The 1960s…

Essential Question:
 To what degree did Kennedy’s “New Frontier”
domestic & foreign policy differ from Truman &
Eisenhower in the 1950s?

Essential Question #2:

To what degree was Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” a continuation
of JFK’s “New Frontier” domestic agenda?
Kennedy &
the New Frontier
But,
it was Frontier
not the 1st time TV
JFK’s
New
influenced politics…
Eisenhower used McCarthy was destroyed by
TV in the Army-Senate
TV to campaign
hearings
in 1952 & 1956
The election of 1960 between Richard Nixon & John F. Kennedy
wasused
the 1 to
TV debates:
Nixon
touseTV
to TN Senator Kefauver
defendNixon
himself
inbetter
theknownused
TV
to investigate
was much
but the
TV debates
helped swing
undecided speech
voters towards JFK
“Checkers”
organized crime

st



1960 marked the beginning of television dominance in politics
Image & appearance became essential traits for candidates
The JFK era began “Camelot” comparisons
with JFK as a modern-day Lancelot


Kennedy’ administration reflected youth, energy, & sharp break
from Eisenhower
JFK promised a New Frontier:


Domestic reforms in education, health care, & civil rights
A foreign policy committed to defeating the Soviet Union & winning
the Cold War
JFK’s New Frontier
…the extension of
Social Security…
An
increase
in the
…and
medical
insurance
…unemployment for the minimum
wage
elderly were
all
benefits…
shot down
by Congress
Increased
funds for
public
JFK’s New Frontier promised a return of
FDR-era housing
liberal policies:
Aid for public
schools…




But, Conservatives in Congress opposed JFK’s social reforms in
education & health care
Congress did help the poor
The modernization of industry, gov’t spending, & a major tax cut in
1963 stimulated the economy & created jobs
JFK’s New Frontier
JFK’s New Frontier
JFK appointed tough, pragmatic, &
academic “New Frontiersmen” to his staff

One long-lasting achievement of the JFK-era was strengthening
the presidency:


Kennedy referred to his staff as
Eisenhower left many decisions to his staff, but JFK demanded more
“thecontrol
best & the brightest”
direct the
presidential
JFK transferred much of the decision-making power from the cabinet
to his White House staff
Kennedy Intensifies
the Cold War
Kennedy Intensifies the Cold
War

Addressing U.S. foreign policy & containing Communism was
JFK’s top priority as president:

JFK believed Ike compromised with the USSR when the Cold War
could have been won
JFK aimed to close the “missile gap” & increase U.S. defenses
Looked to solve issues in Berlin, Vietnam, & Cuba
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us
well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear
any burden, meet any hardship, support any
friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival &
success of liberty. We will do this & more.”
—JFK’s inaugural address


Flexible Response

JFK shifted from Ike’s “mutually assured destruction” to a
“flexible response” capable of responding to a variety of future
problems:
JFK was convinced that the USSR had more
arsenal
ICBMs
& 32
Polaris
subs to
create a
missiles,
butnuclear
really
theto 1,000
U.S.
had
the
lead
with
To Increased
combat
Communism
&
to
help
“first-strike” capability
600 B-52s,
2 Polaris
subs,
2,000
warheads
Increased the army
& air force
underdeveloped
countries,
JFK
created
the
Expanded covert operations & created the Green Berets
Peace Corps & the Alliance for Progress



The Apollo
Program
The Space
Race

JFK hoped to avoid another Sputnik & hoped to beat the Soviets
to the moon:


JFK greatly expanded NASA & announced that the U.S. would get to
the moon by 1970
The U.S. landed a man on the moon in 1969

JFK’s 1st confrontation with the Soviet Union came in Berlin:


Khrushchev was upset with the exodus of skilled workers from East
Germany to West Berlin
The USSR threatened to remove all U.S. influence from West Berlin,
but settled on building the Berlin Wall in 1961
Crisis over Berlin
“Ich bin ein Berliner”
—JFK, 1963
Containment in Vietnam

Vietnam proved to be a tough test:
Since 1954,
leaderis
Ho what
Chi Minhhappened
gained popularity
“Strongly
inCommunist
our mind
inin
North Vietnam; By 1961, he gained a foothold in the South
China
at the end of World War II, where
The U.S. gave aid to unpopular South leader Ngo Dihn Diem
When Diem
lostlost.
control of
the South,
gave thethat.”
OK for a coup
China
was
We
don’tJFKwant
against Diem in 1963
—JFK



Vietnam
Viet Minh are Vietnamese
communists in North Vietnam
Viet Cong are Vietnamese
communists in South Vietnam
Monk Quang Duc protested Diem’s
treatment of Buddhists
Containing Castro: Bay of Pigs

Fidel Castro took over Cuba in 1959 & developed ties with Russia


JFK blamed the Republicans for
allowing a “communist satellite”
to arise on “our very doorstep”
The Eisenhower administration (directed by the CIA) had been
training Cuban exiles for an invasion & overthrow of Castro
In 1961, JFK gave the OK for the CIA to initiate the Bay of Pigs
invasion
The invasion called for U.S. air support
but JFK canceled the air strike; without air
support, Castro squashed the invasion
Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure
of Bay of Pigs, but did not apologize for coup
Missile
24Cuban
medium-range
& 18 Crisis
short range ICBMs



To protect Cuba from another U.S. invasion, the USSR began a
secret build-up of nuclear missiles
On Oct 14, 1962 a U-2 spy plane discovered Cuban missile camps
How would the U.S. respond?
Immediate air strike?
Full-scale Cuba
invasion?
Kennedy chose to “quarantine”
to
keep new
missiles
out & an invasion of
Diplomacy:
trade
nukes in
Naval
blockade
to
if the USSR
did not remove its nukes
CubaCuba
for nukes
in Turkey?
keep warheads out?
Kennedy announced a quarantine (blockade) to
The
Cuban
Missile
Crisis
"We
are
eyeball
to
eyeball,
and
the
keep more missiles out & demanded that the
other
fellow
just
blinked."
Soviets remove the missiles already in Cuba
—Sec of State, Dean Rusk
removal of
Cuban And…U.S.
Missile Crisis
nuclear weapons in Turkey
“Our most basic common link is the fact that
The standoff ended when Russia removed its Cuban missiles &
we all
inhabit
this
We all breathe the
the USA
vowed to
neverplanet.
invade Cuba
sameTheair.
Weof all
cherish our children’s future.
impact
the crisis:
We are
allformortal.”
Seen as a political
victory
JFK
Installed a “hot line” to improve US-Soviet communications
—JFK





This near-nuclear war convinced both sides to move from
confrontation to negotiation

Essential Question:
 To what degree was Lyndon Johnson’s
“Great Society” a continuation of JFK’s
“New Frontier” domestic agenda?
"Let Us Continue"
Nov 22, 1963
in Dallas,
JFK was
assassinated
& VP
Lyndon
LBJ On
helped
push
through
the
greatest
array
of
Johnson became president:
liberal
legislation in U.S. history (“Great
LBJ was a master politician with a reputation for getting results
Society”),
FDR’s
New Deal
LBJ promisedsurpassing
to continue Kennedy's
liberal agenda




LBJ ultimately exceeded JFK’s record on providing economic & racial
equality
Americans were stunned this
rapid succession of events
The Zabruder Film
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Lincoln
Lincoln was elected to Congress
in 1846 & as President in 1860
He was directly concerned with
Civil Rights
Lincoln was shot in the head in
front of his wife on a Friday
Lincoln shot in the Ford Theatre
The assassin, John Wilkes
Booth, was known by three
names of 15 letters
Booth shot Lincoln in a theater
and fled to a warehouse (barn)
Booth was killed before being
brought to trial
There were theories that Booth
was part of a greater conspiracy
Lincoln's successor was Andrew
Johnson, born in 1808
•
•
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Kennedy
Kennedy was elected to Congress
in 1946 & as President in 1960
He was directly concerned with
Civil Rights
Kennedy was shot in the head in
front of his wife on a Friday
Kennedy shot in a Lincoln (Ford)
The assassin, Lee Harvey
Oswald, was known by three
names of 15 letters
Oswald shot Kennedy from a
warehouse and fled to a theater
Oswald was killed before being
brought to trial
There were theories that Oswald
was part of a greater conspiracy
Kennedy's successor was Lyndon
Johnson, born in 1908
Lyndon Johnson in Action

The most significant legislation on race
since the Reconstruction Amendments
LBJ quickly pushed through Congress 2 key “Kennedy” bills:


A $10 billion reduction in income taxes that led to increased consumer
spending & new jobs
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 that declared segregation in public
facilities illegal & protected black voting rights
Lyndon Johnson in Action



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
In 1964, the U.S. had
35
million
poor
people
Created the Job Corps for high school dropouts
In 1964, LBJ waged a “war on poverty in America” & created the
Office of Economic Opportunity:
Head Start for preschoolers
Adult education & technical training opportunities
As a result, America had 10 million fewer poor people by 1970
The Election of 1964

In 1964, LBJ ran against:



Conservative Republican Barry Goldwater rejected LBJ’s liberal
welfare programs & called for a stronger foreign policy stance
Segregationist George Wallace
LBJ won in a landslide & the Democrats took control of Congress
for 1st time in 25 years
The “Daisy” Campaign Spot
http://www.livingroomcandidat
e.org/commercials/1964/peacelittle-girl-daisy
The Great Society

Once elected, LBJ initiated his “Great Society” domestic agenda:



Medicare & Medicaid extended health insurance to the elderly & the
poor
Extended $1 billion to improve public & parochial schools
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned literacy tests & provided for
federal registrars for polls
The Triumph of Reform

By 1965, Congress passed
LBJ’s social agenda:



89 laws or reforms as part of
The Great Society was the most comprehensive agenda of social
reform since FDR
But…the American people did not respond well to LBJ
Soon…events in Vietnam, would taint his presidency
Johnson Escalates
the Vietnam War
War
“I am not going to lose Vietnam. I am
not going to be the president who saw
Southeast Asia go the way China went.”
—LBJ

LBJ continued JFK’s strong foreign policy positions too:



He supported CIA-sponsored coups in Brazil, Panama, & the
Dominican Republic
LBJ continued Eisenhower & JFK policies towards Vietnam
But in doing so, LBJ found himself under attack from Congress,
the media, & universities
LBJ Escalates the Vietnam War


During the Gulf of Tonkin affair in Aug 1964, the military
bombed North Vietnam in retaliation for an attack on the USS
Maddox
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave LBJ the authority to:


Defend Vietnam at any cost
Unlimited military intervention to be used at LBJ’s discretion
The
Vietnam War
LBJ’s advisors wanted 100,000 troops in 1965
& a plan for 100,000 more in 1966; Estimations
were 500 U.S. deaths per month

1965 marked the beginning of full-scale U.S. involvement in
Vietnam


LBJ was informed that “without U.S. action, defeat is inevitable”
LBJ authorized bombing raids into North Vietnam & requested
50,000 U.S. soldiers sent to Asia

LBJ never explained to the American people how the gov’t
planned to win the war in Vietnam
LBJ took middle road of limited U.S.
Escalation
intervention: not a withdrawal & not a
full-scale invasion of North Vietnam
Stalemate

By 1968, 500,000 U.S. troops stationed to keep Vietnam from
falling to Communism




U.S. bombings & “search & destroy” attacks were ineffective
Soviet & Chinese weaponry freely flowed into North Vietnam
Reckless bombings killed thousands of innocent civilians
The bloody stalemate & media depiction of the war led to
protests
Image of the “My Lai Massacre,” 1968
Conclusions



The early 1960s under JFK represented consumer spending, a
strong stance on the Cold War, & more social reforms at home
The transition to LBJ in 1963 brought success at home (civil rights
& the Great Society)
But, heightened involvement in Vietnam signaled the onset of the
counter-culture movement by 1968