The 1960’s
The Kennedy Mystique
The Election of 1960
• Emphasis on youthful charisma
• Personality more than issues or platform
• New Frontier politics focused on “getting
America moving again” (Remember Ike)
• Campaigned on the issues such as:
• Civil rights legislation
• Health care for elderly
• Aid to education
• Urban renewal
• Military & space programs
• Containment of communism
• Very famous Nixon/Kennedy TV Debates
Election 1960
•Kennedy’s youth, his
emphasis on the future,
and the first televised
debates helped him to
become the first catholic
—and the youngest—
President to be elected.
•Just barely won popular vote . . .
Election of 1960
JFK Inaugural Address
Kennedy & New Politics
• Had difficulty mobilizing the public & congress to
support his New Frontier agenda
• Was able to push through raising the minimum
wage & expanding social security.
• Most of his agenda will get pushed through after
his assassination with the help of LBJ and his
Congressional connections.
Test #1 for Kennedy: Cuba &
The Bay of Pigs
• Castro/Background
– Overthrew Cuban dictator Batista (1959)
– Castro imposed communist policies; US
declared an embargo on Cuba
– Cuba looked to the Soviet Union for economic
& military support
– Kennedy & US were anxious about having
communism so close to American borders (90
miles)
– CIA (under Ike) were training Cuban refugees
in an attempt to invade Cuba & overthrow
Castro
•JFK learns of planned CIA invasion of
communist Cuba during the campaign.
•Advisors were divided about the plan,
but Kennedy did NOT want to appear
“soft” on communism—OK’d the mission.
•Airstrikes were ineffective, the invaders
were captured, and the connection to the
U.S was exposed . . . in a word DISASTER!!!
Objective not achieved
pushed Castro closer to new
Soviet leader, Nikita Krushchev
increased U.S.-Soviet tensions
Kennedy & the Cold War
• Proposed a policy of flexible response:
• Not every incident deserves the same response
• Insisted on expanding the conventional military and
maintaining industrial complex  increase spending
• Also adopted a new military doctrine of counterinsurgency
• Green Berets (Special Forces) trained to repel and win
guerrilla warfare
• Would first be tested in Vietnam
• Other Cold War Tactics
• Peace Corps & Alliance for Progress (Marshall Plan for
Latin America)
Test #2: The Berlin Wall(1961)
•When U.S. refused to recognize East Germany
as an independent nation, Khrushchev—also
under pressure to be “tough” began
construction of Berlin Wall between the two
sides of the divided city of Berlin.
Test #3: The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the Russians!
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
• In October 1962,
American
reconnaissance
planes flying over
Cuba
photographed
Soviet-built bases
for ICBM’s
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
• To confront the Soviet
Union the US would
impose a “quarantine on
all offensive military
equipment” intended for
Cuba.
• As Soviet ships sailed
toward Cuba with military
supplies, the world held
its breath . . . Ultimately
the Soviets blinked and
turned around.
Resolution
• After negotiations it was agreed that if the US would not
invade Cuba the Soviet Union would dismantle the missile
bases
• To strive for Peaceful Coexistence the US, Great Britain, and
the Soviet Union agreed to stop testing nuclear weapons in
the atmosphere, in space, and under water; underground
testing would continue
• A “hot line” was established between Washington and
Moscow so that leaders could contact each other quickly
during potential crises.
Ich bin ein Berliner!
(1963)
President Kennedy
tells Berliners that
the West is with
them!
Tensions were high in 1963—the pride and prestige of
both Cold War rivals seemed to be on the line . . .
Kennedy Re-Cap
• 1960—Sit-in Movement begins in Greensboro
• 1961— Bay of Pigs fiasco
Construction begins on Berlin Wall
“Flexible Response” initiated
Freedom Riders Mobilized
(JFK sends in US Marshalls)
• 1962— Cuban Missile Crisis Hotline and “peaceful
coexistence”
• 1963— JFK visits W. Berlin
Birmingham Campaign/Civil Rights Speech
The Kennedy Assassination
• On November 22, 1963, in
Dallas, Texas, President
Kennedy was assassinated
by Lee Harvey Oswald
• Lyndon Johnson was sworn
in as president
• Sense that Americans had
been robbed of a promising
leader
• The aura of “Camelot”
overshadowed Kennedy’s
mixed record of
accomplishments
Kennedy Re-Cap
• 1960—Sit-in Movement begins in Greensboro
• 1961— Bay of Pigs fiasco
Construction begins on Berlin Wall
“Flexible Response” initiated
Freedom Riders Mobilized
(JFK sends in US Marshalls)
• 1962— Cuban Missile Crisis Hotline and “peaceful
coexistence”
• 1963— JFK visits W. Berlin
Birmingham Campaign/Civil Rights Speech
Where do you stand on Kennedy’s record??
Lyndon B. Johnson
•  “Great Society” speech May 1964 = Johnson’s vision
• Won the 1964 election against Barry Goldwater in a landslide,
and used his energy and genius for compromise to bring to
fruition many of Kennedy’s stalled programs.
• Johnson’s “Great Society”- fulfilled and surpassed the New
Deal liberal agenda of the 1930’s.
LBJ and his Domestic Agenda:
“The Great Society”
• A New Deal liberal agenda—with a
Democratically held Congress
• Pushed through some of JFK’s stalled
programs and then began his own agenda
• Included a variety of areas including:
– Poverty
– Urban renewal
– Discrimination
- Environment
- Education
- Consumer Advocacy
“The Great Society”
• Johnson was a “New Deal Liberal:” believed in an active/expansive
government
• Elementary & Secondary Education Act of 1965 –
• $1 billion in federal funds to help impoverished
inner-city kids
• Higher Education Act –
• first federal scholarships for college students
• Federal health Insurance
• Medicaid (poor) & Medicare (elderly)
• National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities
• Highway Beautification Act 1965/Expansion of Nat’l Parks
• Immigration Act of 1965- abandoned the quota system of the 1920’s
The “War on Poverty”
• Expanded social programs and welfare programs
including such things as food stamps—more included in
Social Security
• Wanted to put “an end to poverty in our time”
• Created Office of Economic Opportunity and created
such programs as:
– Head Start
– Job Corps
– Volunteers
in Service to
America
• Community
Action Programs
America
Decline of the Great Society
• Midterm elections of 1966 brought more Republicans
into the House & Senate
• Programs still passed, but under greater scrutiny
• U.S. was spending about $2.5 billion a month on
escalating conflict in Vietnam
• Budetary issues arose – “We cannot have guns and
butter”
• Johnson, who was committed to stopping the spread of
communism, chose guns . . .