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Kennedy and the Promise of the Sixties.


By W. J. Rorabaugh. (New York New York, state, United States
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of
 and other cities: Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP) is a publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534, and one of the two privileged presses (the other being Oxford University Press). , 2002. Pp. [xxiv], 317. $29.00, ISBN ISBN
abbr.
International Standard Book Number


ISBN International Standard Book Number

ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 
 0-521-81617-3.)

W. J. Rorabaugh emphasizes that during the abbreviated presidency of John F. Kennedy "John Kennedy" and "JFK" redirect here. For other uses, see John Kennedy (disambiguation) and JFK (disambiguation).
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917–November 22, 1963), was the thirty-fifth President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in
 there were already foreshadowings of the events that would make the later 1960s a tumultuous period in American history: the civil rights movement, changes in family life and sexual behavior sexual behavior A person's sexual practices–ie, whether he/she engages in heterosexual or homosexual activity. See Sex life, Sexual life. , and challenges to traditional values expressed in art, literature, and popular music. Rorabaugh discusses the contributions of such diverse individuals as Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Betty Friedan, Andy Warhol, and Martin Luther King Jr. What they had in common was opposition to the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy.  in postwar America. Rorabaugh juxtaposes all this against the background of the Cold War and the well-publicized activities of the charismatic Kennedy family. President Kennedy himself is portrayed as a somewhat ambiguous figure. In most respects he represented the conventional culture of the 1940s and 1950s, but his skeptical, questioning proclivities and his sense of irony could be seen as anticipating--at least to a limited extent--the new era that was emerging in the sixties.

Although Rorabaugh has made use of numerous archival sources, his book is essentially a synthesis of selected social and political aspects of the period. Much of this has been discussed extensively by other writers, particularly the civil rights story and the Cold War. Still, Rorabaugh's book is a useful and relatively brief contribution to ongoing scholarly efforts to place the early 1960s in historical perspective. It would be of value in undergraduate courses because Rorabaugh clearly demonstrates that the seeds of cultural rebellion were planted several years before Kennedy's assassination Assassination
See also Murder.

assassins

Fanatical Moslem sect that smoked hashish and murdered Crusaders (11th—12th centuries). [Islamic Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 52]

Brutus

conspirator and assassin of Julius Caesar. [Br.
. "The times, they [were] a-changing'--and this would have been the case no matter who had occupied the White House between 1961 and 1963.

Yet because his successors in the presidency continued and expanded his opposition to the communist threat in Vietnam, it was ultimately Kennedy's concurrence in the extension of the Cold War to Southeast Asia that set the stage for the domestic upheavals that came later. Rorabaugh correctly argues that the turmoil of the late sixties was rooted in a reaction against the mainstream conservatism of post-World War II America. But it was the prolonged conflict in Vietnam that furnished the specific catalyst for that turmoil. The antiwar movement became a funnel through which a wealth of pent-up discontents were expressed. One cannot help but wonder how President Kennedy would have reacted to it all, of whether the rebellion would have been so vehement had he lived. Those questions, however, lie beyond the ability of any historian to answer.

RODNEY M. SIEVERS

Humboldt State University Not to be confused with Humboldt University of Berlin.
Humboldt State University (HSU) is the northernmost campus of the California State University system, located in Arcata, California.
 
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Copyright 2004, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Author:Sievers, Rodney M.
Publication:Journal of Southern History
Article Type:Book Review
Date:Feb 1, 2004
Words:440
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