Transcript THE KENNEDY AND JOHNSON YEARS

THE KENNEDY AND
JOHNSON YEARS
SECTION 2 NEW FRONTIER AND GREAT
SOCIETY
KENNEDY V. NIXON
The New Frontier-KENNEDY
 Will be remembered as the President who instilled
Americans with renewed idealism.
 New Frontier-label for his vision of progress at home
 A personal vision of Kennedy’s—progressive ideology
but not a radical one.
 Hoped to increase aid to education, provide health
insurance to the elderly, and create a Department of
Urban Affairs.
WORKING STYLE
 Gathered a team of the best and the brightest around
him.
 Content on the domestic front to nudge along
economic growth and to strengthen public programs.
 His interests were centered on foreign policy—the
cold war and containment of communism.
Containing Communism
 “Flexible response”
 This was his attempt to stop the spread of
communism with a range of programs including:
 A conventional weaponry program, expansion of the
Special Forces, a program to provide economic aid to
Latin America, and creation of the Peace Corps.
International Development
 Alliance for Progress: aid
projects w/ Latin America
 Peace Corps sent
volunteers to developing
countries.
 Tried to pass an education
bill—there was a fear that
federal support for
education would mean
less state control.
 Was not able to get it
passed.
THE SPACE RACE
 Soviet Union gained edge
in space race when
cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
orbited the earth in 1961
 Following month, Kennedy
asked Congress for a
commitment to the goal of
“landing a man on the
moon and returning him
safely to earth” before
1970.
NASA
 Developed a three-stage
program to put Americans in
space.
 1st Stage: Project Mercurytest flights b/w 1961 and
1963.
 John Glenn-1st American to
orbit earth in 1962.
 Apollo program—landed on
moon in 1968.
BERLIN WALL
 August 1961-
 Kruschev retaliated by
 Met with Soviet Premier Nikita
building a wall through
Berlin.
 For nearly 30 years,
stood as a symbol of Cold
War divisions.
Khruschev. Khrushev wanted
to stop flood of Germans
pouring out of Communist
East Germany into West Berlin.
 He demanded that the Western
Powers recognize East
Germany and that the U.S. and
G.B. and France with draw
from Berlin.
 Kennedy refused—and
reaffirmed West’s commitment
to West Berlin
BERLIN WALL
KENNEDY SPEECH AT BERLIN WALL
BAY OF PIGS
 After Fidel Castro became dictator of Cuba, he
developed ties with the Soviet Union.
 President Eisenhower had approved CIA tp secretly
train a group of Cuban exiles (La Brigada) to invade
the island.
 It was intended to set off a popular uprising against
Castro.
 When Kennedy became President, he agreed to
operations with some changes.
Bay of Pigs Continued
 Invasion was a disaster.
 1. The boats ran aground on coral reefs
 2. Kennedy had canceled air support to keep U.S.
involvement secret.
 3. The expected uprising never happened—within 2
days Castro’s forces killed or captured all the
members of La Brigada.
 Dark moment for Kennedy administration-made us
look weak and disorganized.
Bay of Pigs
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
 1962- American
intelligence agencies
learned that Soviets were
constructing military sites
in Cuba.
 9/22-Kennedy announces
to public (on TV) that
American spy planes had
taken ariel photos
showing S.U. had placed
long-range missiles in
Cuba.
 Kennedy ordered a naval
blockade to stop delivery
of more missiles.
 Demanded that the others
be dismantled and that if
attacked, the U.S. would
respond fully against the
Soviet Union.
 After negotations-S.U. offered a
deal—it would remove the
missiles if U.S. promised not to
invade Cuba and also remove
missiles from Turkey.
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
HOPES CUT OFF
 November 22, 1963
 Shot and killed in Dallas
by Lee Harvey Oswald.
 Two days later, Dallas
nightclub owner Jack
Ruby, pushed through
police and shot and
killed Oswald at pointblank range.
 http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?feature=playe
r_detailpage&v=KPW_
E16fmwc
Johnson’s Great Society
 Administration began in the
tragedy of Kennedy’s
assassination and ended in the
tragedy of disastrous war in
Vietnam.
 In between, Johnson
carried forward Kennedy’s
dream of a New Frontier.
 He also went beyond
Kennedy’s domestic
programs to launch his
vision of the Great
Society.
Differences between the two men
 Kennedy—handsome, sophisticated, well-educated
 Johnson—could be crude and intimidating.
 Johnson-great at building coalitions but used what was
coined “THE TREATMENT”
 The treatment was to find out everything he could
about a person and then either flatter, promise, or
threaten all the while suggesting that the other
person’s decision was going to make the difference
between success or failure.
Fashioning a Legacy
 Johnson was a very determined and confident man.
 He cared deeply about the poor and he cared about
his place in history.
 He felt he could become the first President to create
a just society that all but eliminated poverty and
hardship.
 Declared War on Poverty in the U.S.
THE GREAT SOCIETY
 Pushed Kennedy’s initiatives
such as Civil Rights Act through
Congress.
 Economic Opportunity Act—
established Volunteers in
Service to American (VISTA)—
like a domestic peace corps.
-EOC also funded Project Head
Start—disadvantaged preschooler program.
Upward Bound, Work Experience
Program
Overwhelming defeat of Rep. Sen.
Barry Goldwater in 1964
election.
OTHER PROGRAMS BY JOHNSON
 Huge pieces of legislation
 Medicare-federally funded
health care for the elderly.
 Medicaid-for needy who
were too young for
Medicare.
 Model Cities Act
 Housing and Urban
Development—Robert
Weaver( 1st African
American on a
presidential cabinet)
VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965
 Put teeth into the 15th
Amendment by providing
federal supervision of voter
registration.
 Immigration legislation—did
away with quota system.
 XV AMENDMENT
 Section 1. The right of
citizens of the United States
to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United
States or by any state on
account of race, color, or
previous condition of
servitude.
 Section 2. The Congress
shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate
legislation
SUCCESSES AND LIMITATIONS
 Successful in creating legislative programs but not as
successful in implementing them.
 It was under funded—partly because of Vietnam.
 It promised so much that, despite its successes,
critics could always point to unresolved problems.
 Successes: poverty numbers dropped, Civil Rts Acts
passed.