NOVEMBER 1963 President John F. Kennedy Assassinated
Having won the presidency in an excruciatingly close election, John F. Kennedy balanced his vigorous foreign policy with a cautious and restrained domestic policy. Not until his final months in office, largely in response to grass- roots agitation, did he press for reforms to address the problems of racism and poverty. Before his proposals could be acted upon, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963, apparently by a former Marine named Lee Harvey Oswald who in the late 1950’s had been briefly stationed at MCAS El Toro. Two days later, a vast TV audience watched in horror as a local nightclub owner named Jack Ruby shot Oswald while he was being moved from one jail to another. Ruby’s act caused many to conclude that Oswald had been killed to cover up a conspiracy, some suspecting a plot by ultraconservative Texans who despised Kennedy and others pointing to a possible role by communists or the Mafia. President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed an investigative commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, and in September 1964 it concluded that both Oswald and Ruby acted alone, a finding that has sparked widespread debate ever since. SEE FIGURE 53
bases in Cuba for intermediate range ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States. These became known to President Kennedy in October 1962 and not only prompted him to demand their immediate removal but led to the establishment of a naval blockade of Cuba and several extremely tense days of negotiation. Two Soviet-American agreements resulted — one public (requiring the withdrawal of the missiles in return for a pledge not to invade Cuba) and one secret (requiring the United States to dismantle Thor and Jupiter missile systems deployed in Turkey). The Cuban confrontation left both sides chastened and more open to accommodation. It also disastrously undermined Khrushchev’s reputation at home and paved the way for his overthrow in 1964. SEE FIGURE 52
Figure 52. (Top) A secret Soviet nuclear missile launch site at Guanajay, Cuba as seen though the lens of an American “eye in the sky.” Image courtesy of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Figure 53. President John F. Kennedy’s last motorcade. Image courtesy of Victor Hugo King.
JULY 1964 Civil Rights Act Bans Public Discrimination
AUGUST 1963 Limited Nuclear Test-ban Treaty
The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of race or sex while at the same time it extended voting rights, guaranteed access for all Americans to public accommodations, and outlawed racial segregation in public schools or the workplace. The original bill had been proposed by President Kennedy in a civil rights speech of June 1963, but it was not taken up in earnest until after his death. When the bill reached the Senate after its approval by the House of Representatives in February 1964, Richard Russell of Georgia led a filibuster to block its passage. After 57 days of debate, the Senate voted 71 to 29 to end the filibuster, the first time in history it had cut off discussion on a civil rights bill. President Johnson signed the bill into law in July 1964. Interestingly, the Civil Rights Act was strengthened the following year by another piece of legislation, the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices that resulted in disenfranchisement of Black, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Latino, and Native American citizens.
Following the crises of 1961 and 1962, the Soviet leadership found itself in a painful double bind, trying to convince Cuba and China of its steadfastness while attempting to reach out to an increasingly nervous United States. The effort to reassure Russia’s allies had led Khrushchev to explode a 50 megaton nuclear warhead in the fall of 1961, the largest Soviet bomb ever, but this compounded his difficulties with the West, where there was growing concern about radioactive fallout. In the summer of 1963, impressed by Kennedy’s unilateral suspension of atmospheric testing and a friendly speech at American University, Khrushchev opted for a serious movement toward accommodation, agreeing to establish a telegraphic “hot line” with Washington and dropping his longstanding demand that a ban on nuclear testing include underground tests. In July, building on negotiations that had gone on for nearly a decade, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union signed a treaty banning tests in the atmosphere, outer space, and under water.
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