Dreaming In The 1960s Essays - Counterculture Of The 1960s

Dreaming in the 1960s 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. N ext, 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.