"TRUMP SETTLES THE ARGUMENTS OF THE 1960'S - FOR NOW"

 “TRUMP SETTLES THE ARGUMENTS OF THE 60’S – FOR NOW”

First of all, on this Veterans’ Day, we give thanks for all those who have served our country, especially those who gave their lives or suffered grievous injuries.  I also give thanks for all those conscientious objectors, like myself, who served our country while refusing to kill someone else.  

I’ve been reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s fine book “Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960’s,”  given to us by our good and longtime friends, Jane and John Skelly,  for our 50th anniversary.   In this book,  she reviews the 1960’s through the lens of her marriage to Richard (Dick) Goodwin, who was a chief speechwriter for JFK, LBJ, Bobby Kennedy, and Eugene McCarthy.  Perhaps because of this book – and because the 1960’s were a decade that changed my life – I have been thinking of the electoral triumph of Donald Trump in terms of this turbulent yet consequential decade.  Also, because two of the main actors in the recent election were children of the 1960’s:  Joe Biden and Donald Trump.  

I was 13 years old at the beginning of the 1960’s, and I lived and breathed in the world of white, male supremacy.  At the beginning of the 1960’s, we lived in neo-slavery (I no longer use the misnomer “Jim Crow), in which Black people were denied fundamental freedoms.  Though the interstate bus system had been desegregated, lunch counters and businesses had not been, and voting rights for Black people in the South were non-existent.  In 1960, women could not have credit cards or bank accounts in their own names, nor could they serve on juries.  People who loved people of the same gender were not even on the public radar.  In other words, white, male supremacy still maintained a strong hold on the fabric and the consciousness of the country.  

    During the 1960’s, courageous people - especially Black people and women – were energized to seek changes in this oppressive system.  It made for a turbulent decade, but it also was a decade when many strides were made towards equality and justice.  Because of the powerful Civil Rights Movement, and because of the vision of JFK and the political skills of LBJ,  the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, and the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965.  The Voting Rights Act effectively ended neo-slavery after 100 years, not to mention the previous 300 years of outright slavery. This energy for equality that Black people brought to our country was infectious – women began to hear that they might be able to fight for equality also.  Gay and lesbian people began to hear the public call to step up for equality – the Stonewall outbreak in New York City in 1969 was the beginning of a movement that is still reverberating today.  Migrant farmworkers and sanitation workers began to hear that they might have rights too.  There were many changes in the 1960’s for expanding the great American vision of equality – we all might be equal after all.

    There was also great resistance to this movement for equality.  Many people were jailed, tortured, and killed in response to the Civil Rights Movement.  JFK was assassinated in 1963.  Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965.  MLK was assassinated in 1968, as was Bobby Kennedy two months after King.  The power of white, male supremacy would not yield easily.  By the end of the decade, a President arose who was elected on the foundation of what he called “the Southern Strategy.”  Richard Nixon understood the depth of the resentment and grievance of white people, especially white men, and he rode it to victory in 1968.  He never named it, of course, but it was a powerful force, as it always has been in American history.  Currently, it goes by the name of “MAGA.”

    These two forces – the longing for equality and the depth of white, male supremacy – have been in battle in American history since the Declaration of Independence was adopted.  They were especially engaged in the 1960’s, when mass media like television carried the images of stark inequality to American homes.  The 1960’s reminded us that we are always wrestling with these two forces in our collective history as a people.  Neither will go away for long.  

    Donald Trump, like Richard Nixon before him (and many others) correctly gauged the depth of white grievance and resentment of the continuing struggle to expand the idea of equality.  He has ridden this rising wave of resentment by those classified as “white”  and is now taking office with the intentions of “making America great again.”  By that, he means that he wants to return us to a time when everyone recognized that white males must be in charge.  Many of his actions will be the desire to roll back the gains of equality and to re-establish the hierarchy that was firmly put in place in the 1890’s.  One key difference between Nixon and Trump – Nixon still believed in American democracy, while Trump believes that only he can rule wisely.  Trump might even declare martial law on his first day in office, so that he can use the American military to enforce the law as he wants.  So, we are in for rough times, and we all will be called upon to protest, strategize, and organize in order to resist this movement back to the idea that white men should be in charge.  For now, Trump has settled the arguments  of the 1960’s.  

    One caveat to this – and a small sign of hope.  Lyndon Johnson was elected president in 1964 with one of the largest election victories ever, and he seemed unstoppable.  Only two years later, the Johnsonian order was beginning to crumble under the weight of the Vietnam War.  By the end of March, 1968, LBJ had given up in defeat and decided not to run for re-election as President.  Though Trump cannot run for re-election (at least not as the law stands now), let us hope that the power of the idea of equality that drove the 1960’s will make its presence known soon, in ways that we cannot now imagine, because of our shock and sorrow at the results of the election.