American Exceptionalism in the 1960s: A Historical Analysis

This essay delves into the concept of American Exceptionalism during the 1960s, analyzing the cultural attributes, domestic and international policies, and economic strategies that defined the decade. It highlights the technological advancements, the rise of new cultural expressions, and the civil rights movement as key cultural aspects. Domestically, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are examined for their impact on egalitarianism. Internationally, the essay discusses the US's foreign policies during the Cold War, focusing on containing the spread of communism. Economically, the paper explores the flourishing economy of the 1960s, including the stock market boom and the shift towards a service-based workforce, as well as the impact of the supply-side tax cuts. The essay concludes that the 1960s was a unique decade that established American Exceptionalism through its cultural, political, and economic achievements.

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American Exceptionalism, a concept proposed by Alexis de Tocqueville, refers to the
five characteristics that make America a great and exceptional country. These five characteristics
are liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism and laissez-faire economics. The decade of
the 1960’s was particularly an exceptional decade that had changed the history of America across
so many fronts. The paper discusses how the cultural attributes, the domestic policies,
international policies and the economic policies of the decade influenced the country to become a
truly exceptional country. The 1960’s was a decade of American Exceptionalism that can be seen
in its culture and the policies take during that period of time.
The 1960’s was a time where the world was changing rapidly and with it, America was
changing too. The middle part of the twentieth century was chaotic however, it was an exciting
time to be alive. The Second World War had just ended and there was a new war of ideologies,
the Cold War between the superpowers of United States of America and the Soviet Union. The
cultural attributes that made the country so exceptional during that decade was the development
of technology in the country. Television sets were becoming popular in the country. It was the
first time that people were talking freely about birth control pills that was revolutionizing sexual
attitudes. This attitude is truly an example of how exceptional the thought processes of the
people of the country was during that period of time that gave liberty to the people in true sense,
which is a characteristic of Exceptionalism. When talking about the further advancement in
technology, the most important and a fact of proud indeed was that two American astronauts,
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, had set foot on moon, the first time that people had walked on
moon (Baese-Berk, et al.). No other country had achieved that feat before. There was a rise of
new cultural expression that was reflected in the art industry. Women like Gloria Steinem and
Slyvia Plath, known feminist writers, were taking active participation were fighting against the

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unequal treatment of women. These cultural attributes set America apart from other countries
and make it exceptional in terms of the liberty and populism, the characteristics that were
presented by Alexis de Tocqueville as indicators of American Exceptionalism. The cultural
attributes thus make it special in a way that it becomes totally different from all other countries
in the world.
While talking about the domestic policies, the civil rights movement proposed by the then
president John F. Kennedy was a feat that changed the history of the country. The Civil Rights
Act of 1964 brought a major change in the way the people perceived people of different race and
ethnicities. The bill outlawed discrimination in employment, accessing public facilities and voter
registration (Thomas). This promotes the characteristic of egalitarianism characteristic of Alexis
for American Exceptionalism. This decade saw the country take action towards inclusion of all
people in employment and voting rights. However, the assassination of John F. Kennedy was a
big blow to the ideology that he represented with the people. It was in the year 1963 that the U.S.
Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech on “I have a Dream” that
stirred the emotions of not only the nation but resonated his ideologies across the globe. Another
domestic policy that promoted egalitarianism was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that guaranteed
the voting rights to the African Americans (Weissman). The inclusion of all the people from all
races and the upliftment of women in all the fields including the political, art and other industries
proved that America was ready to accept all cultures and recognize the importance of the
contribution in the economy that made it special and exceptional in its approach.
As far as the international policies of the United States taken in the 1960’s is concerned,
it is another accomplishment makes American Exceptionalism a more believable concept. The
world was recovering from the terrible effects of the Second World War and then in the decade a

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new war of ideologies called the Cold War was starting between the United States of America
and the Soviet Union. It was a clash of ideologies between democracy and communism. In the
wake of such tensions, various foreign policies were brought in to address the problems. The
United States of America was concerned about the spread of communism in the world and
therefore it took measures to stop it and bring in the idea of democracy. Democracy would give
rights to the people and the liberty to choose the government that would work for them.
Therefore, the 1960’s was a time where the foreign policies mostly focused on stopping the
spread of communism in the world. America identified the threats that the spread of communism
would bring if the ideology were adopted by all other countries (Comor). Thus, it can be said that
the United States was concerned about the possible negative impacts that communism would
bring and it worked towards stopping it. By understanding that nuclear war was the last resort,
America tried to engage in conventional limited wars. The then President of United States,
Eisenhower implemented unprecedented authority and deployed U.S. military troops abroad
however, he did not take any specific authorization from the U.S. Congress. These policies
proved to increase U.S. international obligations and was a clear hint that America was indeed
exceptional for thinking about the impact that communism would have on the world.
Individualism is the characteristic that has been portrayed in this approach were America
believes that every citizen of the country across nations should have the right to act and take
control over one’s life. This characteristic is an indicator of American Exceptionalism.
The economic policies taken by the government during the 1960’s also prove that the
country was well ahead in acknowledging the problems of its economy and the citizens when
compared with the rest of the world. The 1950’s is often described as a time of complacency that
changed with the arrival of 1960. There was the emergence of many new nations around the

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world and many movements to overthrow the existing governments. At this point of time, many
established governments were rivalling the government of America. However, the economy in
the 1960’s flourished (Clifton, Díaz-Fuentes and Revuelta). The stock market boom in the
1960’s was not followed by depression. The policies were making the workforce of America less
reliant on the industrial and the manufacturing industries and accepting the new age high-end
electronics in the dawn of Information Age (Brzezinski). The employees now found themselves
sitting behind the desks rather than making products with their own hands. In addition to this,
young women were also participating in feminist movements and they were demanding their
right to choose their own lifestyle and have the freedom to pursue their own professional careers.
The supply-side tax cuts that JFK had passed had increased the GDP of the economy by 5%. The
U.S. payrolls had increased by 32% and the highest growth rate in the employment was recorded
in the 1960’s. The economic policies were so good that it increased the government tax revenues
by 65% in the years between 1965 to 1970 (Baker, et al). These economic policies were a proof
that America was exceptional in doing what it was doing to help strengthen its economy. As
America is a capitalist economy, it promotes the concept of Laissez-faire economy, where there
is no interference by the government and it promotes the market economy, which is another
indicator of American Exceptionalism (Lewis).
Thus, it can be concluded that the above discussions and the points have proved that the
decade of the 1960’s was indeed a unique one and that made established the concept of
American Exceptionalism. America was exceptional in the way it established the various
domestic, international and economic policies. It did it in a way that no other country in the
world had though could be done. It appreciated the importance of recognizing that each and
every person despite their age, color, race, ethnicity and gender had an equal contribution in the

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economy and that each of them deserved respect and recognition. When referring to the cultural
attributes of the country, the country has always been seen to set trends and it did that in the
decade of 1960 too. Landing on the moon, using new technologies like television sets and the
computers were all an incredible feat that the country had achieved. Therefore, it can be said that
1960’s was the decade of American Exceptionalism that has been proved by the above
discussions.

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