I. Faculty Resources
1. Request Access
2. I Need Help
II. Module 1: Gilded Age (1877 - 1898)
3. Module Introduction
4. The Push Westward
5. Homesteading: Dreams and Realities
6. The Loss of American Indian Life and Impact of Expansion on Immigrants
7. Industrialization And The Gilded Age
8. From Invention to Industrial Growth
9. Industrial America and a New Consumer Culture
10. The Growing Pains of Urbanization, 1870—1900
11. The African American "Great Migration" and New European Immigration
12. Relief from the Chaos of Urban Life
13. Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870—1900
III. Module 2: America's Changing Role in the World (1898-1929)
14. Module Introduction
15. President Woodrow Wilson's Joint Address To Congress
16. Progressivism And The American Empire
17. New Voices for Women and African Americans
18. Progressivism in the White House
19. American Foreign Policy, 1890–1914
20. The Spanish-American War and Overseas Empire
21. Roosevelt's "Big Stick" Foreign Policy and Taft's "Dollar Diplomacy"
22. The Great War To The Roaring Twenties
23. From War to Peace
24. The Jazz Age: Redefining the Nation, 1919 – 1929
25. Republican Ascendancy: Politics in the 1920s
IV. Module 3: The Great Depression and the New Deal (1929 - 1941)
27. President Roosevelt's 1933 Inaugural Address
28. The Great Depression and President Hoover's Response
29. The Depths of the Great Depression and The Hoover Years
30. Franklin Roosevelt And The New Deal
31. The Second New Deal and Final Analysis
V. Module 4: World War II and its Impact (1939 - 1960)
33. President Roosevelt's Declaration Of War, 1941
34. The Origins of War: Europe, Asia, and the United States
35. The Home Front and Social Tensions
36. Victory in the European Theater
37. Post-War Prosperity And Cold War Fears
38. The American Dream and Popular Culture
39. The African American Struggle for Civil Rights
VI. Module 5: The Challenges of the 1960s and 1970s (1960-1979)
41. President Kennedy's Speech In West Berlin
42. The Kennedy Promise
43. Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society
44. The Civil Rights Movement Marches On
45. Identity Politics in a Fractured Society
46. Vietnam: The Downward Spiral
47. Watergate and Jimmy Carter
VII. Module 6: Winding Down the 20th Century (1980 - 2000)
49. President Reagan's Speech At The Brandenburg Gate
50. The Reagan Revolution
51. Bill Clinton and the New Economy
52. Political and Cultural Fusions
53. A New World Order
VIII. Module 7: The New Millennium (2000 - Present)
55. President Obama's Inaugural Address
56. The War on Terror
57. The Domestic Mission
58. New Century, Old Disputes
IX. Attributions
59. Footnote Attribution List
U.S. History II: 1877 to Present
40 Module Introduction
The Challenges of the 1960s and 1970s (1960–1979)
Module Introduction
The arrival of the Kennedys in the White House seemed to signal a new age of youth, optimism, and confidence. Kennedy spoke of a "new frontier" and promoted the expansion of programs to aid the poor, protect African Americans' right to vote, and improve African Americans' employment and education opportunities. For the most part, however, Kennedy focused on foreign policy and countering the threat of Communism—especially in Cuba, where he successfully defused the Cuban Missile Crisis, and in Vietnam, to which he sent advisors and troops to support the South Vietnamese government. The tragedy of Kennedy's assassination in Dallas brought an early end to the era, leaving Americans to wonder whether his vice president and successor, Lyndon Johnson, would bring Kennedy's vision for the nation to fruition.
Lyndon Johnson began his administration with dreams of fulfilling his fallen predecessor's civil rights initiative and accomplishing his own plans to improve lives by eradicating poverty in the United States. His social programs, investments in education, support for the arts, and commitment to civil rights changed the lives of countless people and transformed society in many ways. However, Johnson's insistence on maintaining American commitments in Vietnam, a policy begun by his predecessors, hurt both his ability to realize his vision of the Great Society and his support among the American people.
The African American civil rights movement made significant progress in the 1960s. Despite the movement's many achievements, however, many grew frustrated with the slow pace of change, the failure of the Great Society to alleviate poverty, and the persistence of violence against African Americans, particularly the tragic 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Many African Americans in the mid- to late 1960s adopted the ideology of Black Power, which promoted their work within their own communities to redress problems without the aid of whites. The Mexican American civil rights movement, led largely by Cesar Chavez, also made significant progress at this time. The emergence of the Chicano Movement signaled Mexican Americans' determination to seize their political power, celebrate their cultural heritage, and demand their citizenship rights.
During the 1960s, many people rejected traditional roles and expectations. Influenced and inspired by the civil rights movement, college students of the baby boomer generation and women of all ages began to fight to secure a stronger role in American society. As members of groups like SDS and NOW asserted their rights and strove for equality for themselves and others, they upended many accepted norms and set groundbreaking social and legal changes in motion. Many of their successes continue to be felt today, while other goals remain unfulfilled.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, Indians, gays and lesbians, and women organized to change discriminatory laws and pursue government support for their interests, a strategy known as identity politics. Others, disenchanted with the status quo, distanced themselves from white, middle-class America by forming their own countercultures centered on a desire for peace, the rejection of material goods and traditional morality, concern for the environment, and drug use in pursuit of spiritual revelations. These groups, whose aims and tactics posed a challenge to the existing state of affairs, often met with hostility from individuals, local officials, and the U.S. government alike. Still, they persisted, determined to further their goals and secure for themselves the rights and privileges to which they were entitled as American citizens.
When a new Republican constituency of moderate southerners and northern, blue-collar workers voted Richard Nixon into the White House in 1968, many were hopeful. In the wake of antiwar and civil rights protests, and the chaos of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, many Americans welcomed Nixon's promise to uphold law and order. During his first term, Nixon strode a moderate, middle path in domestic affairs, attempting with little success to solve the problems of inflation and unemployment through a combination of austerity and deficit spending. He made substantial progress in foreign policy, however, establishing diplomatic relations with China for the first time since the Communist Revolution and entering into a policy of détente with the Soviet Union.
As the war in Vietnam raged on, Americans were horrified to hear of atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers, such as the 1968 massacre of villagers at My Lai. To try to end the conflict, Nixon escalated it by bombing Hanoi and invading Cambodia; his actions provoked massive antiwar demonstrations in the United States that often ended in violence, such as the tragic shooting of unarmed student protestors at Kent State University in 1970. The 1971 release of the Pentagon Papers revealed the true nature of the war to an increasingly disapproving and disenchanted public. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger eventually drafted a peace treaty with North Vietnam, and, after handing over responsibility for the war to South Vietnam, the United States withdrew its troops in 1973. South Vietnam surrendered to the North two years later.
In 1972, President Nixon faced an easy reelection against a Democratic Party in disarray. But even before his landslide victory, evidence had surfaced that the White House was involved in the break-in at the DNC's headquarters at the Watergate office complex. As the investigation unfolded, the depths to which Nixon and his advisers had sunk became clear. Some twenty-five of Nixon's aides were indicted for criminal activity, and he became the first president impeached since Andrew Johnson and the first to resign from office. His successor, Gerald Ford, was unable to solve the pressing problems the United States faced or erase the stain of Watergate.
Jimmy Carter's administration began with great promise, but his efforts to improve the economy through deregulation largely failed. Carter's attempt at a foreign policy built on the principle of human rights also prompted much criticism, as did his decision to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow. On the other hand, he successfully brokered the beginnings of a historic peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Remaining public faith in Carter was dealt a serious blow, however, when he proved unable to free the American hostages in Tehran.
This module addresses the following Course Learning Outcomes listed in the Syllabus for this course:
Students will be able to think critically about institutions, cultures, and behaviors in their local and/or national environment.
Students will understand the social, political, and economic development of the United States.
Students will develop a historical context for understanding current issues and events. (1)
Module Objectives
Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:
Describe the political and social turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s
Describe the causes and effects of the Vietnam War
Discuss America's foreign policy challenges and successes in the Middle East (1)
Readings and Resources
Video: President Kennedy in West Berlin (see below)
Learning Unit: Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s (see below)
Learning Unit: Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968–1980 (see below) (1)
Previous: The African American Struggle for Civil Rights
Next: President Kennedy's Speech In West Berlin
U.S. History II: 1877 to Present by Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.