KENNEDY – JOHNSON – NIXON
60-63
Kennedy
FOREIGN
Cuban Missile Crisis
Bay of Pigs
Vietnam
Space Race
Arms Race
DOMESTIC
New Frontier
Civil Rights
Assassination
63-69
Johnson
FOREIGN
• Vietnam
• War Powers
Act
• Tet Offensive
• Cold War
• Space Race
• Arms Race
DOMESTIC
Great Society
Civil Rights
Credibility Gap
69-74
Nixon
FOREIGN
Vietnamization
Pentagon Papers
DOMESTIC
Southern Strategy
50s spills into the 60s
• US financial support of Southern
Vietnamese democracy
• Civil Rights
• Cold War spills into western
hemisphere.
• Space Race
• Arms Race
Leading in to the 60s
Civil Rights Movement
• Boycotts & protests to
desegregate public
facilities leads in the
south leads to an all out
equality movement
throughout the nation.
Domino Theory
• The U.S. sends money
& advisors and
weapons to Vietnam to
help support the
southern democratic
government.
Leading in to the 60s
• Cuban Revolution
– Fidel Castro begins a
revolt in 1953 to
overthrow Fulgencio
Batista.
– Jan 1 1959 Batista
ousted and Communism
& Castro take control in
Cuba.
Space & Arms Race
• Soviet union the first
launch
– Intercontinental
Ballistic Missile 1957
– Launch a satellite
• Sputnik 1958
– Human in space
• Yuri Gagarin 1961
• Resulted in NASA &
American schools
pushing Math &
Science courses.
Election of 1960
Kennedy v Nixon
• 1st Televised
Presidential debate
• Winner?
– TV= Kennedy
– Radio = Nixon
• Kennedy looked
–
–
–
–
Younger
Cool
Relaxed
Smiled
Kennedy Wins
Kennedy 1st catholic ever elected….
Youngest at 43 years old
Kennedy’s New Frontier
Increased
– Education
• Especially science & math
– Equal Pay for women
– Dept. of Urban Affairs
Bay of Pigs
• La Brigada- anticommunist Cuban exiles
& CIA attempt to
overthrow & kill Castro.
• Invasion was a disaster
• Made Kennedy & the US
look weak &
unorganized.
Berlin Wall
• Khrushchev wanted to
stop East Germans
from escaping to the
West.
• Khrushchev also
wanted all democratic
nations out of Germany
• Was a visible symbol of
Cold War division
Cuban Missile Crisis
• 13 day Nuclear
faceoff between US
& Soviet Union
• U2 Spy planes
discovers Soviet
missiles in Cuba…
Cuban Missile Crisis
Kennedy orders US US-Soviet nuclear war
destroyers to blockade closest its ever been.
Cuba from Soviet Ships
Soviet ship
ignores
blockade
Cuban Missile Crisis
Ok,
then how
Because
you
about you
promise
Then
get
your
have
Nukes
in
to
not invade
Cuba
nukes
out
of
Turkey…Its
self
& I will remove all
Turkey
defense
my
nukes
Don’t you realize
Why are you putting
how
close
we
are to
That’s
not
gonna
your nukes in my
going
to nuclear
Agreed!
happen
backyard?
war?
• Kennedy was loved by the
majority of Americans
• Refused to send troops to
Vietnam
• Family investigated the
mafia
• Kennedy proposed new
bills that upset congress
• Challenged the Federal
Reserve
• His assassination and the
assassination of his
“killer” sparked
conspiracy theories.
• Death shocked Americans
when Americans were
starting to trust
government again.
• LBJ & Nixon’s office full
of lies & corruption
LBJ & the Great Society
• LBJ swears in aboard Air
Force One shortly after
JFK is killed.
• Great Society promised
to expand on
Kennedy’s New
Frontier
–
–
–
–
Health
Education
Poverty
Social
Great Society
Health &
Welfare
Education
War on Poverty Consumer &
Environmental
Protection
MedicareHealth
insurance for
the elderly
Medicaid-health
care for low
income families
Head Start –
Preschool for
disadvantaged &
low income
families
Housing &
Urban Living
Highway Safety
Act
Office of
Economic
Opportunity
Water Quality
Fair Packaging &
Labeling
LBJ’s Legacy
• Good Domestic Policy
• Southerners referred to
him as “Judas” because
of his civil rights
legislation
• Lies & corruption
surrounding Vietnam
killed his credibility
• In March of 1968
Johnson announced he
would not run again.
1968
Worst year in American History ?
•
•
•
•
•
Riots
Rebellion
Assassinations
Political Distrust
Economic Downturn
• MLK assassinated
• Robert Kennedy assassinated
• Riot at the Democratic
National Convention
• Tet Offensive
• Nixon becomes President
Richard Nixon
Democrats
• R. Kennedy’s
assassination left DEMs
leaderless.
• Democratic national
Convention riots left
DEMs looking weak
Republicans
• Nixon uses his
Southern Strategy
– Promise to overturn civil
rights legislation
• Vietnamization- U.S.
policy of transferring
fighting and directing the
war to the government
and forces of South
Vietnam