Dreaming In The 1960s Essay Research Paper

Dreaming In The 1960s Essay, Research Paper

In 1962, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said his most famous

words: "I have a dream." He was not the only one who felt

this way. For many, the 1960s was a decade in which their

dreams about America might be fulfilled. For Martin Luther

King Jr., this was a dream of a truly equal America; for

John F. Kennedy, it was a dream of a young vigorous

nation that would put a man on the moon; and for the hippy

movement, it was one of love, peace, and freedom. The

1960s was a tumultuous decade of social and political

upheaval. We are still confronting many social issues that

were addressed in the 1960s today. In spite of the turmoil,

there were some positive results, such as the civil rights

revolution. However, many outcomes were negative:

student antiwar protest movements, political assassinations,

and ghetto riots excited American people and resulted in a

lack of respect for authority and the law. The first president

during the 1960s was John F. Kennedy. He was young,

appealing, and had a carefully crafted public image that

barely won him the election. Because former President

Eisenhower supported the Republican nominee, Richard

Nixon, and because many had doubts about Kennedy’s

youth and Catholic religion, Kennedy only received

three-tenths of one percent more of the popular vote than

Nixon. The first thing Kennedy did during his brief

presidency was to try to restore the nation’s economy.

Economic growth was slow in 1961 when Kennedy

entered the White house. The President initiated a series of

tariff negotiations to stimulate exports and proposed a

federal tax cut to help the economy internally. John F.

Kennedy was known as one of the few presidents in

history who made his own personality a significant part of

his presidency and a focus of national attention. Nothing

illustrated this more clearly than the reaction to the tragedy

of November 22, 1963. Kennedy was driving through the

streets of Dallas. The streets were full of cheering people

watching him drive by. The President was surrounded by

loud motorcycles driven by the Secret Service. One

onlooker, looking into a sixth floor window, noticed

another man with a rifle. "Boy! ," he said. "You sure can’t

say the Secret Service isn’t on the ball. Look at that guy up

there in the window with a rifle" (Pett 12). That man with

the rifle was not a member of the Secret Service. A fraction

of a second before 12:30 p.m., John Fitzgerald Kennedy

was smiling broadly. He would never smile again. The

Kennedy assassination touched everyone around the

world. In Canada, for example, Eaton’s Company put

full-page advertisements in newspapers such as The

Hamilton Spectator saying, "With all Canada and the

World, we share the shock and grief inflicted by the tragic

death of a great statesman and a great hero" (see appendix

A). Nevertheless, there was one good thing that came out

of it: Lyndon B. Johnson became president. Throughout

Johnson’s five-year career, sweeping reforms were made in

every corner of the country. First, Johnson created

Medicare– a program to provide federal aid to the elderly

for medical expenses. Medicare had been debated for

years in Congress, but Johnson’s plan eliminated many

objections. First, Medicare benefits were available to all

elderly Americans, regardless of need. Second, doctors

serving Medicare patients could practice privately and even

charge their normal fees. Later, the Johnson Administration

issued Medicaid, which gave assistance to all ages. Next,

Johnson established a new cabinet agency in 1966: the

Department of Housing and Urban Development. This

agency, together with the newly formed Model Cities

program, was invented in an effort to stop the decaying of

cities and end poverty. Also, the Omnibus Housing Act

gave rent supplements to the poor. Finally, Johnson created

the Office for Economic Opportunity. This program led to

new educational, employment, housing, and health-care

developments. However, the Office for Economic

Opportunity failed because there was inadequate funding

and the government was more concerned with the Vietnam

War. Johnson also wanted to strengthen the country’s

schools. First, his administration implemented the

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which

extended aid to private and parochial schools based on the

needs of the students. Also, he created the National

Endowment of Arts and Humanities, and passed the Higher

Education Act, which gave federally financed scholarships.

Another subject that concerned the government under

Lyndon B. Johnson Administration and the rest of America

was Civil Rights. In 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights

Act, and in 1965 they passed the Voting Rights act. The

Civil Rights Movement did not just affect American

minorities, but everyone who lived in the United States at

the time. The momentum of the previous decade’s civil

rights gains led by Reverand Martin Luther King carried

over into the 1960s. But for most blacks, the tangible

results were minimal. Only a small percentage of black

children actuall attended integrated schools, and in the

South, "Jim Crow" practices barred blacks from jobs and

public places. New groups and goals were formed to push

for full equality. As often as not, white resistance resulted in

violence. In 1962, during the first large-scale public protest

against racial discrimination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

gave a dramatic and inspirational speech in Washington,

D.C. during a march on the capital. "The Negro," King said

in his speech, "lives on a lonely island of poverty in the

midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity and finds

himself an exile in his own land" (Gitlin 77). Under leaders

like Martin Luther King, blacks were trying attain all the

rights a white man would have. In 1965, King and other

black leaders wanted to push beyond social integration,

now guaranteed under the previous year’s Civil Rights Act,

to political rights. Reverend King announced that as a

"matter of conscience and in an attempt to arouse the

deepest concern of the nation," (Gitlin 84) he was

coompelled to lead another march from Selma to

Montgomery, Alabama. When the marchers reached the

capitol, they were to have presented a petition to Governor

George Wallace protesting voting discrimination. However,

when they arrived, the Governor’s aides came out and said,