Framing The Sixties
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Think the 1960s are over?

Find out what they’re still doing to presidential politics.

The decade that gave us John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and Woodstock has been used as a fulcrum in presidential politics—by both parties—ever since Ronald Reagan, a fierce critic of “the sixties,” captured the presidency in 1980.

Every campaign that followed—including Obama’s—has used the era to define itself to its own constituencies. What was best about the sixties for some people is what was worst about it for others. Of that, political contests are made.

Now, as no other historian has done, Bernard von Bothmer follows the trail of the 60s into the presidencies of the 80s, 90s, the 00s and up to the present in Framing the Sixties: The Use and Abuse of a Decade from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush.

No decade of recent U.S. history has been mythologized like the Sixties. Historian Bernard von Bothmer has done a marvelous job of setting the historical record straight in Framing the Sixties. Instead of relying on staid orthodoxy von Bothmer analyzes the spin factor irresponsibly promulgated by both right and left. A truly important and essential study.
Douglas BrinkleyAuthor of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War and professor of history, Rice University


Framing the Sixties is a smart, important and impressively researched account of the decade that far too often is reduced to cliches by the left and the right. This book will be invaluable to anyone eager to know the real story behind the political and cultural consequences of that tumultuous time.
Tom BrokawAuthor of Boom! Talking About the Sixties
These framings, richly sourced for us with interviews with high-level Republicans and Democrats and speeches archived in presidential libraries, will be the crown jewel in syllabi for sixties courses.
Jerry LembckeAuthor of Hanoi Jane: War, Sex, and Fantasies of Betrayal and professor of sociology, College of the Holy Cross


This fine book illustrates the truth of the maxim that history is what the present wants to know about the past. To understand why the meaning of the 1960s remains a critical matter for both conservatives and liberals, Bernard von Bothmer’s careful study is the place to start.
Michael KazinCo-author, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s and professor of history, Georgetown University
No decade of recent U.S. history has been mythologized like the Sixties. Historian Bernard von Bothmer has done a marvelous job of setting the historical record straight in Framing the Sixties. Instead of relying on staid orthodoxy von Bothmer analyzes the spin factor irresponsibly promulgated by both right and left. A truly important and essential study.
Douglas BrinkleyAuthor of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War and professor of history, Rice University


Framing the Sixties is a smart, important and impressively researched account of the decade that far too often is reduced to cliches by the left and the right. This book will be invaluable to anyone eager to know the real story behind the political and cultural consequences of that tumultuous time.
Tom BrokawAuthor of Boom! Talking About the Sixties
A New Era Begins - John F. Kennedy embodied a new spirit of vitality and hope, and although he did not participate in most of the sixties era, his ideals would later be embraced by all sides of the political spectrum. The time of JFK's presidency has come to symbolize the "good sixties," conjuring up images of a strong national defense, peaceful civil rights protests, and the persistence of "traditional" cultural standards left over from the fifties.
Clinton and JFK - This iconic photo of a young Bill Clinton meeting his hero was used repeatedly during the Clinton presidential campaign to establish his direct "lineage" to the ideals of the Kennedy era. A more powerful and providential picture in aiding Clinton's political fortunes could not have been stage-managed to such effect.
Reagan and the Kennedys - Athough he never supported JFK for president, Ronald Reagan made glowing references to him during his own presidency. This was an example of Reagan's showman-like ability to gauge and speak to the sentiments of a wider audience than his "base." He is shown here on a visit to the JFK Library with Ted Kennedy, with whom he remained publicly cordial despite their strong political differences.

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