The 1960’s, the decade of change, brought drastic developments to the United States Society, making history and transforming the world into something new. The 60’s gave us a new flag, three presidents, three assassinations, the threat of war, war and much more. The actions shown within this decade shaped our lives in the 21st century and will be remembered for years and years to come. On November 8, 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected the President of the United States. This presidency had a lot of firsts including the first televised debate on September 26 of that year. This occurred because of the advances in technology. By the 1920’s, television existed, but the majority of shows and or movies were silent black and white films. Colored
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On February 7, 1962, the first sign of the upcoming war occurred. Kennedy admitted that there were already troops in Vietnam and they are told to engage in combat if shot at. This was a surprise to many U.S. citizens and angered many as well. That next year, the Cuban Missile Crisis began. The Soviet Union started to build missiles in Cuba so, in order to protect the country, and attempt to stop the construction of missiles, Kennedy ordered a naval and air equipment blockade on Cuba. After 38 days, an agreement was met with Soviet Premier Khrushchev to stop supplying the island with missiles if the United States agrees not to invade; a win for Kennedy and our country. Another battle was happening around us that was not necessarily classified at the time as war. The Civil rights movement has been a major issue the past couple decades and still remained an issue in the 1960’s. On August 28, 1963, a civil rights march took place in Washington DC where Dr. Martin Luther King JR, a civil rights activist, gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech. This was a monumental day in American history. Some might say that this was yet another march with yet another speech but this dream that King possessed lives within each one of us. I have dreams and ambitions, honestly not as in depth or dramatically influential as his, but they matter to me …show more content…
July 1, 1966 Medicare was created as health insurance for those over the age of 65. I think that this is the start of a liberal society. In the 60’s, as evident by the war protests and extreme increase in the usage of marijuana, the idea of free spirit and peace was popular. Another example would be the music festival Woodstock where, for lack of a better term, hippies would gather to listen to music, have sexual relations, and partake in drugs such as weed and acid; downer drugs. Another very liberal act that was created was the National Historic Preservation act. This was a great act that allotted specific areas to be “historical” and therefore illegal to tear down in order to create new constructions. On top of laws prohibiting destruction and giving away money, blacks finally became part of the American government. On November 8, 1966, Edward Brooke became the first black Senator and a year later on October 2, 1967 Thurgood Marshall became the first black member of the Supreme Court. While all of these advances were happening, the war in Vietnam was continuing to
On February 7, 1962, the first sign of the upcoming war occurred. Kennedy admitted that there were already troops in Vietnam and they are told to engage in combat if shot at. This was a surprise to many U.S. citizens and angered many as well. That next year, the Cuban Missile Crisis began. The Soviet Union started to build missiles in Cuba so, in order to protect the country, and attempt to stop the construction of missiles, Kennedy ordered a naval and air equipment blockade on Cuba. After 38 days, an agreement was met with Soviet Premier Khrushchev to stop supplying the island with missiles if the United States agrees not to invade; a win for Kennedy and our country. Another battle was happening around us that was not necessarily classified at the time as war. The Civil rights movement has been a major issue the past couple decades and still remained an issue in the 1960’s. On August 28, 1963, a civil rights march took place in Washington DC where Dr. Martin Luther King JR, a civil rights activist, gave his famous “I have a Dream” speech. This was a monumental day in American history. Some might say that this was yet another march with yet another speech but this dream that King possessed lives within each one of us. I have dreams and ambitions, honestly not as in depth or dramatically influential as his, but they matter to me …show more content…
July 1, 1966 Medicare was created as health insurance for those over the age of 65. I think that this is the start of a liberal society. In the 60’s, as evident by the war protests and extreme increase in the usage of marijuana, the idea of free spirit and peace was popular. Another example would be the music festival Woodstock where, for lack of a better term, hippies would gather to listen to music, have sexual relations, and partake in drugs such as weed and acid; downer drugs. Another very liberal act that was created was the National Historic Preservation act. This was a great act that allotted specific areas to be “historical” and therefore illegal to tear down in order to create new constructions. On top of laws prohibiting destruction and giving away money, blacks finally became part of the American government. On November 8, 1966, Edward Brooke became the first black Senator and a year later on October 2, 1967 Thurgood Marshall became the first black member of the Supreme Court. While all of these advances were happening, the war in Vietnam was continuing to