Kennedy & Johnson
Chapter 24
 Republicans
 Democrats
 Richard Nixon
 John F. Kennedy
 Rode on success of
 Youth & energy=Kennedy
Eisenhower’s
administration
mystique.
The Election Campaign of 1960
Issues in the Election
1. The Economy & the Cold War
 Kennedy warned of a “missile gap”
 Nixon & Kennedy considered themselves “Cold Warriors” –
(strong communist fighters)
2. Religion- Kennedy’s Catholicism became an issue; Kennedy
addressed the issue in a speech.
The Kennedy-Nixon Debates
 1st televised presidential debates (72 million viewers)
 4 debates total
 Kennedy appeared to win televised debates
** Both parties spent $6-$7.5 million on TV & radio ads
John F. Kennedy
1961 - 1963
*Youngest Candidate
Elected as US president
Aged 41.
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for
your country.”
Kennedy Policies
New Frontier
 Kennedy’s Domestic programs
 Increase aid in education, federal support for health & migrant
workers, and Civil Rights.
•
Few of JFK’s programs passed (because he had won by such a slim popular
vote margin, few Democrats would go out on a limb to support his ideas)
Kennedy & the Economy
• US economy in recession when JFK was elected.
1. Cut taxes
2. Deficit spending – encouraged Congress to spend money on Space
exploration & defense= more jobs & money in circulation.
3. Kept interest rates low
* JKF had the 1st Budget to top $100 Billion
The Supreme Court
 The Warren Court
 Chief Justice Earl Warren
 Landmark cases that changed
America
 *Brown v. Board of Education
(1954)- desegregation of public
schools.
 Baker v Carr (1962)
 Federal courts could try cases
against states redrawing
political district lines.
 Reynolds v Sims (1964)
 Most states’ current
apportionment was
unconstitutional
 “One Man, One Vote”
 Mapp v Ohio (1961)
 Unlawfully seized evidence
cannot be used in trial.
 Gideon v Wainwright (1963)
 Right to a lawyer
 Escobedo v Illinois
 Miranda v Arizona (1966)
 Miranda rights
 Engle v Vitale (1962)
 States could not compose &
require recital of official school
prayers.
 Griswold v Connecticut
 Prohibition of birth control
devices violated right to privacy.
 *Flexible Response
 Kennedy pushed for a build up
of conventional troops &
weapons along with Special
Forces (Green Berets)
 Kennedy felt that Eisenhower had
relied to heavily on nuclear
weapons.
 *Alliance for Progress
 Plan to improve relations with
South America
 Create a free Latin America
without support of
Communist Revolutions
 $20 Billion over 10 years to
Latin America for better
schools, housing etc.
 *Peace Corps
 Aid developing nations by
sending young people to do
humanitarian work
Kennedy & the Space Race
 1957- Soviet Union launched Sputnik-




1st unmanned satellite to orbit the
earth.
1961- Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin –
1st person to orbit the earth.
1961- Kennedy set a goal that the US
would land a man on the moon by the
end of the decade.
1962- John Glenn- 1st American to
orbit the earth.
1969- 3 Americans landed on the
moon; Neil Armstrong (1st man to
walk on the moon).
JOHN F. KENNEDY BECOMES PRESIDENT OF THE US IN 1961 AND INHERITS A PLANED
INVASION OF CUBA FROM THE EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION
• 1959- Fidel Castro & communist revolutionaries
toppled the US backed government of Fulgencio
Batista & established ties with the Soviet Union.
•Eisenhower & CIA trained Cuban exiles for an
invasion of Cuba to overthrow Castro.
•April 1961- Kennedy carried out the plan- 1,400
exiled Cubans landed at the Bay of Pigs.
BAY OF PIGS INVASION SITE
• Kennedy cancelled US air support, boats ran aground= disaster!!
THE INVASION WAS A FAILURE AND ALL THE CUBAN EXILE INVASION FORCE WAS
EITHER KILLED OR CAPTURED BY CASTRO’S ARMY.
CASTRO’S FORCES ON THE
MARCH
CASTRO’S AIR FORCE
DESTROYED THE
INVADING SHIPS
•June 1961- Kennedy & Soviet leader Khrushchev met in Austria.
•Khrushchev worried about flow of East Germans leaving & moving to West Berlin.
•Khrushchev demanded that US, Britain, & France withdraw from Berlin & recognize the
communist government of East Berlin.= KENNEDY REFUSED!
VISUAL SYMBOL OF Cold War ( DIVIDE BETWEEN US & USSR) until 1989
IN JUNE OF 1963 PRESIDENT KENNEDY WENT TO BERLIN AND DELIVERED HIS
FAMOUS “ICH BIN EIN BERLINER” ( I AM A BERLINER) TO SHOW U.S.
DETERMINATION TO KEEP BERLIN FREE.
1962- US INTELLIGENCE BEGAN RECEIVING REPORTS OF SOVIET MISSILES IN CUBA. A U2 FLIGHT ON AUGUST 29TH CONFIRMED THE PRESENCE OF SURFACE TO AIR MISSILE
BATTERIES IN CUBA. THESE MISSILES WERE DESIGNED TO SHOOT DOWN ENEMY
AIRCRAFT.
DECLASSIFIED 1962 MAP
SHOWING THE DISTANCES
NUCLEAR ARMED MISSILES
WOULD GO IF FIRED FROM
CUBA. ALMOST ALL MAJOR
US POPULATION CENTERS
WERE WITHIN RANGE.
MAPS LIKE THIS
CONVINCED JFK THAT THE
SOVIET MISSILES MUST BE
REMOVED FROM CUBA.
LOW ALTITUDE VIEW OF MISSILE PREPARATION AREA. THE PILOT TAKING THIS SHOT
FLEW AT AN ALTITUDE OF ABOUT 250 FEET, AND AT THE SPEED OF SOUND.
EACH ONE OF THE RUSSIAN MISSILES IN CUBA HAD THE EXPLOSIVE
POWER OF 50 HIROSHIMA TYPE ATOMIC BOMBS
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT Mc NAMARA, SECRETARY OF STATE DEAN RUSK
AND JFK, THE MAIN POLICY MAKERS DURING THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS ALONG
WITH ROBERT KENNEDY.
JFK HAD TWO CHOICES OF HOW TO DEAL WITH THE
SITUATION IN CUBA:
FIRST: HE COULD ORDER AIRSTRIKES ON THE MISSILE
SITES IN CUBA AND RISK AN ALL OUT NUCLEAR WAR
WITH THE USSR
SECOND: HE COULD ORDER A NAVAL BLOCKADE
(Quarantine) AND STOP SOVIET SHIPS FROM BRINGING
IN MISSILES AND OTHER EQUIPMENT. NO ONE KNEW
HOW THE RUSSIANS WOULD REACT TO THIS.
HE CHOSE THE NAVAL BLOCKADE
Oct. 28, 1962- Khrushchev gave in to U.S. pressure and removed Soviet missiles from Cuba for a
U.S. promise not to invade Cuba and a US promise to remove US missiles stationed in Turkey.
Soviet cargo ship leaving Cuba with missiles visible above
the desk
Missiles being loaded on Soviet ships for return to the
Soviet Union
Significance: brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever, US & Soviets
install “hotline” phones for better communication, 1963 nuclear atmospheric test
ban treaty- Khrushchev was removed from power by his own people.
November 22, 1963
Shot by Lee Harvey Oswald
Oswald shot 2 days later by Jack Ruby
*The Warren Commission
 Chief Justice Warren led
 Investigated the death of Kennedy
 **Decided Lee Harvey Oswald was lone killer
 Still left a lot of questions unanswered
 Today- conspiracy theories are abundant about JFK’s death.
 Johnson’s vision of a more perfect &
equitable society
 *War on Poverty
 Johnson wanted to attack poverty in the
US
 Economic Opportunity Act
 Purpose to create jobs & fight poverty
 *Volunteers in Service to America
(VISTA)
 Domestic peace corps – putting young people
to work in poor neighborhoods
The Great Society
 Civil Rights Act of 1964
 Banned segregation in public facilities, more power to force
school desegregation.
 24th Amendment- banned poll taxes in federal elections.
 Voting Rights Act of 1965
 Ensured African Americans’ right to vote
 Medicare- Government funded health insurance for the elderly.
 Medicaid- health insurance for the poor.
 Head Start
 Early preschool programs for poor communities
 Department of Housing & Urban Development
 Authorized federal subsidies to cities to build low income housing
 Immigration Reform Act of 1965
 Eliminated 1920’s National Origins Act that set quotas on immigration=
opened the door for more immigration.
Results of the Great Society
 Lack of funds reduced effectiveness
 Vietnam War hurt the programs (took money from some
Great Society programs)
 Lasting programs include: Medicare, Medicaid, Head
Start & the Department of Housing & Urban Development