JFK & LBJ1960-68

APUSH ch. 28 part 1

JFK• Who did JFK run against in 1960?

– Richard Nixon• What advantages did each candidate have?

– Nixon – • well known (Ike’s VP)• Good track record vs. communism (McCarthy era)

– JFK• Wealthy background• War hero & Pulitzer Prize winner

– How did JFK win?• Televised debates – advantage for JFK (more telegenic)

JFK Administration• Describe JFK’s Cabinet:

– “the best & brightest” – elite intellectuals• Scholarly & academic (unlike Ike’s cabinet, which was more business-

oriented)• No women in cabinet• Brother Robert was Attorney General

– Major issues for JFK?• Cold War• Civil Rights• Environment

– Priorities?• Cold War #1• Everything else secondary

Kennedy & The Cold War

• Philosophy?– “Flexible response” – ability to confront communist aggression in several different ways

• Nuclear, conventional, or unconventional tactics– JFK’s policies/actions?

• Peace Corps – volunteers to bring American “goodwill” to Third World• Funding of space race/NASA – embarrassed by Sputnik, wanted to be 1st to moon

– Alan Shepherd, John Glenn• Expansion of US Army Special Forces (created by Ike)

– Green Berets– Soldiers specially trained in political warfare, counterinsurgency,

unconventional warfare, psychological operations, training allies to combat communism, and direct action when necessary

Cold War Incidents – JFK

• What happened in Germany?– Soviets put up Berlin Wall in 1961

• What did JFK plan for Cuba?– Use Cuban exiles to oust communist Castro– Plan drawn up during Ike years – executed by JFK– Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961

• Huge blunder, didn’t work– Effect?

• US embarrassed• JFK determined to redeem himself• Cuba becomes paranoid of US invasion

– What happens next?

Cold War Incidents – JFK

• What happened in Cuba after the Bay of Pigs fiasco?– Cuba imports Soviet missiles– US sees them with spy plane recon photos– Missiles could reach US in minutes– JFK blockades Cuba – calls it a quarantine – why?

• Also vows to get rid of missiles already in Cuba• By force if necessary

– Showdown between US (JFK) and USSR (Khrushchev)– World at brink of nuclear war

Cold War Incidents – JFK

• Cuban Missile Crisis – how did it end?– USSR “blinks”– Vows to remove missiles from Cuba– US will not invade Cuba– US secretly removes missiles from Turkey (JFK saving face)

• Effects?– Hotline – White House to Kremlin– US builds nuclear arsenal – feels need to have more nukes than USSR

Cold War Incidents – JFK

• What was JFK’s attitude toward Vietnam?– Steps up US involvement– Lots of $$$ and aid flowing to SVN– Uses military advisors (lots of them), Special Forces, CIA mostly (not

conventional troops)– Wants to keep it a small war– Diem hated in SVN

• Assassinated, replaced by military dictators

Social Movements under JFK

• Environment– Clean Air Act– Warned against pesticides

• “Silent Spring” – Rachel Carson• Civil Rights

– Mostly let events play out, intervened if necessary– Sit-ins and lunch counter demonstrations– Birmingham, 1963

• Bull Connor• Protesters attacked with cattle prods, fire hoses, dogs• Turned public opinion against segregation (TV coverage)

– U of Mississippi• James Meredith integrates

Major Court cases during JFK’s administration• Baker v. Carr (1962) –

– apportionment – made sure voting districts not drawn in a way that made minority voters a non-factor

• Engel v. Vitale (1962) – – bans prayer in public school

• Abington v. Schempp (1963) – – bans reading of Bible in public schools

• Although…..Mrs. Shangraw’s 4th grade classroom in Tenn began every day with a story from this book. • And before you ask, she was NOT

born before 1963, thank you.

LBJ & The Great Society

• How does LBJ become Pres.?– JFK assassinated in Texas in 1963

• Shot by Lee Harvey Oswald• Oswald murdered by Jack Ruby before he can stand trial• Numerous conspiracy theories

– LBJ faces re-election in 1964 again Barry Goldwater• Opponent of civil rights reform, welfare programs, gov’t spending,

– LBJ wins – how?• Portrays Goldwater as reckless in nuclear policy (because being a racist is ok)• Goldwater would consider using nukes vs. Cuba or North Vietnam• “Daisy” commercial – brilliant and groundbreaking• Goldwater loses but launches modern republican strategy (Here you go, Matt and

Sean!)– Coalition of southern & western conservatives

LBJ & The Great Society

• What is LBJ most known for?– Great Society– Civil Rights legislation– Increasing US involvement in VN

• Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964)

• Why does LBJ pursue civil rights so aggressively?– Partly b/c he believed in it– Also b/c of his background – wanted to make sure he didn’t appear

a racist southerner– Supposedly wanted to be remembered as one of greatest presidents

Civil Rights & Social Progress

• Major Milestones under LBJ:– Civil Rights act of 1964 – public segregation illegal– Voting Rights Act of 1965 – grandfather clause, literacy tests illegal

• Also voter registration movement– Civil Rights Act of 1968 – prohibited disc. in housing– 24th Amendment – poll tax illegal– Motor Vehicle Safety Act – federal standards

• Inspired by Ralph Nader – “Unsafe at Any Speed”– Gideon v. Wainwright – state-provided lawyers ” My Dad’s next car.– Miranda v. Arizona – rights of the accused must be stated– Loving v. Virginia – strikes down state laws outlawing interracial marriage– Engel v. Vitale – no school prayer– Econ. Opportunity Act (and other programs) – War on Poverty

• Inspired by Michael Harrington– Education Acts (1965)– Medicare & Medicaid– Immigration Act (1965)– March on Washington, 1963