http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/168533
Michelle Malsbury, BSBM, MM
July 09, 2010
Bernard Von Bothmer, Ph.D., Author
Framing The Sixties: The Use and Abuse of a Decade from Ronald Reagan
to George W. Bush
University of Massachusetts Press, ISBN 978-1-55849-732-0
Non-Fiction/Educational, 290 pages
Review
Dr. Bothmer was born and raised in New York City. (2010, insert
inside back cover) He is a graduate of Brown University (Bachelors
degree), Stanford University (Masters degree), and Indiana University
(Ph.D). Currently he teaches American History at the University of
San Francisco and Dominican University of California. He is married
with two daughters.
Many people helped Dr. Bothmer to formulate his background
information and interviews for this very comprehensive book. It
literally encompasses the time span from the election of President
Kennedy through George W. Bush´s term in office. Dr. Bothmer´s
writing, as does much of the right, pays homage to President Kennedy
however short his time was in office. His election galvanized
Americans around hope and what good we could effect for others in our
march toward equality and creation of a more perfect nation. Dr.
King´s civil rights movement helped shape our future, as Americans,
more than any man of his stature previously had. That he lost his
life fighting for, and gaining access to, a noble cause makes the
bitter more sweet.
What would the sixties be without the taint of Vietnam? While our
young people were being drafted to fight a war that was not winnable
by any stretch of the imagination protestors at home marched for
peace. The nation was divided, perhaps for the first time in our
young history, on what America should do with regard to Vietnam.
Leaders during this time pressed for passage of Civil Rights, Voting
Rights, Medicare, and Welfare. The right did not unite behind these
noble causes then, and most do not now. Had the war not been such a
major distraction and factor of that time perhaps more emphasis would
be spent lauding the good things that came from that era.
Much of this book describes how diametrically opposite the republican
and democrat perspectives were, and remain to this day, on the
1960´s. However twisted the rhetoric from the right it has helped
them to hold sway with regard to President´s elected into office.
Conveniently the right dismisses President Nixon, who might never
have been impeached in this day and age especially after the goings
on by George W. Bush. Many on the right saw Nixon´s policies as
[paraphrase] not truly conservative, but more an extension of what
President Kennedy had outlined, and they were not fans of President
Kennedy, but realized that dissing him (Kennedy) meant losing
potential votes. (2010, p.15)
It wasn´t until the electoral campaign for Reagan began that the
right sought to make stark contrasts between the "good" and "bad"
sixties. The right felt that this decade (1960´s) was so was awful
for America because it degraded family and moral values. They
believed that the Vietnam war was a just cause and that all who
protested against it must surely be communists: not much has changed
in that regard for them either. President Ford was hardly more than a
blip on the screen for the republican party. President H.W. Bush and
his son continued to revise history such that war was, or at least
should be, noble and just and the presidents who presided over such
would have the best legacy. The fondest decade for the right was the
1950´s where white men ruled the world.
Despite the devastating loss of President Kennedy and Dr. King the
left felt that the 1960´s were a time to celebrate hope and to usher
in equality for ALL people. They (democrats), under President
Johnson, set about enacting programs that would help the poor,
provide increased opportunity to the minorities, and begin to turn a
wartime protest toward peace and prosperity. Kennedy and the left
contended that government could be a good thing for her people
because it helps to speed social justice and creates positive,
lasting change. Not many democratic presidents since have evoked
President Johnson or President Carter, but both were good men who
wanted what was best for ALL Americans. When President Clinton was
elected the right tried every dirty trick in the book to paint him as
a freewheeling, draft-dodging, product of the "bad" 1960´s. It did
not stick! President Clinton presided over the longest peacetime and
most prosperous period, for all classes, in our recent history. When
he left office there was a surplus for the first time ever,
previously the right had painted the left as tax and spend. President
Clinton proved that the democrats can be fiscally responsible and
effective on domestic and international policy too!
This book is jam packed with credible interviews from major
governmental players from both parties in the decades from 1960
through 2008. While some of the reading made me mad on general
principle others made me smile and filled me with pride. Long live
our right to free speech, open debate, and the two party system. I
would recommend this book for every undergraduate program in
government, history, civics, social studies, or public policy. Thank
you Dr. Von Bothmer for a very interesting and informative read!
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