The 1960s EYEWITNESS HISTORY The 1960s Timothy Maga Foreword by Donald A. Ritchie The 1960s C opyright © 2003 by Timothy Maga Foreword copyright © 2003 by Donald A. Ritchie Maps and graphs copyright © 2003 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street NewYork NY 10001 ISBN-10: 0-8160-4809-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-4809-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Maga,Timothy P., 1952– The 1960s / by Timothy Maga. p. cm. — (An eyewitness history) Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents:To the “new frontier” : January 1960–December 1961—Lost in the Cold War :January 1962–September 1963—Lessons of the Cuban missile crisis : October 1962–December 1963—All the way with LBJ : 1964–1965—Beach Boys America : 1966–1967—The perils of power : 1968—How the “sixties” end : 1969–1970. ISBN 0-8160-4809-6 (acid-free paper) 1. United States—History—1961–1969—Juvenile literature. 2. United States—History— 1961–1969—Sources—Juvenile literature. 3. Nineteen sixties—Juvenile literature. [1. United States—History—1961–1969—Sources. 2. Nineteen sixties.] I.Title. II. Series. E841.M225 2003 973.923—dc21 2002014119 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com Text design by Joan M.Toro Cover design by Cathy Rincon Maps by Jeremy Eagle and Pat Meschino Printed in the United States of America VB JT 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 This book is printed on acid-free paper. To the love of my life, Patsy Maga, who made this book “happen” CONTENTS Note on Photos viii Foreword:America in the 1960s ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii 1. To the “New Frontier”: January 1960–December 1961 1 2. Lost in the Cold War: January 1962–September 1962 38 3. Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis: October 1962–December 1963 71 4. “All the Way with LBJ”: 1964–1965 113 5. Beach Boys America: 1966–1967 160 6. The Perils of Power: 1968 199 7. How the “Sixties” End: 1969–1970 242 Appendix A: Documents 283 Appendix B: Biographies of Major Personalities 313 Appendix C: Maps and Graphs 337 Notes 345 Bibliography 350 Index 379 NOTE ON PHOTOS Many of the illustrations and photographs used in this book are old, historical images. The quality of the prints is not always up to current standards, as in many cases the originals are from old or poor quality negatives or are damaged. The content of the illustrations, however, made their inclusion important despite problems in reproduction. viii FOREWORD America in the 1960s A jumble of exuberance and discontent, idealism and arrogance, freedom and excess, the 1960s were an exciting and confusing time for those who lived through them, and they remain a source of puzzlement and fascination for those born later. The 1960s opened with the emergence of John F. Kennedy as the symbol of a new generation of leaders, born in the 20th century and forged in World War II and the cold war. Kennedy’s generation confidently tackled the prob- lems of the nation and the world, aiming to defeat communism, end racial seg- regation, abolish poverty, and land a man on the moon before the decade had ended. At the same time, a younger generation was coming of age. Products of the baby boom that had followed World War II,they arrived on campus equally confident and ambitious. At first the two generations shared a relatively com- mon outlook, but the turbulent decade as it progressed confronted them with a nuclear showdown, war, the draft, urban riots, and political assassinations. The two generations drifted apart until their increasingly divergent values and viewpoints polarized into a generation gap. In America, the decade saw the abolition of racial segregation, the end of discriminatory restrictions on immigration, a new movement toward women’s equality, and a vast expansion of voting rights. New public awareness and activism prompted Congress to pass landmark legislation on a remarkable range of issues, from environmental programs to health and consumer product safety. It was a decade of liberalism and New Left politics whose campus protests, antiwar demonstrations, and civil unrest caused political and social scars, law-and-order candidates, and a conservative backlash. As a college student and a draftee in the 1960s, I have my own share of personal memories.Yet it is startling to realize how many of my generation’s most vivid recollections were actually events that we witnessed on television: a president’s chilling message on the Cuban Missile Crisis; the shocking report of his death in Dallas,Texas; the shooting of the suspected assassin—televised as it happened; fire hoses and police dogs turned on civil rights demonstrators; the flames of urban riots; the never-ending nightly combat reports and casualty fig- ures from Vietnam; the Chicago police clashing with protesters at the 1968 national Democratic convention; and an astronaut’s first step onto the lunar surface. Television shrank our world into a global village, but its images could alternately unite society and drive it apart. Today, many of the audio and visual images of the 1960s still survive. Remnants of an era that celebrated freedom of expression, they conjure up the counterculture: peace signs, love beads, psychedelic styles, hippies, pop art, the Beatles,Woodstock, The Graduate, Easy Rider, and Hair. In its own parlance, the decade of the 1960s was a “happening.” ix x The 1960s Looking back, we can likely agree that the 1960s profoundly reshaped the nation and the world, while disagreeing whether those changes were for good or ill. Its vitality, complexity, and idiosyncrasies make the era as astounding to study now as it was to experience then. —Donald A. Ritchie ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author hopes that the staffs of the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the U.S. Naval Historical Center, the NASA-Johnson Space Center, King Visual Technology, Bradley University Library, and the Peoria Public Library will accept my general thanks for their assistance in obtaining key doc- umentation, secondary sources, and photos needed for this mammoth effort. Without question, I owe special thanks to the following individuals and their employers: James Hill of the John F.Kennedy Library, Pauline Testerman of the Harry S. Truman Library, Mark Renovitch of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, E. Philip Scott of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Alice Preston of Camelot Classic Cars, Inc., Fred Gompertz of Mr. Fred’s Furs, Kelly Hill and Susan Sherwood of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Marilee Bailey of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chubby Checker and TEEC Recording, Smothers Brothers representative Wendy Blair at Knave Productions, Don Vesey of the Birmingham, Alabama, Public Library, Ken Tilley and Cynthia Luckie of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Kristen McCormack of the Green Bay Packers, Vickie Ganey of RS Information Systems, Rebecca Karamehmedovic of TimePix, and Dr. Arwin Smallwood of Bradley University’s Institute for African-American Studies. An even grander share of thanks goes to my wife, Patsy, for her endless patience and assistance in yet another book project. Another debt of thanks goes to Don and Pat Kline for “always being there” and to the encouragement, advice, and good comrade- ship of two great teacher/scholars, Dr. Jay D. Dobbin, professor of anthropolo- gy/sociology with the University of Maryland-Asian Division, and Emory T. Trosper, Jr., former registrar, University of Maryland-Asian Division and cur- rent professor of history and government,Temple University-Japan campus. xi INTRODUCTION “The past is a foreign country. People do things differently there.” One of America’s favorite poets and philosophers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, made this comment in the 1830s. But he could have said it in the early 21st century as well. In his own way, he was trying to say that the present generation often views the previous generation in one of two ways.They were either “the great- est generation” or far from it.To John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and many of their peers in the 1960s, Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal movers and shakers of the 1930s were heroes, legends, and mentors. Following in their footsteps was an honor, and expanding upon their political success was good for both career and country. “Getting the country moving again” was the promise of the 1960 Kennedy for President campaign, but it reminded many of Franklin Roosevelt’s can-do spirit. Whether they voted for Kennedy or not, most Americans were ready for a change in 1960. From politics to the entertainment industry, the country’s leaders and followers sought new directions, heroes, and missions.The postwar era had to end sometime, and the 1960s represented that transition to greatness. Kennedy served as the first recognized leader of this uncharted path to the “New Frontier,” and for a while it seemed as if anything was possible. From the end of racism and poverty to an American on the moon, the 1960s were supposed to make dreams come true. But reality soon suggested something different. To a large degree, it was the frustration with dreams left unfulfilled that led to the age of protest, student riots, and racial tension.