24.1 – THE NEW FRONTIER & THE GREAT
SOCIETY (1961-1968)
• Presidents JFK and LBJ
launched programs
designed to end poverty
and racism through
gov’t action
• Largest increase in the
role of the federal gov’t
since FDR’s New Deal
24.1 – ELECTION OF 1960
• JFK (D) vs. NIXON (R)
– JFK won EC 303 to 219;
popular vote by only 119,000
votes out of 68 million
• Sept. 26, 1960 – first ever
televised presidential
debate
VS
• Campaign Issues
– Economy
– Cold war
– Catholicism
– Missile gap
– Fiscal policies
Debate clip
ELECTION OF 1960 SKITS
• ROLES – JFK, Nixon, 3 reporters
– Each reporter has to ask at least one question (can be to either candidate, as
long as each candidate gets at least 1 question directed to them)
– Candidates can respond to opponent's answer, but no responses to responses
• CONTENT:
a. Religion (Catholic/Quaker)
b. Economy
c. Cold War/Communism
d. Missile Gap
e. Fiscal Policies
f. Experience
24.1 – THE NEW FRONTIER
• New Frontier – JFK’s plan:
a.
Increase education funding
b.
Health insurance for the elderly
c.
Dept. of Urban Affairs
- Plan to combat economic, social,
educational…..problems through
the power of the federal gov’t
- See worksheet for pages 826-829
24.1 – THE WARREN COURT
• Earl Warren
– Appointed Chief Justice of
the SC in 1953
– Issues addressed
included...
1. Reapportionment
2. Bill of Rights applies to
states too/Due process
3. Separation of church and
state
24.2 – JFK – MILITARY STRATEGY
• The Cold War was the
dominant issue when JFK
entered office
• Flexible Response – JFK’s
plan to deal w/communism
– Build up of troops and
conventional weapons
– Not overdependence on
nuclear weapons (Ike)
– Expansion of special forces
24.2 – JFK – FOREIGN POLICY
• Wanted to change the
relationship in Latin
America
– Economic aid
– Prevent rise of leftist gov’ts
– Change perception of U.S.
in the region
– Created the Alliance for
Progress – good intentions,
mixed results; also created
the Peace Corps (int’l)
24.2 – SPACE RACE
• 1957 – Sputnik
• 1961 – Yuri Gagarin becomes first
to orbit Earth (we are losing the
space race!!!!)
• JFK announces plan to land a man
on the moon by end of the 1960s
• 1962 – John Glenn becomes first
American to orbit the Earth
• 1965 – launch of the Apollo
• 1969 – Neil Armstrong walks on
the moon (we are winning
now!!!)
Neil Armstrong
24.2 – BAY OF PIGS
•
1959 – Fidel Castro overthrew the
Batista gov’t in Cuba
•
Some of Castro’s steps worried
Americans
– Established a relationship with the
USSR
– New land reforms
– Seized foreign owned businesses
•
Eisenhower feared Cuba would be a
base for the USSR to spread
communism so he authorized a CIA led
invasion of Cuba in the hopes that it
would lead to a popular uprising
– 1961 – JFK carried out the invasion; landed
at the Bay of Pigs
– Total disaster; American looked weak,
unorganized, imperialistic….
Fidel Castro
24.2 – BERLIN WALL
• Tensions in Germany increased by
1961; Khrushchev demanded:
1.
2.
Western powers “recognize” East
Germany
Western powers withdraw from
Berlin
• JFK refused so NK retaliated by
building a wall through Berlin,
dividing the city and blocking people
from fleeing to the western part of
the city
– Berlin Wall stood for 30 years a symbol of
the Cold War
•
Youtube clip about the end of the wall
Nikita Khrushchev
24.2 – CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
• October 1962 – JFK
announced that the Soviet
Union had placed longrange missiles in Cuba
– Why was this terrifying
news at the time?
• JFK took the following
steps:
1. Naval blockade to prevent
delivery of more missiles
2. Demanded existing
missile sites dismantled
- Verge of nuclear war?
24.2 – CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
DEAL
1. U.S. Publicly agreed not
to invade Cuba and
privately agreed to remove
its missiles from Turkey
2. USSR agreed to remove
their missiles from Cuba
CONSEQUENCES
1. U.S. and USSR agreed to a
treaty that banned the
testing of nuclear weapons in
the atmosphere (1963)
2. Weakened NK’s power in the
Soviet Union; lost power soon
after
3. Spurred a massive Soviet
arms build up (CMC made them
look militarily inferior to the U.S.)
24.2 – ASSASSINATION OF JFK
• Nov. 22, 1963
– Dallas, TX
– Shot twice while riding in a
motorcade
– Lee Harvey Oswald was
convicted; killed by Jack
Ruby (cover up,
conspiracy?)
– Warren Commission found
that Oswald acted alone
Lee Harvey Oswald
ELECTION OF 1964
LYNDON JOHNSON (D)
• Won big
BARRY GOLDWATER (R)
• Conservative from Arizona
• Popular vote – 61%
• Some saw him as too
aggressive in regards to
foreign policy
• Electoral College – won 46
states
THE GREAT SOCIETY
WHAT WAS IT?
• LBJ’s plan to help
disadvantaged Americans
• He wanted to create a better
American society; it was not
limited to poverty
• More than 60 programs that
addressed things such as
poverty, health care,
education, housing,
immigration…
LYNDON JOHNSON