American History: A Survey

For much of the 1950s the wealthy and influential classes in the US existed in a state of blissful ignorance of the problems simmering below the surface of their society. As the country entered the 1960s, these issues boiled over in a wave of challenges to authority not seen before or since. After a decade of conservative dominance in American politics, the rise of the civil rights movement in the late 1950s and the victory of John F. Kennedy over Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election gave hope to people in communities that mainstream American culture had marginalized and oppressed.

John F. Kennedy won the presidency by only a narrow margin, but his charismatic personality soon garnered vast public support. He represented a progressive, forward-thinking view of American politics that made him especially well loved among the large numbers of young people; members of the post-World War II “baby boom” were starting to grow up and become productive, voting members of society. Kennedy aimed to begin a process of social reform even more sweeping than that of the New Deal, but the conservative members of the federal government blocked many of his most progressive reforms.