Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Letters from the Chairs 2 How JCCs Work 5 Introduction 9 Before 1968 10 The Political Parties 20 The Election 24 Issues to Consider 26 Your Mission 30 Sources 31 JCC: 1968 Background Guide 1 Letters from the Chairs and Crisis Director You’re the One, Delegate! It is my distinct honor to welcome you to WinMUN IV as the chair of this year’s JCC Republicans! The fast-paced and rapidly evolving nature of crisis committees make them a treat for any delegate lucky enough to earn a spot. Especially for such an action-packed topic as the tumultuous revolution around the sun that was 1968, we are so excited to see what creative (and funny) solutions y’all will devise. If there’s one thing I’ve learned at conferences, it’s that it pays to do research and prepare. Do not treat your position paper as your only research. Make it a preliminary outline and gameplan that you can use to bulk up your speeches and directives with facts and evidence. Crisis committees are nuanced and require a thorough understanding of the context of the situation--if you do not have this, you will certainly catch yourself falling behind in debate. Don’t let this ruin what should be a groovy and exhilarating experience! Additionally, make sure to learn from your mistakes! Delegates in crisis committees should always have an end goal which you work towards throughout the committee. Whether that may be securing a cabinet position or becoming your party’s nominee, spend committee time cultivating resources to move you closer to your end goal. Of course, use your powers for good as well but make sure you don’t get out-schemed! We look forward to getting to know you all, watching you grow as delegates, and most of all, we hope to see you all have fun while trying new things! Please don’t be afraid of me, I am a very nice person and I LOVE giving feedback (upon request) to help you improve your speaking and debate skills. Make sure to follow our WinMUN Facebook page and Instagram. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out! Let’s begin anew, John H. Bellaire - GOP Committee Chair WinMUN IV Joint-Crisis Committee [email protected] JCC: 1968 Background Guide 2 Hello, my dear delegates, My name is Eda Erdogmus, and I am a junior here at Winchester High School. I joined MUN in my sophomore year, but I found myself instantly falling in love with the atmosphere created by the debate. I soon realized that was just the tip of the iceberg: there was an entire world of crisis situations, and I could tell it was meant to be. My rst crisis committee was at NAIMUN 2020, and I learned how to crisis, so to speak. I learned how to improvise speeches from only one talking point, and saw how easily it was for me to follow debate. From that point on, I knew I had to commit to crises. As my delegates, you are now plunged into a world of turmoil. The 1960s was one of the most turbulent and revolutionary decades ever encountered in human history, and its impacts are still being felt today. The early 1960s are marked with a rebellious air and rejection of the environment brought by the post-war world of the 1950s, and paved the way for the true societal stretching and exploration of the 1970s. In 1968, the Democratic Party was on the brink of collapse--what happens next is up to you to decide. Will it survive another day? Or will the factions become parties of their own? I highly recommend you listen to the music from the late 1960s (try the Billboard Top 100). Music, while it may not seem like much, is highly reective of the general mood of society at the time. It is very revealing of people’s worries, joys, and creativity in what seems like a time that would have destroyed any trace of that. Asides that, I recommend you close your eyes, and for a second imagine you are in 1968 listening to the radio. Allow that feeling to carry your actions throughout the committee. My advice for crisis is to not let yourself feel attached to the actions of your characters. Remember you are playing a character, and sometimes that requires saying dubious things and taking deceptive actions. You need to accomplish your goal, and don’t let anything stand in your way. (Also, remember to hire a body double early in committee.) Believe in your abilities, even if this is your rst or tenth time at a crisis. And most importantly, have fun! This is your one chance to go back into the 60s, and be witness to a watershed year in American history. Don’t hesitate to reach out by email, I am happy to answer questions. I am excited to meet everyone too! I promise I won’t bite. It’ll be groovy, baby! Eda K. Erdogmus - DNC Chair WinMUN IV Joint-Crisis Committee [email protected] JCC: 1968 Background Guide 3 How’s it hangin’, delegates? My name is Alex Lee, and—at long last—welcome back to WinMUN IV! I’ve spent all four years of high school in WinMUN’s JCC, both as a delegate and Crisis Director. I’ll act as the “storyteller” of committee, weaving your nefarious plots (and some nefariousness of our own) into an exciting and challenging crisis that both sides must overcome to survive. I’m honored to be working with a top-tier Crisis Sta, who will assist you through your crisis arcs. To echo William Yeats, 1968 is a year when things fell apart in America. Old social and political forces are rapidly giving rise to the new, for better or worse. This JCC, the Election of 1968, simulates those national growing pains: will the center hold, or will mere anarchy be loosed upon the world? (I’ll stop with the poetry.) As the most prominent politicians of your time, it’s up to you to answer that question by any means possible. JCC 1968 is unique in WinMUN history in that civil war isn’t entirely inevitable (just very possible)! For a change, both sides of the JCC have an opportunity to govern together; in fact, we’ve devised some custom rules to encourage more interaction between the two rooms. You may nd strong allies in the other room, or enemies sitting next to you. It’s up to you whether you want to embrace the spirit of bipartisanship or engage in all-out political warfare… or both? As far as our committee goes, my biggest piece of advice is to be creative. Draw inspiration from your real-life counterparts (and our mini-textbook on 1968), but your arc is designed by you and you alone. The more moving parts your crisis notes have—more characters, more plots, more details—the more the Crisis Sta will have to work with, and the further along you’ll get with your plans! 1968 had no shortage of shenanigans, and it is my hope this committee will reect those shenanigans. I've never ceased to be amazed by what delegates can cook up in Crisis. Please shoot me an email if you’d like to share any questions, comments, concerns, hopes, dreams, worst fears, or song recommendations, and we’ll see you soon! All the way with LBJ, Alex Lee - Crisis Director WinMUN IV Joint-Crisis Committee [email protected] JCC: 1968 Background Guide 4 How JCCs Work Intro To Crisis1 Crisis Committees dier in many ways from a General Assembly or other traditional MUN simulations. Rather than an international debate over a global issue, most Crisis simulations focus on a specic region or conict. There are typically no more than a few dozen delegates, who usually represent the interests of individual people instead of entire nations. Delegates receive dossiers describing the objectives and abilities of their person, as well as pertinent information about that person. Compared to a GA, the pace of debate is much faster and less formal. Crisis Committees are most signicantly dierent from GAs in delegates’ capacity to directly aect their scenario. While General Assemblies typically pass resolutions at the end of the session, Crisis Committees will pass multiple directives throughout the day that immediately alter the “state of the world.” Delegates can also submit private “Crisis Notes,” which use the delegate’s personal powers to individually change the direction of the committee. All documents are sent to the Crisis backroom. Another major aspect of Crisis committees is “Crisis Events.” Crisis staers will regularly deliver updates to the committee room about changes in their scenario, whether it be wars, natural disasters, statements to the press, or beyond. Delegates can even be assassinated! Some of these events may be the result of directives or crisis notes. These Crisis Events create a feedback system between delegates and the crisis sta as each works to build the world and the story of the committee. It is usually harder to prepare for crisis committees as a delegate since you have no way of predicting when, how, or which curveballs will be thrown your way. In this committee, you are your given character, and the crisis sta represents the “outside” world and all the events that occur there. Every delegate will be advancing their own character’s agendas, so stay on your toes! So What’s a JCC? Prepare for trouble.