to their draft-age contemporaries . provement Act, which assigned to
By the late 1970s, the student New the polluter the responsibility of
Left had disappeared, but many of its cleaning up off-shore oil spills . Also, activists made their way into main- in 1970, the Environmental Protec-stream politics .
tion Agency (EPA) was created as
an independent federal agency to
ENVIRONMENTALISM
spearhead the effort to bring abus-
T
es under control . During the next
he energy and sensibility that fu- three decades, the EPA, bolstered by
eled the civil rights movement, the legislation that increased its author-
counterculture, and the New Left ity, became one of the most active
also stimulated an environmental agencies in the government, issuing
movement in the mid-1960s . Many strong regulations covering air and
were aroused by the publication in water quality .
1962 of Rachel Carson’s book Silent
Spring, which alleged that chemical
KENNEDY AND THE
pesticides, particularly DDT, caused
RESURGENCE OF BIG
cancer, among other ills . Public GOVERNMENT LIBERALISM
concern about the environment
continued to increase throughout By 1960 government had become
the 1960s as many became aware of an increasingly powerful force in
other pollutants surrounding them people’s lives . During the Great De-
— automobile emissions, industrial pression of the 1930s, new execu-
wastes, oil spills — that threatened tive agencies were created to deal
their health and the beauty of their with many aspects of American life .
surroundings . On April 22, 1970, During World War II, the number
schools and communities across the of civilians employed by the feder-
United States celebrated Earth Day al government rose from one mil-
for the first time . “Teach-ins” edu- lion to 3 .8 million, then stabilized
cated Americans about the dangers at 2 .5 million in the 1950s . Federal
of environmental pollution .
expenditures, which had stood at
Few denied that pollution was a $3,100-million in 1929, increased to
problem, but the proposed solutions $75,000-million in 1953 and passed
involved expense and inconve- $150,000-million in the 1960s .
nience . Many believed these would
Most Americans accepted gov-
reduce the economic growth upon ernment’s expanded role, even
which many Americans’ standard as they disagreed about how far
of living depended . Nevertheless, in that expansion should continue .
1970, Congress amended the Clean Democrats generally wanted the
Air Act of 1967 to develop uniform government to ensure growth and
national air-quality standards . It stability . They wanted to extend
also passed the Water Quality Im- federal benefits for education, health,
282
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
and welfare . Many Republicans derly, and create a new Department
accepted a level of government of Urban Affairs . And so, despite
responsibility, but hoped to cap his lofty rhetoric, Kennedy’s policies
spending and restore a larger were often limited and restrained .
measure of individual initiative . The
One priority was to end the reces-
presidential election of 1960 revealed sion, in progress when Kennedy took
a nation almost evenly divided office, and restore economic growth .
between these visions .
But Kennedy lost the confidence of
John F . Kennedy, the Democratic business leaders in 1962, when he
victor by a narrow margin, was at succeeded in rolling back what the
43 the youngest man ever to win the administration regarded as an exces-
presidency . On television, in a series sive price increase in the steel indus-of debates with opponent Richard try . Though the president achieved
Nixon, he appeared able, articulate, his immediate goal, he alienated an
and energetic . In the campaign, he important source of support . Per-
spoke of moving aggressively into suaded by his economic advisers that
the new decade, for “the New Fron- a large tax cut would stimulate the
tier is here whether we seek it or economy, Kennedy backed a bill pro-
not .” In his first inaugural address, viding for one . Conservative opposi-
he concluded with an eloquent plea: tion in Congress, however, appeared
“Ask not what your country can do to destroy any hopes of passing a bill
for you — ask what you can do for most congressmen thought would
your country .” Throughout his brief widen the budget deficit .
presidency, Kennedy’s special com-
The overall legislative record of the
bination of grace, wit, and style — Kennedy administration was meager .
far more than his specific legislative The president made some gestures
agenda — sustained his popularity toward civil rights leaders but did not
and influenced generations of politi- embrace the goals of the civil rights
cians to come .
movement until demonstrations led
Kennedy wanted to exert strong by Martin Luther King Jr . forced
leadership to extend economic ben- his hand in 1963 . Like Truman
efits to all citizens, but a razor-thin before him, he could not secure
margin of victory limited his man- congressional passage of federal aid
date . Even though the Democrat- to public education or for a medical
ic Party controlled both houses of care program limited to the elderly .
Congress, conservative Southern He gained only a modest increase
Democrats often sided with the Re- in the minimum wage . Still, he did
publicans on issues involving the secure funding for a space program,
scope of governmental intervention and established the Peace Corps to
in the economy . They resisted plans send men and women overseas to
to increase federal aid to education, assist developing countries in meeting
provide health insurance for the el- their own needs .
283