the sixties1 essays

the sixties1 essays Why were the sixties a importance to our country's history? The sixties were an exciting, revolutionary, turbulent time of great social and technological change: assassination, unforgettable fashion, new musical styles, Camelot, civil rights, women's liberation, a controversial and decisive war in Vietnam, the anti-war protest to go along with the war, space exploration and the space race, peace marches, flower power, great TV and film and sexual freedom, and of course the great babyboomers. The sixties also showed Communism coming into the Western hemisphere and thus coming to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Movements towards the end to poverty, helping the environment, and the women's rights all came to be in the sixties. Medical breakthroughs were important in the sixties. This essay explains the events and people of the sixties from 1960 to 1970. One thing in the sixties was the years of the American Camelot. In 1960 a president was elected by the slimmest measure of margin since 1884, "John Fitzgerald Kennedy is elected president by just over 100,000 votes"(Turbulent Years 23). Some say that John's father bought the election, but the truth is unknown. This election was the first election that was on radio and television. Kennedy and Nixon engaged in the first televised campaign debates. President Kennedy was the youngest man to become president and the youngest president to die in office. President Kennedy was also the first and only Roman Catholic President in history. During President Kennedy's Presidency, he had to make many decisions about the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the sixties the "Cold War" was heating up. Before President Kennedy came into office, a U-2 plane was shot down in the Soviet Union while spying on the Soviet Union, thus cutting all Diplomatic ties between the Soviet Union and the United States. Amongst ...