Terms & Names

While Kennedy had troublegetting his ideas for a NewFrontier passed, several goalswere achieved.

Kennedy’s space programcontinues to generate scientificand engineering advances thatbenefit Americans.

The New Frontier and the Great Society 679

The New Frontier

On May 5, 1961, American astronaut Alan Shepard climbedinto Freedom 7, a tiny capsule on top of a huge rocket boost-er. The capsule left the earth’s atmosphere in a ball of fire andreturned the same way, and Shepard became the firstAmerican to travel into space. Years later, he recalled hisemotions when a naval crew fished him out of the Atlantic.

A PERSONAL VOICE ALAN SHEPARD

“ Until the moment I stepped out of the flight deck . . .I hadn’t realized the intensity of the emotions and feel-ings that so many people had for me, for the otherastronauts, and for the whole manned space program.. . . I was very close to tears as I thought, it’s nolonger just our fight to get ‘out there.’ The strugglebelongs to everyone in America. . . . From now onthere was no turning back.”

—Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America’s Race to the Moon

The entire trip—which took only 15 minutes fromliftoff to splashdown—reaffirmed the belief in American ingenuity.John F. Kennedy inspired many Americans with the same kind of belief.

The Promise of ProgressKennedy set out to transform his broad vision of progress into what he called theNew Frontier. “We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier,” Kennedy hadannounced upon accepting the nomination for president. He called on Americansto be “new pioneers” and explore “uncharted areas of science and space, . . .unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions ofpoverty and surplus.”

Kennedy had difficulty turning his vision into reality, however. He offeredCongress proposals to provide medical care for the aged, rebuild blighted urbanareas, and aid education, but he couldn’t gather enough votes. Kennedy faced thesame conservative coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats that had

Astronaut Alan Shepard(inset) prepares to enterthe space capsule for hisMercury flight.

New image:aspe-2802-1476needs to be silo’d

•New Frontier•mandate•Peace Corps

•Alliance forProgress

•Warren Commission

One American's Story

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOWWHY IT MATTERS NOW Terms & Names

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A

blocked Truman’s Fair Deal, and he showed little skill in pushinghis domestic reform measures through Congress. Since Kennedyhad been elected by the slimmest of margins, he lacked a popularmandate—a clear indication that voters approved of his plans.As a result, he often tried to play it safe politically. Nevertheless,Kennedy did persuade Congress to enact measures to boost theeconomy, build the national defense, provide international aid,and fund a massive space program.

STIMULATING THE ECONOMY One domestic problem theKennedy team tackled was the economy. By 1960 America wasin a recession. Unemployment hovered around 6 percent, oneof the highest levels since World War II. During the campaign,Kennedy had criticized the Eisenhower administration for fail-ing to stimulate growth. The American economy, he said, was lagging behind those of other Western democracies andthe Soviet Union.

Kennedy’s advisers pushed for the use of deficit spend-ing, which had been the basis for Roosevelt’s New Deal. Theysaid that stimulating economic growth depended on increasedgovernment spending and lower taxes, even if it meant thatthe government spent more than it took in.

Accordingly, the proposals Kennedy sent to Congress in1961 called for increased spending. The Department ofDefense received a nearly 20 percent budget increase for newnuclear missiles, nuclear submarines, and an expansion of thearmed services. Congress also approved a package thatincreased the minimum wage to $1.25 an hour, extendedunemployment insurance, and provided assistance to citieswith high unemployment.

ADDRESSING POVERTY ABROAD One of the first campaign promisesKennedy fulfilled was the creation of the Peace Corps, a program of volunteerassistance to the developing nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Critics inthe United States called the program “Kennedy’s Kiddie Korps” because many vol-unteers were just out of college. Some foreign observers questioned whether

Americans could understandother cultures.

Despite these reservations,the Peace Corps became a hugesuccess. People of all ages andbackgrounds signed up to workas agricultural advisers, teach-ers, or health aides or to dowhatever work the host coun-try needed. By 1968, morethan 35,000 volunteers hadserved in 60 nations aroundthe world.

A second foreign aid program, the Alliance forProgress, offered economicand technical assistance toLatin American countries.Between 1961 and 1969, theUnited States invested almost

680 CHAPTER 20

ECONOMICECONOMIC

WHAT IS A RECESSION?A recession is, in a general sense,a moderate slowdown of the econ-omy marked by increased unem-ployment and reduced personalconsumption. In 1961, thenation's jobless rate climbed fromjust under 6 percent to nearly 7percent. Personal consumption ofseveral major items declined thatyear, as people worried about jobsecurity and spent less money.

Car sales, for example, droppedby more than $1 billion from theprevious year, while fewer peopletook overseas vacations. Perhapsthe surest sign that the countryhad entered a recession was theadmission by government officialsof how bleak things were. “We arein a full-fledged recession,” LaborSecretary Arthur Goldbergdeclared in February of 1961.(See recession on page R44 inthe Economics Handbook.)

A Peace Corpsvolunteer gives aride to a Nigeriangirl.

BackgroundSee deficitspending on pageR39 in theEconomicsHandbook.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

A

IdentifyingProblems

Why didKennedy havedifficulty achievingmany of his NewFrontier goals?

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B

U.S. Space Race Expenditures, 1959–1975

Source: NASA

Government Expendituresfor Space Activities

Geographical Distribution ofNASA Contracts (1961–1975)

Spen

ding

(in

bill

ions

of d

olla

rs)

OtherStates 39%$15.6 billion

New York 9%$3.4 billion

Florida 7%$2.8 billion

California 39%$15.4 billion

Texas 6%$2.5 billion

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0’59 ’61 ’63 ’65 ’67 ’69 ’71 ’73 ’75

SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Graphs and Charts1. In which year did the federal government spend the most money on the space race?

2. What state benefited the most?

$12 billion in Latin America, in part to deter these countriesfrom picking up Fidel Castro’s revolutionary ideas. While themoney brought some development to the region, it didn’tbring fundamental reforms.

RACE TO THE MOON On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonautYuri A. Gagarin became the first human in space. Kennedy sawthis as a challenge and decided that America would surpass theSoviets by sending a man to the moon.

In less than a month the United States had duplicated theSoviet feat. Later that year, a communications satellite calledTelstar relayed live television pictures across the Atlantic Oceanfrom Maine to Europe. Meanwhile, America’s NationalAeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had begun toconstruct new launch facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and amission control center in Houston, Texas. America’s pride andprestige were restored. Speaking before a crowd at Houston’s RiceUniversity, Kennedy expressed the spirit of “the space race.”

A PERSONAL VOICE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY

“ We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do theother things, not because they are easy, but because they arehard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure thebest of our energies and skills, because that challenge is onethat we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to post-pone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

—Address on the Nation’s Space Effort, September 12, 1962

Seven years later, on July 20, 1969, the U.S. would achieveits goal. An excited nation watched with bated breath as U.S.astronaut Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon.

As a result of the space program, universities expanded their science pro-grams. The huge federal funding for research and development gave rise to newindustries and new technologies, many of which could be used in business andindustry and also in new consumer goods. Space- and defense-related industriessprang up in the Southern and Western states, which grew rapidly.

The New Frontier and the Great Society 681

SPOTLIGHTSPOTLIGHTHISTORICALHISTORICAL

JOHNSON ANDMISSION CONTROL

President Kennedy appointedVice President Johnson as chair-man of the National Aeronauticsand Space Council shortly afterthey assumed office in 1961.The chairman’s duties werevague, but Johnson spelled themout: “He is to advise the presi-dent of what this nation’s spacepolicy ought to be.” AndJohnson’s advice was to land aman on the moon.

A new home for the moon pro-gram’s Manned SpacecraftCenter was created. Some NASAadministrators had wanted toconsolidate the center and thelaunch site in Florida. However,when Johnson’s friends atHumble Oil donated land to RiceUniversity, which sold 600 acresto NASA and donated the rest,the debate was over. Houstonbecame the center of the newspace program.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

B

AnalyzingMotives

Why didKennedy want toinvest in foreignaid?

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

C

AnalyzingEffects

What effectdid the spaceprogram have onother areas ofAmerican life? C

D

ADDRESSING DOMESTIC PROBLEMS While progress was being made on thenew frontiers of space exploration and international aid, many Americanssuffered at home. In 1962, the problem of poverty in America was brought tonational attention in Michael Harrington’s book The Other America. Harringtonprofiled the 50 million people in America who scraped by each year on less than$1,000 per person. The number of poor shocked many Americans.

While Harrington awakened the nation to the nightmare of poverty, the fightagainst segregation took hold. Throughout the South, demonstrators raised theirvoices in what would become some of the most controversial civil rights battles ofthe 1960s. (See Chapter 29.) Kennedy had not pushed aggressively for legislationon the issues of poverty and civil rights, although he effected changes by executiveaction. However, now he felt that it was time to live up to a campaign promise.

In 1963, Kennedy began to focus more closely on the issues at home. He calledfor a “national assault on the causes of poverty.” He also ordered Robert Kennedy’sJustice Department to investigate racial injustices in the South. Finally, he present-ed Congress with a sweeping civil rights bill and a proposal to cut taxes by over$10 billion.

Tragedy in DallasIn the fall of 1963, public opinion polls showed that Kennedy was losing popu-larity because of his advocacy of civil rights. Yet most still supported their belovedpresident. No one could foresee the terrible national tragedy just ahead.

FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER On the sunny morning of November 22, 1963, AirForce One, the presidential aircraft, landed in Dallas, Texas. President and Mrs.Kennedy had come to Texas to mend political fences with members of the state’sDemocratic Party. Kennedy had expected a cool reception from the conservativestate, but he basked instead in warm waves of applause from crowds that lined thestreets of downtown Dallas.

Jacqueline and her husband sat in the back seat of an open-air limousine. Infront of them sat Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie. As the carapproached a state buildingknown as the Texas School BookDepository, Nellie Connallyturned to Kennedy and said, “Youcan’t say that Dallas isn’t friendlyto you today.” A few seconds later,rifle shots rang out, and Kennedywas shot in the head. His car racedto a nearby hospital, where doc-tors frantically tried to revive him,but it was too late. PresidentKennedy was dead.

As the tragic news spreadthrough America’s schools,offices, and homes, people reactedwith disbelief. Questions were oneveryone’s lips: Who had killedthe president, and why? Whatwould happen next?

682 CHAPTER 20

John Kennedy, Jr., salutes his father’s casket as it isprepared for the trip to Arlington National Cemetery.His uncles, Edward Kennedy and Attorney GeneralRobert Kennedy; his mother; and his sister look on.

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MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

D

MakingInferences

In whatdirections didPresident Kennedyseem to be takinghis administrationin 1963?

During the next four days, television became “the windowof the world.” A photograph of a somber Lyndon Johnson tak-ing the oath of office aboard the presidential airplane wasbroadcast. Soon, audiences watched as Dallas police chargedLee Harvey Oswald with the murder. His palm print had beenfound on the rifle used to kill John F. Kennedy.

The 24-year-old ex-Marine had a suspicious past. After receiv-ing a dishonorable discharge, Oswald had briefly lived in theSoviet Union, and he supported Castro. On Sunday, November24, as millions watched live television coverage of Oswaldbeing transferred between jails, a nightclub owner named JackRuby broke through the crowd and shot and killed Oswald.

The next day, all work stopped for Kennedy’s funeral asAmerica mourned its fallen leader. The assassination andtelevised funeral became a historic event. Americans whowere alive then can still recall what they were doing whenthey first heard about the shooting of their president.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS The bizarre chain of eventsmade some people wonder if Oswald was part of a conspiracy.In 1963, the Warren Commission investigated and con-cluded that Oswald had shot the president while acting on hisown. Later, in 1979, a reinvestigation concluded that Oswaldwas part of a conspiracy. Investigators also said that two per-sons may have fired at the president. Numerous other peoplehave made investigations. Their explanations have rangedfrom a plot by anti-Castro Cubans, to a Communist-spon-sored attack, to a conspiracy by the CIA.

What Americans did learn from the Kennedy assassina-tion was that their system of government is remarkably stur-dy. A crisis that would have crippled a dictatorship did not prevent a smooth tran-sition to the presidency of Lyndon Johnson. In a speech to Congress, Johnsonexpressed his hope that “from the brutal loss of our leader we will derive notweakness but strength.” Not long after, Johnson drove through Congress themost ambitious domestic legislative package since the New Deal.

The New Frontier and the Great Society 683

NOWNOW THENTHEN

KENNEDY’S ASSASSINATIONFrom the beginning, people havequestioned the Warren Commis-sion report. Amateur investiga-tors have led to increasing publicpressure on the government totell all it knows about the assas-sination.

In response, Congress passedthe JFK Records Act in 1992,which created a panel to reviewgovernment and private files anddecide which should be part ofthe public record.

Since the law was enacted,newly declassified information hasadded some weight to a body ofevidence that JFK was shot fromthe front (the Warren Commissionhad concluded that a single bulletstruck the president from behind)and that Oswald, thus, could nothave acted alone. While such evi-dence challenges the WarrenCommission’s report, no informa-tion has yet surfaced that conclu-sively disproves its findings.

•New Frontier•mandate

•Peace Corps•Alliance for Progress

•Warren Commission

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.

MAIN IDEA2. TAKING NOTES

Re-create the web shown and fill it inwith programs of the New Frontier.

Which do you think was mostsuccessful? Why?

CRITICAL THINKING3. ANALYZING MOTIVES

Why do you think Congress was soenthusiastic about allocating fundsfor the space program but rejectedspending in education, socialservices, and other pressing needs?

4. MAKING INFERENCESWhy do you think Kennedy lostpopularity for supporting civil rights?

5. EVALUATING LEADERSHIPDo you think President Kennedy wasa successful leader? Explain yourviewpoint. Think About:

• the reasons for his popularity• the goals he expressed• his foreign policy• his legislative record

The New Frontier

Vocabularyconspiracy: anagreement by twoor more personsto take illegalpolitical action

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

EContrasting

How didthe WarrenCommission’sfindings differ fromother theories?

E

684 CHAPTER 20

The Movement of Migrant Workers

The nation’s 3 million farm workers are responsible for harvesting much of the fruit and veg-etables that families eat each day. Most field workers on United States farms remain in oneplace most of the year. Others are migrant workers, who move with their entire family fromone region to the next as the growing seasons change. Nationally, migrant workers make uparound 10 percent of hired farm workers, depending on the season and other factors.

As the map shows, there were three major streams of migrant worker movements in the1960s: the Pacific Coast, the Midwest, and the Atlantic Coast. While these paths may havechanged slightly since then, the movement of migrant workers into nearly every region ofthe nation continues today.

GEOGRAPHY

SPOTLIGHT

THE PACIFIC COASTThe Pacific Coast region’s moderate climateallows for year-round harvesting. Most ofCalifornia’s migrant farm workers work onlarge fruit farms for much of the year. Morethan 62,000 workers make their way up toWashington each year to pick cherries,apples, and other crops.

THE MIDWESTWorkers along the Midwest andEast Coast streams, where cropsare smaller, must keep moving inorder to find work. These workerspicking strawberries in Michigan will soon move on. For example,one family may travel to Ohio forthe tomato harvest and then return to Michigan to pick applesbefore heading back to Texas for the winter months.

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The New Frontier and the Great Society 685

THINKING CRITICALLYTHINKING CRITICALLY

CONNECT TO HISTORY1. Analyzing Patterns Retrace the movement of migrant

workers in the three regions. Why do you think migrantworkers have to keep moving?

CONNECT TO TODAY2. Creating a Database Pose a historical question about

the relationship between crops and planting seasons.For example, what types of crops are harvested inMichigan during the fall? Then research and create adatabase that answers this and other such questions.

SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R33

IRESEARCH LINKS CLASSZONE.COM

THE ATLANTIC COASTWhile some workers along the Atlantic Coast streamremain in Florida, others travel as far north as NewHampshire and New York, like the workers shown hereharvesting onions. There, they work from March throughSeptember. Due to the winters, migrant workers inmost of the Midwest and Atlantic regions can find workfor only six months out of the year.

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WASHINGTON

OREGON

CALIFORNIA

NEVADA

UTAH

ARIZONA

NEWMEXICO

T E X A SLA.

ALABAMA

MISS.GEORGIA

FLORIDA

SOUTHCAROLINA

NORTHCAROLINA

TENNESSEE

KENTUCKYVIRGINIA

PENNSYLVANIA

NEWYORK

MAINE

WESTVIRGINIA

ARKANSAS

MISSOURI

ILLINOIS

KANSAS

OKLAHOMA

NEBRASKA IOWA

COLORADO

WYOMING

SOUTHDAKOTA

NORTHDAKOTA

MONTANA

IDAHO

MINNESOTA

WISCONSIN

MICHIGAN

INDIANA OHIO

N.J.

DELAWARE

MARYLAND

CONN.

R.I.

MASS.

VERMONTN.H.

0 250 500 kilometers

0 250 500 miles

N

S

EW

Pacific Coast paths

Midwest paths

Atlantic Coast paths

Year-round work

Migrant base areas

The map above shows the three major streams ofmigrant worker movements in the 1960s.

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