (:56)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/jfkshot1.asx
News anchorman Walter Cronkite announces that President Kennedy died from his gunshot wounds, 2:38 PM Eastern, November 22, 1963 (:23)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/jfkshot2.asx
Announcement that Lee Harvy Oswald had himself been shot and killed while being moved to the Dallas County Jail, November 24, 1963 (1:20)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/oswald2.asx
Malcolm X, On Black Power, New York City, March 8, 1964 (1:16)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/malcolmx64.asx
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/goldwater.asx
President Lyndon B. Johnson, On Signing of The Civil Rights Bill, Washington D.C., July 2, 1964 (3:36)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/lbjcivrights64.asx
President Lyndon B. Johnson, in an address to the nation, announces he will not seek re-election. White House, Washington, D.C., March 31, 1968 (:35)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/lbj68.asx
Announcement that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot, April 4, 1968 (:45)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/mlkshot.asx
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, in a campaign speech, announces to the crowd the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968 (3:48)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/rfk68.asx
President Lyndon B. Johnson on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., April 4, 1968 (:22)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/mlkjohnson.asx
Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated, June 4, 1968 (1:42)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/rfkshot.asx
Senator Edward Kennedy, Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy, St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, June 8, 1968 (1:08)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/ekennedy68.asx
Jerry Rubin, Address to the Yippie Convention, Chicago, Illinois, August 28, 1968 (4:47)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/rubin68.asx
Mayor Richard Daley, Press Conference On the Riots at The Democratic Convention, Chicago, Illinois, August 28, 1968 (:16)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/daley68.asx
Frank Borman, Christmas Greeting From Space, Apollo 8 Space Mission, December 24, 1968 (:32)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/borman68.asx
Richard M. Nixon, Inaugural Address, Washington D.C., January 20, 1969 (2:15)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/nixon69.asx
Neil Armstrong, The Moon Landing, Tranquility Base, lunar surface, July 20, 1969 (4:16)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/armstrong69.asx
News anchorman Walter Cronkite reacts with emotion to the event of man walking on the moon, July 20, 1969 (:17)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/apollocronkite.asx
President Richard Nixon on the event of man walking in the moon, July 20, 1969 (:41)
http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/1960s/asx/apollonixon.asx
Film
Hollywood in the 1960s and 1970s
link to site
Easy Rider (1969)
One of the highest grossing films of the decade, this anti-establishment film follows two drug carriers as they travel across America, encountering hippies, rednecks, and prostitutes.
JFK (1991)
Oliver Stone's controversial retelling of the events surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy blames the shooting on Lyndon Johnson, the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Mafia.
Gimme Shelter (1970)
A murder at a free concert by the Rolling Stones at Altamont race track near San Francisco brought a symbolic end to the utopian spirit of the 1960s.
Graduate (1967)
An examination of the generation gap and the youth rebellion, the film focuses on a shy, ambitionless college graduate who has an affair with a married woman before falling in love with her daughter
Hard Day's Night (1964)
Director Richard Lester's off-beat chronicle of 36 hours in the life of the Beatles.
Medium Cool (1969)
Shot during the violence surrounding the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, this film provides a commentary on the political assassinations, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and counterculture protests of the 1960s.
Nixon (1995)
Oliver Stone's biographical film links Nixon's formative experiences as a child to his intense ambition and his scandal-plagued presidency.
Right Stuff (1983)
This adaptation of Tom Wolfe's book about the beginnings of the U.S. space program contrasts the original astronauts with the heroism of the test pilots who received little public attention.
Woodstock (1970)
A chronicle of the 1969 rock concert that attracted 400,000 spectators.
Quiz
Test your knowledge of the 1960s
Quiz on the 1960s