The 1960s Kennedy’s America

Nixon

JFK

1960 Presidential Election• Eisenhower was ‘termed out’ • Nixon (Rep. Ike’s VP) v JFK (Dem.) • JFK Won. A number of factors helped him.

– Recession blamed on Republican – Civil Rights

• Helped MLK get out of jail (he’d been held on phony charges)• Won JFK a large percentage of black votes• Big deal in a close election; JFK won by only 100,000 votes

– Dawning of television era• JFK was ‘telegenic’ • What impact on voters of a transition from connecting with a

candidate through the printed word to connecting with a candidate through TV?

Presidents Then

Presidents Now

‘Camelot’• JFK and his wife Jacqueline (or Jackie-O)

were young and attractive

• They were known for being young, witty, and classy

• Jackie-O set fashion trends

• Term Camelot compared JFK’s white house to King Arthur’s court, full of dashing and brave knights

• (Marilyn Monroe clip http://www.funstrangeamazing.com/?p=1154)

Domestic Politics: The New Frontier• Old Frontier ? The Wild West explore new areas

and broaden American horizons physically

•New Frontier ? Social Problems explore overlooked societal problems broaden America’s horizons metaphorically

•Poverty

estimated that 60 million Americans were in poverty

responded by lowering taxes & increasing government spending (aka deficit spending)

also increased minimum wage to $1.25

Peace Corps

created a volunteer program for Americans to help poverty stricken nations throughout the world

Also spread a positive American image

• Technology

to compete with Soviet space superiority Kennedy increased government spending & promised America a man on the moon within 10 years (successful! happened in 1969)

led to new technologies for science & industry which helped economy

• Civil Rights

supported Civil Rights Activists by providing troops to protect their efforts in the South

created a Civil Rights bill that guaranteed equal access to all public accommodations and gave the U.S. Attorney General (his brother) the power to file school desegregation suits

•Kennedy died before approved, but later became the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (one of the most important pieces of Civil Rights Legislation in American history)

Foreign Policies: Cold War Tension• Sputnik (1957)

– First man-made satellite– Soviets are ahead– They can launch bombs

farther than us!

• Cuba not ‘Contained’ (1959) – Cuban revolution under

Fidel Castro – Cuba is now communist– First Western

Hemisphere Communist nation enemy in our own backyard

• U2 Incident (1960) – An American spy plane

was shot down while flying over the Soviet Union

– Americans denied it was a spy plane

• American (Francis Gary Powers) was supposed to commit suicide with poison if caught, but he did not

– Soviets produced the American pilot who admitted he was on a spying mission

– Increased suspicions

Further Problems During JFK’s Presidency

Berlin and CMC• Berlin Crisis (1961)

Germans living in East Berlin were moving to West Berlin

Why? Western economy was more successful!

angered Soviets because it made communism look bad

Soviets built the Berlin Wall –ended crisis but escalated Cold War tensions

STOP HERE FOR DAY #1

•Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

USSR placed nuclear missiles on island of Cuba

nearly led to nuclear war between U.S. & U.S.S.R – Kennedy able to successfully convince Soviets to remove missiles

• Hot Line (1963)

Kennedy & Khrushchev (Soviet leader) decide to establish a direct phone line between the leaders to prevent future crises