Emergence of Democracy

1776

Declaration of Independence = strong American individualism + self-reliance, believed republican

democracy superior to Europe; 55 Founding Fathers signed declaration; system = slow/complicated

1787

Drafting of US Constitution = legalised building God-fearing state (to allow for westward expansion)
- 1st 10 Amendments = Bill of Rights (total of 27), amendments need ⅔ votes in both houses
US Constitution:
➢ Supreme law in USA = framework for relationship b/c federal (central in Washington, DC)
gov’t with 50 states, citizens, and people; republican democracy rejects monarchy
➢ Three main branches of gov’t: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary
○ Legislature​ = US Congress; divided into Senate and House of Representatives
(bicameral) --- construct laws, both need to agree to pass
■ House of reps: each rep has election every 2 years, reps from each state
depend on size/pop’n
■ Senate has 2 reps for each state and 6 year term
○ Executive​ = Headed by President; also Vice President and Cabinet to support ---
policy-making/leadership branch
■ President elected every 4 years, must be >35, born in US, can’t serve
more than 2 terms, vice president succeeds if dies/resigns
■ Congress needs to approve of all president’s laws with majority (but pres
can veto any Congress legislation)
○ Judiciary​ = courts and judges headed by Supreme Court --- ensure laws are legal
+ follow constitution, make sure Congress/president don’t exceed powers
■ 9 judges who hold office until resign/die; above politics/uphold rights
 Electoral System:
➢ Parties = Democratic Party + Republican Party; ‘First past the post’/majority system (only 2 parties)
○ Financial limitations too, since can use any amount of money to campaign
○ Lack of clear ideological differences = never a credible socialist party
○ Liberation Party in 1971 = 3rd largest party but dominated by other 2 parties
➢ No strong minorities = no coalition gov’ts
➢ Electoral College system = each state gets electors equal to members in US House of Reps and Senate
○ Each elector gets one vote
○ 538 electors currently; 270 votes needed to win
➢ US Election every 4 years on Tuesday after first Monday in November
➢ Individuals vote to instruct electors from state to vote for that candidate
➢ House of Reps decides election if none of candidates win 270 votes --- happened in 1801 and 1825
➢ President can lose popular vote but still be elected president
➢ Controls the advantage held by larger states by balancing rights of minority and majority
○ Some see system as outdated + want direct election
➢ Grassroots politics sways contested states
➢ US voters need to register as supporter of one of parties, then vote in primary elections for candidate

1800s

American Indian Wars = clashes with Native Americans

1824

Democrats founded
- Centre is more right than in many European nations
Democratic Party:
★ Oldest political party in world, split over slavery in 1860
★ Not very democratic in late 1800s, seen as white people’s party
★ Dominated South by end of Reconstruction in 1877 = problem for Northern Democrats in 1960s,
liberal legislation easily crushed
○ Southern Senators repeatedly filibustered anti-lynching bill by FDR in 1930s = talked bill to
death/debated for hours to obstruct passage of legislation

1848

Seneca Falls Convention = origin of organised movement for women’s rights, began annual
conventions until Civil War began in 1860
- Led to National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) and American Woman Suffrage
Association (AWSA)

1854

Republicans founded
Republican Party:
★ GOP/Grand Old Party founded by anti-slavery campaigners/modernisers
 ★ Strong base in North/West, dominated from 1861-1933 with 12/15 presidents in that time
★ Election of Abraham Lincoln 1860 brought to power = defeat of Confederate states in Civil War +
preservation of the Union = end of slavery, Reconstruction of the South
★ Supported by businessmen, factory workers, farmers, African Americans
★ Promoted economic growth, but conflicted by rapid industrial expansion

1861-65

US Civil War = industrialized north vs. traditional/agrarian south; main divider was slavery
- Rapid technological advances in North/East + many new people of different nationalities
- Geography may lead Northern Republicans to be more progressive than some Southern
Democrats (‘Democrats in Name Only’/DINOs/’blue dog’ democrats)
- Republicans entered 50 year period of dominance = Abraham Lincoln

1863

Lincoln wanted to readmit Confederate States to the Union quickly = began Reconstruction after war
- Difficult b/c radical republicans in Congress wanted total repentance from Confederates

1865

April 14 - Lincoln shot in head and died next morning; succeeded by Andrew Johnson (only Southern
senator to stay loyal to the Union during Civil War)
- Johnson = hard to appease radical northern politicians + to integrate south; pardoned south
whites + appointed provisional governors + new state gov’ts in former Confederacy (so each
state could decide how to treat blacks)
Black Codes = laws in South to keep white supremacy after abolition of slavery; outlawed interracial
marriage, unemployment, black legal rights
Dec - 13th Amendment to the Constitution ended slavery
Dec - Klu Klux Klan (KKK/Klan) formed = targeted blacks in public places, formed by ex-soldiers of
Confederate Army, peaked around 1870, beatings/lynchings

1868

14th Amendment = every state must offer equal protection under law regardless of race

1869

Wyoming territory gave women the right to vote = first success for women’s suffrage campaign

1870

Utah territory gave women the right to vote

1870s

15th Amendment = right to vote for African American males (political chaos south, hard to enforce)
USA had gained much land: south of Canada, North of Mexico b/n Atlantic and Pacific oceans
1871

Klu Klux Klan Act = suppressed the KKK + use of federal troops

1875

1875 Civil Rights Act = measure to help Southern blacks; no impact in former Confederate states

1876

All ex-Confederate states had returned to white Democratic rule

- Republican president Rutherford Hayes = accepted by Democrats b/c removed troops from
South + recognized Democrats in closely fought states
Segregationists = people who wanted separation of human races; Africans kept inferior/in poverty in
USA around 1890 by white segregationists

1880-1924

Age of Mass Migration

Impact of Immigration
- >5.2M immigrants to USA from 1880-1890
- 80% New Yorkers in 1890 had been born outside of USA
- Before 1880s, immigrants North/West European + some Chinese labourers on West
Coast
- Early 1900s, >1M immigrants arriving annually, many South/East Europeans,
patterned changed by persecution against Jews/ethnic minorities in Russia
- Economic expansion = demand for cheap/unskilled labour, appealing to
poor/those relying on subsistence agriculture
- 1900 = ⅓ residents of major US cities foreign-born, hostility/little integration
- Immigrants mainly Democratic, upset many Americans
Jeffersonian Ideal = society should be made of independent small-scale farms/businesses
- Immigrants blamed for problems + thought threatened democracy
- Labour violence in immigrant-dominated slum areas
- Poor conditions of tenements led to health concerns + high infant mortality
- >20% infants born died in 1st yr of life, 1900 immigrant ward Chicago
1914 = 1.2M immigrants ---- 1929 = under 300,000 immigrants
‘Great Migration’ = internal migration of African Americans to industrialized North, 500,000
moved in 1890s; stigmatized like E EU workers b/c of housing shortages

1880s

National Farmers’ Alliance and Coloured Farmers’ Alliance (segregated) = populist movement,
agrarian revolt in South/Midwest against Democrats/Republicans for not helping with problems
- Won regional victories but needed national party for more progress
- Farmers felt abandoned by excesses of industrialisation (caused drought, crop failure, resented
success of manufacturing who often patronized in business)
Jim Crow Laws in Southern states (anti African American laws) to enforce segregation

1882

Chinese Exclusion Act = no Chinese immigration for 10 years + Chinese in US no citizenship + head
tax on immigrants

1883-1930

Carnegie libraries created, money from Scottish-American multi-millionaire Andrew Carnegie; brought
prestige/learning to communities, required public support + funding too + free to all

1887

Dawes Act = promised Native Americans full citizenship if gave up tribal customs (US eventually took
land and broke up reservations for whites)

1890

Progressive Era begins

Census = no territory remained undeveloped for settlement
Sherman Silver Purchasing Act = law required US Treasury to buy 4.5M ounces of silver/month for
coinage as silver dollars; made gold more expensive, gov’t could give notes to redeem for silver/gold
McKinley Tariff = crippled farmers that sold harvests to unprotected markets
1890 congressional elections = 1000s farmers united to vote Republicans out of House of Reps
Spread of railroad, disease, innovations + white settler attitudes = tribes broken down to assimilate
Economy - expansion in 1890s ★ Emergence of major industrial companies for
★ Abundance of cheap natural resources steel, oil
★ Cheap immigrant labour ★ Inventors like Henry Ford + Thomas Edison
★ Increase in markets linked creativity with business = vertical
★ Growing demand for good/services integration; control all stages of production,
★ Technological innovations: steel plough, led to monopolies, small companies often
railway expansion ruined
★ High import tariffs = less foreign goods ○ US Steel = first billion $ corp
★ Great Plains mean much fertile land ○ DuPont control ~90% chem industry
★ US banks offered extended credit to new ★ Became urban society dominated by
manufacturing businesses elite/northeast; gave more political influence
★ Formation of trade unions to protect rights
2 women’s suffrage movements form National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA)
- Led to more campaigns/protests from 1890-1920

1891

Gov’t opened a Bureau of Immigration established under Treasury Department

1892

Election - main 2 parties ran uncontroversial campaigns since afraid of radical Populists (who still got
>1M votes + representation in Midwest states)
Populist Party/People’s Party formed = challenged corporate state
- 1892 convention in Nebraska = Omaha Platform issued (denounced laissez-faire, more gov’t
aid, money supply, help for suffering farmers, progressive income tax, national ownership of
transport/communication, direct election of US senators to reduce nepotism, regular
referendum, 1 term limit for presidents)
 - Coalition with black farmers in South 1892-96 + won several state elections
- Indecision split party since some wanted to maintain 3rd party, some wanted to control party of
Democratic Party
Ellis Island immigration reception centre opened to screen immigrants in NY Bay on East Coast
Angel Island immigration reception centre opened to screen immigrants on West Coast

1893

Colorado territory gave women the right to vote

1893-97

Depression of 1893-97 = President Grover Cleveland faced most severe depression up to that point, his
2nd term as president
Depression of 1893-97
- Railway companies had given more stocks/higher than should have in 1880s
- Philadelphia & Reading Railroad failed in 1893 = triggered panic, stocks dropped, gold reserves sank, crisis
reached EU
- Made agricultural depression in West/South worse; farm price dropped 20% in next 3 years
End of 1894 = 74 railroads + almost 600 banks had failed
1894 = 18% unemployment rate; grew in depression (eventually, >30% manufacturing, 25% urban)
- Cleveland did little + thought would correct itself = unrest grew
April 1894 = Coxey’s Army march to Washington DC (500 unemployed Midwest workers)
- Arrested Jacob Coxey/others, had suggested public works programs funded with paper $
Pullman Car Workers’ Strike near Chicago
- 150,000 railroad workers went on strike
- Cleveland sent troops to crush revolt, blamed unrest on Sherman Silver Purchasing Act + tried to repeal
- Oblivious to deprivations of American people
- Generated criticism of Democratic Party = huge Republican victory in 1894 mid-term elections

1894

Immigration Restriction League founded

Women’s suffrage petition with 600,000 signatures = ignored by NY state officials

1896

Nov - President William McKinley elected (huge victory after Democratic failures in depression)
Populist Party has largely joined with Democratic Party
- Power diminished b/c Republican control, but ideas set goals for progressive movement
Idaho territory gave women the right to vote

1901

Sept - Assassination of McKinley by Leon Czolgosz, a US anarchist of Polish descent (Theodore

Roosevelt becomes president)
- More worry about political ideas of anarchism (no gov’t) and communism

1902
Head tax on immigrants extended indefinitely

1904

Progressive President Theodore Roosevelt acted against Northern Securities Company (railway trust) +
Supreme Court supported him = reputation as a ‘trust buster’

1907

Dillingham Commission = made by Congress to investigate social probs due to lack of assimilation
- American Federation of Labour (AFL) pressured to restrict flow of cheap immigrant labour;
both political parties opposed to it during Progressive Era

1908

Nov - William Taft elected president

1911

California territory gave women the right to vote (Eastern industrial states still resisted)

1912

Nov - Woodrow Wilson elected president = brought banking reform, anti-trust laws, income tax
Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive Party included women’s suffrage in manifesto

1913

Federal income tax introduced = more democratic that levied taxes based on ability to pay
- Became main gov’t income source in a couple years (had been tariffs)
Women’s suffrage march in Washington on eve of Wilson’s inauguration = hundreds injured by mob

1914-1918

World War I (America only participated from 1917-18) = immigration halted, suspicions about loyalty
of ‘enemy aliens’ from G, A-H; fear of communism emerged after 1917

1915

KKK reborn with support from traditional white supremacists

1916

National Women’s Party (NWP) formed by radical group of NAWSA = led by Alice Paul, more
aggressive campaign, wanted election of a woman to Congress
68 women became first USA political prisoners when arrested for peaceful picketing = some abused in
prison, staged hunger strikes = led to international embarrassment + distracted from war
First birth control clinic = opened in NY, shut down after 10 days, generated controversy

1917
Literacy test brought it = immigrants required to speak English

1918

Jan - Sedition Act and Alien Act = anti-immigration attitudes, wanted to lessen anti-American ideas,
gov’t power to deport anyone who had been ‘member of any anarchist organisation’
Jan - Wilson announced women’s suffrage needed as a ‘war measure’ since distracting from war

1919

June 4 = amendment for federal women’s suffrage finally passed (after numerous failures to get a
majority in Senate) by 66 to 30 in the Senate
Volstead Act/National Prohibition Act = prohibition introduced (ban selling alcoholic drinks)
Prohibition ★ Led to increase in gangsters, organized crime
★ 75% had already approved when became law ★ Liquor = drink with 0.5% alcohol
★ Religious implications since most immigrants ★ By 1930, 32,000 speakeasies (illegal alcohol
were Catholic/Eastern Orthodox selling) in NY (twice number of legal before)
★ Anti-German feelings after WWI since many ★ In place until 1933 when FDR repealed Act
brewers were German
Red Scare = first one, fear of communism, wanted USA with culturally homogeneous people
- Communists in Russia + Germany sparked racion/suspicion (build from Sedition/Alien Acts)
- Anarchists bombings 1919 = gov’t rounded up 6,000 ‘aliens’, detained in prison + deported
hundreds, many peaceful eventually released
- US attorney Mitchell Palmer organized this purge + alleged that ~150,000 communists
working to spread in USA = Palmer Raids (response to imaginary threats)

1920s

Roaring Twenties/jazz age; also readjustment after WWI + international isolation, more racial
prejudice/intolerance = prosperity, wage levels rising, more consumer goods, assembly lines
- However, production > buying power, too many large profits, people failed to invest $ well
Restrictionists = many people in Congress wanted to cut down//halt immigration
More acceptable for women to work (offices, shops, etc) + wages gave more independence
- One in four women had a job until onset of GD​ (wage discrimination, only until married)
African American culture’s music became popular (Jazz), many small-towns disliked
Democrats in 1920s Republicans in 1920s
➢ Out of the White House, internal struggles over ➢ 3 republican presidents = William Harding 1920,
issues Calvin Coolidge 1924, Herbert Hoover 1928
➢ KKK denunciation resolution failed by one vote ➢ Prosperity with pro-business policies
at 1924 Democratic Convention ➢ Less international + domestic involvement (not
➢ Disastrous political campaigns like Woodrow Wilson)
➢ Supported by South white protestants, North ➢ GOP dominance collapsed with GD
Catholics/Jews/Italians, academics
➢ FDR election as governor in NY brought ne
leader in 1928

1920

Aug - 19th Amendment gives women the vote (although African American women still faced
discrimination in Southern states like men)
Nov - Warren Harding elected president
Warren Harding (1865-1923)
➢ Became a US senator in 1914; few enemies = compromise candidate for deadlocked presidency in
1920 with slogan ‘A return to normalcy’
➢ Rejected Wilson’s progressive policies/progressivism = liked low taxes on business, aid to farmers,
more import tariffs, less immigrants = protectionism
Protectionism = moved toward protecting domestic industries from competition with tariffs/quotas
➢ Did support Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act to develop infant/maternity health programs +
pressured US Steel to introduce 8 hour work day
➢ Rejected League of Nations; semi-isolationism while still in international economic sphere
➢ Allegations of corruption/nepotism

1921

Quota Act limits immigration = limited to 3% of pop’n of the respective ethnic group residents 1910
(mainly reduced from Eastern Europe), aimed to restrict immigration to 350,000 per year with half
from Northern Europe and half from Southern/Eastern Europe, value on skilled immigrants
Local radio started - sales of $12M

1922

Ford-McCumber Tariff = raised import duties on chemicals, textiles, china, cutlery, farm products,
guns, industrial machinery; gave many domestic producers a guaranteed market + less foreign trade

1923

Aug - Warren Harding dies suddenly and Calvin Coolidge becomes president = investigations of
Harding’s ministers, many resigned/jailed for fraud, US attorney general Harry M. Daugherty resigned
when proven he’d taken bribes to cover up scandals
Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)
➢ Very conservative = strongly applied laissez-faire once president, wouldn’t $ intervene
➢ Argued for minimum wage for women + condemned child labour, but few progressive ideas
➢ Wanted business, in GD many people blamed him for $ problems, even though retired in Jan 1929
○ Reluctance to help US agriculture sector = many farmers bankrupt in GD
○ Tax cuts seen as stimulating too rapid an economic boom
➢ Significance = president in uncertain decade b/n wars, laissez-faire policies laid foundations for $
probs
Dec - Coolidge told Congress he wanted more tax cuts and immigration laws
First legal birth control clinic opened = fully staffed by women, more equality to women

1924

Coolidge elected president (even though already stepping in for Harding)

Wyoming state elected a female governor
Immigration Act
Indian Citizenship Act
National Origins Act = toughened 1921 Quota Act by reducing E EU quota to 2% of 1890 census,
excluded Japanese + Chinese immigrants
Ellis Island became a detention + deportation processing station b/c of anti-immigration laws

1924-65

Immigration highly restricted = few jobs in GD, New Deal/FDR from 1933-41 meant new immigrants
felt had a say (Democratic Party)

1925

Revenue Act of 1925 = max. tax level from 40% to 20%, halved death duties, abolished gift tax;
increased consumer spending and stimulated business investment
Butler Act = banned teachings other than creation story (no evolution) in 6 southern states, until 1967

1926

NBC begins broadcasting

Seattle elected first female mayor

1927

‘Talking pictures’ arrived + Hollywood film industry grew rapidly

CBS begins broadcasting

1928

Nov - Herbert Hoover elected president; FDR becomes governor of New York

1929

Oct 24 - Wall Street Crash; almost 13M shares exchanged = Great Depression begins
Congress changed base year for immigration quota to 1920 (stayed until 1965); no limits on Latin
America = thousands of Mexicans moved northwards
- 400,000 Mexicans sent back due to unemployment of GD
Radio sales on $366M in 1929

1932

Nov - Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)
➢ 32nd president + chief executive for 13 years, landslide election victories 1932 and 1936
➢ Unquestioned democrat, social reformers, wartime leader after 1941
➢ Contracted polio in 1921 = fought it and recovered enough to resume public life
➢ March 1933 = asked for powers equal to president in wartime b/c wanted to make decisions w/o
Congress scrutiny, still criticized by businessmen, right and left wingers (seen as not enough)
○ Became president at height of GD = unemployment at 25%, >12M people
○ Speech = “nothing to fear but fear itself”
○ Promised the ‘New Deal’ = age of the New Deal is period b/n 1933-1941
 ■ Possibly saved democracy in USA, for good of majority
■ Gov’t economy regulation/presidential authority no longer unconstitutional
○ Figure of hope/charisma, inspired the pop’n
○ Foreign policy = suppressed internationalist views, 1935-39 Neutrality Acts by Congress
made it impossible for FDR to help warring states
○ Created Democratic electoral dominance until 1970s

1933

Feb - US banking ground to a halt

Mar 4 - FDR inaugurated as US president
- Unemployment reached 15M since election in Nov, more strikes, wages cuts, banking crisis
Mar 6 - FDR ordered all banks to close
Mar 9 - Emergency Banking Act = imposed a 4 day holiday
- Closed insolvent banks/reconstructed others = by end of March, more than 70% had reopened
b/c FDR’s ‘fireside chats’ urged people to put money in banks (safe)
- Deposits exceeded withdrawals
June - Glass-Steagall Act = prevented high street banks from indulging in investment banking (major
cause of GD)
Mar-July - Hundred Days of FDR’s New Deal legislation for relief, recovery, and reform
- Ended prohibition in 21st Amendment; shift in public opinion, saw as pointless
- Tennessee Valley Authority Act (allowed dams along river for cheap hydroelectric power)
- National Industrial Recovery Act = right to labour unions, bargain for wages/conditions
- Set up publicly funded Public Works Administration
- Set up Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) = guaranteed small bank deposits up to
maximum of $5,000
- Federal Securities Act monitored the Stock Exchange (disclose certain info to investors)
- Reforms stabilized banking

1933-1941

1932-1933 = worst years of the Great Depression

- Industrial stocks lost 80% of value since 1930
- 10,000 banks failed
- GNP had fallen 31% since 1929
- >13M people had lost jobs from 1929-1932
- Almost 25% unemployment in 1933
1936 = 14% economic growth, FDR eased back deficit spending
1938 = led to temporary recession + rise of unemployment
Democrats from 1933-41 Republicans from 1933-41
➢ FDR victory in 1932 after onset of GD ➢ Kept out of White House by FDR New
○ ‘Relief, recovery, and reform’ Deal
➢ New Deal very successful ○ FDR in for 4 terms
○ $ ideas of John Maynard Keynes: income tax ➢ Few senators/reps in 1930s
system, social security system, unemployment ➢ Split in party 1936 (liberal vs. conservative)
insurance = deficit spending ➢ Not until mid-term elections 1946 when
○ Borrowed $1B for rearmament, more work at Republicans won majority in both Senate
 break out of WWII and House
➢ Majorities in both houses of Congress + state governors ➢ More women’s roles
➢ FDR re-elected in 1936 and 1940 ➢ Won 50% vote outside South during
➢ Became more democratic = more civil rights, insurance mid-term elections in 1938 recession
against hardship

1934

Indian Reorganisation Act

June - Securities and Exchange Commission = further regulated Stock Exchange

1936

No banks at all collapsed in USA for first time in 6 years

1937

Embargo on goods to Japan (oil, iron, rubber) when Japan invaded China

1939-45

World War II; entered day after Pearl Harbour Dec 7, 1941

1940

Selective Service Act = allowed men to conscript in peacetime

Lend-Lease Act = allowed Br access to US weapons/supplies
>80% Americans had access to radio + many channels

1945

FDR dies in office when US on brink of victory

1950s

Many Americans enthused with the concept of the American Dream

- 140M people (7% world pop’n) controlled half of world’s manufacturing output

1960

Nov - John F. Kennedy elected president

>50% people enjoyed a middle-class lifestyle, TV dominant medium,, rise of suburbs, more cars

1960s

Illegal drug usage grew in mid-1960s, growth of ‘counterculture’

Anti-war movement
- Divided US; members from many groups: universities, unionists, feminists, middle-class
 - US involvement grew after 1964 = many thought backing down would show weakness
against communism, but increasing costs/deaths mas people angry
- Peak of anti-war movements around 1968, led Nixon to leave Vietnam
1962 = Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) formed by student activists, named ‘New Left’
- Rejected idea that working-class was way to social change, SDS became focus
Dec 1964 = Free Speech Movement (FSM) formed at University of California, believed students
could bring change through organisation
- Increased pace of protest after bombings of North Vietnam in early 1965
April 17 1965 = almost 25,000 people gathered in Washington to protest ​“Hey hey LBJ how many
kids did you kill today?” chant
Nov 1965 = 40,000 protesters surrounded White House, Johnson extended draft/troops that day
April 1967 = world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali refused draft, stripped of title,
fined $10,000, sent to prison but not jailed b/c court case appealed, banned from boxing for 5 yrs
June 1967 = >1000 theological college students + trainee priests wrote to secretary of defense
stating moral objections to draft
Oct 1967 = two-day march on the Pentagon, 70,000 people, led many dissenters to refuse to fly to
Vietnam, draft evaders went to Canada + Sweden
- Some wanted negotiations with Vietnam, some thought Vietnam should determine
future
- By 1968, Democratic Party members criticized sacrificing social reforms for $150M war
End of War: Nixon advocated Vietnamisation (still giving $ aid), 539,000 troops 1969 to 157,000
by 1971; destroyed communist supply bases in Cambodia in April 1970 (violated neutrality =
protests); peace negotiations for a long time until ceasefire in Jan 1973, US withdrew
- North took over South by April 1975 --- total = ​2M Vietnamese and 55,000 US died

1961

Jan - John F. Kennedy assumes office as president, closest election in US history (defeated Nixon)
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
➢ Attempted social reform, demands from African American civil rights campaigners
➢ Part of US House of Reps from 1947-53, then as Senator
➢ First Roman Catholic president + youngest
➢ ‘New Frontier’ approach, symbol of new changes Americans wanted
➢ Small Democratic majority = forced to compromise on legislative programme
○ Lost for medical care for aged + aid to education
○ Won for minimum wage + trade legislation
➢ Involved US in military defense of South Vietnam
➢ Family projected image of normalcy/vitality (especially with growth of TV)

1961-1974

- Role of US gov’t in domestic affairs expanded, shift in gender roles

- Increased mass media made public more aware of discontent/political extremism
1960s/70s = change, established countries in Asia challenged USA, used military for growth
- 1960s were longest uninterrupted period of economic expansion driven by federal gov’t
- Support for scientific research put billions dollars in US economy
- Many civilian + military jobs
- Close watch on business to manage economy
1961 = business bankruptcies at highest level since 1932 + farm incomes decreased 25% since
1951 + 6M unemployed
Late 1961 = recession eased and unemployment fell with gov’t domestic/military spending (cut tariffs,
gave businesses $1B in tax credits for new investment/equipment)
Democrats from 1961-74 Republicans from 1961-74
➢ JFK narrow victory in 1960 succeeded ➢ 1960 = 8 years of Republican gov’t to end
Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower (Eisenhower), Nixon lost to JFK
➢ Supported by organised labour, urban voters, ➢ 1950s = more consumer goods production
immigrants ○ Houses, suburbs, homeownership
➢ Larger role of gov’t in social issues: education, ○ Technology, space exploration, media =
urban renewal, minimum wage, civil rights new careers
➢ Johnson halved the poverty rate from 22.4% in ○ Car ownership + credit availability
1959 to 12.1% in 1969 although hard to pass ○ 50% pop’n middle-class lifestyle
welfare reforms ➢ Johnson’s popularity decreased with Vietnam
➢ Costly involvement in Vietnam ➢ Nixon = won 1968 election by campaigning
○ Appalled liberals that less social reform anti-war + power to states, re-elected 1972
due to expensive war ➢ Watergate Scandal demoralised party - Gerald
➢ End of New Dealers when LBJ withdrew 1968 Ford took over but tainted by disgrace

1962

Trade Expansion Act

Manpower Development and Training Act = job training for poorly educated people in >40 states
June - Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) formed = New Left

1963

Equal Pay Act

Higher Education Facilities Act
US had sent 16,000 military advisors to support South Vietnam by 1963
Nov 22 - Kennedy assassinated and Lyndon Johnson becomes president (since vice-president)
Lyndon Johnson (1908-1973)
➢ LBJ was most pro-active president since Roosevelt/New Deal
➢ Opposite personality/background to JFK but still clever politician, Democratic Party leader in 1953
➢ Landslide victory in 1964 = introduced important ​welfare/civil rights reform
➢ Vietnam war harmed his reform programme, one of least popular presidents ever = didn’t rerun in
1968
○ War diverted fund from social reform
○ Insoluble problem to his presidency balanced with social reforms
➢ Under ‘Great Society’, introduced much education reform

1964

March - Johnson’s anti-poverty programme launched, Economic Opportunities Act to Congress

May - Johnson launches ‘Great Society’ at University of Michigan
- Emphasized ‘war on poverty’
- Full potential never achieved due to war in Vietnam
July - enactment of 1964 Civil Rights Act = abolished laws that made African Americans 2nd class
citizens in South
Aug - Economic Opportunities Act = established the Office of Economic Opportunities to direct +
coordinate educational, employment, and training programmes (‘war on poverty’)
- Established jobs/work programmes for 10,000 youth, built almost 250,000 homes,
unemployment dropped by 5%
Aug - Gulf of Tonkin Incident = US Destroyer ​Maddox​ fired on by North Vietnamese patrol boats, led
to Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (Johnson could take all steps to protect South w/o declaring war)
Nov - Johnson elected in landslide over republican Barry Goldwater

1965

Mar - War in Vietnam made an American war with strategic air attacks on North + 1st ground forces
Vietnam War
★ US combat units deployed in Vietnam = US wanted to prevent North Vietnamese communist
takeover, heavily bombed Laos/Cambodia
★ Nov - 40,000 protesters of student activist groups surrounded White House to end Vietnam War
○ That day, Johnson announced troop increase from 120,000 to 400,000 troops
★ Draft system hated
○ 16% of drafted killed in 1964
○ 60% of drafted killed in 1968
○ 80% enlisted = African Americans + white working-class men
★ 540,000 troops by 1968, difficult to fight Vietcong who were experienced in guerrilla warfare
★ Cost US taxpayers $30B a year
★ 300 soldiers’ bodies brought back to US weekly in 1968
○ Created anti-war sentiment
★ Dec - Johnson’s $ advisors urged tax increase for war + prevent inflation
○ Johnson ignored until 1968
★ 1965-68 = more US bombs dropped on North Vietnam alone than upon
Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan combined in WWII

Immigration and Nationality Act (Hart-Celler Act) = aimed to increase immigration especially from
Asia + Latin America; aimed for family reunification + scare occupational skills (doctors, engineers)
★ Immigration mainly to North/East, right-wing opposed policies
★ Johnson needed to change outdated law at height of Civil Rights
movement 1960s = abolished 1920 quotas
★ 1960 = <1% pop’n Asian-American --- 2000 = 5%
★ 1970 = 4.5% pop’n Hispanic ---- 2000 = 12%
Omnibus Housing Act = money to build cheap housing + rent aid for poor
Appalachian Regional Development Act
Elementary and Secondary Education Act = to benefit poor states, help disadvantaged children
Higher Education Act = student loans for university, federal scholarships
July - Medicaid Act and Medicare Act = health care for poor, elderly, and disabled (from taxes)
Aug - Voting Rights Act = abolished laws that made African Americans 2nd class citizens in South

1965-73

US ground troop involvement in Vietnam

1966

National Organization for Women (NOW)

1967

Public Broadcasting Act

1968

Jan - Communist guerrillas in Vietnam uprising at Tet Festival = seen as US military failure,
unwinnable, towns/US bases across south attacked
Mar - Johnson quit the presidential race + began peace talks with North Vietnam in Paris
April - US gained most land lost, killed 50,000 communist troops; had ignited anti-war movement
- Johnson introduced 10% income tax surcharge (too late)
- US involvement in Vietnam peaked
American Indian Movement formed
Nov - Richard Nixon elected president - at onset of inflation/gradual end to decade of prosperity
Richard Nixon (1913-1994)
➢ Conservative, economic/social policy changes, wanted to limit dependence on welfare agencies
○ Accepted basic outline of welfare state but believed in financial responsibility
○ Inflation rate 9% 1973, Dow Jones average of industrial stocks fell 36% Nov 1968-May
1970
➢ Elected to Senate in 1950, vice-presidential candidate in 1952 + 1956 to Eisenhower, lost to JFK in
1960
➢ Promised to end war in Vietnam + unite Americans at home; kept promises
➢ Resigned in August 1974 over Watergate Scandal, when 5 men arrested for breaking into Democratic
Party’s national HQ in Washington at Watergate complex on June 17, 1972 = payments linked Nixon
➢ First US president to visit China (in 1972) - to control nuclear arms
➢ Successful in foreign affairs
➢ Called for ‘New Federalism’ system to move resources from federal bureaucracy to states = called it
‘revenue sharing’, shift in role of state
➢ Accused of ‘imperial presidency’/unchecked power/unconstitutional decisions
➢ First president to resign from office, moved country to political right, led to mistrust of political
leaders

1969

Aug - Woodstock Festival, New York

Family Assistance Plan (FAP) introduced by Nixon = direct cash to those in need, Conservatives didn’t
like, liberals saw as threat to minimum wage; dropped by 1972 election

1970

May - Shootings at Kent State University

Aug - ‘Strike for Equality’ march
Unemployment reached 6.6% by end of 1970

1971

Nixon imposed wage-price controls to ease unemployment; little impact

 1971-1974

‘Nixon Recession’
- Budget deficit (spent more than earned) from Vietnam War + Great Society policies
- Japan, West Germany, and South Korea challenged US in world markets
- Increased interest rates from US Central Bank made borrowing more expensive

1972

May - Nixon wins landslide re-election

May - Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) and Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty signed in China with
Soviet leader Brezhnev to control nuclear arms
End of 1972 - unemployment at 5.6%

1972-1974

Watergate Scandal
June 17 1972 - Burglary at Watergate Building at office of Democratic Party National Committee (DNC) in Washington
DC, linked to Nixon’s reelection campaign, 5 men arrested for trying to steal documents + set up listening devices in
office
- Greatest abuse of presidential power/criminality by US executive
- Became a case study in operation/triumph of US constitution + showed that lying not detected/guarded against
- Unsure of whether Nixon knew of scandal before, but certainly took immediate steps to cover up to conceal
other crimes = obstructed FBI from investigating by destroying evidence + firing uncooperative members of
personal staff
Aug 7 1974 - Nixon resigned (faced impeachment by Congress) and succeeded by Gerald Ford who pardoned incident

1973

Jan - Paris Peace Accords signed to end US involvement in Vietnam

Mar - US forces had left Vietnam
- Draft ended and US converted to a volunteer military
Autumn - Israel fought off Egypt + Syria in Yom Kippur War = USA had supported Israel so affected
by Saudi Arabian oil embargo; oil prices quadrupled (influence on Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries/OPEC) = threat of ‘stagflation’ ($ recession + inflation)

1974

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act

Aug - Nixon resigns over Watergate Scandal and Gerald Ford becomes US president
12% inflation in USA + high unemployment due to war in Middle East, legacy of Vietnam, loss of
confidence in US institutions after Watergate scandal

1975

April - fall of Saigon = end of war in Vietnam

Historians:
H. Brogan (1985) = “Thanks to Franklin Roosevelt, in short, six years (1933 to 1938) transformed America from a
country which had been laid low by troubles which its own incompetence had brought on it … to a country, as it
proved, superbly equipped to meet the worst shocks the modern world could hurl at it. It was enough.”
J. de Pennington (2005) = “There was confusion about the role of the government. It was clearly responsible for
supporting business and industry … but could the government at the same time, protect those used and abused by
the realities of rapid industrial growth?”
Wall Street Journal (mid-1920s) = “Never before, here or anywhere else, has the government been so completely
fused with business.”
Doug and Susan Willoughby = “the continuing existence of poverty experiences by so many different groups of
Americans, and the failure of anyone to deal with it, limits the extent to which the period can by judged to be an age
of prosperity … it was a fragile prosperity as the Crash of 1929 clearly demonstrated.”
Joanne de Pennington = Johnson’s programmes “put poverty, justice and access into the centre of politics … it
proved that big government was sometimes necessary for national change and benefits”
P. Levine and H. Papasotiriou (2005) = “Something had changed profoundly with the conclusion of World War II.
The United States had entered the war a wounded economic giant and emerged from it as the dominant superpower
in the world. By the end of the war, America and Europe had changed places”

New Government Policies:

○ Economic
1920s - economic prosperity, many consumer goods, stimulated by wartime industrial production
- For-McCumber Tariff 1922, more protectionism, Harding created US Budget Bureau for gov’t spending
- Unemployment dropped, federal debt reduced by ⅓ from 1920-30, US was main creditor after WWI
- Revenue Acts of 1924 and 1926 by Coolidge decreased income tax rates
- US Federal Reserve extended $45B in credit in 1921 and $73B by 1929
- Oilfield expansion, assembly line development, but older industries left behind (wool, railways, cotton)
- Period of agricultural depression = gov’t did nothing; farm exports had soared in WWI, lower prices after
1932-41 - Great Depression, FDR elected with New Deal, Emergency Banking Act restored confidence
- Glass-Steagall Act, Federal Securities Act = reformed Stock Exchange
- Ended prohibition, helped agriculture, provide employment = Alphabet Agencies (promote $ growth)
- Conservatives thought FDR too socialist, opposed by Supreme Court
- Second New Deal = Jan 1935, provide security to old, illness, unemployment, replace state relief efforts
- Mini-recession in 1938 when eased back on deficit spending, GD didn’t end until boom of WWII
- Created framework for a welfare state
1961-74 - prosperity, Kennedy’s New Frontier program, Great Society legislation ‘war on poverty’
- Vietnam war $ constrained, onset of $ downturn in 1968 at Nixon election (even with munitions jobs)
- Kennedy put billions $ in economy and unemployment fell (from 6M in 1961)
- 1962 Trade Expansion Act = cut tariffs to encourage trade; Revenue Act gave $1B in tax credits to businesses
- $289B debt end of 1960, Kennedy added $23B debt from 1961-63 (8% increase), deficit spending ended recession
- Johnson’s Economic Opportunity Act, Omnibus Housing Act, Appalachian Regional Development Act, less taxes
- Inflation at 4.7% in 1969, highest since early 1950s; Nixon created Pay Board and Price Commission in Nov 1971 =
monitored guidelines for pay/price increases + abandoned fixed exchange rate system
- 1974 = inflation at 12% due to war in Middle East + oil crisis
 
○ Education
Before 1920 - states ran schools, mainly to wealthy until 1840s, reformers campaigned (like John Dewey)
- all states had free elementary schools by 1870, few rural schools before 1890s, available to all by 1900
- 1918 = all states had passed laws for compulsory children attending elementary school
- Laws included standardized testing + professional role of teachers
- First public high school in Boston 1635 (seen as prep for university); Harvard was first university
- High schools fundamental by 1910 with more than 6,000
- Increasing number of people in colleges + availability to women
- 1890 = 4.5% children 15-19 y/o in high schools ---- 1930 = >40% in high schools
- Colleges set up for black communities (before Civil Rights Act of 1964)
 - Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 = federal $ support to state universities
1920-41 - businesses wanted gov’t to encourage edu 1920s (industry skills), but skilled people less demand GD
- ~25% students in NY City had malnutrition, Georgia closed almost all schools in state, bad for rural
- Roosevelt gave $20M for education relief; future money mainly from National Youth Administration (NYA),
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and Works Programme Administration (WPA)
- New Deal revealed probs of illiteracy/lack of skills, CCC increased teacher training + classes
- WPA built almost 6,000 schools in just over 7 years, NYA set up division for Negro Affairs
1961-74 - JFK submitted School Assistance Bill to Congress but not passed (opposed since didn’t help Catholic)
- 1963 Higher Education Facilities Act = $150M to graduate schools
- Johnson’s Economic Opportunity Act, Headstart (preschools), Community Action Programs (CAPs)
- 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, High Education Act benefited 25% students
- >$1B going to state schools, more $ to help poor areas, but private schools 12% budget
- Supported teachers’ unions + funded the humanities/the arts
- Nixon began large-scale racial integration of schools in South
- 1968 = 68% black children at all-black schools ---- 1970 =18% ( 2M in new integrated) ---- 1974 = 8%
 
○ Health and Social Welfare
1890-1920 - welfare in states for children, workplace, minimum wages, housing, sanitation
- Settlement houses in dense/poor urban areas (neighbourhood centres for social services), first NY 1889, 400
nationally by 1910
- Public campaign for gov’t inspection of meatpacking industry + food production
- 1906 = Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act, outlawed false labelling
- 1913 = Department of Labour to develop welfare
- 1909 = first White House Conference on Children
- Pensions for widows with children and US Children’s Bureau by 1920
1920s - lack of gov’t health/welfare initiatives, laissez-faire, behind Br/G, Women’s Bureau in early 1920s
- Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act of 1921 for child health clinics, midwife training, nutrition/hygiene
info = first federally funded social welfare measure in USA, but expired 1929
1933-41 - New Deal for recovery/reform, Alphabet Agencies, Second New Deal 1935-6 for health/welfare
- Works Progress Administration (WPA) = important work relief agency, >$11B on relief until 1943 + employed 8M
- Social Security Act of 1935 = compulsory federal old age pensions, unemployment benefit, aid for disabled,
dependent mothers with children; lack of sickness benefits, no publicly $ healthcare, didn’t help
self-employed/farmers/servants
1961-74 - Kennedy’s plans limited by narrow victory, faster with Johnson’s Great Society, slower with Nixon
- Taskforce on Health and Social Security by Kennedy 1961, improved Minimum Wages Law from $1 to $1.25 per
hour, postponed Medicare until mid-term elections 1962
- 1961 Housing Act gave $5B for housing projects for poor
- Johnson’s landslide victory allowed >60 new legislation = free healthcare to elderly 1965 Medicare amendment to
Social Security Act, Medicaid Act gave free healthcare to disadvantaged groups
- Aid to many, but didn’t cover prescriptions, very costly in long-term
- 1966 Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act = to improve those in inner cities/slums = 80% gov’t
grants to help with healthcare, crime prevention, housing, jobs, recreational facilities
- 1968 Housing Act = federal housing, proposed 6M homes, but developers skeptical + quality/quantity suffered
- 1960 = 40M families in poverty ---- 1970 = 25M families in poverty
- Nixon’s Family Assistance Plan (FAP) = cash aid to need (replaced food stamps/medicaid), poor wages qualified
- FAP let expire by 1972 election due to criticism
- Nixon’s gov’t = social programmes spending (40% 1975, only 28% 1969) > defense spending for first time
- Health/social welfare now prime concern of gov’t  
 
○ Women
1890-1933 - politics remained male oriented even with increase in women, only worked until married
- 1912 = Children’s Bureau created
- 1917 = first woman elected to Congress; 1919 = 19th amendment gave women the vote
- 1929 = 145 women had won seats in 35 state legislatures + 2 governors
- Minimum wage and maximum hours laws + better public health for pregnant women/babies, more edu
1933-41 - FDR increased women in powerful political positions, but reforms didn’t help much
 - First female in US Cabinet in 1933, Frances Perkins as secretary of labour
- 1939 = women teachers earned 20% less than male teachers
- Many women workers not covered by Fair Labour Standards Act of 1938 (especially in private houses)
- WPA helped to find employment, New Deal however focused on relief to men/families
1961-74 - women’s professional/political power limited, despite that 50% of voters
- No female Supreme Court judges Appeal Court justices, only 2 of 100 Senators were women
- Women’s pay averaged 60% less than men​, only 5% lawyers female, 2% business executives
- Dec 1961 = Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women; committee looked at gender issues
- 1963 = Equal Pay Act; equal gender pay for same job under same conditions
- 1964 = Civil Rights Act; prohibited employment discrimination based on gender, race, religion, etc
- Second Wave of Feminism = National Organization for Women (NOW) formed by Betty Friedan and 300 other
women in 1966, sued 1,300 largest US corporations for sex discrimination
- Nov 1967 = NOW Bill of Rights for women, wanted Equal Rights Amendment to constitution, repeal of laws
against abortion, equal edu/job opportunities, etc; membership at 40,000 by 1974
- Nixon’s election opposed by feminists, national ‘Strike for Equality’ in Aug 1970, many protests
- 1971 = Nixon got commerce secretary Barbara Franklin to recruit women for administration
- Supported women having choice to have careers outside the home (Equal Rights Amendment, Education
Amendments, Equal Credit Opportunity Act, more women to power)
 
○ Minorities
1890-WWII - until 1900s, many minority groups disenfranchised, segregation, discriminatory practices legal
- 1887-1924 = gov’t tried to control Native American travel beyond reservations, not citizens until 1924
- Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) discouraged natural off-reservation activities with ‘pass’ system
- Snyder Act of 1921 to recognize contributions in WWI = special services to Native Americans, culminated in Indian
Citizenship Act of 1924 (to almost half of 300,00 indigenous people in US, others had already from armed
forces/assimilation)
- Under New Deal, Congress passed Indian Reorganisation Act of 1934 = reinstated tribal gov’ts
- Could be both tribal and US citizen; 75 of 245 tribes opposed (including largest, the Navajo)
- Many Indigenous children integrated in white schools long before African/Hispanic Americans
- Many Native Americans couldn’t vote until 1948; assimilated (not ‘separate but equal’ like African Americans)
- Common violence towards African Americans, even in GD; quest for civil rights boosted by WWII participation
(almost 1M drafted to fight)
1961-75 - major civil rights legislation, not all classes saw benefits
- Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Fair Housing Act of 1968
- Labour shortages in WWII = Roosevelt had changed policy on immigration + Bracero Programme (AKA Mexican
Farm Labour Programme), led to contract workers from Mexico b/n 1942-64
- Many Hispanic immigrants from Cuba after communist takeover 1959
- Kennedy + Johnson won support of many Hispanic communities = ‘Latinos’ as important voting bloc
- Johnson formed new Cabinet Committee on Mexican-American Affairs
- 1966 = 3 day march staged by Hispanics in New Mexico to demand land taken by US in 1848 be returned
- Nixon granted union recognition for Hispanics in 1970 after strikes
- Nixon’s Equal Opportunity Act = more bilingual teaching/exams in public schools, benefited Hispanics
- 44,000 Native Americans served in US armed forces 1941-45 = didn’t want to return to poor reserves, many got
good jobs + urban pop’n doubled to 60,000 by 1960s
- National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) formed 1944 = help tribes, stopped US gov’t from ending
rights on reservations in 1950s; still poverty, unemployment, drug abuse
- 1968 = American Indian Movement (AIM) for rights, many activists jailed, gained civil rights in 1970s
- 1974 = Indian Self-Determination Act passed, tribes given control of federal aid programmes on reserves
- African Americans attracted worldwide attention
- Separate schools declared unconstitutional in 1954, legal basis for segregation removed
- Acts + Great Society helped gain equal opportunities + social welfare, Nixon’s policies helped too
- 1969 = Civil rights programmes budget $75M ---- 1972 = $600M
- Nixon created Office of Minority Business Enterprise to help launch businesses, geared to middle-class
- 1969-72 = federal aid to black colleges/universities doubled
 
 
○ Wealth Distribution
- Marketable assets + subtract debts (wealth different from income)
- 1920s = industrial development varied, in 1929 average per capita age in NE was $900 but $365 in SE
- Women worked for lower pay, minorities even less
- 1930 = bottom 90% of pop’n had 16% of US wealth, top 0.1% held 25% of wealth
- 1930-45 = middle-class share of wealth rose, mainly due to collapsing of wealth in rich households
- Revenue Act of 1935 increased federal income tax on higher income levels
- Post-war = major consumer boom, pop’n increase of 21M b/n 1953-61
- Median income in 1953 was $4392 for white family and $2461 for non-white
- 1960 = 22% pop’n lived below poverty line, especially rural + inner-city
- Johnson’s ‘war on poverty’ with anti-poverty programme March 1964, welfare reforms
- 1965 = 66% black children below poverty line ---- 1969 = 39.6%
- Overall poverty rate halved from 22.4% 1959 to 12.1% 1969
- 1969 = top 1% controlled 31% US wealth
- 1970s = pop’n move from North to South (from ‘rust belt’), less racial divisions, lower taxes, less crime
- 1972 = 5.6% unemployment