The 70's Compared to the 60's

Brian Neal
Professor Belen
English Composition 1
November 14, 2010
The 1970s Compared to the 1960s
The advancement of civil rights and “government for the people” in the twentieth century has been most prominent during the 60’s and 70’s. When you hear about how the women and minorities fought for their right to change the United States into a better nation from one decade to the next, it is amazing. During these two decades, Americans fought hard to break down the barriers of civil rights, equality for women and many types of government issues. It was a time of calling for equality for everyone, of war and peace and a time when genders were split in their ideas of the perfect American dream. In the early 1960’s, the civil rights movement sparked a frenzy of public attention when the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown versus The Board of Education ruled on behalf of Brown deeming that the segregated schools were unconstitutional. The National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People protested and boycotted hundreds of issues related to racial discrimination on the city’s bus services, schools, restaurants, and many other private businesses. The National Organization for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) sparked many other African Americans to fight for equality along with other organizations such as The Southern Christian Leadership Conference who was created by Martin Luther King in 1960. The civil rights movement, in the mid 1960’s, started protesting by walking to the states capitol many times in order to fight for the right to vote. In 1965 the civil rights movement was able to put enough pressure on Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowing a large number of African Americans to vote. With the 1960’s coming to a close, the death of Martin Luther King would send the civil rights movement into the 1970’s without its leader who whole heartedly believed that there could be peace and good will towards men. Even though the civil rights movement suffered a severe blow with the loss of a great leader it continued the fight for civil rights and the desegregation of schools from government and political standpoints in the 1970’s. After the Brown case in 1954 there were no laws regarding segregation. But the 1960’s created the legal and social framework to end segregation in America. Similarly, the 1970’s became the decade to achieve the goal of integrating the nation’s public schools. It became the responsibility of the people and the politicians of the United States. After desegregation, the fight for black equality in America continued. Similar to the 1960’s, the civil rights movement was fighting just as hard in the early 1970’s by picketing, boycotting, and marching. By the mid 1970’s, African Americans started to see an incline in higher education, with a number of African Americans in government office, and increased income for some. The 1960’s and 1970’s proved to be the decades when the minorities and women of America fought to do away with many prejudices. One that caused havoc inside many American homes and between husband and wife and daughter and father was the discrimination associated to gender.
At the end of World War II, America’s society viewed women as the ones who did the cooking, cleaning, and baby making. In 1966 many women who were educated and part of the middle to upper class formed an organization called The National Organization for Women (NOW) whose main focus was to enforce the 1964 Civil Rights Act which outlawed discrimination based on race and sex. Another group that made a difference was the Women’s Rights Advocates. These were older and more mature women and their process began with the appointment of a Presidential Commission on the Status of women in 1961. Presidents, Democrats, and Republicans, regularly discharged their political debt to female members of the body of voters, especially to those who had faithfully served the party, by appointing a few token women to greatly noticeable jobs. An individual such as Eleanor Roosevelt was known to be involved before her death in 1963. She worked with over twenty women’s organizations, and John F. Kennedy founded the President 's Commission on the Status of Women and elected Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman. Also, Betty Freidan, a well known feminist of the 1960’s, was a co founder of NOW. She wrote a book called The Feminine Mystique which sold over three million copies. This book helped spark the women’s movement in 1963 and is highly regarded as one of the most influential books ever published. With women’s organizations still fighting for equality, the 1970’s brought more challenges that had to be dealt with. Many economists argue that the availability of the Birth Control Pill led to an increase in women in the labor force. Since the pill allowed women to have a sexual relationship while pursuing a career, it was given credit as one of the factors in the quiet revolution. Roe vs. Wade in 1973 was not so quiet and it became a landmark in the freedom of women to control their own destinies. This was no easy task. Women were no longer cooking, cleaning and making babies. They had careers and cooked, cleaned, and had babies with no support from their husbands and society. Attitudes toward women in the workplace were very negative from their male counterparts and society did not help them in any way. Thus, the movement to change laws regarding sexual discrimination pertaining to social benefits and employment emerged. Many changes such as child care benefits for the underprivileged, tax deductions for child care, and other benefits for working mothers became a reality. NOW stayed very active in the 70’s and women became an ingrained part of the politics of the United States. On January 20, 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was inaugurated as the thirty-fifth president of the United States of America. During his short time in office JFK continued to help South Vietnam by providing troops and billions of dollars for The Vietnam War. Throughout the 1960’s, federal spending increased mainly because of Vietnam, the government created new programs such as Medicare to assist elderly citizens with medical problems. Food stamps were implemented for the lower class to help the lower class citizens who were poor. America was also in competition with the Soviet Union in the 1960s for supremacy. In order to try and beat the Soviets to space Kennedy, who was fixated on space travel, created the Apollo Space Program. Unfortunately, the Soviets beat the United States and put the first man in outer space in 1961. Before Kennedy was able to see the biggest advancement of the 1960’s by the Apollo Program he was assassinated. In 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their first steps on the moon and finished the work that Kennedy had funded. After Kennedy was assassinated Lyndon B. Johnson, the Vice President, took over the Presidency in 1963. In 1964 and 1965, President Johnson made many decisions that sent America’s involvement with Vietnam deeper and deeper. By 1966 and 1967 the troop count increased from one hundred and ninety thousand in 1965, to five hundred and thirty five thousand in 1967. The decisions Johnson made in Vietnam were so devastating that he withdrew from the 1968 election because he had lost many of his supporters. Richard Nixon ended up winning the 1968 election becoming the thirty seventh president of the United States of America. Nixon immediately began working on bringing Vietnam to a close, and mending the bad blood between the Soviets as well. As the Vietnam War swept the 1960s, the seventies looked promising as a time of peace. With all the government funding spreading through America in the sixties, the economy was surprisingly strong, or so they thought. However, the 1970’s, as opposed to the 1960’s, hit a time of inflation raising the federal deficit, and unemployment rates. Also, the government’s lack of ability to raise taxes in the 1960’s brought a significant decline in the market in the seventies. Additionally, two media personnel from the Washington Post, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, broke the news of Watergate. In order to win the election in 1972, Nixon’s people broke into the Democratic Party offices to get information. When the burglars got arrested the White House immediately tried to cover this up. This led to Nixon’s resignation in 1974. It became a time when Americans began to question the American Government and the people who ran it. Although, the 1970s were supposed to be a time of peace for America, it became an era when Americans stopped putting blind trust into the government.
In comparing the sixties to the seventies there were many similarities. The civil rights movement stayed strong with great strides being made. Similarly, the women’s movement went from women cooking, cleaning, and having babies to women with careers and the same rights that men have. On the other hand, the United States Government went from a trusted institution in the 1960’s to a corrupt establishment that needed to be watched in the 1970’s. It is interesting to see that the changes made in the 60’s and 70’s are stable and being improved upon yet today.

Works Cited

William, Dudley. The 1960s. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2000. Print.
Schmidt, Mark R. The 1970s. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2000. Print.

Cited: William, Dudley. The 1960s. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2000. Print. Schmidt, Mark R. The 1970s. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, Inc. 2000. Print.