John F. Kennedy
The Election of 1960
Kennedy-Nixon Debate
JFK and the Cold War
• Committed to containing communism
– A conventional weaponry program to give the nation’s military more flexibility
– A program to provide economic aid to Latin America
– The creation of the Peace Corps to help developing nations worldwide
“The Kennedy administration worried that [the] reliance on nuclear weapons gave us no way to respond to large non-nuclear attacks without
committing suicide…we decided to broaden the range of options by strengthening and
modernizing the military’s ability to fight a non-nuclear war.”
Foreign Policy:
Kennedy and Latin America
• The Alliance for Progress
– Hoped to improve relations with Latin America and stop the spread of communism there
– Pledged $20 billion to help economic development in the region
• The Bay of Pigs
– Approved a CIA plan to
overthrow Fidel Castro, the communist leader of Cuba – No uprising followed and
Castro’s troops quickly
crushed the invading forces – Embarrassment of Kennedy
and the US government
Foreign Policy:
• The Cuban Missile Crisis
– Fearing another US
invasion, Castro agreed to a Soviet plan to base nuclear missiles aimed at the US in Cuba
Foreign Policy:
• (Oct, 1962) Kennedy orders naval
blockade of Cuba and demanded the Soviets withdraw the missiles
• Brought US and Soviets to brink of war
before the Soviets backed down and withdrew the missiles
Foreign Policy:
• Recovered prestige lost during the Bay of Pigs
• (1963) US, Soviet Union, GB sign Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: banned testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere
• Humiliating retreat and military inferiority prompted a dramatic Soviet arms build-up over the next two decades
Foreign Policy:
• Berlin Wall
– (June, 1961) Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev meet to discuss relations between the US and the
Soviet Union
• Khrushchev thought he could threaten Kennedy into removing NATO troops from Europe
• Kennedy increased military and financial aid to West Germany instead
– (Aug, 1961) East Germany built a wall between East and West Berlin
• Meant to stop flood of East Germans escaping to freedom in the West
• Became a symbol of tyranny
Foreign Policy:
• Continued to support the Diem regime
– American advisors urged Diem to adopt reforms to broaden his support
– Diem suppressed all opponents and ruled as a dictator – (Nov, 1963) South Vietnamese military overthrew Diem,
with the knowledge and support of the US
– White House announces intension to withdraw all US military personnel by 1965
– Kennedy is unable to keep his promise, because he was assassinated in 1963
Foreign Policy:
John F. Kennedy
“My fellow
Domestic Policy
• New Frontier
– The Space Program
• Response to Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957
• 1961: goal of landing a person on the moon by the end of the 1960s
Domestic Policy
• New Frontier
– The Peace Corps • sent thousands of
Americans to developing nations where they
trained local people in technical, educational, and health programs
Domestic Policy: Economy
• advocated deficit spending to increase growth and create more jobs
• invest more funds in defense and space exploration
• sought to boost the economy by increasing business production and efficiency
• raised minimum wage
• created an Area Redevelopment Act and a Housing Act
Domestic Policy: Economy
• tax cuts: “a rising tide lifts all boats” –
blocked by Congress for fear of inflation • Congress also blocked plans for health
Domestic Policy
• Women’s Rights
– women had prominent positions in his administration
– created the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women
• called for federal action against gender
discrimination and affirmed the right of women to equally paid employment
Lyndon B. Johnson
LBJ: Foreign Policy
• Escalated the nation’s role in Vietnam
– Was granted broad military powers with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
– Increased troops
– Launched 1st sustained bombing of North
LBJ: Vietnam War
• Sinking morale: frustrations of guerilla warfare, brutal jungle conditions, and
failure to make any headway against the enemy was taking a toll
“When we marched into the rice paddies…we
carried, along with our packs and rifles, the
implicit convictions that the Vietcong could be
quickly beaten. We kept the packs and rifles; the convictions, we lost.”
LBJ: The Vietnam at Home
• A “living-room war” that contributed to a growing credibility gap
• Inequitable draft
“We were taking the young black men who had been crippled by our society and sending them 8,000 miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in Southwest Georgia and East Harlem…We have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools.”
LBJ: The Vietnam at Home
• Growing protest movement
• LBJ’s domestic agenda, The Great Society, begins to suffer
– Inflation rate more than tripled (less than 2% 5.5%)
– Tax increase to help fund the war came with a $6 billion reduction in funding domestic
The Great Society
• Provided assistance to disadvantaged Americans
“The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where
leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, not a feared cause of boredom and restlessness. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of
commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for its own sake and for what it adds to the understanding of the race.”
LEGACY
LEGACY
Influenced by Silent
Spring
Influenced by Unsafe
Other Programs
• Immigration Act of 1965
– Eliminated the national origins system
established in the 1920s, which had given
preference to northern European immigrants – Opened wider the door of the US to
Legacy: Impact
• The impact of the Great Society was limited:
– Rush = no calculation on exactly how
programs worked some programs did not work out quite as well as hoped
– Programs grew too quickly = unmanageable and difficult to evaluate
– Expected life changing benefits = many frustrated and angry
– Criticized for intruding too much in lives
Legacy: Questions
• How can the federal government help disadvantaged citizens?
• How much government help can a society provide without weakening the private
sector?
• How much help can people receive
A Rocky Road to Equality:
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Announced by Kennedy
• Supported by the March on Washington and Martin Luther King’s speech… “I have a dream…”
• Blocked by a filibuster
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Most comprehensive civil rights law • Federal government power to prevent
racial discrimination in a number of areas • Established the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission to ban on the job discrimination
