“Did the struggles and changes of the 1960’s make the U.S. more or less Democratic?” The 1960’s was a special time in America that we will never forget. The term democratic means more social equality and rights of the people. People realized that sitting and watching what was happening in front of them without saying anything would not help the situation. People stood up to protest the ways of society which were out of their control like to fight against racial segregation and for Civil Rights. This itself shows that the struggles and changes made the U.S more democratic during this period. At the beginning of John F Kennedys presidency, racism and civil rights was not one of his top priorities. He wanted to focus on more foreign policy issues …show more content…
The civil rights act did not however, address the right to vote. To show that blacks wanted to vote, the civil rights workers enrolled sixty-thousand African Americans in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. This was a huge step towards making the U.S more democratic at the time. In august 1964, they took their case to the National Democratic Convention seeking to be seated, but was denied. Martin Luther king an activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement, organized protest to try to get congress to act. He provoked Selma’s county sheriff Jim Clark, into brutally beating and arresting thousands of protesters. This caught congress attention because a few months later in august Lyndon B Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act expanding black suffrage. Native Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans were affected by liberalism too and inspired by Kennedys rhetoric, by Johnson’s actions and the assertive outlook of black power. Summing up his goals in 1964, Johnson offered his vision of the Great Society, which in the end had astounding results. The Great Society improved the lives of millions with Medicare and Medicaid, dropping the poor population rate and raising the average African American income. Native Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans were affected by liberalism too and inspired by Kennedys rhetoric, by Johnson’s actions and the assertive outlook of black