Lessons to Learn from the 1960s

     The 1960s were tumultuous years in America and brought many issues to light. Americans suffered through the Vietnam War, racism, and the government’s deliberate ignorance of environmental problems. From these three issues, Americans and their leaders should learn that America should not get involved in foreign affairs unless they directly affect Americans, value every American the same way, and care for its environment.

     The Vietnam war showed the American public that America should not intervene foreign conflicts that do not directly affect Americans because intervention would cause unnecessary death as well as a trend of foreign intervention. Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader of Vietnam “The Vietnamese people have never done any harm to the United States. But contrary to the pledges made by its representative at the 1954 Geneva conference, the U.S. has ceaselessly intervened in Vietnam, it has unleashed and intensified the war of aggression in North Vietnam with a view to prolonging the partition of Vietnam and turning South Vietnam into a neocolony and a military base of the United States.” The Vietnamese thought that the America was trying to colonize them, while the American government aimed to stop the spread of communism. Because Ho Chi Minh and Lyndon B. Johnson’s perspectives on the Vietnam civil war were different, this led to many unnecessary deaths since each side was fighting with different goals in mind. In Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech, “Beyond Vietnam,” King said, “The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit, and if we ignore this sobering reality...we will find ourselves organizing ‘clergy and laymen concerned’ committees for the next generation.” King calls this continuous intervention a “malady,” or sickness, that would affect America and the way it handles foreign conflict. He means that America became, and arguably still is, “the world’s police,” and if America does not learn from the many unnecessary deaths of both American and Vietnamese soldiers, then the US government will continue to intervene in foreign affairs without good reason.

     The Civil Rights movement brought to attention that unequal treatment of races hurt the “American spirit.”  In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech he says, “This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” King is referring to Freedom Summer, when numerous people marched and faced violence in response to them peacefully protesting against racism in America. Americans endured a period of unrest during the Civil Rights movement and still feel remnants of the movement today. Lyndon B. Johnson summed up American racism in these words: “[America believes] that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings—not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin.” Johnson said that as he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and made Americans realize how they could not coexist peacefully without equal treatment. The Civil Rights Act granted equality of race in public and paved the way for more civil rights laws. The passing of this act shows how Americans and their leaders have to acknowledge civil rights for everyone in order to keep peace in the country and progress.

     The Environmental Movement also sparked in the 1960s to show Americans and their leaders that they have to care for the environment in order to secure the future of coming generations. Rachel Carson became the leading voice in the Environmental Movement as she uncovered the truth about government-endorsed chemicals used for the safety of the general public. She wrote, “most pesticides meet the criterion of the perfect carcinogen too well for comfort…they may be creating sleeping cancer cells, cells in which an irreversible malignancy will slumber long and undetected…” (Chapter 14) when talking about harmful insecticides, like DDT. DDT was sprayed liberally on public places and children, but the government did not realize, or even hid, the fact that pesticides are harmful to humans as well as insects. Another incident that changed the public’s view of America’s environment was the Cuyahoga River fire. On June 22, 1969, the “Cuyahoga River burst into flames in Cleveland when sparks from a passing train set fire to oil-soaked debris floating on the water’s surface” (Latson). The river was so polluted with excess oil that mere sparks lit the river on fire. Soon after the fire occurred, TIME magazine made the Cuyahoga Fire its main story and people realized how industry was not paying any attention to the environment and how it affected all forms of life. Silent Spring and the Cuyhoga Fire were wake up calls for Americans to start paying attention to how they and their government treat their environment.

     From these three events in the 1960s, one can see how Americans and their leaders have to learn how to sparingly get involved in foreign affairs, treat all Americans equally, and keep the environment clean. However, Americans have to continuously notice problems in their society and fix them. Social progress only happens if citizens convince leaders of important, pressing problems before history repeats itself.

Works Cited

Carson, R., Darling, L., & Darling, L. (1962). Silent spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Johnson, L. B. (1964, July 2). Remarks Upon Signing the Civil Rights Bill (July 2, 1964).   Speech presented at Signing           of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Washington D.C. Retrieved from http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/speech-           3525

King, M. L., Jr. (n.d.). I Have A Dream. Speech presented at March on Washington in Lincoln Memorial, Washington            D.C. Retrieved May 13, 2016, from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

Latson, J. (2015, June 22). The Burning River That Sparked a Revolution. Retrieved May 13, 2016, from                                http://time.com/3921976/cuyahoga-fire/