The Soaring Sixties: The Years of Kennedy and Johnson
The third Eisenhower recession mired on the country when John F.
Kennedy ran forpresident in 19!. "ith his incum#ency he made the
nation re#ound from therecession and em#ar$ed in an uninterrupted
expansion.%e was assassinated #eforehe cou&d comp&ete his
'rst term. %e was succeeded #y (yndon Johnson which
continued Kennedy)s p&an of a ma*or tax cut to stimu&ate
the economy. "hen John F.Kennedy #ecame president+ he #rought to
"ashington some of the #rightest youngeconomists of the day to wor$
on his ,ounci& of Economic -disers. /ne of thecounci&)s
'rst proposa&s was to expand nationa& income #y reducing
taxes. Johnsoneentua&&y &ed a su#stantia& cut in
persona& and corporate income taxes in 190. -sKennedy)s
economic adisers predicted+ the passage of the tax cut was
fo&&owed #yan economic #oom. rowth in rea& 23 was 4.5
percent in 190 and .! percent in194. The unemp&oyment rate
fe&& from 4.6 percent in 195 to 4.7 percent in 190and then
to 0.4 percent in 194.(Source pg. 296 Macroeconomics by
GeorgeMankiw)That and our ino&ement in the 8ietnam "ar
he&ped #ring unemp&oyment#e&ow 0 percent #y 19. The
rapid economic growth from mid190!s through the&ate 19!s was
caused &arge&y #y su#ur#aniation.
