The United States and the Soviet Union were "eyeball to eyeball" at the time of the missile crisis in 1962. Several questions deserve attention so that students can see how precarious the situation was. What was the relationship between the United States and the new Cuban regime led by Fidel Castro? How much responsibility does Kennedy bear for the failure at the Bay of Pigs? And how did that failure affect Kennedy's view of the need to be firm about the missiles? How close was war? How was the situation resolved? After the lecture the instructor might consider throwing the matter open to general discussion by the class. See the suggestions in the chapter bibliography under "Foreign Affairs in the Sixties" and also Mark J. White, The Cuban Missile Crisis (1996), and James G. Blight et al., Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis, and the Soviet Collapse (1993). Other useful sources are William J. Medland, The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962: Needless or Unnecessary?, and Robert Kennedy, Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1969). McGeorge Bundy, in Danger and Survival: Choices About the Bomb in the First Fifty Years (1988), offers a masterful seventy-page chapter on the missile crisis from the vantage point of an "owl," a dove without illusions. See also Mary S. McAuliffe, editor, CIA Documents on the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 (1992), and Robert Smith Thompson, The Missiles of October: The Declassified Story of John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1992). For a collection of ideas, see James A. Nathan, editor, The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited (1992).

The civil-rights revolution of the 1960s, the "second reconstruction" to use C. Vann Woodward's phrase, was a matter of momentous importance. A useful bibliographic essay is George Rehin, "Of Marshalls, Myrdals, and Kings: Some Recent Books About the Second Reconstruction," Journal of American Studies 22 (April 1988): 87-103. The career of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., his ideology, and his impact on American life are of interest and significance. Students need to understand why he has been honored with a national holiday and why a number of states long refused to recognize that holiday. A lecture on Dr. King's life will be improved by consideration of another African-American leader, Malcolm X, a man of vastly different background and philosophy. The contrast between them will prove instructive. See David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1955-1968 (1986); Stephen B. Oates, Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1982); and David Levering Lewis, King: A Biography (second edition; 1978). See Peter Goldman, The Death and Life of Malcolm X (1974); The Autobiography of Malcolm X with the Assistance of Alex Haley (1964); John Henrik Clarke, editor, Malcolm X: The Man and His Times (1969); and Michael Eric Dyson, Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X (1995). In Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare (1991), James H. Cone maintains that despite their differences Malcolm and King were moving toward each other ideologically near the ends of their lives. Shorter accounts of King by David L. Lewis and of Malcolm by Peter Goldman can be found in John Hope Franklin and August Meier, editors, Black Leaders of the Twentieth Century (1982).

A second lecture on the civil-rights movement might focus on the dramatic confrontations by means of which African-Americans sought recognition of their full entitlement to American rights. These include the events in Mississippi, Birmingham, and Selma. The lecture should explain both goals and strategy and then develop the story in all its drama. Video materials cited in the "Print and Nonprint Resources" section can be used to good effect. See David J. Garrow, Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (1978); Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer (1988); Charles M. Payne, I've Got the Light of Freedom: The Organizing Tradition and the Mississippi Freedom Struggle (1995); and John Dittmer, Local People: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Mississippi (1994).

Still a third lecture topic dealing with the civil-rights movement concerns the violence that developed in the second part of the decade. America was dismayed by outbreaks of rioting in ghetto areas in a number of cities, and students today may have difficulty understanding what happened. What caused the riots? What was their nature? What was the response to them? The government account is provided in The Kerner Report: The 1968 Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (reprinted in 1988). See also Joe F. Feigin and Harlan Hahn, Ghetto Revolts: The Politics of Violence in American Cities (1973). Gerald Horne, Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960s (1995), focuses on the Watts riot, and Arthur I. Waskow, From Race Riot to Sit-In, 1919 and the 1960s (1966), makes a comparison with the Chicago riot of 1919. For aspects of the civil-rights movement useful for all three lectures, consult Steven F. Lawson, "Freedom Then, Freedom Now: The Historiography of the Civil Rights Movement," American Historical Review 96 (April 1991): 456-471.

The 1960s were a decade of political assassination: the two Kennedys, Dr. King, Malcolm X. Although the Warren Commission was charged with settling any controversy concerning President Kennedy's assassination, speculation about his death has never ceased. The instructor may wish to raise student awareness of this matter by lecturing on several of the more prominent theories. See the Report of the Warren Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, published by Bantam in 1963. Consult David W. Belin, November 22, 1963: You Are the Jury; Edward J. Epstein, Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth (1972); David S. Lifton, Best Evidence: Disguise and Deception in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy (1980); and Michael L. Kurtz, "The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: A Historical Perspective," The Historian 45 (November 1982): 1-19.

Lyndon Baines Johnson was a wily politician from Texas, a New Deal Democrat, adept in the arts of compromise and notable for his willingness to be overbearing. His successes in domestic policies were major and many. The disastrous war in Vietnam drove him from office. His life story and his concern for his fellow Americans suggest that the American dream has much truth. Yet President Johnson is seldom remembered with the affection reserved for his much less successful predecessor. Students need a lecture on the career of Lyndon Johnson and on the importance of style and substance in American political life, as well as a brief comparison with John F. Kennedy. Several titles are suggested in the section of the chapter bibliography on Lyndon Johnson. See also Eric F. Goldman, The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson (1969); Bertrand J. Firestone and Robert C. Vogt, editors, Lyndon Baines Johnson and the Uses of Power (1988); and H. W. Brands, The Wages of Globalism: Lyndon Johnson and the Limits of American Power (1994).