Introduction
America saw significant development and transformation during the 1960s. Many people in the period opposed the status quo and strove to build a more just and equitable society. This essay will cover the Civil Rights Movement, the Kennedy Promise, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiative, and challenging the status quo.
The Promise of the 60s and the Great Society
The Kennedy Promise and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiative sought to significantly alter American society. Johnson’s educational policy only partially addressed all the issues at hand. They resulted from a political process hampered by obstacles and lubricated by concession (Orfield 2021, 200).
As President John F. Kennedy envisioned, the New Frontier initiative’s goal was to promote education, offer senior citizens health care, and combat poverty. Unfortunately, Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 ended his presidency and left many of his initiatives unfulfilled. When Lyndon B. Johnson was elected president, he inherited the New Frontier initiative and gave it a new name: the Great Society.
Johnson’s goal for the Great Society was to make society more just and equal by addressing problems like civil rights, education, and poverty. He introduced numerous pieces of legislation, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the War on Poverty, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The objectives of these programs were to provide opportunities for Americans and lessen inequality (Orfield 2021, 231).
The Vietnam War was one of the Great Society’s many obstacles, draining resources from Johnson’s social programs and reducing their efficacy. However, the effectiveness of various anti-poverty programs, such as the Head Start program, has been questioned. Despite these obstacles, the Great Society was essential in pursuing social fairness.
The Civil Rights Movement
During the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement challenged the existing quo. The Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 marked the beginning of the movement, which grew in strength and reached its zenith with the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (Orfield 2021, 217). Almost 200,000 people showed up at the event to urge an end to prejudice and racial segregation.
Significant legislative successes for the movement were the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but the fight for equality never ended. The riots that followed Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder in 1968 served as a stark reminder of how deeply racialized American society is. This topic was shared by the Civil Rights Movement, the Kennedy and Johnson presidencies, and challenging the established quo (Corbett et al., 2014). They concentrated on issues such as poverty, education, and civil rights to create a more just and equal society. Even if there has been progress, much still needs to be done because the fight for social justice is ongoing.
Upending the status quo meant embracing innovation and development and addressing social and economic problems throughout the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. The space race best illustrates this. In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon, fulfilling JFK’s promise to send a man there before the decade was through (Corbett et al., 2014).
The space race showcased America’s technical and scientific superiority and capacity to accomplish seemingly unattainable objectives (Orfield 2021, 233). Countercultural movements that questioned conventional values and norms, such as the hippie movement, also made the 1960s distinctive. The Civil Rights Movement and the counterculture challenged traditional notions of race, gender, and sexuality. They argued against the idea that conformity was the secret to success and sought greater freedom and autonomy for individuals.
Conclusion
In summary, the 1960s were a time of great upheaval and strife in the United States of America. The goal of both the Kennedy Promise and the Great Society project, which was led by Lyndon Johnson, was to shake up the status quo by addressing issues such as inequality in education, employment, and poverty. The Civil Rights Movement was essential in the fight for social justice, and countercultural forces were vital because they questioned existing norms and beliefs.
Reference List
Corbett, P. S., Volker, J., Lund, J. M., Pfannestiel, T. J., & Vickery, P. S. (2014). U. S. History. OpenStax.
Orfield, Gary. “Lyndon Johnson and American Education.” In: LBJ’s Neglected Legacy: How Lyndon Johnson Reshaped Domestic Policy and Government, edited by Wilson, R., Glickman, N., Lynn, L, 187-234. New York: University of Texas Press, 2015. Web.