Introduction
Religious upsurge in the last third of the 20th century was preceded by the conviction, shared by authoritative representatives of the world of science, politics, and the Church, that Christianity was going through the deepest crisis in its history. The historical fate of religion and religious institutions in the civilization was irrevocably decided. The 1960s in the United States were marked by the entry into major international conflicts, as well as by the development of rights movements.
Discussion
Martin Luther King, Jr, created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in order to have a regional organization that could better organize civil rights protest efforts throughout the South. The infrastructure of the civil rights movement, as well as the tactical expertise of direct action, resulted in a significant shift in the anti-dumping movement’s tactics and self-definition (Galvin, 2020). The SCLC has always prioritized citizenship schools and initiatives to desegregate particular communities in big cities. The SCLC also focused on encompassing concerns of economic injustice, launching the Poor People’s Campaign (Galvin, 2020). The SCLC’s leadership, the majority of whom were ministers, thought that churches should be involved in political engagement as well, and many of its meetings were conducted in black churches, which became crucial symbols in the civil rights struggle.
In 1960, US President Eisenhower approved the decision to conduct a military operation to overthrow the government of Cuba led by Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro, who became the Cuban leader, understood the need to enlist the support of the United States. According to the US plan, a sudden landing was to lead to the creation of an interim government that would be recognized in Washington (Poznansky, 2019). However, the Bay of Pigs incident ended in the defeat of the American forces. In some ways, the impact of the incident on the Cold War was that the Bay of Pigs assault accelerated the USSR’s support of Cuba (Poznansky, 2019). The circumstances leading up to the operation in the Bay of Pigs left hints regarding how decision-makers assessed the hazards of overt action and the advantages of denial. The implications of this event for John F. Kennedy’s politics and involvement in the Cold War have to do with a desire for revanchism. The operation had widespread consequences for the declining credibility of the U.S. military, so there was a need to engage in a larger confrontation.
In the second half of the XX century, the main event that brought humanity as close as possible to the face of a global catastrophe was the Cuban Missile Crisis that erupted in October 1962. The impossibility of a direct clash between the US and the USSR led both powers to a struggle for influence in certain parts of the globe, especially in Cuba, which impacted the Cold War. Any collision of the American fleet with the Soviets could be the reason for the start of the war conflict. On October 26, Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy with a proposal to resolve the current situation (Davis, 2018). The USSR canceled its program to deploy nuclear weapons in Cuba. Kennedy did the right thing in this case, as the world had never before been so close to a nuclear catastrophe. The results allowed both powers to be more attentive to each other’s interests and also contributed to the further limitation of nuclear weapons.
One of the main goals of Soviet diplomacy in the 1940s and 1960s was to stabilize the situation in Europe, thus, the German problem had to be solved. The lack of legal recognition of the GDR had serious consequences for the USSR and its allies since it was possible to constantly challenge the legality of the very existence of the second German state. As a result, in 1961, Khrushchev decided to build the famous wall around West Berlin (Aral, 2017). This part of the city was isolated from the rest of the GDR by a real barrier of concrete slabs erected overnight and carefully guarded. The Berlin Wall was one of the main foundations of practically applicable socialism before using the exceptional myth-making ability of capitalism in its mature phase. Since 1961, it has become a symbol, an obvious decisive proof, visible to the naked eye and therefore irrefutable – proof of the complete incompatibility of the democratism presented by the West and Soviet communism. The way the communist government tried to limit the exit seemed to be strange and unproductive. The border in the form of a wall provides more tension.
The Congress of Racial Equality initiated the Freedom Riders in 1961 to protest segregation on interstate buses and bus terminals. Although the campaign was successful in obtaining a ban on segregation in all facilities under the jurisdiction, the Freedom Rides exacerbated pre-existing tensions between student activists and Martin Luther King, Jr., who publicly supported the riders but did not participate in the campaign (Clayton, 2018). African Americans all around the country were motivated by the Freedom Riders. Furthermore, after witnessing the brutality against the Freedom Riders, whites in the North turned against the segregationists in the South (Clayton, 2018). This also increased pressure on the federal government to intervene.
Conclusion
Thus, the contradictions that existed in the 1960s in the United States touched all areas of society. In foreign policy, there was the unleashing of the Cold War, in domestic – religious contradictions. An important part of this period was the struggle of blacks for their rights. Besides, in the process of secularization that had engulfed the world, there had been a transition from quantity to quality.
References
Aral, I. (2017). The myth of the Cold War: Is 1991 really a turning point for the neutrality of international law regarding democratic governance? European Society of International Law, 9(1). Web.
Clayton, D. M. (2018). Black lives matter and the civil rights movement: A comparative analysis of two social movements in the United States. Journal of Blac Studies, 49(5), 448-480. Web.
Davis, A. (2018). Faith and the face-off: John F. Kennedy, religion, and averting nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Web.
Galvin, R. (2020). “Let justice roll down like waters”: Reconnecting energy justice to its roots in the civil rights movement. Energy Research & Social Science, 62. Web.
Poznansky, M. (2019). Feigning compliance: Covert action and international law. International Studies Quarterly, 63, 72-84. Web.