Paper 2 Theme 2

Question 1

Why did the quest for Civil Rights change 1963-72?

Answer 1

• demand for civil rights, not just in Southern states
• more radical approach
• by the mid 1960s, 70% of black Americans lived in ghettos (poor urban areas)
• unemployment was high, poor housing and racial discrimination which led to race riots

Question 2

What were the events of the 1965 Watts race riots?

Answer 2

• in the Watts area of LA
• triggered by a young black American being arrested by a white police officer
• went on for 6 days and resulted in $40 million of damage. 14,000 California guardsmen send to control the situation, 34 people died, 1000 injured and 4000 arrested
• also caused by high unemployment, poor housing and inadequate schools

Question 3

How significant was Malcolm X?

Answer 3

• originally called Malcolm Little but Little was a name given by slave owners so he took the surname X
• his parents were supporters of the Universal Negro Improvement Association which campaigned for black nationalism
• his father was killed by a white supremacist when he was 6
• supported complete black separation, he wanted to unify all people of African descent
• demanded social and economic independence for all black people after learning about Islam and going on a pilgrimage
• started under the Nation of Islam but left and wanted independence

EFFECTIVE: had an influence and black radicalism was carried on, less effective in what he actually did but his influence on others e.g Black Power, Black Panthers was very effective
INEFFECTIVE: assassinated in 1965 by gunmen from the NOI

Question 4

How significant was Black Power?

Answer 4

• SNCC became more radical and the central committee voted to expel all whites from the SNCC, wanted to take over white-owned shops in ghettos, Henry ‘Rap’ Brown overtook Stokely Carmichael as chairperson- Rap Brown was radical and supported black armed defence against the police
• Congress for Radical Equality (CORE) were attracted to the demand for black freedom- wanted full equality and excluded whites from CORE
• 1968 Olympics, two black athletes made a gesture to black power- wanted to make a political statement to the whole world, led to athletes being not allowed to make political statements
• SNCC and CORE became more radical and removed the word ‘multiracial’ from their constitutions, they demanded reparations for centuries of prosecution by white people
• set up breakfast clubs and education classes for poor children in ghettos
• set up defence classes
• wanted black people to feel pride in their culture

EFFECTIVE: CORE had a new chairperson who advocated a more radical approach to get equality for black Americans, Olympic protest gave black power an international profile
INEFFECTIVE: athletes in the Olympic protest were not allowed to represent the USA again, radical policies and association with violence alienated many white people, split the movement between peaceful and radical- when they did this it caused the movement to decline, black power was quite sexist, exclusive and separatist

Question 5

How significant were the Black Panthers?

Answer 5

• created by Bobby Seale, Elridge Cleaver and Huey Newton
• advocated for black nationalism, carried rifles and advocated self defence of black communities. Wanted black people to be exempt from compulsory military service
• more violent with weapons, demanded reparations for centuries of persecution by white people

EFFECTIVE: helped transform the nature of black American protest. Offered an alternative to non-violent methods of MLK

INEFFECTIVE: armed confrontations from the FBI- in 1969 28 members were killed by police, by 1972 the party was in major decline due major clampdown by the FBI and even at its height it only had 5,000 members

Question 6

How effective was the 1965 Selma March?

Answer 6

• MLK aimed to pressure the federal govt by leading a march from Selma
• achieved national media coverage, when the marchers attacked press and TV saw- showed people that quest for civil rights was serious
• President Johnson was forced to intervene- effective and gave it a high profile
• the march directly contributed to the 1965 Voting Rights act which gave black Americans the right to vote

Question 7

How effective was MLK’s quest to improve housing 1966?

Answer 7

• Chicago 1966, King attempted to lead a march to protest about poor housing
• Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), who arranged the protest, was poorly organised- not very effective
• faced opposition from Chicago’s powerful mayor, Richard Daley- white resistance was effective
• major confrontation: King attempted to lead a march through Gage Park, an all-white suburb, which faced white resistance- King and supporters were attacked with bricks and stones- campaign was called off so ineffective because MLK didn’t achieve his aims
• MLK failed to end housing discrimination in the North but did end legal segregation in the Old South

Question 8

How did MLK’s attitude to the Vietnam War make him ineffective?

Answer 8

• 1967- MLK openly opposed the USA’s involvement in the Vietnam War which caused him to lose support of President Johnson
• influence declined and by 1968, his priorities changed towards tackling poor social and economic position of black people

Question 9

What were the effects of MLK’s assassination?

Answer 9

• 1968- King went to Memphis, Tennessee to support a worker’s strike for better conditions
• assassinated at the Lorraine Motel by a white sniper
• his assassination sparked many race riots and his funeral was attended by major US political figures
• MLK was successful to an extent in the Civil Rights act

Question 10

How successful was MLK overall?

Answer 10

• helped cause the 1964 Civil Rights act which ended segregation
• 1965 Voting Rights act enabled black Americans to vote
• seen as the unofficial leader of the Civil Rights movement- effective
• he was non-violent which brought everyone into it, won Nobel Peace Prize which gave him a high profile
• he was calculated in where he made his campaigns- chose places which would have TV coverage and showed white violence
• led large scale protests, 250,000 in March on Washington- effective because it got attention

Question 11

How was MLK limited overall?

Answer 11

• Supreme Court were sympathetic and wanted change- MLK benefitted from them without having to work for it
• JFK and Johnson were progressive- MLK also benefitted from them so arguably wasn’t as effective
• his success dwindled in 1966- Civil Rights movement became more radical with Black Power and the Black Panthers- they appealed to young black Americans who challenged MLK
• his anti-Vietnam War stance lost him support and influence from government

Question 12

How effective was Cesar Chavez?

Answer 12

background: Chavez dropped out of school to help his parents in the fields, Hispanic Americans faced social and political discrimination, workers faced poor pay and conditions
- 1965 strike by grape workers and California grapes were boycotted- lasted 5 years and grew into a wider movement for Hispanic Civil Rights
- United Farmer Worker’s Union began to campaign for worker’s rights- registered 100,000 new Hispanic voters

EFFECTIVE: led a wide and successful movement

INEFFCTIVE: strikers adopted the name ‘Chicano’- a former derogatory term for Hispanics - made their image more radical and militant, similar to Black Panthers so people may not have wanted to support them- split the movement into moderate and radical factions

Question 13

What were key features of counterculture 1963-72?

Answer 13

• rejected traditional fashion, social and sexual behaviour- caused a major split between younger generation and their parents
  fashion: long hair, beads, faded jeans, young women sometimes discarded bras
  experimentation: experimented with drugs e.g marijuana and heroin, young people went against conventional views on sex
  music: style of music changed, flower power movement- the Beatles had a hit single ‘All you need is love’, bands like the Rolling Stones were associated with rebellion, Woodstock was the first of many outdoor music concerts- attracted over 40,000 people
  location: the city most associated with counterculture was San Francisco, California

Question 14

Give context and events of Student Protests

Answer 14

context: 1950s increase in number of students in further education
- late 1960s 50% of over 18s went to college with 20% achieving degrees
- key issue of student protest was Vietnam War, members of Students for Democratic Society (SDS) opposed it

events:

• 1968 University of Michigan protests- 221 major demonstrations took place at the University of Oakland e.g anti-Vietnam War, more student freedom and more student participation
• SDS Protests- 1962 founder Tom Hayden made the ‘Port Huron Statement’ explaining the aims of SDS- claimed USA was dominated by big corporations and universities were made to oppress people
• 1968 Tet Offence protests- Johnson claimed the USA was winning the Vietnam War however in 1968, North Vietnamese forces launched an attack on the South and the US embassy- US support for the war declined and many students supported Eugene McCarthy as Democratic candidate against Johnson, 500,000 protesters went to Central Park in New York to protest about the Vietnam War
• My Lai massacre- 1969 US troops massacred unarmed people at My Lai village which caused outrage
• 1968 rioting occurred outside Democratic convention in Chicago- 12,000 police sent to control it
• 1969 and 1970- extreme terrorist group Weather Underground received national publicity, bombed govt buildings and universities
• 1970- govt published ‘US President’s Commission on Campus Unrest’ declared student protest was due to youth culture and rejection of traditional values, Vietnam War was partly to blame but mainly youth rebellion

Question 15

How was Student Protest successful?

Answer 15

• were an important part of the anti-Vietnam War movement in the USA, criticism across the country meant Johnson did not seek re-election in 1968- successful because many people did not believe in Johnson after the My Lai massacre
• student protest started a new youth culture which was part of a wide movement of teenage rebellion across the West, not just the USA- meant student protest had a large impact on the world

Question 16

How was Student Protest limited?

Answer 16

• in the aftermath of the Chicago riots the student movement split into various groups- overall less successful because it was a co-operative effort
• 1969 extremist group the Weather Underground Organisation bombed govt buildings and universities- the group was used by govt to show how radical some aspects on student protest had become- gave it a bad image

Question 17

Give context and events of the Women’s Rights movement

Answer 17

context: TV shows and popular culture e.g Father Knows Best suggested women’s place was in the home bringing up children
- 1965- more than 25 million women in regular employment and 40% married women with young children had part-time or full time jobs by 1968
- Betty Friedan ‘Feminine Mystique’ described life of women in suburbs as a ‘comfortable concentration camp’ and encouraged women to experience alternative lifestyles
- 1964 Civil Rights act encouraged women to seek equality
- the pill was introduced

events: 1966 National Organisation of Women was founded by 300 feminists - wanted equal work opportunity for women and the legalisation of abortion
- NOW made complaints to the Equal Employment Committee- one of the first cases was an air stewardess who claimed the job description demanded a particular age, appearance and weight
- 1968- Women’s Liberation Movement was organised, more radical than NOW, reached national attention in 1968 when they protested against the Miss America beauty pageant in New Jersey- said it degraded women

Question 18

How was the Women’s Rights movement successful?

Answer 18

• the air stewardess’ complaint resulted in the EEOC ruling that airlines must not fire women when they got married or reached a certain age
• 1972 Education act ruled schools must eliminate sex discrimination in order to receive state funding
• 1972- Congress approved an Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution to protect sexual equality , within a year 28 states had supported the amendment
• by 1972, NOW and Women’s Liv had placed women’s issues in the centre of National debate and had persuaded lawmakers to make changes
• pressure from women’s groups persuaded the Equal Pay act and in 1973, pressure and changes in attitude led to the US Supreme Court declare abortion legal in the Roe v Wade case

Question 19

How was the Women’s Rights movement limited?

Answer 19

• 1971- only 7% of students on athletic programmes were female- Education Act wasn’t very successful
• 1971 Equal Rights Amendment failed to gain support from 75% of states so was not permanently added to the Constitution
• However overall they had large success- abortion legalised in 1972, the idea that a woman’s place was in the home looking after children was becoming a thing of the past

Question 20

Give context and events of Sexual Liberation

Answer 20

• in the mid 1960s, casual sex became a lot more common and by the mid 70s, a survey of 8 colleges showed that 76% of women and 75% of men had engaged in sexual intercourse by their 3rd year
• ‘sexual revolution’- contraceptive pill led to an increase in sexual activity and pre-marital sex
• youth counterculture became more associated with free love

Question 21

How was Sexual Liberation successful?

Answer 21

• contraceptive pill introduced- approved for use by the Federal drug administration in 1960
• 1962- 1.5 million women using the pill, in 1965 it rose to 6.5 million
• divorce rose by nearly 100% during the 1960s and increased a further 82% by 1982
• number of people living alone rose from 10.9% in 1964 to 23% in 1980
• ^ shows that traditional idea of marriage and family radically changed from 1950s to 1970s

Question 22

Give context and events of the Gay Rights movement

Answer 22

• in 1963 homosexuality was still illegal and during WW2, thousands of men and women were discharged from the military after being found to be gay
• Eisenhower had an executive order which let employers fire employees for being homosexual
• gay communities before the 1960s existed as underground groups in large cities like New York and San Francisco
• Mattachine Society set up in 1950s to support gay men’s rights
• Daughters of Bilitis set up in 1950s to support lesbian rights
• 1965- a small group marched in front of the White House to protest the repression of gay people in the USA and Cuba
• 1969- Stonewall riots happened when NYC police raided a gay bar in Manhattan, causing 3 days of rioting- led to the formation of the gay rights movement, inspired by the civil rights movement

Question 23

How was the Gay Rights movement successful?

Answer 23

• by 1973, almost 800 gay and lesbian organisations had been set up across the USA
• 1973- American Psychiatric Society had homosexuality removed from the list of mental illnesses- moved towards acceptance
• Liberation movement encouraged homosexual men and women to come out
• 1977 San Francisco elected its first openly gay official, Harvey Milk- move towards acceptance

Question 24

How was the Gay Rights movement limited?

Answer 24

• homosexual men and women were subject to intimidation by the police and random attacks of ‘gay bashing’ by the public- shows that although there were some successes e.g Harvey Milk being elected, many people’s attitudes towards gay people weren’t changed
• Harvey Milk was assassinated for his sexuality- again showing attitudes hasn’t changed despite effort from the movement

Question 25

How was LBJ successful in poverty and unemployment?

Answer 25

• 1964 Economic Opportunity act created the Office of Economic Opportunity-focused on eradicating poverty,
• VISTA was a domestic version of the Peace Corps- gave middle class people opportunity to directly help the needy, by 1968 3,000 volunteers
• Community Action Programmes- aimed to encourage black Americans to determine policies that affected them
• Job Corps aimed to improve skills of unemployed, inner-city youths- companies like IBM got involved and gave 10,000 jobs
• continued work of JFK- 1965 Appalachian Regional Development act allocated $1.1 billion to raise the standard of living in the region

overall success: more successful in poverty than unemployment, number of families in poverty dropped from 40 million in 1959 to 28 million in 1968 and 25 million in 1970. LBJ was able to pass many of the laws JFK planned because he had support from a Democratic Congress and he has expertise

Question 26

How was LBJ limited in poverty and unemployment?

Answer 26

• VISTA only gave support from middle class people, only 3000 volunteers which isn’t a lot compared to US population
• Community Action Programmes were sometimes taken over by militants who thought LBJ wasn’t doing enough to help black Americans
• Jobs Corps faced difficulties as much of the training was done in camps that had discipline problems

Question 27

How was LBJ successful in improving housing?

Answer 27

• 1965 Housing and Urban development act provided 240,000 houses and $2.9m for urban renewal
• set up a new federal department, Housing and Urban development, with the first black American Cabinet member, Robert Weaver- successful as it was able to implement LBJ’s policies
• 1966 Demonstration of Cities and Metropolitan act gave money to local govt to prevent crime, create jobs and improve healthcare, gave $512m in 1967
• 1968 Housing act proposed to build 26 million homes in ten years, Congress provided $1.7m funding for it

Question 28

How was LBJ limited in housing?

Answer 28

• Cities and Metropolitan act had limited success because Congress cut funding to it in 1968
• because LBJ wanted to build homes quickly, houses built under the 1968 Housing act were often cheap and poorly built- attracted criticism to the programme
• 1969, Nixon reduced funding for it

Question 29

How was LBJ successful in education?

Answer 29

• 1965 Elementary and Secondary education act aimed to use federal funding to aid deprived children- act allocated $1 billion a year to schools with high concentration f low-income children to give them more opportunities, act also gave aid to church-run schools
• Bilingual education act gave more aid to non-English speakers
• Headstart programme encouraged children from low-income backgrounds to attend preschool classes- successful as it benefited 8 million children
• 1968 Higher Education act aimed to strengthen educational resources of colleges and universities and also provided financial assistance to students of low-income backgrounds- provided loans for college fees and allowed many students to get degrees where they couldn’t before, reauthorised by Congress in 1972, 1976, 1980 etc
• Johnson’s reforms gave many children from poor backgrounds access to higher education for the first time- one of his best achievements in the Great Society programme

Question 30

How was LBJ limited in education?

Answer 30

• Elementary and Secondary education act only gave funds to certain schools, not all low-income children benefited

Question 31

How was LBJ successful in healthcare?

Answer 31

• Medicare introduced in 1965- given to people over 65 who didn’t have health insurance, surgical or doctor’s costs were financed by the government
• Medicaid introduced to aid poor people who had no medical care
• in its first year, over 19 million people Social Security recipients registered Medicare

Question 32

How was LBJ limited in healthcare?

Answer 32

• Medicaid was administered by states so quality of healthcare differed from state to state- not standardised or widespread- varied impact

Question 33

How was LBJ successful in civil rights?

Answer 33

• LBJ became President at the height of civil rights movement, passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act- outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, religion or sex in public places- most important piece of civil rights legislation since the Civil War, brought an end to segregation, was a milestone in US history and has had long-term impact
• Attorney General of the USA was given the power to take legal action in federal courts against any violations of the Civil Rights Act
• 1964 there was an amendment to the Constitution, 24th amendment outlawed use of poll taxes at elections (previously used to prevent many black Americans from voting)
• 1965 Voting Rights Act outlawed literacy tests for voter registration and appointed federal officers so registration was handled correctly- had great impact on voter registration in Southern States, before the act on 6% of black people were registered in Mississippi, rose to 60% after the act. Alabama only 18% registered before and 54% after
• LBJ more successful than JFK, LBJ had more democratic Congress so could pass acts easier

Question 34

What were reasons for the rise of the silent majority?

Answer 34

context: 1969 Nixon gave a speech appealing to ‘the silent majority’ where he called for ‘peace with honour’ in Vietnam and proposed the USA to hand over the war to the South Vietnamese, referred to anti-Vietnam war demonstrators as a ‘militant minority’
- baby boomers who grew up in in the 40s and 50s benefited from the age of affluence and were able to buy homes in suburbia, had traditional and patriotic views- protests of the 1960s were threatening their view of society
- many Americans were appalled by the sight of Yippies and trying to disrupt the Democratic Party Convention in 1968 and student ant-war demonstrations- important factor in the rise of the silent majority
- perceived attack on traditional values, pre-marital sex, and drug taking associated with counterculture offended Christian communities, they were also offended by women’s groups for calling to legalise abortion- the Christian right became supportive of the Republican party
- Old South- Nixon got support from these states who supported segregation. Former Alabama governor, George Wallace, was a champion for their views- split the traditional Democrat vote and enabled Nixon to in the election by a small majority

Question 35

How did the media influence attitudes towards the Vietnam War?

Answer 35

• news programmes broadcast vivid images of the Vietnam War
• CBS’ Walter Cronkite, an influential news reporter, witnessed the Tet Offensive in 1968 and said on national television that the USA should accept they hadn’t won the war and negotiate withdrawal
• a public opinion poll after this showed that 70% of Americans trusted Cronkite more than any other public figure, LBJ said if he lost the support of Cronkite then he lost the support of the American people

Question 36

How did the media influence attitudes towards counterculture?

Answer 36

• reinforced traditional values, most popular TV show was All in the Family which showed the main character hating counterculture, liberal values and social changes of the 1960s- went against student protests, ethnic minorities and permissive social behaviour
• reflected many American’s views of society

Question 37

How did the media influence attitudes towards the Republicans?

Answer 37

• older generation’s attitude towards counterculture and student protest led to a rise in support for the Republican party
• Ronald Reagan was elected Republican governor of California from 1967 to 1975
• Nixon was re-elected in 1972 by a landslide, the majority of voters showed distaste to counterculture

Question 38

What was the impact on events during the Vietnam War?

Answer 38

• USA sent troops to Vietnam to try and solve the conflict between the South Vietnamese govt and its Communist opponents- Truman doctrine meant the USA wanted to stop the spread of communism
• by the end of 1968 US troops levels reached 500,000 and thousands of Americans had died- relied on compulsory military service known as ‘the Draft’ and many young American males feared being sent to Vietnam- was a main source of opposition to the war, college protestors feared the Draft and disliked US military tactics
• 1968 Communist Vietnamese forces launched the Tet Offensive, attacking major cities in Vietnam. The attacks failed and the communist forces suffered huge casualties
• Tet Offensive however convinced many Americans that the war could not be won, daily TV footage showed American planes bombing Vietnam which increased domestic opposition to the war
• 1968 My Lai massacre- US troops killed over 200 unarmed civilians in the My Lai village, in an opinion poll 70% of Americans were against this
• caused a lot of protest

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Question 39

What was impact of events in protests at Kent State University?

Answer 39

• the most serious anti-war protest was in May 1970 in Kent State University, Ohio after Nixon ordered the invasion of Cambodia and an extra 150,000 troops needed for the war
• the governor sent in 900 members of the Ohio National Guard to stop the rioting
• 28 National Guardsmen shot at students and 4 were killed, the court accused them of crime but they were dismissed through lack of evidence
• it fuelled the anti-war movement and caused national outrage among students and the general public
• Pentagon papers were leaked and published in the New York Times in 1971, showed that the US govt had not told the full story of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident which was used to justify further military involvement in Vietnam, Nixon tried to stop the publishing of these papers but failed- caused people to lose faith in US govt

Question 40

How was Nixon successful?

Answer 40

• criticised Johnson’s Great Society and said that the expenditure of $1.4bn had not brought peace and stability to the USA
• advocated ‘new Federalism’ where more power would be given to states, supported revenue-sharing where federal funding would be given to states, who would decide their own priorities
• 1967- CIA launched Operation Chaos against radical groups, Nixon claimed credit for reducing violence and creating stability- by 1972 radical groups were in decline
• hard hat riot- 1970 200 construction workers demonstrated on favour of Nixon’s policies and called for the US to bomb Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, joined by thousands of others and attacked student protestors in Manhattan- showed that some of the silent majority did not remain silent
• he was popular and won support from the silent majority, his foreign policy, which included improving relations with the USSR and China, gave him a strong reputation as an international statesman

Question 41

How was Nixon limited?

Answer 41

• tried to implement his own alternative Family Assistance Plan which proposed to end handouts to the poor- was defeated in the Senate and dropped
• 1970 National Environmental Policy Act created the Environment Protection Agency but was mostly done by the work of Democrats rather than Nixon
• Nixon had to deal with a Democrat dominated Congress, controlled 58 out of 100 seats in the Senate and 243 out of 435 seats in the House- meant a lot of his policy failed
• suffered economic problems, ‘Nixon recession’ due to massive federal spending on the Great Society and the Vietnam War, both unemployment and inflation rose
• Watergate scandal forced him to resign in 1974