The 1960s, especially 1964 to 1965, were an instrumental time of change at UCLA and in the world. The campus flourished with new buildings and gardens frequently being constructed. Pauley, Bunche, and the Japanese gardens are a few of the many new additions. Influential speakers often articulated radical ideas to the students, expanding their knowledge and spectrum of worldviews. Famous political figures such as Berry Goldwater, George Wallace, and President Lyndon B. Johnson voiced their opinions at UCLA along with famous civil rights leaders such at Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Academics at UCLA expanded and broadened to accommodate the new demands of the time period. Research centers and departments were made readably available to the ever-growing student population. Sports at UCLA excelled during these two years, demonstrated by the football team attending the Rosebowl and the Basketball team winning two NCAA titles. The tennis team also achieved a NCAA title in 1965. Although UCLA was often thought of as a smaller, less impressive Berkeley during the 60s, the events and facts presented on this website will surely prove this thought to be completely ridiculous and fictional.

EVENTS

Nelson Mandela: He was born on July 18, 1918 in Transkei, South Africa. He attended the University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand. In 1944, he became a member of the African national Congress and worked to fight against the apartheid policies of the National Party. He was put on trial in 1956 for treason and was not acquitted until the year 1961.

The African National Congress was banned in 1960. Mandela decided that the organization should have a military portion of its own protection. The executives did not say if they agreed or not, but they said that they would not stop him. The formation of the military led to the organization of Umkhonto We Sizwe. Mandela was again arrested in 1962. He was brought to trial in 1963 for planning a violent overthrow of the government. On June 12, 1864, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison. Eight of his peers were as well. He was at Robben Island Prison from 1964 to 1982 and then at Pollsmoor Prison. Many considered him the most significant black leader in South Africa and his anti-apartheid movement grew in number and strength. He sacrificed his freedom for his political position.

Mandela left prison on February 18, 1990. Mandela and the ANC campaigned in the 1994 elections. The ANC won with a 62% majority. On the 9 th of May 1994, Mandela was elected to become the President of the Republic of South Africa. Mandela worked strenuously against apartheid until it collapsed. He was a strong leader worked and gained rights for black Africans in South American. He is an international symbol of determination.

To learn more about Nelson Mandela, click here.

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The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The act was a great accomplishment due in part to the activities of the civil rights movement of African Americans in the 1950s and early 1960s. Challenging the United States Constitution through the courts of the country and participating in several non-violent protests, African Americans demonstrated their need for equal justice among American society. Began by President John F. Kennedy and passed during President Johnson’s administration, the act guarantees people of all ethnicities equal treatment under the law. The act began as follows:

“To enforce the constitutional right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to provide injunctive relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the Attorney General to institute suits to protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, and for other purposes.” Back to top

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: passed in 1964 following the alleged North Vietnamese torpedo attack on U.S. Destroyers that were on a reconnaissance mission off the coast of North Vietnam. The resolution granted President Johnson the power to take all necessary measures to “repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” Despite the lack of evidence that the attack actually occurred Congress passed the resolution, which resulted in the drastic escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Back to top

1964 U.S. Presidential Election: Incumbent U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson won a mandate over Republican nominee Barry Goldwater. He won by 61% of the vote, the largest win in U.S. history. Barry Goldwater was a very stern candidate, and seemed quite uncompromising during his campaign. He voted against the Civil Rights Act, which greatly hurt him in the long run. Although his position was that decisions like this should be left to the individual states, he came off as a racist to the majority of the population. President Johnson championed the Civil Rights act. He positioned himself as a moderate, and succeeded in portraying Goldwater as an extremist. Goldwater made many blunt statements about war, nuclear weapons, and economics that could be used against him. For Example, Johnson skewed Goldwater’s advocacy of nuclear weapons in Vietnam through the “Daisy Girl” commercial. In this commercial, a girl picking daisies gets annihilated by a nuclear explosion. Johnson won 44 of the 50 states. Goldwater won his home state of Arizona, and 5 states in the deep south. This was the first time that the majority of the South voted this way, and they have continued to vote republican to this day. Back to top

Sproul Hall Sit-In at Berkeley: On December 3, 1964, Police arrested over 800 students at UC Berkeley. Berkeley students were enraged by the UC Regents decision to forbid Vietnam War protests on the U.C. property on November 24th. Students were also upset that the Free Speech Movement leaders, such as Mario Savio and Jackie Goldberg, were to face disciplinary action. The movement demanded that the University drop the charges, because they felt that only courts had the right to regulate political activity, on or off campus. The movement gave the University a 24 hour ultimatum on December 1st, at which time a demonstration would take place. The University failed to comply. The Free Speeck Movement attracted 6,000 people to the demonstration on December 3, 1964. 1,000 people occupied Sproul Hall, and over 800 of them stayed for an overnight sit-in. The governor of California at the time, Governor Brown, sent in a police force to clear out and arrest the students. The Chancellor urged the students to leave, but they refused. This demonstration led to action by the faculty and the administration to change its stringent policy. Back to top

Malcolm X Assassination: Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21st, 1965 while leading a rally in New York City. Through his leadership of a militant Black Nationalist group, Malcolm X strove to stop white exploitation of African Americans. The police reported that the shooting was a result of a dispute between Malcolm’s followers and the Black Muslims, which was the extremist group Malcolm had recently deserted. Back to top

Voting Rights Act 1965: By 1965, state disenfranchisement was prevalent in certain American states, especially the states in the South. On March 7, 1965, state troopers launched an attack on nonviolent marchers that were crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The marchers were on their way to Montgomery, where they were to protest at the capitol. The incident persuaded Congress to take action against Southern state governments’ resistance to African American enfranchisement. The 15 th amendment had previously guaranteed voting rights to African Americans. However, Southern state government had created clever obstacles to prevent the African American population from voting. The voting rights act continued to be amended throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The 1965 Act was significant because it demonstrated President Johnson and Congress’ recognition that major changes would have to be implemented in what constituted the United States’ Law of the 1960s. Back to top

Julian Schwinger: He was a professor of Physics at UCLA from 1972 until his passing in 1994. He has been of the campus’ most valuable assets and his most recognized award win took place in 1965. During this year, Schwinger, along with Richard Feynman and Sin Itiro Tomanaga, received the Nobel Prize in physics for their discoveries in quantum electrodynamics. Schwinger spent countless years at UCLA, where he is remembered to have been an inspiration to all his students. As a professor, he was the supervisor of more than 70 doctoral theses, including those of three of his students who were to become Nobel Laureates themselves. Schwinger’s professional career began years before he came to UCLA… To see more, Click here

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Created by Geoffrey Smith, Jaime Gilmour, Sarah Mohajeri, and Jena Youngflesh

GE Cluster 60CW Seminar 7 - UCLA in the 1960's

last updated: 6/13/2005