Significance Of The Sixties

The sixties are remarkably different from other decades in American history. This period means different things to different people. To some people, it could be described as the most turbulent in the American history. Many others regarded it as well as the period that ushered in social change in the country. It is not only in America that the sixties brought a lot of transformation, it brought about social change in various parts of the world. This period is very significant in America because it affected several events in the country. Terry H. Anderson captured events that transformed the country in his SIXTIES (Fourth Edition). You can a read a lot of information about the sixties from this publication.
The events of the sixties were motivated by the conformities of the 50s and the Cold War that followed the end of World War 2. Although America and the Allied Countries won the war, they never won the peace as the world was polarized between the capitalist West led by American and the communist east led by the former Soviet Union. The world was never polarized as it was during this cold war era.
It can be said that America emerged from years of complacency to the decade of change.
The first thing that you would notice about the period is that the period was governed by idealism, which started with the 1961 presidential election in America. President John F Kennedy who won the election introduced activism in governance. He asked his country people to meet the demand of the New Frontier. He brought about great innovations in the country by introducing various economic reforms, which facilitated economic growth in America. He did this by increasing government spending and cutting taxes for the poor. He introduced different changes that transformed the inner cities and improved access to education. He sent several proposals to the congress, but the Congress did not pass many of these proposals until his death in
1963.
Lyndon Baines Johnson succeeded Kennedy after he was assassinated. Like Kennedy, he sought to build a great society. He spreads the goods of the country to many people. He increased government spending in lots of areas such as Medicare for the elderly people, food assistance for the poor Americans, as well as various educational programs. Students were assisted in lots of ways such as grants and scholarships.
During that time, there were series of disconnected events, which influenced the subsequent decades. Events led to students activism, demand for voting rights as well as civil rights movements. Dissent was widespread at that time and the escalating Vietnam War did not help things. Many Americans protested the war and the protest eventually resulted in resistance. This resistance ended as casualties and combat. Black people were attacked and these formed militants to defend themselves.
The political and social movement at that time resulted in a counter culture. The counter culture was not good for the society as it led to conflict and confrontations. This resulted in a culture gap.
The hippies culture changed a lot of things in the country during the sixties. It transformed social status in the country. The hippies were just for peace. They wanted peace for two things, first was for the Vietnam war which was ending and the fact that black people were just set free. These transformed the social status of the country.
This was the time of child boomers. Because of the transformation of the nation’s economy, many families gave birth to lots of children. This has tended to bleed generational gap among the people. Racism was not another thing that made the sixties great. Two famous campaigners against racism at that time were Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr was later killed within this period, and his death caused social upheaval, which led to the freedom the black people are enjoying today. Doors of opportunities were opened for the blacks such that they can work anywhere in the country including the White House.
There was technological evolution during this period. During this period, Americans made successful landing into the moon. They were able to surpass Moscow in Space Exploration.
You can see that the era of the 1960s was different from the period after it in different ways. This period saw the emergence of different programs that changed the American society. It was the period to gave freedom to every American.