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The New Frontier and the Great Society

Chapter 20

1960

• Cold War – Space race between U.S and Soviet Union

• Presidential Election year – Kennedy vs. Nixon

• Soviet Union begins stockpiling nuclear weapons

• Americans begin calling for greater civil rights

Election of 1960

• Democrat – John F. Kennedy

• Republican – Richard Nixon

• Televised Debate – 1st ever – Kennedy appears confident, at ease – appeals to public– Nixon seemed tense, nervous– Big help to Kennedy’s campaign in a close

election

Kennedy wins by less that 119,000 votes

• Televised debate helped campaign in a close election– Helped him overcome his age, 43, and

religion (Catholic)

• Civil Rights – Kennedy and brother Robert help MLK out of jail – Gain votes from African Americans

Kennedy wins election

• John F. Kennedy is sworn in as president, Lyndon B. Johnson Vice President on January 20th, 1961

Camelot

• New era in White House – public becomes very interested in President and his family

Military Strategy

• Flexible Response – Strengthen non-nuclear military forces, fight limited war, non-nuclear response

• Created Special forces – Green Berets

• Tripled Nuclear capabilities – balanced pwr with USSR

Gary Powers and the U-2 Incident

• Shot down over Russia, May 1, 1960

• Held for 2 years in Russian prison

• Exchanged for Russian spy on Feb 10, 1962

Cuba

• Fidel Castro – leads a revolution – gains control of Cuba – with U.S. support

• Castro declares himself a communist and allied Cuba with the Soviet Union

Bay of Pigs

• CIA trains Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro’s government, start a revolution

• JFK authorized invasion

• 1961 – land at Bay of Pigs on Cuba’s southern coast

• Castro’s army was waiting– Invasion failed– 1200 taken prisoner

Huge Failure

• U.S. accepts blame, big embarrassment

• Castro relies more on the USSR

Cuban Missile Crisis• 1962 USSR begins stockpiling nuclear

weapons in Cuba – U.S. spy plane discovers missiles

• Kennedy warns public of weapons – threatens attack on USSR if they are not removed

• Imposes naval blockade of Cuba

Closest we ever came to nuclear war

• Soviet ships stopped or turned back

• Kruschev agrees to remove missiles from Cuba if:1.U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba

2.Remove our missiles from Turkey

Hot Line

• Created a “Hot Line”– Phone line between White House and Kremlin

• Nikita Krushchev vows to build a stronger military– Soviets begin massive military build-up and

U.S. does the same

• Starts the “arms race” again

Crisis in Berlin

• Many begin fleeing from Communist Eastern Germany

• Krushchev tries to close off access to West Berlin – air and land

• U.S. refuses to allow this• In response the Berlin

wall is built

Berlin Wall• Becomes symbol of

Cold war division of Europe

"Ich bin ein Berliner" = “I am a jelly doughnut”

Lasted 28 years

200 people died attempting to escape

5000 succeeded

David Hasslehoff – German Superstar

New Frontier

• Kennedy’s domestic program - wanted Americans to move towards progress– Tried to push reform measures through

Congress

– Lacked a mandate – clear indication of votes to approve a plan

– Kennedy had to play it safe

Economy

• Deficit spending – increased spending and reduced taxes

• Increased spending on defense

• Increased minimum wage to $1.25/hr, extended unemployment insurance, provided assistance to cities with high unemployment

International Policy

• Created Peace Corps – volunteer assistance to developing nations – many recent college graduates joined

• Alliance for Progress – economic and technical assistance to Latin American Countries

Space Race

• USSR sends first man to space• Kennedy vows to send first man to the

moon• NASA constructs new launch facilities in

Cape Canaveral and Houston• U.S. believed reputation depended on

supremacy in Space• As a result Science and Technology

expanded greatly during this time

• First Man Into Space – Yuri Gagarin (1934 – 1968)

• First American in Space – Alan Shepard (1923 – 1998)

• John Glenn, 1st American to orbit the earth, 1962

Gemini Project – 2 men in ship

• Ed White, 1st American to walk in Space

• Apollo Project – 3 men actual moon project

Fire in Spacecraft!

• January 1967, Apollo 1 fire, Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee died

Apollo 11

• Neil Armstrong, 1st man on the moon, July 20, 1969

• Buzz Aldron, 2nd man on the moon

Cape Canaveral, FL

Houston, we have a problem….

International Space Station

We spend….

• $25 Billion in space race

Beginning of Vietnam War

• By 1961, 9000 Americans had been sent to S. Vietnam as military advisors

• By 1963 that number had grown to 17,000 American advisors– Most of these advisors were the Green Berets

Dallas, TX - 1963

• Kennedy is allegedly assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald

Oswald later killed by Jack Ruby in Dallas Police station

Conspiracy?

• Warren Commission investigated– Found no conspiracy– Oswald acted alone

Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President

LBJ Years

1963-1968

“War on Poverty”

• Very popular at first– Continued Kennedy’s programs

• 1964 Congress passed the Economic Opportunity Act– $1 billions for:

• Youth programs• Anti-poverty measures• Job training• Small business loans

Election of 1964

• LBJ vs. Republican candidate Barry Goldwater– Welfare State vs. Nuclear War– Goldwater called for nuclear weapons against

Cuba

Landslide win for…

• LBJ – 61% of popular votes– 486 electoral votes

Warren Court

• Chief Justice Earl Warren

• Brown vs. Board of Education- segregation unconstitutional

• State sanctioned prayer in schools and state-required loyalty oaths unconstitutional

• Limited power of government censorship

Rights of the Accused

• Evidence seized illegally could not be used in court

• Free legal counsel to those who could not afford and right to lawyer present during questioning

• Miranda v. Arizona – all suspects must be read rights before questioning

Tet Offensive

• Vietnam War destroyed LBJ’s popularity and presidency– 1968 Tet Offensive

• Convinced LBJ not to run for re-election• 60% of Americans disapproved of his handling of

the War

March 31st 1968

• LBJ announces on TV that he will not run for reelection

The Great Society

LBJ’s Vision to create an equal society

The Great Society

• LBJ’s vision of a more perfect, equitable society

-intended to benefit minorities and the urban poor

- rebuild decaying inner cities

- air-water pollution bills

Goal – eliminate hunger, disease, discrimination

Number of poor dropped from 21% to 11% in 10 years

War on Poverty

• Wanted to stop the cycle of poverty

• Created programs that would solve the root of the problem

• Economic Opportunity Act– $1 billion for youth programs, antipoverty

measures, small business loans and on the job training

Education

• Provided federal aid to help schools purchase textbooks and library materials

• Scholarships and low interest loans for college students

• Corporation for Public Broadcasting – educational TV and radio broadcasting

Healthcare

• Medicare – provided hospital insurance and low cost medical insurance to Americans 65 and older

• Medicaid – extended health insurance to welfare recipients

Housing

• Built affordable, public housing

• Established HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development

Immigration

• Immigration Act of 1965 – ended quotas based on nationality– Increased the number of non-European

immigrants entering the country

Environmental

• Wilderness Preservation Act – set aside land that could not be developed

• Clean air and water acts– Standards put on vehicle emissions– Higher standards for air and water pollutions

Consumer Protection

• Truth in Packaging Act – standards set for labeling consumer goods

• Standards set for auto and tire industries

• Highway safety and transportation safety programs created

• Created Department of Transportation

Impact of the Great Society

• Extended the power of the federal government

• War on poverty – did lower poverty rates but did not accomplish all

• Government budget deficit increased