THE NEW FRONTIER AND
THE GREAT SOCIETY
Unit 13
The New Frontier and Kennedy
Guiding Questions



How did the election of 1960 change the way
candidates ran their campaigns?
What were some domestic policies initiated when
Kennedy took office?
How important are some of the Warren Court
rulings for today’s society?
Terms to Know




Missile gap
Reapportionment
Due process
Arbitrary
Election of 1960

Both parties used television as a campaign method



First televised presidential debate


Sept. 26, 1960
John F. Kennedy- Democratic candidate




Democrats spent more than $6 million
Republicans spent more than $7.5 million
Wealthy and powerful Senator from Massachusetts
Catholic
Outgoing and relaxed
Richard Nixon- Republican candidate



Eisenhower’s vice president
Quaker
Formal and stiff
Election of 1960 Platforms
John F. Kennedy
•
•
•
•
Promised to boost the economy
Was determined to stop the forces of
communism
Claimed the U.S. was behind the Soviets in
weaponry- missile gap
Kennedy’s Catholicism concerned many
Americans, but Kennedy stressed the
importance of keeping church and state
separate
Richard Nixon
•
•
•
•
Promised to boost the economy
Was determined to stop the forces of
communism
Warned that the Democrats’ financial
policies would boost inflation
Stated he was only wone with foreign policy
experience needed for the nation
• Kennedy won the popular vote by 118, 574 votes
• Won Electoral College by 303 to 219
• Many people were mesmerized by Kennedy’s youth and optimism
• Said a new generation was in charge
Kennedy Takes Office

New Frontier- Kennedy’s programs for a legislative
agenda
 Hoped
to increase aid to education
 Give insurance to the elderly
 Create a Department of Urban Affairs

Kennedy was unable to win passage of many of his
programs
 Most
Democrats felt they did not owe him anything
 Southern Democrats saw Kennedy’s programs as too
expensive
New Frontier Success and Setbacks
Successes
•
•
•
•
Congress agreed to raise the minimum wage •
Congress approved Kennedy’s proposal for
the Area Redevelopment Act and a Housing
Act which helped create jobs and build low•
income housing in poor areas
Equal Pay Act was signed in 1963- women
had a right to equal pay for comparable
•
work
Mental Retardation Facilities and Community
Mental Health Centers Construction Act of
1963- gave money to build research centers
and mental health centers; Paid to train
teachers to work with people with
developmental disorders
Setbacks
Congress blocked a proposed tax cut
because they feared it would cause
inflation
Congress blocked Kennedy’s plans for
health insurance for senior citizens and
federal aid to education
Poor relations with business community
after Justice Department began looking
into whether steel industry was illegally
setting prices
The Warren Court

Earl Warren became chief justice of the United
States in 1953
 Governor

of California
Under Warren’s leadership, the Supreme Court
made several rulings that reshaped U.S. politics and
society
Warren Court Reforms
Reapportionment
Due Process
Way in which states draw up political districts
Law may not treat individuals unfairly, arbitrarily, or
unreasonably
Rural voters had more political influence even though
population was far less
Supreme Court began using 14th amendment to
apply the Bill of Rights to the states
•
•
•
•
Baker v. Carr (1962)- Court ruled that federal
courts could hear lawsuits aimed at forcing states
to redraw electoral districts
Reynolds v. Sims (1964)- Court ruled that states
must assign electoral districts over
“One person, One Vote”- shifted political power
to urban areas; Gave African Americans and
Hispanics more power
•
•
•
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)- State courts could not
consider evidence obtained in ways that broke
constitutional law
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)- Defendants in
state court had the right to a lawyer, even if they
could not pay for one
Escobedo v. Illionois (1964)- People suspect to
crime have access to a lawyer; Police must inform
suspects of their right to remain silent
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)- Police must tell
suspects they have right to remain silent and that
anything they say can/will be used against them;
Must tell suspects they have access to a lawyer
Separation of Church and State

Engle v. Vitale (1962)
 Ruled
that states could not create official prayers and
order students to recite them in public schools

Abington School Distric v. Schempp (1963)
 Ruled
against state-required Bible readings in public
schools

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
 Stated
that not allowing the sale and use of birth
control devices went against the right to privacy in the
Constitution
Discussion Questions



What role do you think television played in
Kennedy’s victory over Nixon?
What do you think Kennedy meant by the
following statement? “Ask not what your country
can do for you—ask what you can do for your
country.”
How did Miranda v. Arizona affect defendants in
criminal cases?
JFK and the Cold War
Guiding Questions


How were President Kennedy’s programs to combat
communism different from the programs of previous
administrations?
What was the most important foreign policy event
of the Kennedy administration? Why was it the most
important?
Terms to Know



Flexible response
Space race
Hot line
Containing Communism
Flexible Response
•
•
•
Kennedy wanted to build
up conventional troops and
weapons
Felt Eisenhower focused too
much on nuclear weapons
Built up the Special Forces
Alliance for Progress
•
•
•
•
•
Series of cooperative aid
•
projects with Latin American
governments
Hoped to create a free
•
and economically successful
Latin America, less likely to •
support Communist-inspired
revolutions
U.S. gave $20 billion to
Latin American countries
over a 10-year period
Provide better schools,
housing, health care, and
fairer land distribution
Mixed results
Peace Corps
People volunteered to help
local people in lessdeveloped countries
Spent two years in countries
that asked for help
Built roads, taught English,
laid out sewage systems,
trained medical staff
The Cold War in Space

Soviets were beating the U.S. in the space race- the Cold War
competition over dominance of space exploration capability



Kennedy feared that Soviet success in space race would convince
world that communism was better than capitalism


Kennedy stated he wanted to land a man on the moon before the end
of the decade
U.S. began a huge effort to develop necessary technology to land
man on the moon


Sputnik (1957)- First space satellite
Yury Gagarin (1961)- First astronaut to orbit Earth
John Glenn (1962)- First American astronaut to orbit the Earth
July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin became the first
humans to walk on the moon

Apollo 11
Kennedy’s Cold War Crises
Bay of Pigs
•
•
•
•
•
Fidel Castro overthrew the
Cuban government and
immediately made ties with
the Soviets (1959)
Eisenhower had feared the
Soviets would use Cuba as
a base for spreading
revolution and authorized
the CIA to secretly train
and arm a group of Cuban
exiles (la Brigada)
Kennedy became president
and authorized the invasion
Launched on April 17,
1961; Landed at Bay of
Pigs in southern Cuba
Complete disaster; Made
the U.S. look weak and
disorganized
Berlin Wall
•
•
•
•
•
Kennedy met with Nikita
Khrushchev in Austria in
June 1961
Kennedy refused to leave
West Berlin
Khrushchev responded by
build a wall around West
Berlin
Berlin wall blocked all
movement between the
Soviet sector and the rest
of the city
Berlin Wall became a
symbol of the Cold War
Cuban Missile Crisis
•
•
•
•
•
U.S. spies learned Soviet
technicians and equipment
had arrived in Cuba in
summer 1962
Kennedy announced the
USSR had long range
nuclear missiles in Cuba on
October 22, 1962
Kennedy ordered a naval
blockade to stop delivery
of more missiles and
demanded existing missile
sites be taken down
After secret negotiations,
U.S. removed missiles from
Turkey and USSR removed
missiles from Cuba
Agreed to banning test of
nuclear weapons in
atmosphere
Kennedy’s Assassination


Kennedy was shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas,
Texas on November 22, 1963
Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and accused of killing
Kennedy
Confused and resentful Marxist
 Spent time in the Soviet Union


Oswald was killed while in police custody by Jack Ruby
on November 24, 1963


Led many to believe there was a conspiracy
Warren Commission investigated and found Oswald
was only assassin
Discussion Questions



Which do you think would be more effective in
combating communism—economic aid or
military resistance? Why?
Why was it important to Kennedy that the United
States to put the first person on the Moon and
“win” the space race?
Why do you think Kennedy responded to the
Cuban missile crisis with strong words and
quarantine instead of with a military solution?
The Great Society
Guiding Questions


How did President Johnson’s experience in Congress
help him get legislation passed?
How does Great Society legislation influence
current government programs and philosophies?
Terms to Know


Consensus
Subsidy
Johnson Becomes President

Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office hours after
Kennedy was assassinated
 26
years of experience in Congress
 Ability to build partnerships through favors, bargaining,
flattering, and threatening made him one of the most
effective and powerful leaders in Senate history

Johnson urged the nation to build on Kennedy’s
legacy
War on Poverty

Johnson was a teacher in a low-income area in Texas
and saw extreme poverty firsthand


Johnson continued on Kennedy’s plans for antipoverty
program


Believed wealthy, powerful government should try to make
the lives of its citizens better
Knew anything tied to Kennedy would be popular
Economic Opportunity Act (1964)- created 10 new
programs with the Office of Economic Opportunity
Focused on public services, illiteracy and unemployment
 Many aimed at young, inner-city Americans

Office of Economic Opportunity
Programs

Neighborhood Youth Corps


Job Corps


Helped people overcome poverty by putting skilled, community-minded
young volunteers to work in poor neighborhoods and rural areas
Upward Bound


Helped unemployed people ages 16-21 gain job skills
Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)


Work study program that helped poor young men and women get a
high school diploma or college degree
Offered tutoring to high school students
Work Experience Program

Provided day care and other support for those in poor households so
they could go to work
Election of 1964

Johnson easily won reelection over Republican
candidate Barry Goldwater
 Gained
more than 61% of the popular vote
 Won all but 6 states of the Electoral College
The Great Society
Healthcare
•
•
Medicareoffered health
insurance to all
senior citizens
Medicaid- paid
for health care
for people on
welfare who
lived below the
poverty line
Education
•
•
Elementary and
Secondary
Education Act of
1965- gave
millions of
dollars to public
and private
schools
Project Head
Start- included
disadvantaged
preschoolers in
educational
efforts
Civil Rights
•
•
Civil Rights Act
of 1964barred
discrimination
Voting Rights
Act of 1965protected voters
from
discriminatory
practices
Urban
Problems
•
•
Department of
Housing and
Urban
Developmentdesigned to
create strong,
sustainable,
inclusive
communities and
affordable
housing
“Model Cities”improve
transportation,
health care,
housing, and
policing
Immigration
•
Immigration
Act of 1965ended the
immigration
system
started in the
1920s that
favored
immigration
from northern
European
immigrants
Legacy of the Great Society

Much debate over the effectiveness of the Great Society




Great Society suffered due to funding of Vietnam War
Some Great Society programs continue


Success was limited in many ways
Programs did not work as well as hoped
Medicare, Medicaid, Department of Transportation, Department
of Housing and Urban Development, Project Head Start
Raised many questions regarding



How the federal government can help disadvantaged citizens
How much government can help society before hindering private
sector
How much help can people get without losing motivation to
provide for themselves
Discussion Questions


Why do you think Johnson’s antipoverty
programs targeted education and job support for
young people?
What were the successes of the Great Society?
What were the failures?