Hi there and welcome to my website about 1960s America! My name is Tim and I was born and raised in Long Island, New York. Upon graduating from a small high school in New York, I moved to Fort Worth, Texas in order to pursue a college education at Texas Christian University. After being accepted into The M.J. Neeley School of Business this past March, I am working on earning a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance with a Minor in Accounting-- two areas of study that are fascinating to me. Since I was a young boy, I have listened to thousands of conversations about business, economics, real estate and current events just to name a few topics! On a more personal note, my hobbies include boating, fishing, golfing, swimming, and playing tennis. Growing up on the water has certainly influenced what I love to do in my spare time. Boating and fishing are regular activities every Friday with my father in the summers. Golfing, swimming, and playing tennis are usually reserved for the weekend, which provide for quality time with my parents and sister. The books that I like to read and/or listen to most are those centered around business. My favorite business book is Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different. However, I am convinced that I will find a new favorite this summer! As time for reading non-academic books is limited due to my workload as a college student, I have not been able to read as much as I want to this semester. Over the summer I am looking forward to relaxing and reading. While I love reading about current events and their relatedness to the world of politics and business, I am also fascinated with American history. Looking back on America's great past, once cannot help but to stop for a moment and analyze America in the 1960s. While the start of the decade was only 57 years ago, the impressions that Americans like myself hold continue to exert a remarkable impact on society today. When I think of the 1960s, there are two major impressions that come to mind: division and skepticism; which are explained below. 1. Division African Americans were largely discriminated against especially in the southern states. “Jim Crow“ laws at the state and local levels played a huge role in segregating blacks and whites, often prohibiting blacks from bathrooms, classrooms, restaurants, transportation and government. Even though in 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine that laid the groundwork for rampant discrimination, there was still unrest among the African American community. Civil Rights activists used peaceful marches and civil disobedience to bring their issue into the mainstream consciousness. During that period of time in America, it seemed as though a civil war was going to erupt. In some people’s eyes, the American way of life as they knew it was going to be destroyed. While America has made great strides toward equality for African Americans over the last 50 years, some people don’t think it is enough. Even today, there is unrest in the streets, on college campuses, and in the workplace. Today’s climate has given rise to groups such as Black Lives Matter and the New Black Panther Party. Some think the racial tension between blacks and whites are equal too, if not more than, what they were in the 60’s. It seems as though the ‘eve’ of racial divisiveness is still going on. 2. Skepticism During the 1960s, United States tensions in Vietnam were heightened and fellow American citizens began to mistrust the Federal Government in Washington, much like many Americans do today. Fueling this mistrust, a few occurrences throughout the 1960s include: § The passing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution by Congress, which afforded President Johnson the authority to use force in Southeast Asia without an official declaration of war by Congress. § The four-year long bombing of Cambodia that began on March 18, 1969, which was kept secret from the United States Public and Congress for a long time. § The brutal My Lai Massacre in South Vietnam, which was covered up for a year before a soldier came forward spoke out about what he knew regarding the attack, which sparked investigation and anger for America. |