Free University Project
History of the United States II
1865 to the Present
Unit 6: The Sixties -- Contemporary History
Update in process August 2012 Freeuniv home
Video
The Sixties
Professor Scharff weaves the story of the Civil Rights movement with stories of the Vietnam War and Watergate to create a portrait of a decade. Lyndon Johnson emerges as a pivotal character, along with Stokely Carmichael, Fanny Lou Hamer, and other luminaries of the era.
Program 24: The Sixties (Transcript) (Broadband Video on Demand)

Contemporary History
The entire team of historians joins Professor Miller in examining the last quarter of the twentieth century. A montage of events opens the program and sets the stage for a discussion of the period — and of the difficulty of examining contemporary history with true historical perspective. Television critic John Leonard offers a footnote about the impact of television on the way we experience recent events.
Program 25:New World Encounters (Transcript) (Broadband Video on Demand)

Text

Chapter 13: Decades of Change Outline of American History
  • Kennedy and the New Frontier
  • Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society
  • Confrontation Over Cuba
  • The Space Program
  • The War in Vietnam
  • Detente
  • Nixon's Accomplishments and Defeats
  • The Ford Interlude
  • The Carter Years
  • Post-Vietnam Foreign Policy
  • The Civil Rights Movement 1960-1980
  • The Women's Movement
  • The Latino Movement
  • The Native American Movement
  • The Counter-Culture and Environmentalism

    Chapter 14: Toward the 21st Century Outline of American History

  • A Society in Transition
  • Conservatism and the Rise of Ronald Reagan
  • The Economy in the 1980s
  • Foreign Affairs
  • U.S.-Soviet Relations
  • Space Shuttle
  • Iran-Contra and Black Monday
  • The Presidency of George Bush
  • Budgets and Deficits
  • End to the Cold War
  • The Gulf War
  • Panama and Nafta
  • 1992 Presidential Election
  • Afterword
  • A Nation of Immigrants
  • Third-Party and Independent Candidates

    Chapter 15: Bridge to the 21st Century Outline of American History

  • 1992 Presidential Electrion
  • A New Presidency
  • Launching a New Domestic Policy
  • The American Economy in the 1990s
  • The Election of 1996 and the Political Aftermath
  • American Foreign Relations in the Clinton Years
  • Intimations of Terrorism
  • The Presidential Election of 2000 and the War on Terror
  • The 2004 Presidential Election
  • Afterword

    I>Basic Reading in U.S. Democracy
    PART X: A MORE INCLUSIVE AMERICA

      66. John F. Kennedy, Address to Southern Baptist Leaders (1960)
      67. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
      68. Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
      69. NOW Statement of Purpose (1966)
      70. Clyde Warrior, "We Are Not Free" (1967)
    Basic Reading in U.S. Democracy
    PART VI: ON THE ROAD FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM
      36. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
      37. Cooper v. Aaron (1958)
      38. Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream" (1963)
      39. Civil Rights Act (1964)
      40. Lyndon B. Johnson, "The American Promise" (1965)
    Basic Reading in U.S. Democracy
    PART VII: Freedom of Expression
      47. Engel v. Vitale (1962)
    Basic Reading in U.S. Democracy
    PART VI: ON THE ROAD FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM
      41. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
    Basic Reading in U.S. Democracy
    PART VII: Freedom of Expression
      48. New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)
    Basic Reading in U.S. Democracy
    PART VIII: Facing the World
      54. Foreign Aid and Human Rights (1976)
      55. Jimmy Carter, Human Rights and Foreign Policy (1977)
      56. Sanctions Against South Africa (1986)
    Basic Reading in U.S. Democracy
    Basic Reading in U.S. Democracy
    PART X: A MORE INCLUSIVE AMERICA
      71. Maya Angelou, "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993)
    Basic Reading in U.S. Democracy
    PART XI: CONTINUING VITALITY
      72. United States v. Nixon (1974)
      73. Excerpts from Presidential Debates (1992)
  • Lectures
    Sparknotes The Korean War (1950-1953
    Sparknotes The Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968)
    Sparknotes The Vietnam War (1955-1975)

    Go to Pink Monkey
    Click on Enter then click on study guides and then on American History Chapter 11 The Post-war Period

  • Chronology of Major Events in this Period
  • Conditions at Home
  • The Employment Act
  • The Taft-Hartley Labor Management Relations Act
  • Truman's Civil Rights Program
  • The McCarthy period
  • The Cold War Abroad
  • The Korean War
  • The Eisenhower Administration at Home
  • The Civil Rights Movement and the Question of Desegregation
  • The Labor Reform Act
  • The Budget
  • The Economy in the 60s
  • The Communist Threat abroad
  • The Threat of Nuclear War
  • The Exploration of Outer Space
  • The Geneva Conference on Disarmament
  • Our World Today
  • Conclusion

    Lecture 25: Eisenhower & Kennedy (Schultz)
    Lecture 26: Civil Rights in an Uncivil Society (Schultz)
    Lecture 27: The Almost Great Society: The 1960's (Schultz)
    Lecture 28: The Asian Connection: The Road to Vietnam (Schultz)

    Vietnam (O'Malley)

    Lecture 29: The Twilight of Liberalism: The Nixon Years (Schultz)
    Lecture 30: America Sinking Through a Watergate (Schultz)

    [WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION] Click on Civil Rights The Montgomery Bus Boycott (Rutledge)
    Click on War at Home Uptown, Chicago, Illinois (Rutledge)
    Click on Vietnam Vietnam War, 1959-1973 (Rutledge)
    Click on Overextened Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania (Rutledge)

    Kennedy and Johnson (Rankin)

    Post Nixon America (Rankin)

    LBJ, Nixon and Ford: 1963-1976 Mayer
    Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton: 1976-1996 Mayer
    The 1980's Mayer
    The Reagan Revolution Mayer
    The Reagan Revolution Fails Mayer
    The Concentration of Wealth Mayer
    Rap Music and White Fears Mayer
    Goodwill Towards US is Dwindling Mayer
    The Gilded Age, the 1920's and the 1980's Compared Mayer
    Into the 21st century Mayer
    Post Cold War Military Contradictions: Virtual Tanks Mayer
    Three Strikes Against the New Economy Mayer

  • Anita Hill (O'Malley)

    Quiz

  • The American People - Brief Edition (Nash)
    or Sixth Edition (Nash)
    Chapter 29: The Struggle for Social Reform
  • The American People - Brief Edition (Nash)
    or Sixth Edition (Nash)
    Chapter 30: The Revival of Conservatism
  • Library

    Bibliography from Biography of America

    Chapter 14: Brief Reading List in American HistoryOutline of American History

    Resources

    Related On-Line Texts
    H[Update in process] enry Demarest Lloyd, Click on The Lords of Industry
    Jacob Riis classic about urban poverty in New York, "How the Other Half Lives,"

    Browse Vietnam: Yesterday and Today

    For the Following go to The History Channel and enter the keywords in the Search box.
    .

  • November Warriors Part Four: The Modern Campaign

    Suggested Reading:
    Atlantic Monthly article: In The Strawberry Fields

    Selected Internet Resources

    Timeline of American History at the National Museum of American History. Click on Virtual Exhibitions.

  • Douglass Archives of American Public Address archive of American oratory from Northwestern University.
    Speeches arranged chronologically.

    Personal Accounts and Primary Source Materials from Miami University of Ohio.

    [Update in process]A look at American History by examining the life and times of each President Start here.

  • John Fitzgerald Kennedy
  • Lyndon Baines Johnson
  • Richard Milhous Nixon
  • Gerald Rudolph Ford
  • James Earl Carter, Jr.
  • Ronald Wilson Reagan
  • George Herbert Walker Bush
  • William Jefferson Clinton
  • George Walker Bush

    The following provide a brief biography and many links:

  • John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963 (POTUS)
  • Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969 (POTUS)
  • Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974 (POTUS)
  • Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977 (POTUS)
  • James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981 (POTUS)
  • Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989 (POTUS)
  • George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993 (POTUS)
  • William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001 (POTUS)
  • George Walker Bush (POTUS)

    There are extensive links for each program in the Biography of America series. Click on the Homepage then click on the program, and then on Webography.

    From American Memory by the Library of Congress. Follow the links.
    Postwar United States, 1945-1968

  • Offline Resources

    CD-ROM Time Almanac of the 20th Century (can often be found at discount)

  • BACK


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