• Students will be able to explain the policies of the New Frontier and
events taking place during the Kennedy administration
• Students will be able to explain the different events of the Cold War
that took place during the Kennedy administration
• Students will be able to explain the different policies set by the Great
Society during the Johnson administration
• The Election of 1960
 Television had impact as debates
were televised for first time
 John F. Kennedy
 From wealthy family
 US Navy veteran
 Catholic
 Calm and relaxed
 Richard M. Nixon
 Quaker
 US Navy veteran
 Vice President under Eisenhower
 From lower middle-class
 Came across as stiff and formal
• Very little difference on main issues
– both “Cold Warriors” and both
wanted to strengthen economy
• Kennedy believed there was a
missile gap
• Vote difference was razor thin
• Speculation that JFK’s father,
Joseph Kennedy, bought the
election
• Kennedy became president
• JFK popular due to youth and
optimism, attractive
sophisticated wife, and young
children
• Received Pulitzer Prize for book,
Profiles in Courage, ghostwritten for him
• Charisma
• Knew how to work the press
• JFK’s legislative agenda called
the New Frontier
• Wanted to spend more on
education, help elderly and
migrant workers
• Both Republican and Democrats
in Congress not eager to help JFK
• Much of his agenda failed to get
through Congress
• Kennedy boosted the
economy by spending on
defense and space
exploration
• JFK worked with unions and
businesses to keep
American industry
competitive and efficient
• Congress refused to cut
taxes JFK wanted but did
raise minimum wage
• Women
 Although JFK did not appoint any
female cabinet officers, he did put
women in several important
government positions
 1961 - He created the Presidential
Commission on the Status of
Women
 Ended gender discrimination in
federal hiring
 1963 – signed Equal Pay Act
• Warren Court Reforms
 Chief Justice Earl Warren, placed on
bench by Eisenhower, took activist
role and shaped American policy
 Reapportionment – way in which
states draw up political districts based
on population
 In Reynolds v. Sims, Supreme Court
ruled current reapportionment
system unconstitutional
 Decision boosted power of urban
areas as well as blacks and Hispanics
who typically lived in cities
• SCOTUS, in series of historic cases,
applied 14th Amendment to states
• Due Process – law cannot treat
people differently, unfairly, and
courts must follow proper
procedures and rules
• Gideon v. Wainwright – accused
had right to a lawyer even if he
could not pay
• Miranda v. Arizona – authorities
must advise suspects of
constitutional rights upon arrest
(Miranda Rights)
• SCOTUS also ruled in several
religious cases
• States could not compose
official prayers and require
students to recite them
• Ruled against statemandated Bible readings in
public school
• Ruled the sale and use of
birth control was protected
by right to privacy
• Kennedy and the Cold War
 Kennedy wanted to move away
from Eisenhower’s reliance on
nuclear weapons
 Put into place policy of Flexible
Response – President could use
money, materiel, or the US
military to counter Communist
aggression
 Supported establishment of US
Army Special Forces (the Green
Beret) and their use in limited
conflicts
• JFK wanted to strengthen relationship
with Latin America
• Wanted to keep Communism out of the
region
• Proposed Alliance for Progress – a series
of cooperative aid projects with Latin
American governments
• Performance was mixed – some good was
done but in many cases the American aid
was pocketed by Latin American leaders
• Kennedy established the Peace Corps –
sent young Americans to developing
countries to help build schools, wells, etc.
The organization is still active today
• USSR first to put man in space
(Yuri Gagarin)
• US worried it was falling behind
in technology
• Kennedy began the space race –
a race to put the first man on
the moon
• US completed the mission on
July 20, 1969 when Neil
Armstrong walked on moon
• 1961 The Bay of Pigs
 Eisenhower authorized CIA to train
and equip anti-Communist Cubans
to try and overthrow Castro
 When JFK became president he
agreed to the plan
 Cuban force invaded Cuba but
were met on beach by Communist
Cuban forces
 JFK cancelled their air support
 Almost all the men were captured
or killed
 Operation made Kennedy look
weak
• 1961 Berlin Wall
 Soviet leader Khrushchev wanted
the West to leave Berlin
 Communist East Germany losing
thousands of people – brain drain
 West refused to leave Berlin
 Communist constructed Berlin
Wall and fortified other borders
• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
 US intelligence discovered Russia
setting up nuclear missiles in Cuba
 Options?
 Kennedy chose to blockade Cuba –
to stop delivery of more missiles &
demanded USSR dismantle those
already set-up
 Two weeks US / USSR close to war
 USSR agreed if US promised not to
invade Cuba and to dismantle US
missiles in Turkey
• Impact of Missile Crisis
 Closest world came to nuclear war
 Because of crisis, both nations
sought to ease tensions
 Agreed to a test ban treaty for
atmospheric testing
 Humiliating backing down by USSR
caused fall of Khrushchev from
power in 1964
 Crisis showed inferiority of Russian
military – caused massive military
build-up (arms race with US)
• Kennedy Assassination
 November 22, 1963
 Dallas, Texas
 Assassin: Lee Harvey Oswald
 Three shots
 Oswald killed by Jack Ruby
 Warren Commission Report
 Conspiracy theories
• Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ)
 Wanted to create an America free
from poverty
 Tough, persuasive politician
 The “Johnson Treatment”
 Made decisions from consensus –
general agreement
 By 1964 he had gotten through
Congress a major tax cut, major
civil rights legislation, and antipoverty programs
• Johnson had known hard times and
saw poverty up close as a teacher in a
low-income area
• Johnson also wanted to be a great
president
• His administration declared a “war on
poverty”
• Signed 1964 Equal Opportunity Act
• Established the Job Corps – helped
find work for unemployed
• Volunteers in Service to America
(VISTA) – put skilled people in poor
neighborhoods to help people
overcome poverty
• Two important civil rights laws
passed: 1064 Civil Rights Act and
1965 Voting Rights Act
• The Great Society
 Johnson’s vision of a more perfect
and equal American society
 With the Civil Rights Movement
strong and the US prosperous
everyone thought LBJ’s goal could
be attained
 Most significant programs:
Medicare and Medicaid
 Elementary and Secondary Education
Act gave millions to public and private
schools
 Project Head Start – improve
education by helping poor
preschoolers
 New cabinet department added:
Department of Housing and Urban
Development – headed by Robert
Weaver, first black cabinet secretary
 Immigration reform eliminated
quotas but did limit overall
immigration
• Was the Great Society a
Success?
 Many programs did not work
 As economic situation worsened
programs died from lack of funds
 Medicare and Medicaid have
grown and outstripped funding –
changed healthcare in US
 Head Start still around but studies
show little to no benefit
 Poverty is just as prevalent today
as in the 1960s