Source: Bruce J. Schulman. The Seventies - The Great Shift in
American Culture, Society, and Politics (2001)
American Culture, Society, and Politics (2001)
1968 was the year that signified the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s. 1968 was a “Year of Miracles” as well as a “Year of Horrors” for the US. The “Year of Horrors” included the assassinations of MLK and RFK, as well as a major campus revolt at Columbia University (NYC). The uproar at Columbia went a long way to convince Americans, liberals, moderates, and conservatives alike, that revolution was at hand. It seemed that the young radicals in the US had moved from protests into the realm of actual power, about ready to seize control of “the Machine”.
1968 marked the fourth consecutive year of massive racial violence in US cities, and the end was nowhere in sight. Militance simmered and boiled-over in African-American areas in cities, fueled by such radical Civil Rights leaders as Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panthers. At the same time, white conservative backlash increased in cities, suburbs, and rural areas, which featured a seething resentment that was most obviously revealed in the enthusiasm for the campaign of the independent candidate for President, Alabama’s Governor George Wallace.
Wallace combined his hostility for Civil Rights with his brand of Populism, which featured great contempt for the “high and mighty”. Wallace packaged himself as the champion for the Common Man, and crowds at his campaign rallies roared in approval when he attacked hippies, the Elites, and the Intellectuals. By September 1968, polls had Wallace at 25%. Support for Wallace was obviously strong in the South, but also in cities in the urban North. Wallace (as well as Nixon) focused on law and order as well as contempt for the antiwar protesters, which earned admiration and support from millions of working class whites.
1968 marked the fourth consecutive year of massive racial violence in US cities, and the end was nowhere in sight. Militance simmered and boiled-over in African-American areas in cities, fueled by such radical Civil Rights leaders as Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panthers. At the same time, white conservative backlash increased in cities, suburbs, and rural areas, which featured a seething resentment that was most obviously revealed in the enthusiasm for the campaign of the independent candidate for President, Alabama’s Governor George Wallace.
Wallace combined his hostility for Civil Rights with his brand of Populism, which featured great contempt for the “high and mighty”. Wallace packaged himself as the champion for the Common Man, and crowds at his campaign rallies roared in approval when he attacked hippies, the Elites, and the Intellectuals. By September 1968, polls had Wallace at 25%. Support for Wallace was obviously strong in the South, but also in cities in the urban North. Wallace (as well as Nixon) focused on law and order as well as contempt for the antiwar protesters, which earned admiration and support from millions of working class whites.
At the same time, millions looked for a candidate that could end the war in Vietnam while also unifying the nation, and (eventually) Robert Kennedy became their choice. RFK was the only presidential candidate in 1968 that had the skill set, ability, desire, and electability to even begin to try to unify/comfort the nation, which was seen in Indianapolis the night MLK was assassinated. A fearless RFK insisted on keeping his campaign engagement in a predominantly African-American section of the city, and his speech calmed down the angry and upset crowd, to the point where Indianapolis was the only major US city that didn’t experience a wave of violence after MLK’s assassination. RFK seemed to be the one that could resurrect hope for peaceful and meaningful reform while also calming then nation down.
RFK had very little chance at winning the Democratic nomination for President in 1968, in that he waited far too long to announce his candidacy (only after Eugene McCarthy humiliated LBJ in the New Hampshire Primary); the first primary in which RFK would be eligible to participate was in early-May in Indiana. RFK’s chances were also long in that LBJ and the powers-that-be in the Democratic party controlled the “Inside Game” of the convention; the primaries as we know them today didn’t exist until 1972. In actuality, RFK was positioning himself to be a major player among the Democrats during a Hubert Humphrey Presidency, while also readying himself for a future run in 1972 or 1976.
After losing the Oregon primary to Eugene McCarthy (RFK was the only Kennedy to lose an election), he decided that the California primary was his “all-or-nothing” gambit entering the convention. RFK defeated McCarthy by a narrow-yet-comfortable margin, and he appeared to have momentum to be a major player in the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago. However, Sirhan Sirhan assassinated RFK in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, very soon after RFK had given his victory speech. Sirhan Sirhan shot five others, but RFK was the only fatality.
RFK had very little chance at winning the Democratic nomination for President in 1968, in that he waited far too long to announce his candidacy (only after Eugene McCarthy humiliated LBJ in the New Hampshire Primary); the first primary in which RFK would be eligible to participate was in early-May in Indiana. RFK’s chances were also long in that LBJ and the powers-that-be in the Democratic party controlled the “Inside Game” of the convention; the primaries as we know them today didn’t exist until 1972. In actuality, RFK was positioning himself to be a major player among the Democrats during a Hubert Humphrey Presidency, while also readying himself for a future run in 1972 or 1976.
After losing the Oregon primary to Eugene McCarthy (RFK was the only Kennedy to lose an election), he decided that the California primary was his “all-or-nothing” gambit entering the convention. RFK defeated McCarthy by a narrow-yet-comfortable margin, and he appeared to have momentum to be a major player in the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago. However, Sirhan Sirhan assassinated RFK in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, very soon after RFK had given his victory speech. Sirhan Sirhan shot five others, but RFK was the only fatality.
The real significance of 1968 was that the year represented a cultural divide, meaning it was the end of the Post-WW II Era which featured the Baby Boom, massive economic expansion, Cold War hysteria, and expansive government. The year also marked the beginning of the “Long 1970s”, which has defined the current US landscape in may ways. After 1968, the US entered a disturbing new world, and the experiences of the Post-WW II generation would offer little guidance.
During the Post-WW II Era, the US experienced and enjoyed unchallenged international dominance as well as unprecedented affluence. Working class Americans were uplifted to the middle class by the millions, which was most significantly seen by the huge rise in home ownership and late-model cars after WW II, as well as the ability to send their kids to college. The economy roared along at a pace that allowed LBJ to spend billions on his Great Society, trying to give the disadvantaged a chance at a decent life without taking government spending away from other areas. The overall poverty rate fell from over 20% in the late-1950s to 12% by the early-1970s. Expansive government was a pattern in the Post-WW II Era, in that the federal government provided subsidies in a wide range of areas, including home mortgages and easy terms on student loans. Strong support from the federal government towards unions meant high wages, benefits, and job security for millions of blue collar workers, as well as lucrative employment in the defense and aerospace sectors.
The federal government authorized and financed the interstate system, which increased not only travel, but also commerce (as well as the “Great White Flight” out of the cities). The federal government was seemingly everywhere in the 1950s and 1960s, guaranteeing (or at least trying to do so) Civil Rights, Voting Rights, sending astronauts to the moon, subsidizing farmers, regulating air travel, while also exposing the dangers of smoking. Even during the two terms of President Eisenhower, there was an overall liberal consensus in the US for a bigger-and-more-active federal government. It was the federal government on which most Americans relied for security - security from enemies abroad, enemies within, as well as a secure home, neighborhood, and future.
During the Post-WW II Era, the US experienced and enjoyed unchallenged international dominance as well as unprecedented affluence. Working class Americans were uplifted to the middle class by the millions, which was most significantly seen by the huge rise in home ownership and late-model cars after WW II, as well as the ability to send their kids to college. The economy roared along at a pace that allowed LBJ to spend billions on his Great Society, trying to give the disadvantaged a chance at a decent life without taking government spending away from other areas. The overall poverty rate fell from over 20% in the late-1950s to 12% by the early-1970s. Expansive government was a pattern in the Post-WW II Era, in that the federal government provided subsidies in a wide range of areas, including home mortgages and easy terms on student loans. Strong support from the federal government towards unions meant high wages, benefits, and job security for millions of blue collar workers, as well as lucrative employment in the defense and aerospace sectors.
The federal government authorized and financed the interstate system, which increased not only travel, but also commerce (as well as the “Great White Flight” out of the cities). The federal government was seemingly everywhere in the 1950s and 1960s, guaranteeing (or at least trying to do so) Civil Rights, Voting Rights, sending astronauts to the moon, subsidizing farmers, regulating air travel, while also exposing the dangers of smoking. Even during the two terms of President Eisenhower, there was an overall liberal consensus in the US for a bigger-and-more-active federal government. It was the federal government on which most Americans relied for security - security from enemies abroad, enemies within, as well as a secure home, neighborhood, and future.
With its commitment to individual rights, promoting economic expansion, and at least paying lip service to equality and social justice, rare were the real conservatives or genuine radicals that actually exerted influence during the 1950s and 1960s. The liberal coalition relied extensively on the ascendancy of the North, in that those that were in positions of power were mostly from the Northeast and Midwest - a region in the 1970s that would become known as the “Rust Belt”.
NYC was still the center of the universe, while Hollywood was seen as a crass upstart, a sort of nouveau riche that looked eastward for legitimacy and profits. The South was an afterthought in the corridors of power, except when it was time for smug head-shaking over the region’s economic and social backwardness, medieval politics, and barbaric caste system.
By the end of the 1960s, most, if not all, of the defining features of the Post-WW II Era had broken down, which among other things produced a Cold War that wasn’t has hot anymore, which would usher in a short era of detente. However, the sense of lost international dominance was unsettling to most Americans, which was a seen as a threat to the desire for security. There was also the war in Vietnam that didn’t seem to have an end despite the repeated assurances of LBJ and the military that there was light at the end of the tunnel. The
Tet Offensive of January/February 1968 showed there was indeed a light at the end of the tunnel: a train barrelling down the tracks coming straight towards the US.
NYC was still the center of the universe, while Hollywood was seen as a crass upstart, a sort of nouveau riche that looked eastward for legitimacy and profits. The South was an afterthought in the corridors of power, except when it was time for smug head-shaking over the region’s economic and social backwardness, medieval politics, and barbaric caste system.
By the end of the 1960s, most, if not all, of the defining features of the Post-WW II Era had broken down, which among other things produced a Cold War that wasn’t has hot anymore, which would usher in a short era of detente. However, the sense of lost international dominance was unsettling to most Americans, which was a seen as a threat to the desire for security. There was also the war in Vietnam that didn’t seem to have an end despite the repeated assurances of LBJ and the military that there was light at the end of the tunnel. The
Tet Offensive of January/February 1968 showed there was indeed a light at the end of the tunnel: a train barrelling down the tracks coming straight towards the US.
The Tet Offensive was the turning point of the Vietnam War, in that it exposed the lies of LBJ and the military for the nation to see. While the US won militarily, the enemy won political battle with Tet. The concert of voices in opposition to Vietnam reached a crescendo after Tet, in that there were more Americans against the war, demanding that the war end and the troops come home. But most Americans remained in support of the war; their outcry against LBJ was “hurry up and win the damn war” so our boys can return home. After the Tet Offensive, LBJ was under incredible pressure from most of the nation, and perhaps even more so from the media. Additionally, the USSR crushed “Prague Spring” in Czechoslovakia, and North Korea seized the USS Pueblo and its crew, claiming that it had violated territorial waters. Despite its vast powers, the US could do little in terms of controlling international affairs.
The end of the economic expansion hit the US far worse, however. By 1970, the value of the US dollar, relative to other global currencies, had plummeted. Even before then, in 1968 the Federal Reserve increased interest rates to 5.5%, the highest rates since 1929. Prices rose at the then-alarming rate of 4%; 60% of Americans polled by Gallup in 1968 stated that the high cost of living was the main problem in the US.
The economic problems during the Post-WW II Era had centered around addressing the problems of the already-affluent. The main economic problem of the 1970s would be Stagflation, which was the seemingly impossible combinations of high inflation, high unemployment, slow economic growth, and a decrease in productivity. For the first time since the Great Depression, Americans had to cope with limits and diminished expectations, would would eventually be characterized with the word “Malaise”. This new economic reality also altered perceptions on taxation; after 1969, millions of Americans started to see taxes as a burden, which fueled the conservative revolt against taxation that started in the 1970s.
The end of the economic expansion hit the US far worse, however. By 1970, the value of the US dollar, relative to other global currencies, had plummeted. Even before then, in 1968 the Federal Reserve increased interest rates to 5.5%, the highest rates since 1929. Prices rose at the then-alarming rate of 4%; 60% of Americans polled by Gallup in 1968 stated that the high cost of living was the main problem in the US.
The economic problems during the Post-WW II Era had centered around addressing the problems of the already-affluent. The main economic problem of the 1970s would be Stagflation, which was the seemingly impossible combinations of high inflation, high unemployment, slow economic growth, and a decrease in productivity. For the first time since the Great Depression, Americans had to cope with limits and diminished expectations, would would eventually be characterized with the word “Malaise”. This new economic reality also altered perceptions on taxation; after 1969, millions of Americans started to see taxes as a burden, which fueled the conservative revolt against taxation that started in the 1970s.