Around 1965 the optimistic American mood that had persisted from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s began to shatter. The reasons for this fragmentation were twofold: the war in Vietnam and social unrest at home. American involvement in Vietnam began in the late 1950s, a product of a foreign policy that held that containing Communism required committing American military and economic power to stop its spread.

There are 17 images in this gallery, click on image to enlarge.

	"Da Nang, Vietnam . . . A young Marine private waits on the beach during the Marine landing" By an unknown photographer, August 3, 1965 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Marine Corps (127-N-A185146) [VENDOR # 136]
	"SP4 Ruediger Richter (Columbus, Georgia), 4th Bn., 503 Inf., 173 Abn Bde (Separate), lifts his battle weary eyes to the heavens, as if to ask why? SGT. Daniel E. Spencer (Bend, Oregon) stares down at their fallen comrade. The day's battle ended, they silently await the helicopter which will evacuate their comrade from the jungle covered hills in Long Khanh Province." By Pfc. L. Paul Epley, 1966 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (111-SC-635974) [VENDOR # 135]
	"A female demonstrator offers a flower to military police on guard at the Pentagon during an anti-Vietnam demonstration." By S.Sgt. Albert R. Simpson, Arlington, Virginia, October 21, 1967 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (111-CC-46331) [VENDOR # 139]
	Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; President Lyndon Johnson in background. By Yoichi Okamoto, Washington, DC, March 18, 1966 Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, National Archives and Records Administration (A2133-10) [VENDOR # 130]
	President Lyndon Johnson listens to a tape recording from his son-in-law Capt. Charles Robb, who was a Marine Corps company commander in Vietnam. By Jack Kightlinger, Washington, DC, July 31, 1968 Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, National Archives and Records Administration (B1274-16) [VENDOR # 137]
	"Rising earth greets Apollo VIII astronauts as they come from behind the moon after the lunar orbit insertion burn. Earth is about 5 degrees above the horizon." By William Anders, December 29, 1968 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Information Agency (306-PSD-68-4049c) [VENDOR # 142]
	"Close-up view of an astronaut's leg and foot and footprint in the lunar soil, photographed with a 70mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 lunar surface extravehicular activity. Astronaut Michael Collins, command module pilot, remained with the Command Service Modules in lunar orbit while Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, commander, and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., lunar module pilot, explored the Moon." By Neil Armstrong , July 20, 1969 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Information Agency (306-PSD-69-3133c) [VENDOR # 141]
	"South China Sea . . . Crewmen of the amphibious cargo ship U.S.S. Durham (LKA-114) take Vietnamese refugees aboard from a small craft. The refugees will be transferred later by mechanized landing craft (LCM) to the freighter Transcolorado." By JO1 Mike McGougan, April 3, 1975 National Archives and Records Administration, General Records of the Department of the Navy, 1947- (428-K-108890) [VENDOR # 145]
	"Gas stations abandoned during the fuel crisis in the winter of 1973-74 were sometimes used for other purposes. This station at Potlatch, Washington, west of Olympia was turned into a religious meeting hall. Signs painted on the gas pumps proclaim 'fill up with the Holy Ghost . . . and Salvation.'" By David Falconer, April 1974 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Environmental Protection Agency (412-DA-13061) [VENDOR # 152]
	"Housing adjacent to U.S. Steel Plant" By Leroy Woodson, Birmingham Alabama, July 1972 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Environmental Protection Agency (412-DA-2911) [VENDOR # 146]
	"Religious fervor is mirrored on the face of a Black Muslim woman, one of some 10,000 listening to Elijah Muhammad deliver his annual Savior's Day message in Chicago. The city is headquarters for the Black Muslims. Their $75 million empire includes a mosque, newspaper, university, restaurants, real estate, bank, and variety of retail stores. Muhammad died February 25, 1975." By John H. White, Chicago, Illinois, March 1974 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Environmental Protection Agency (412-DA-13792) [VENDOR # 155]
	Richard Nixon departs from the White House before Gerald Ford was sworn in as President By Oliver F. Atkins, Washington, DC, August 9, 1974 Nixon Presidential Materials Project, National Archives and Records Administration (E3398-09) [VENDOR # 147]
	"Scenes of the Space Shuttle Challenger taken with a 70mm camera onboard the shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS-01)" By a Challenger crew member, June 22, 1983 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the U.S. Information Agency (306-PSE-83-2622/cA) [VENDOR # 156]
	President Reagan speaking at a rally for Senator Durenberger By Michael Evans, February 8, 1982 Ronald Reagan Library, National Archives and Records Administration (C6289-25) [VENDOR # 154]
	President George Bush enjoys Thanksgiving Dinner with U. S. troops stationed in the Persian Gulf By Susan Biddle, Saudi Arabia, November 22, 1990 George Bush Library, National Archives and Records Administration (P17671-28) [VENDOR # 192]
	"President Bill Clinton plays the saxophone presented to him by Russian President Boris Yeltsin at a private dinner hosted by President Yeltsin at Novoya Ogarova Dacha, Russia" By Bob McNeely, January 13, 1994 Courtesy of the White House (P011471-26A)
	"First Ladies Nancy Reagan, Ladybird Johnson, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rosalyn Carter, Betty Ford, and Barbara Bush sit together at the National Garden Gala, 'A Tribute to America's First Ladies.'" By Barbara Kinney, Washington, DC, May 11, 1994 Courtesy of the White House (P015515-28)
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