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John F. KennedyJohn F. Kennedy
3535thth President President
DO NOW: DO NOW: Primary Primary SourceSourceThe Election of The Election of 1960 p.8251960 p.825
1960 Election On January 2, Kennedy declared his intent to
run for President of the United States
On July 13, 1960, the Democratic convention nominated Kennedy
Kennedy asked Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas to be his Vice Presidential candidate
Needed Johnson's strength in the South to win what was considered likely to be the closest election since 1916
1960 Presidential Debates
• In September and October, Kennedy debated Republican candidate Vice President Richard Nixon in the first televised U.S. presidential debates.
• The debates are considered a political landmark: the point at which the medium of television played an important role in politics.
Kennedy Presidency "I am not the Catholic candidate for
President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters — and the Church does not speak for me."
John Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President on January 20, 1961
New Frontier • The term New Frontier was used by John F.
Kennedy in his acceptance speech in 1960 to the Democratic National Convention
• Originally just a slogan to inspire America to get behind him, the phrase developed into a label for his administration's domestic and foreign programs.
“We stand at the edge of a New Frontier-the frontier of unfulfilled hopes and dreams. It will deal with unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus.”
New Frontier
Program was intended to boost the economy
• to provide international aid
• provide for national defense
• to boost the space program
• to control monopoly prices
• advocate for civil rights
Alliance for Progress
• Kennedy sought to contain communism in Latin America – sent foreign aid to troubled countries – sought greater human rights standards in
the region.
• The aid was intended to counter the perceived emerging communist threat from Cuba to U.S. interests and dominance in the region.
Peace Corps
• To help developing nations fight poverty and disease.
• American volunteer program that sends people to countries around the world for two-year stints.
• It was established on March 1, 1961
Do Now:
• Technology & History pp. 832-33
Space Race "First, I believe that this nation should commit itself
to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the earth.
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.“
Kennedy asked Congress to approve $22 billion for the Apollo Project, which had the goal of landing an American man on the Moon before the end of the decade.
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
Do Now:Analyzing Geography Activity - The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962 p. 834
Cuba and the Bay of Pigs Invasion
• The Eisenhower Administration created a plan for the overthrow of the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba.
• CIA trained Cuban insurgents were to invade Cuba and instigate an uprising
• On April 17, 1961, invasion proceeds
• By April 19, 1961, the Cuban government had captured or killed the invading exiles
• Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release of the 1,189 survivors.
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
• After 20 months, Cuba released the captured exiles in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine.
• The incident was a major embarrassment for Kennedy, but he took full personal responsibility for the debacle.
• The incident made Castro wary of the U.S. and untrusting, leading him to believe that another invasion such as that one would occur.
Doomsday Clock during Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis• October 14, 1962, an American U-2 spy
planes took photographs of a Soviet intermediate-range ballistic missile site under construction in Cuba
• Many military officials and cabinet members pressed for an air assault on the missile sites
• Kennedy ordered a naval blockade in which the U.S. Navy inspected all ships.
Cuban Missile Crisis• Ordered the Soviets to remove all “offensive"
material that was being built off the Cuban island. Without doing so, the Soviet and Cuban peoples would face naval blockades.
• A week later, he and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev reached an agreement. – Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles – U.S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba — as long
as U.N. inspections were allowed for verification – Kennedy also secretly promised to remove U.S. ballistic
Jupiter missiles from Turkey within six months
Berlin Wall "Freedom has many difficulties and
democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.“
On June 26, 1963, Kennedy visited West Berlin and gave a public speech criticizing communism.
Kennedy used the construction of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failures of communism
