President John F. President John F. KennedyKennedy

The Kennedy Administration

Election of 1960Election of 1960

• John F. Kennedy (Dem) vs. Richard Nixon (Rep)

• 1st televised debate• Kennedy wins very

close election• Sen. Lyndon

Johnson becomes Vice President

Foreign PolicyForeign Policy• The Bay of Pigs

– Fidel Castro led communist revolution in Cuba

– CIA planned an invasion of Cuba

• Recruited Cuban exiles as a military force

– April 17, 1961• Cuban exiles land at the

Bay of Pigs• Cuban military captures

and defeats the exiles• President Kennedy took

the blame for the failure of the operation

The Berlin WallThe Berlin Wall

• August 13, 1961– East German government shuts down

the border between East and West Berlin

– Began construction of a wall which separated East Berlin from West Berlin

• The wall kept East Germans from escaping to the West

The Cuban Missile CrisisThe Cuban Missile Crisis• Oct. 13, 1961• Soviets move nuclear missiles to Cuba

The Cuban Missile CrisisThe Cuban Missile Crisis

• Kennedy tells the Soviet Union to remove the missiles from Cuba and warns that any Soviet Ships going to Cuba will be stopped and searched

• Kennedy considers bombing missile sites or attacking Cuba

The Cuban Missile CrisisThe Cuban Missile Crisis

• Soviet ships continued to head towards Cuba

• World was prepared for nuclear war

• At the last minute, the Soviets agreed to take the missiles out of Cuba

The Peace CorpThe Peace Corp

• Kennedy establishes the Peace Corp to help poor nations– This program was seen as a way to stop the

spread of communism

The Space RaceThe Space Race

• Kennedy set a goal of putting a man on the moon before 1970 – This was known as the Apollo Program– The goal was accomplished on July 20, 1969

VietnamVietnam

• Kennedy sent the first troops into Vietnam– The first troops

were military advisors sent to help South Vietnam fight communist insurgents

Domestic IssuesDomestic Issues

• The Civil Rights struggle continued through the early 60’s

Kennedy AssassinatedKennedy Assassinated

• Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 22, 1963

• Lyndon Johnson becomes President