The document summarizes key events and social movements in the 1960s that challenged established authority in America. This included the rise of the counterculture youth movement which advocated personal freedom and liberation. Major events like the Woodstock music festival symbolized this culture. Minority groups like Native Americans, Latinos, and gays also mobilized for civil rights through protests and acts of civil disobedience. The feminist and environmental movements also grew during this time period. Domestically, the Vietnam War deeply divided the nation and caused massive anti-war protests. Internationally, Nixon pursued detente with China and the Soviet Union but his presidency ended in disgrace due to the Watergate scandal.

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30: The Crisis of Authority
Alan Brinkley, The Unfinished Nation, 8th Edition

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The Youth Culture
– Personal “liberation”
• The New Left
– Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
– Free Speech Movement
– Campus unrest
– Opposition to the draft

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The Youth Culture (Continued)
• The Counterculture
– Personal fulfillment
– Rock music
– Woodstock

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Woodstock
In the summer of 1969, more than 400,000 people gathered for a music
festival on a farm near Woodstock, New York. The gathering became a
symbol of the youth movement of the sixties.
© Shelly Rustin/Black Star

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The Mobilization of Minorities
• Seeds of Indian Militancy
– Termination policy
• The Indian Civil Rights Movement
– American Indian Movement
– Indian Civil Rights Act
– Occupation of Wounded Knee

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The Occupation of Alcatraz
Alcatraz, an island in San Francisco Bay, once housed a large federal
prison that by the late 1960s had been abandoned. In 1969, a group of
Indian activists occupied the island and claimed it as Indian land—
precipitating a long standoff with authorities.
© AP Images

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The Mobilization of Minorities
(Continued)
• Latino Activism
– Growing Latino population
– César Chávez

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Kennedy and Chávez
César Chávez, leader of the United Farm Workers, endured a hunger strike in 1968 in the spirit
of nonviolent protest against the treatment of field workers. Robert F. Kennedy, just beginning
his campaign for the presidency, visited the union leader to show his support. At this point,
Chávez had been fasting for several weeks.
Photo by Michael Rougier/© Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

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The Mobilization of Minorities
(Continued, 2)
• Gay Liberation
– Stonewall Riot
– Backlash against gay liberation
– Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

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The New Feminism
• The Rebirth
– Betty Friedan
– NOW
• Women’s Liberation
– Increasing radicalism

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The New Feminism (Continued)
• Expanding Achievements
– Economic success
– Women in government
– The Equal Rights Amendment

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Median Earnings by Gender, 1960–2009
U.S. Census Bureau data comparing the median earnings of full-time,
year-round workers show changes in the gender wage gap over time.

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The New Feminism (Continued, 2)
• The Abortion Issue
– Birth control
– Roe v. Wade

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Environmentalism in a Turbulent
Society
• The New Science of Ecology
– New rationale for environmentalism
– Aldo Leopold
– Rachel Carson

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Environmentalism in a Turbulent
Society (Continued)
• Environmental Advocacy
– Reemergence of environmental organizations
– Pollution
– Major oil spills
• Earth Day and Beyond
– EPA established

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Nixon, Kissinger, and the Vietnam War
• Vietnamization
– Henry Kissinger
• Escalation
– Kent State and Jackson State
– Pentagon Papers
– Easter offensive

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Nixon, Kissinger, and the Vietnam War
(Continued)
• “Peace with Honor”
– Breakdown of negotiations
– “Christmas bombing”
• Defeat in Indochina
– American forces leave
– Fall of Saigon

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The Evacuation of Saigon
A harried U.S. official struggles to keep panicking Vietnamese from boarding an already overpacked
helicopter on the roof of the U.S. embassy in Saigon. The hurried evacuation of Americans took place
only hours before the arrival of North Vietnamese troops, signaling the final defeat of South Vietnam.
© AP Images

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Nixon, Kissinger, and the World
– Nixon’s multipolar vision
• The China Initiative and Soviet–American Détente
– Nixon visits China
– The Soviets and SALT I

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Nixon in China
President Nixon's 1972 visit to China was an important step in normalizing
relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Here,
Nixon toasts the developing relationship with Prime Minister Zhou Enlai.
© Universal Images Group/Getty Images

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Nixon, Kissinger, and the World
(Continued)
• Dealing with the Third World
– Nixon Doctrine
– Allende overthrown
– Yom Kippur War
– OPEC embargo

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Politics and Economics in the
Nixon Years
• Domestic Initiatives
– “Silent majority”
• From the Warren Court to the Nixon Court
– Warren Count rulings
– Burger Court rulings

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Politics and Economics in the
Nixon Years (Continued)
• The 1972 Landslide
– George Wallace shot
– George McGovern
• The Troubled Economy
– OPEC
– Growing foreign competition
• The Nixon Response
– Rise of inflation

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The Watergate Crisis
• The Scandals
– Watergate
– Break-in
– Cover-up
– Watergate tapes

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The Watergate Crisis (Continued)
• The Fall of Richard Nixon
– Ford replaces Agnew
– United States v. Richard M. Nixon
– Resignation
– Gerald Ford becomes president

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Nixon’s Farewell
Only moments before, Nixon had been in tears, saying good-bye to his staff in the East Room of the
White House. But as he boarded a helicopter to begin his trip home to California shortly after resigning
as president, he flashed his trademark “victory” sign to the crowd on the White House lawn.
© Bettmann/Corbis

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Consider the Source
• Demands of the New York High School Student Union

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America in the World
• The End of Colonialism

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Debating the Past
• Watergate

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The Unfinished Nation, 8th Edition
Next: Chapter 31
From “The Age of Limits” to the Age of Reagan