The Politics of the 1960’s
The Politics of Consensus-A
Continuations of Truman and
Eisenhower Policies
“Democracy is never a final achievement. It is a call
to untiring effort, to continual sacrifice and the
willingness, if necessary to die in its defense.”
John F. Kennedy—March 19, 1963
John F Kennedy and the New Frontier- “The
Triumph of Style over Substance”
A. The Kennedy Mystique
1. Rhetorical Style of heroism
and self-sacrifice
2. Election of 1960-First
Television Campaign
a. Barely defeated Nixon
B. Height of the “American
Century” ideology
Kennedy-Nixon TV Debate
1. Economic Programs-tax cuts for
wealthy
a. early “trickle down
theory”
C. Primary Interest was Foreign
Policy
1. Cold War Warrior
2. Rhetoric of
anticommunism
3. Bay of Pigs Fiasco [1961]
4. Cuban Missile Crisis [1962]
D. The Myth of “Camelot”
E. Legacy
1. never seemed to understand
the struggle of normal people
2. Ultimate “Imperial President”
3. Called young people to serve
and encompassed civil rights
appealed
D. Assassination-Dallas Texas
1. Nov. 22, 1963
Lyndon Johnson becomes the 36th
President of the United States aboard
Air Force One
The Election of 1964
Race Relations Main Issue
Barry Goldwater ® -Arizona
VS
L. B. Johnson
61%
B. M. Goldwater
Lyndon Johnson and “The Great
Society”
A. Civil Rights Bill of 1964
B. Voting Rights Bill of 1965
1. Kennedy Legacy
C. Legislation included:
1. Employer Discrimination
2. Affirmative Action
3. Elimination of de jure segregation
in the South
Signing the Civil Rights Bill July 2, 1964
D. The Psychology of the Skirmish on
Poverty [“War on Poverty”]
1. Tax cut for wealthy
2. Individual Basis
3. Defining of Poverty
a. family of 4 at $3000 or less
b. poverty as a “real state”
4. Combating Poverty
a. sought to cure the psychology
of poverty instead of economics
5. Subculture of Poverty
-elimination was through
education
- “Headstart” and “Upward
Bound”
6. End Result
-Blamed poor people for
being poor
-failed to address the problem
of misdistribution of income
-emphasized individual
opportunity instead of massive
programs for employment
The Consequences of Vietnam on
the War on Poverty
A. Turned Great Society into a “skirmish
on poverty”
* Great Society might have worked
had it not been for Vietnam?