During the 1960's, television became very popular. It soon was an everyday occurrence in an American's life. Everybody had one, and everybody was able to watch their favorite television shows, commercials, and news broadcasts. Before the television, there was only the radio, and while that was popular, it wasn't able to compete with the television once it was available to the American public.
People watched television for a variety of reasons. You could watch it for leisurely purposes. Turn it on, and watch all of your favorite actors in comedies, soap operas, dramas, and movies. You could watch it to get all of the latest news, like weather, local news, national news, stocks, and other interesting tidbits occurring that day. The national election was a popular thing in the news to watch on television. You could hear people's opinions on the debates, see which candidate was ahead, or watch the debates yourself, and see who you likes or disliked.
The election of 1960 was a different kind of election. It was John F. Kennedy vs. Richard Nixon. For the first time ever, the national election debates were broadcasted on national television. Anybody and everybody could watch the debates, straight from their living room.
You were able to listen to the elections on your radio before this, but that didn't give you the entire story. You weren't able to see how the candidate looked, couldn't see how they responded to pressure. In the first televised debate, Richard Nixon didn't look so good. His face was pale and clammy. He looked very nervous, and very tired. He had some beard stubble, and just wasn't able to show the American people that he was in control. On the other hand, John F. Kennedy looked amazing. While speaking he was able to look relaxed, and in control. His tan complexion and warm smile won the hearts of voters.
Viewers of this election on television were able to see firsthand what they liked about the candidates, and what they didn't like. The majority of TV viewers said that John F. Kennedy did a great job at the election. He looked good, and knew what he was talking about. They didn't think that Nixon was able to stand up to Kennedy.
On the other hand, radio listeners of the election didn't think that Kennedy won at all. They thought that Nixon spoke better, and had better things to say. By listening on the radio, they weren't able to see what was happening, and by just listening, they figured that Nixon did a much better job.
Kennedy was able to win the 1960 election, and these televised debates were sure to be a large part of it. Over 80 million tuned in to watch these, and the majority of them went on and voted for Kennedy. After the election, the television became an irreplaceable part of the elections. Presidential candidates used these to advertise themselves, out their thoughts and ideas for the world to see, and also was still used to televise the great presidential debates
Although television was used a lot to promote the election, its primary focus was to shoe people the local and national news. In The 1960's, a very popular and important topic in the news was civil rights, and the violence surrounding it. All different races and ethnic backgrounds were treated differently than the white in the US. They all wanted to be equal to the whites, and they have every right to.
Although a few civil rights acts were passed already, racism was still lingering in American society, and it was bad. Plessy vs. Ferguson stated that "white only" facilities, like restaurants, doctor offices, schools, post offices, libraries, and churches, were alright, as long as other ethnicities had another facility that was separate from the other, but equal in every way. Even though this was the law, it wasn't followed, and the facilities were never equal.
The "separate but equal" rule was overturned after the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. Linda Brown, an African American girl from Topeka Kansas, who was told that she could not attend her neighborhood school, only because she was African American. Although the school was just a short walk away from her house, the school board told her that she had go to the all black school across town. Her parents then contacted the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), who sued the school board, stated that this was unconstitutional. This quickly rose up to the national level of the Supreme Court, and with the help of Thurgood Marshall, a brilliant African American attorney were able to overturn the decision, and allow little Linda to attend the school. But more importantly than that, this ruling changed the Plessy versus Ferguson rule, and "separate but equal was violated civil rights and was unconstitutional. This was a huge win for the battle for civil rights.
Many whites in the US did not approve of this, and it made them angry. They did not want integration, they were perfectly happy with "separate but equal". Many started riots, and some got violent. This violence gained national attention when African Americans staged "sit-ins" at many white only restaurants. Sit-ins were when African Americans would walk into a segregated restaurant, and all sit down, in order to shame the owners into integration. They wouldn't speak, or get up. They weren't harming anybody, only trying to show people how wrong and racist it was. Many white people got angry towards the African Americans who did this, and started to harm them. Many African Americans were beat up by multiple white men, and some even had boiling water poured on them. But they didn't care, as it was worth it to them, as they got their point across. When Americans across the country turned on their televisions, they saw how these African Americans were being treated. They were outraged that this was happening, and they knew it just wasn't right.
There weren't many things happening to stop the violence. The police took every opportunity they could to stop the African American people from making their point by beating them, or spraying them with the high pressure hoses. Because of this they did not like the police, and did not trust them at all. When Kennedy was running for president, he promised to stop the violence, and push harder for civil rights when he was elected, but he never did this. Martin Luther King Jr. knew that the government would only intervene when the violence and riots gained national attention, and got out of hand. So MLK launched demonstrations all across Birmingham, Alabama, because tensions here were already at its breaking point. In doing this he was hoping to provoke a violent response, and get the government to finally intervene. MLK was soon jailed because of the protests he started, and this is where he wrote his famous letter appropriately named "The Letter From Birmingham Jail" In the letter MLK was able to explain that even though that they were breaking the law, they were doing what was morally right, and was trying to create justice and equality. After released, the riots continued at full force, and even though the African Americans weren't violent, they were still abused by the police. The police used clubs, police dogs, tear gas, and high pressure water hoses to stop the riots and disperse the crowd.
After seeing all of this violence, Kennedy finally wrote the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. After a long battle, the bill finally became a law on July 2, 1964. The law was the largest civil rights law to date. It gave the government the power to stop discrimination, and stopped segregation in public facilities. It also stopped workplace discrimination, by establishing The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This commission is able to monitor job discrimination by race, national origin, religion, or gender.
The 1960's was a very different decade in American history. The television was here, and finally ready to the American public, and it changed the lives of Americans forever. Now we were able to see things firsthand, from national debates, to the unfair abuse of African Americans African Americans were able to win a long and hard fought battle for civil rights.
