The Shocking Decade of the 1960s
The Shocking Decade of the 1960s
What is the Decade of Shock? In Tom Shachtman’s book “Decade of Shocks,” he states it’s the period of time between the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the resignation of President Richard Nixon, in the heat of Watergate. During this time three major leaders helped shape the 20th century, by way of their than politics. It began with the assassination of Kennedy, the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. and eventually ending with the resignation of Nixon.
On November 22, 1963 the city of Dallas, as well as the whole United States would fall into a period of grief. President John F. Kennedy was killed. Shot by, in my opinion, a man who was jealous, and never took the time to really listen to JFK and his policies, Lee Harvey Oswald. Even after his burial at Arlington National Cemetery, the public asked why did a man so young have to die, and is there a real God? During this time, America opened their hearts to the Kennedy family, who could forget when JFK Jr. gave his fallen father one last solute, that made the people open up?
Martin Luther King Jr. during this time stood-up not only for himself, but for all of the black communities. King was viewed as an inspiration and was admired by nearly all including another man in history Malcolm X. Standing outside his hotel door, on the balcony, King was shot in Memphis Tennessee.
The last topic Shachtman touches upon is President Richard M. Nixon. Even though he wasn’t assassinated, Nixon sent his own wave of grief over the nation, Watergate. Nixon had plans of breaking into the Democratic Party hotel; to learn secrets they had against him just to help him with the election. When the nation heard about this, okay were outraged, as well as appalled. If they couldn’t trust the president, whom could they trust? Not too long after Nixon resigned, stating “ I am not a crook”.
When I first started this assignment, I must have gone through five different books, before Decade of Shocks, caught my attention. At first I thought, this all happened years before my time, and why is it so important to me. I never really took the time to understand and realize, that whatever happens in...