1968-70s

Black Militancy, White Backlash
A period of black militancy and white backlash. Blacks and whites began to question the value of desegregation. Whites’ resistance in the North to school busing for desegregation, and their opposition to LBJ’s Great Society programs became the vanguard of that backlash and “not in my backyard” syndrome. The Vietnam War drained the Civil Rights Movement of much steam, as enormous numbers of whites joined the anti-war movement. A rising concern about crime in the cities, where blacks were segregated, became a national fear. Richard M. Nixon, campaigning for “law and order,” was elected President. He appointed “strict constructionists” to the U.S. Supreme Court, replacing the more liberal Warren Court justices.