Civil Rights Movement In The 60's

By the 1960’s the United States was on the brink of a major social change and President John F. Kennedy knew it. The 60’s to the 80’s were known as the decades of change. (JFK and the 1960's) The more autocratic change of power in the federal government allowed the president more control after the New Frontier and Great Society, which was caused by the shift in the Civil Rights Era and by civil tension in the counterculture from the Vietnam War and Watergate.
The shift in power which gave the president more control began with the Executive order 9981 signed by President Harry S. Truman in July of 1948. It allowed every person regardless of race, origin or religion to enlist in the United States military. Programs, such as the Peace Corps,
Alliance for Progress and the NASA funding increase, that arose from the New Frontier and Great Society left something to be desired within the country’s educational system, and pushed the responsibility of producing solutions to fix the country’s problems, on the president. ( Activity # 8)
The moon race against the Soviets led to budget increase of $25 billion allotted to the National Aeronautics and Space Association which drastically took away from the younger generation’s quality of education. The Peace Corps programs succeeded in its goal to share global democracy in other countries and encourage mutual understanding by sending volunteers overseas however once the Vietnam war broke and Watergate became a national issue the funding was cut. (http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Peace-Corps.aspx) The Alliance for progess gave financial aid to Latin America in hopes of reaching economic cooperation in both nations. This also drained the government’s funds which inevitably led to a lack of funding in education among other aspects.
The Civil Rights movement hit its prime in the 60’s when Martin Luther King Jr.
arose as an African American civil rights activist and Betty Friedan took initiative for the rights of women through the Feminist Movement. Rosa Parks refusal to give up her seat on the first of December in 1955 sparked the Montgomery Boycott led by Martin Luther King Jr. After the Bus Boycott MLK founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in order to support nonviolent protests for African American equality. In March of 1963 MLK achieved what would be considered his most significant accomplishment and his most well known speech (http://www.videtteonline.com/features/top-martin-luther-king-jr-achievements/article_2f242ca3-0e63-5da4-b6ed-ba62c50a12ab.html). The March on Washington involved over 200,000 people who marched to the Lincoln Memorial and listened to Martin Luther King Jr. give his “I Have A Dream” speech calling for an end to racism (Civil Rights Presentation). In July of 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the most significant civil rights act since Reconstruction. The Act abolish any discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The African Americans and Martin Luther King Jr. reached social, economic and political change through the events that led up to and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This opened up access to unlimited employment opportunities, academic options and political positions. One example of this political
and economic freedom was Thurgood Marshall was the Supreme Court’s first African American Justice of the Peace, who served from October 1967 to 1991.
The Feminist Movement led by In 1963 Betty Friedan published her book The Feminine Mystique which described the trials and the dissatisfaction middle-class housewives felt from the narrow, stereotypical role society threw them into. (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html)

During the 60’s and 70’s there was a period of radical change known as the New Left movement or counterculture where the people, mostly the younger generation, opposed or rejected the values, attitudes and behaviors of the typical society.
(Activity #8) The three most impactful events during the counterculture were the Vietnam war, anti-war protests/draft card burnings and Watergate. The new generation opposed the Vietnam War claiming that it was a “pointless” war and wanted to see change in action within the world and hoped to influence society through anti-war protests against America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Many nonviolent anti-war protests broke out around the middle to late 60’s.
In a particular protest at Kent State University a massive student protest led to the burning of ROTC building on May 1, 1970. Three days later at the same university a group of about 2,000 protesters gathered in the Commons for an anti-war rally. Members from the Ohio National Guard fired live ammunition into the crowd and killed four Kent State students, one of which who was only walking to class and not a part of the demonstration, and injured nine more students. (Activity
#8) Also as a form of protest the young Americans burned their draft cards to make a statement for those who did not believe in the war that they should not be forced to fight in it. The first public draft card demonstration occurred after President Johnson made it illegal in August of 1965. On October 16, 1965 the 22 year old Catholic, pacifist worker, David J. Miller, publicly burned his draft card to show the federal government that he and other protesters were not threatening the peace in the nation but that the government was creating more danger by ignoring the protests and the message they conveyed. In 1966 David Miller was found guilty and sentenced to two years in federal prison. Draft resistance continued from 67 to the early 70’s and during those years the federal government accused more than 200,000 men of draft offenses and imprisoned about 4,000 draft registers. The conflict this created within the nation put a spotlight on the president and what he would choose to do with his authority in reaction to all the protests and protesters.(http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-draft-card-burned). News of President Nixon’s involvement in Watergate surfaced around August of 1974. The nation was shocked and bewildered at the capability of a political official to abuse his power in such a way.
The 60’s to the 70’s was a great time of reform for America and its people.