The me”. Such movements were the Civil,
The Sixties and Seventies were times of both fear and joy for the averageAmerican citizen. The Sixties was a controversial time, with the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and John F.
Kennedy, the Vietnam War, the Missile Crisis in Cuba, and the massive spread of drugs across the country. Many people of this time joined movements and said: “what about me”. Such movements were the Civil, Women’s and Gay Rights. African Americans were fighting segregation, during this time they could not drink at the same water fountain as a Caucasian. Women felt they were being underestimated and wanted to show equality. Homosexuals fought their sexual orientation. The United States beating the Soviet Union to have the first man on the moon, the popular band the Beatles coming to America, and the music festival at Woodstock which ended the Sixties with a big bang. The Seventies were a time of inflation yet eventful.
The Oil crisis in the Middle East which caused the rise of gas prices up 55 cents a gallon per year over the decade with a continual rate; which would be an equivalent to $2.36 a per gallon today. Just as gas and other household items, houses went from $22,000 to $58,000 in a year. The popular band Beatles disbanded after 6 years. The nuclear non-proliferation act was beginning to be ratified which would ban nuclear weapons. Nixon resigned from the presidency and the Vietnam war ended.The Vietnam Conflict: The Vietnam Conflict started on November 1 of 1955.
After WWII, Vietnam was split in half to prevent the spread of Communism. The Communist government of North Vietnam, led by Ho Chi Minh, wanted to unify the two countries and led a guerrilla war, against anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam. The War was between the communist government of North Vietnam and the Chinese, VS the armies of South Vietnam which were an allied with the United States of America. The United States entered the conflict to cease the spread of Communism in Indochina. President Eisenhower pledged support to Viet Cong, South Vietnam, and sent weapons and other materials. Soon after North Vietnam capture 100 Viet Cong and brutally tortured and executed them. President Eisenhower’s term ended JFK took over and sent a team to report on the conditions and help them technologically and economically in Vietcong It is rumored that the song “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” refers to the bombing in Vietnam. The raindrops singing the napalm bombings ______________________________________________________________________________”There’s a calm before the stormI know it’s been comin’ for some time””and rain is hard”Creedence Clearwater Revival______________________________________________________________________________Protests against the Vietnam Conflict:In the ’60s we fought for peace when the Vietnam war was on.
We were against the cops and against the politicians, and there was a lot of waving banners and all that. And I think in a way, just as they were enjoying that machismo of war, we were enjoying the machismo of being anti-war, you know? Cold War/ Space Race: The Cold war was a back and forth conflict between The United States of America and The Soviet Union; fueled by the arms race and the threat of nuclear weapons, different spies going undercover between the two countries. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day standoff, both political and military, in October 1962 over the movement of Soviet nuclear missiles to Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. After Fidel Castro took control of the Caribbean island, Cuba, he became completely dependent on the soviet union economically and militarily.
A United states U2 spy plane flew over Cuba and photographed a picture of a Soviet long-range ballistic missile being installed in Cuba. This was perceived as a threat because the missiles were stations just 90 miles off the mainland of Florida. President Kennedy and EXCom, a committee used to solve high-risk problems that face the United States, discussed this problem. The Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, had risked on sending the missiles to Cuba with the certain goal of increasing his Soviets nuclear strike capability. On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launched a ballistic missile named Sputnik, Russian for “traveler”. It was the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit.
This was bad for the Americans because they were afraid that the Soviets were intellectually more advanced than the United States. There was a threat that this satellite could direct a missile into the United States. So in 1958 US launch their first Satellite named Explorer 1. It was designed by the army with a rocket scientist.
This started the space race. Soon after President Dwight Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA. Yet the Soviets were still ahead sending the first man into space in 1961.President John F. Kennedy boldly announced that the United States will be the first people to have a man on the moon by the 70’s.
His statement came true on July 20, 1969; when Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon thanks to NASA’s mission Apollo 11. On the return of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong and the other astronauts return they were treated as “ultimate heroes” for beating the “ultimate villain” the Soviet to be the first men on the moon and showing democracy is better than Communism. The fact that the first man on the moon was from the United States was so important that David Bowie wrote the song “The Space Oddity” ______________________________________________________________________________”This is Major Tom to Ground ControlI’m stepping through the doorAnd I’m floating in a most peculiar wayAnd the stars look very different today”Major Tom by David Bowie______________________________________________________________________________This was released in 1969 in England, celebrating the first men on the moon, despite the fact a different country landed on the moon it was a big advancement for all mankind.Science and Medicine: Great advances were made during the 1960s in the areas of medicine and healthcare. Viruses were confined, and vaccines to combat a host of diseases, from measles to meningitis, became available to all.
Some other medical advancements in the sixties were soft contact lenses and cryosurgery. Limb reattachments and liver, lung, and heart transplant operations were completed successfully. The 60s were the pharmaceutical era, the pills were first marketed in the sixties, Valium and Librium were used to soothe the nerves of housewives and businessmen. Other blood pressures related drug were created. The 60s were the start of the nationwide drug abuse that still affects our country today.
While Librium was used and a controlled sedative it was highly addicting to the users and people began to take higher doses and illegally obtain Librium in the black marked and drug ring that was relatively common for this time period. Drugs were not all of the medicine in the 60s, the first heart transplant was performed by James Hardy at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson on January 23, 1964. The patient was a 68-year-old man, but the heart donor was a chimpanzee so it is not classified as a human heart transplant; after 1 hour the patient died of acute rejection.
Christiaan Barnard performed a risky operation on December 3, 1967, at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. The patient was a 54-year-old man who received the heart of a 25-year-old woman. He survived 18 days till he died of pneumonia.
This was considered a success.Some scientific advancements were Telstar the first commercial satellite, basic programing language, Led lights, direct distance calling. The first digital camera and the ATM machine were invented, pong the first digital video game. The first email, cell phone and Sony VO1600 (the VHS)
