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Chapter 22 -

The Kennedy

& Johnson

Years

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Chp 22, Section 1 - - The New

Frontier

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1960 Presidential Election = John F. Kennedy

(Dem) vs. Richard M. Nixon (Rep)

• 1st TV debates in

history

• Nixon was the more

experienced politician

• Kennedy was young,

handsome & spoke

directly to the camera

• Nixon was tired,

sweaty, and looked

mostly at Kennedy

John F. Kennedy Richard M. Nixon

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Media and Politics

• How you look becomes

almost as important as

intelligence

• Politics becomes much

more expensive since TV

commercials are

expensive!

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In office = 1961-1963

** Assassinated November 22,

1963

Vice President = Lyndon B.

Johnson

John F. Kennedy

** 43 years old. Youngest

President ever elected.

Wife = Jacqueline Bouvier

Kennedy

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1960 – Presidency Shifts to Younger Generation

JFK = 43 years old Barack Obama = 49 years old

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Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy

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Jacqueline and John

Kennedy with their

children, John Jr.

(left) and Caroline

(right) at their home

in Hyannis Port, MA.

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John F. Kennedy

• Kennedy won a really close election so he did not

have a **mandate from the people.

• First Roman Catholic president

• Experienced politician (House & Senate)

• WWII hero! Captain of PT 109

• PT boat rammed by Japanese destroyer and Kennedy

towed one of

his badly

burned crew

members to

an island,

saving his

life.

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John F. Kennedy {1960 – 1963}

Marilyn Monroe sang

“Happy Birthday” to

President Kennedy at a

celebration of his 45th

birthday. She did it in a

very sexy way. Many

believe that JFK had an

affair with her.

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John F. Kennedy {1960 – 1963}

Famous quote at

Kennedy’s

inaugural address

= “My fellow

Americans, ask not

what your country

can do for you; ask

what you can do

for your country.”

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Kennedy’s Domestic Programs

** New Frontier = Kennedy’s program to improve the economy, help

the poor, and speed up the space program.

The Other America was a 1962 book by

Michael Harrington that said 20% of

Americans were living below the poverty

line. Kennedy tried to pass government

programs to help the poor, but most failed

in Congress (partly because of the small

margin of victory in the election = 119,000

votes).

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Kennedy Administration Successes

• Executive Order providing surplus food to unemployed Americans

• Largest peacetime defense buildup in history - - mostly to build

missile programs

• Increased minimum wage ($1 to $1.25)

• Built world’s largest nuclear power plant at Hanford, WA. Many of

America’s nuclear weapons were built at this plant in Washington.

• Area Redevelopment Act - - sent gov’t money to help needy regions

• Signed 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Said nuclear testing could

take place only underground

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Hanford, WA Nuclear Site

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Hanford occupies 560 square miles.

When: 1943 Construction began

What: Nuclear weapons facility, including nine nuclear

reactors, producing plutonium for US nuclear weapons

arsenal

Why: Manhattan Project/ Cold War

1st plutonium-production reactor that fueled the bomb

dropped on Nagasaki

Peak years of weapons material production: 1960s

Who: Operated by Department of Energy; Previously,

Atomic Energy Commission

*** Legacy: World's largest clean-up project!!!

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• Alliance for Progress helped Latin America.

• Peace Corps

1. Volunteer organization (need college degree / 27 months) sending people to developing countries to aide in education and rural development projects.

2. Very popular program that is still going strong.

Kennedy Administration Successes

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Top Left: the Peace Corps

logo

Top Right: Volunteers being

sworn in

Bottom Right: President

Kennedy talking to

Volunteers

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The Space Program (NASA)

• In 1961, a Russian by

the name of Yuri

Gagarin became the

first human in space.

He orbited the earth.

America felt scared it

was falling behind the

Soviet Union in the

space race.

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The Space Program

• Kennedy increased funding

for NASA & challenged them

to put the first man on the

moon

• In 1962, John Glenn became

the first American in space.

Glenn shows President K the space

capsule.

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In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the

first person ever to walk on the moon!

This meant that the U.S. had moved

ahead of the Soviet Union in the

space race!

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Picture of the Apollo 11 crew. L to R = Neil Armstrong, Michael

Collins, and Buzz Aldrin. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked

on the moon!

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Astronauts

as they

were seated

in the

Apollo 11

command

module for

the journey

to the

moon.

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Apollo 11 re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere (gravity). The heat

generated is enormous! The bottom side of the command module is a

heat shield for the astronauts.

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Kennedy Assassination = November 22, 1963

•Was in Dallas for presidential campaign

• Lee Harvey Oswald {communist supporter} convicted of

killing Kennedy

•Dallas nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, shot Oswald to death

while he was being transferred from one jail to another.

Made the investigation more difficult.

• **The Warren Commission (led by Supreme Court Chief

Justice Earl Warren) found that Oswald acted alone.

• This decision has always been very controversial. Many

believe that there was a second shooter that was

involved.

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Dealey Plaza (Dallas) at the time of the Assassination

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Left - - John Jr. salutes his father’s

casket as it passes by. This was John

John’s 3rd birthday.

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Chp 22, Section 2 - - The Great

Society

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Lyndon Baines Johnson became

the 36th President of the U.S. in

1963. He was raised in a high

poverty area of rural Texas. He

became a teacher and taught in

Houston, TX. He was impacted by

the poverty level of his Mexican-

American students and is known

for his programs to fight poverty.

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LBJ’s childhood home

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The Johnson Treatment

LBJ was known for his

persuasive capability. He

would grab your lapels or

shoulders and get in your

face. He rewarded people

with praise and punished his

enemies. Johnson almost

always got what he wanted.

LBJ found out everything

about the person to be

persuaded and used it to

influence them.

(Left) Johnson gives The

Johnson Treatment to

Senator Green, Chairman of

the Senate Foreign Relations

Committee.

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LBJ as a teacher in

Houston, TX in 1927

LBJ taught public speaking and was the

debate team coach at Sam Houston High

School.

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The Importance of Educational Opportunity (Lyndon Baines Johnson)

If every child born could acquire all the education that their

intelligence quotient (IQ) permitted them to take, God only knows

what our gross national product (average amount of money made by

the nation in one year) would be. The strength that we would add to

our nation militarily, diplomatically, economically is too large even to

imagine. There is no investment that we could make that would return

such high dividends (payback). If we could just assume when a child

is born that that child was going to be trained until it reached the point

that it could no longer profit from that training and that if the

economic situation in the family did not exist, that the government

would provide a scholarship. To see that brought about, you would

eliminate slums and most crime as well as the need for poverty

programs. Because all of these things that we frown upon and that

give us problems in this country ultimately are traceable to the

dropout or to the lack of education or to environment or to health

problems or something else which could be cured by giving every

person the right to all the education that he or she could take.

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Presidential Election of 1964

Barry Goldwater (Republican / on the left) was soundly defeated by Lyndon

Baines Johnson (Democrat / on the right). This gave LBJ a **mandate to

develop his government ideas in what became known as the **Great Society.

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Due to his solid victory over Goldwater,

Lyndon Baines Johnson was nicknamed

“Landslide Lyndon!”

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**The Great Society

• Economic Opportunity Act (1964)

Created nationwide programs to help the

poor and fight the causes of poverty – like

illiteracy. Became known as the **War on

Poverty.

a. Head Start = preschool for low income families.

b. VISTA = Volunteers in Service to America. Sent

volunteers to help poor communities in the U.S.

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**The Great Society

• Civil Rights Act (1964):

– 1. Banned discrimination in public

accommodations {programs and jobs

supported by federal $}

– 2. Gave federal government power to

enforce desegregation and prosecute

voting rights violations.

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The Great Society

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965): first major federal aid package for education in history. Gave states $ based on the number of low income children.

• Medical Care Act (1965): Created medical care programs like:

**Medicare = federally funded health care for the elderly (65 & older).

**Medicaid = low cost health insurance to poor Americans of any age, who can’t afford private insurance.

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The Great Society

• Voting Rights Act (1965): ended literacy tests for voting; allowed fed agents to monitor voter registration.

• Higher Education Act (1965): provided scholarships and loans

• Immigration Act (1965): ended discriminatory ethnic quotas. Family members of American citizens were exempt from the quotas.

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The Warren Court

1. Chief Justice Earl

Warren was a

controversial leader of

the Supreme Court from

1953-1969.

2. His court was

concerned with

protecting the rights of

the individual against

the power of the

government.

3. The court’s liberal

decisions often angered

Warren’s Republican

Party.

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The Warren Court

Background to the Case - - New York

Public Schools adopted a voluntary prayer

in 1951. The prayer was part of a moral

education goal.

The Prayer = “Almighty God, we

acknowledge our dependence upon Thee,

and we Beg Thy blessings upon us, our

parents, our teachers and our country."

In 1958, five parents brought a lawsuit

against the school.

**Engel v. Vitale – 1962 landmark Supreme

Court case which found that school prayer

was unconstitutional based on the 1st

Amendment requirement of separation of

church and state.

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The Warren Court

Clarence Earl Gideon (left) was

charged with breaking and

entering into a Panama City,

Florida pool hall. Gideon, was

denied his request that an

attorney be appointed to

represent him because it was not

a capital case. The Supreme

Court reversed his conviction,

holding that defense counsel is

"fundamental and essential" to a

fair trial.

**Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) – Landmark Supreme Court case that

said suspects in criminal cases who can not afford a lawyer, will

have an attorney (public defender) provided for them by the

government.

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The Warren Court

Ernesto Arturo Miranda was arrested

based on circumstantial evidence

linking him to the kidnapping and rape

of an 18-year-old woman 10 days earlier.

After two hours of interrogation by

police officers, Miranda signed a

confession to the rape charge.

**1966 Miranda v. Arizona = Landmark Supreme Court case which

required a suspect in a crime to be notified of his/her rights before

being questioned by the police. (right to remain silent, anything said

can be used against you in court, right to an attorney, attorney

appointed for you if you can’t afford one, etc.)

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Results of the Great Society

Negative = many people complained that the federal

bureaucracy needed to carry out the programs was too

expensive. Many thought anti-poverty programs made

the poor lazy & dependent on the government.

Positive = the number of Americans living in poverty was

cut in half! Michael Harrington (author of The Other

America) said the government should have spent even

more on anti-poverty.

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Chp 22, Sec. 3 - - Foreign Policy

in the Early 1960s

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Fulgencio Batista = became

Cuban dictator, in 1934, with

American support. Batista

allowed American

companies to get control of

most of Cuba’s economy.

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Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba

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Havana, Cuba

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Havana, Cuba

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In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew

the government of Fulgencio

Batista and became the new

leader of Cuba. He turned Cuba

communist and took back a

million acres of land which was

owned by American corporations.

These companies were not

compensated.

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Fidel Castro made Cuba an ally of the Soviet Union.

{Shown above = Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev (left) and Cuban

President Fidel Castro {right}.

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In 1960, President Eisenhower approved

a plan to train 1500 Cuban exiles to

invade and overthrow the Castro

government. The CIA trained them in

Guatemala.

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Training location for

1500 Cuban exiles.

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President Kennedy ordered the April 1961 Bay

of Pigs Invasion!

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The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a horrible failure. The 1500 Cuban exiles were

no match for Cuban forces. Kennedy refused to allow American air strikes

to support the invasion force. America was trying to make it look like the

Cuban people were rising against Fidel Castro’s communist government.

The world now saw that the U.S. was really behind the invasion and it made

the U.S. look bad.

(left) Cuban exile

soldiers are

taken to prisoner

of war camps by

Castro’s army.

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In 1961, the Soviets built **the Berlin Wall to permanently separate

democratic West Berlin from communist East Berlin. Many

educated people from East Germany were coming to Berlin,

crossing to West Berlin and catching a plane to democratic West

Germany. The wall stopped “the brain drain.”

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**The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis = In October of 1962, pictures from

an American spy plane showed that the Soviet Union was building

missile bases in Cuba.

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Soviet Missile in Cuba

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American U-2 Spy Plane

Maximum speed: 500 mph

Cruise speed: 429 mph

Range: 5,566 nautical miles

Service ceiling = 85,000+ ft

Flight endurance: 12 hours

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The U.S. had

missile bases in

Turkey and Italy,

which are very

close to the Soviet

Union. Soviet

Union wanted the

U.S. to remove its

missiles.

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**Cuban Missile Crisis = In October of 1962, the U.S. found out that Soviet

ships, carrying nuclear warheads for the missiles in Cuba, were on their way

to Cuba.

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President Kennedy

ordered a naval

blockade of Cuba to

prevent Soviet nuclear

warheads from reaching

Cuba. For 3 days, {Oct.

22-25}, the world

watched and waited to

see if there would be a

nuclear war!!

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Soviet Premier Nikita

Khrushchev agreed to

remove Soviet missiles from

Cuba if the U.S. agreed not

to invade Cuba and took its

missiles out of Turkey.

The two leaders also

installed a hotline so they

could speak if an emergency

arose.

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Kennedy & Johnson – Foreign Policy

• Kennedy feared that Communism would

spread to the poor nations of Latin America.

• **The Alliance for Progress was an American

program to help build democratic

governments in Latin America.

• The United States pledged billions of dollars

to help L.A. nations create jobs and homes

for their people.

• Some Latin American nations did not trust

the U.S. because it had interfered in many

L.A. nations.

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The Dominican Republic• Johnson thought that rebels, backed by Communists, had attacked the

military government.

• He sent thousands of U.S. Marines and defeated the rebels. It turned out

that the rebels had not received Communist support.

Johnson’s

Foreign Policy

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Vietnam

• Johnson was

committed to

preventing the spread

of communism.

• Johnson ordered a

major increase in the

number of American

troops sent to

Vietnam.

Johnson’s Foreign Policy

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Vietnam

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Foreign Policy in the

Early 1960s—Assessment

Which of these events started the Cuban Missile Crisis?

(A) The CIA trained Cubans for an invasion to overthrow Castro.

(B) The United States learned of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.

(C) Fidel Castro took over Cuba and developed Soviet ties.

(D) American airstrikes attempted to destroy Cuba’s air force.

What was the Alliance for Progress?

(A) A treaty which banned nuclear testing above the ground

(B) A program which sent American volunteers overseas

(C) A program to build stable Latin American governments

(D) An international plan to overthrow the government of the

Dominican Republic

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Foreign Policy in the

Early 1960s—Assessment

Which of these events started the Cuban Missile Crisis?

(A) The CIA trained Cubans for an invasion to overthrow Castro.

(B) The United States learned of Soviet missile bases in Cuba.

(C) Fidel Castro took over Cuba and developed Soviet ties.

(D) American airstrikes attempted to destroy Cuba’s air force.

What was the Alliance for Progress?

(A) A treaty which banned nuclear testing above the ground

(B) A program which sent American volunteers overseas

(C) A program to build stable Latin American governments

(D) An international plan to overthrow the government of the

Dominican Republic