Chapter 20
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Chapter 20 The New Frontier and the Great Society Section 1 Kennedy and the Cold War The Election of 1960 John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) was the democratic candidate for the Presidency in 1960 and he promised to “get America moving again” Former Vice President Richard Nixon was the Republican candidate that he ran against and he ran off of the coat tails of Eisenhower’s popularity The 2 factors that allowed JFK to win the election was the use of television to reach the American people and his Civil Rights beliefs JFK came off as handsome and charismatic on tv he was only 43 and would become the 2nd youngest president in history to Theodore Roosevelt and the youngest President actually elected to office. Nixon and JFK participated in the 1st ever televised Presidential debate in 1960 which gave JFK the edge in the close election The Election of 1960 In 1960 Martin Luther King Jr. and 33 other African-American demonstrators were arrested in Atlanta and he was sentenced to months of hard labor for sitting at a segregated lunch counter. Eisenhower’s administration and Nixon did nothing and paid it no attention while JFK called his wife Coretta Scott King to express sympathy and his brother and campaign manager Robert Kennedy persuaded the judge to release MLK on bail pending appeal. This action allowed JFK to carry the black vote in the Midwest and South which would eventually put him over the top in the election. The Camelot Years The election of 1960 was the closest since 1884 (Cleveland over Blaine) as JFK won by only 119,000 votes. JFK Presidency was one of elegance, grace, and wit. Many celebrities and artists visited the white house during his term JFK was on TV often speaking to the nation and displaying his extravagant lifestyle Everything they did was followed intensely by the nation and mimicked He surrounded himself with a group of advisers known as “the best and brightest” A New Military Policy When he came into office the Cold War was in full swing and in his opinion he felt that Eisenhower’s administration did not do enough to stop the Soviets and had allowed the Soviets to grow in underdeveloped countries like Cuba His 1st strategy was to redefine the countries nuclear strategy He utilized a policy of flexible response by allowing for various ways to respond to different level of threats from the Soviets He increased defense spending in order to build conventional military forces He also created an elite branch of the military known as the “Special Forces” or Green Berets He tripled the nuclear capabilities of the US Crises over Cuba The 1st test of JFK foreign policy came in Cuba with their Communist leader Fidel Castro Castro took over Cuba by overthrowing it’s current leader Fulgencio Batista in 1959 he promised many things to the Cuban people but after taking over he did not follow through with his promises and became a dictatorship type government supported by the Soviets and Communists JFK was a part of the Bay of Pigs he authorized the training of Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro April 17, 1961 the troops invaded Cuba and everything went wrong and it was a major failure and it increased tensions between the US and Cuba / Soviet Union Crises over Cuba Castro developed a powerful ally in Khruschev in Moscow The Soviets in 1962 begin moving nuclear missiles to Cuba which caused an issue from JFK. This is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis which last 6 days in which the Soviets and US had a face off that almost led to a nuclear war before the Soviets eventually pulled their nuclear missiles out of Cuba The Soviets agreed to remove the missiles if the Americans agreed not to invade Cuba which the US agreed to and it was a black eye for the Soviets in the long run Kennedy was criticized as well by the Cuban exiles for “losing Cuba” to Castro Crisis over Berlin In Berlin which was a major city in the divided nation of Germany from WWII East Germany was under Soviet control while West Germany was under Ally control Many of the East Germans were fleeing across to West Berlin for a better life which hurt the Soviet economy in the region This caused a major crisis between the Soviets and Americans which eventually led to the Soviets building the Berlin wall to prevent them from fleeing to West Berlin and ending the Berlin crisis Tension were still high and they searched for ways to ease it 1 thing they did was setup a hotline between the White House and the Kremlin in case issues came up to hopefully be able to diffuse issues quickly Section 2 The New Frontier The Promise of Progress JFK wanted to transform his vision of a new frontier in American and expand our society to accept everyone and also expand our relativity world wide Kennedy had issues trying to get his bills through Congress as many of them were shot down by Congress When JFK came into office in 1960 America was in a recession and required attention He attacked it by increasing spending and raising minimum wage to $1.25 an hour, extended unemployment insurance, and provided assistance to cities with high unemployment JFK created the Peace Corps (a system of volunteers traveling to developing nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He also created the Alliance for progress which offered economical and technical assistance to Latin American countries The Promise of Progress April 12, 1961 Yuri A. Gagarin Soviet Astronaut became the 1st man in space Less than a month later the Americans duplicated this feat July 20, 1969 American astronaut set foot on the moon as the 1st man to ever step foot on the moon These actions allowed space and science programs popped up in college around the country and especially in the south as they greatly benefitted these cities. IN 1962 and 1963 JFK turned his attention to poverty and civil rights and made a big push to fight segregation in the South Tragedy in Dallas In the fall of 1963 JFK was losing popularity due to the controversial topics he was attacking in civil rights On November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas by the Texas School Book depository by Lee Harvey Oswald. Lyndon B Johnson his Vice President was sworn into office along side his wife and Mrs. Kennedy Oswald was then killed shortly after by an assassin Jack Ruby while being transported between jails The Warren Commission led by Chief Justice Earl Warren did an investigation on the JFK assassination and filed a report on it. Section 3 The Great Society LBJ’s Path to Power Lyndon Baines Johnson or LBJ succeeded JFK as President and brought a lot of energy to the Presidents office. LBJ was a FDR disciple and patterned his political skills after FDR’s policies Johnson was responsible for the Civil Rights Act of 1957 passing while he was the Senate majority leader JFK hand chose LBJ to be his running mate for his political skills Johnson’s Domestic Agenda LBJ got Congress to pass a $10 billion tax cut in 1964 which gave America economic growth Johnson also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 LBJ’s next big agenda was to do away with poverty and in August 1964 he got Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act (EOA) which approved nearly $1 billion for youth programs, antipoverty measures, small business loans, and job training. 1964 LBJ ran on the democratic ticket against Barry Goldwater of the Republican party and LBJ won the election in a landslide gaining 61% of the popular vote and 486 electoral college votes Building the Great Society “Great Society” was LBJ vision for America to end poverty and racial injustice. He also envisioned a legislative program that would create a higher standard of living and equal opportunity but also promote a richer quality of life for all LBJ by the end of his term had passed 206 bills through Congress He passed many education bills in 19965 and 1966 The elementary and secondary act of 1965 provided more than $1 billion in aid to help schools purchase books and materials LBJ changed social security act by providing Medicare (hospital insurance and low cost medical insurance for people 65 and older) and Medicaid (extended healthcare to welfare recipients) Building the Great Society His administration put more money into HUD or urban housing and he appointed Robert Weaver as the 1st African American cabinet member in America as secretary of HUD The Great Society also brought major changes to immigration laws the Immigration Act of 1965 did away with quotas and allowed many more non European immigrants to settle in America He also passed the Water Quality Act of 1965 which required cities to clean up rivers and eliminate polluters of the rivers. Under the ideas of Ralph Nader Congress also passed safety standards for automobiles and tires during the great society Reforms of the Warren Court The Warren Court was a liberal court that made many reforms in America in the 1950 and 60’s The Warren Court banned prayer in schools It allowed students who were anti war to wear black armbands to school It created reapportionment allowing states to redraw their voting lines based on population Reforms of the Warren Court Mapp vs Ohio (1961) said that evidence seized illegally could not be used in court Gideon vs Wainwright (1963) allowed free representation to those who could not afford representation in court Escobedo vs Illinois (1964) stated that a person accused of a crime had the right to have a lawyer present while being talked to by the police Miranda vs Arizona (1966) stated that police must read a person their rights before accusing them of a crime Impact of the Great Society LBJ extended the power of Government and passed more legislation post WWII than LBJ He did stimulate the economy but it also created a larger deficit LBJ a peace advocate was labeled a “hawk” as 1 of the supporters of the most controversial war in American history the Vietnam War.
