Transcript The Cold War Begins - Auburn School District

The New Frontier
 President
John F. Kennedy urged
Americans to work for progress
and to stand firm against the Soviets.
 The Cuban Missile Crisis marked the
peak of the Cold War.
 Kennedy’s assassination changed the
nation’s mood.
 President Lyndon Johnson embraced
ambitious goals including civil
rights and ending poverty.
 In
the Presidential television debates of
1960, the media focused on the
appearance of the candidates.
• Richard Nixon looked pale, tired, and frazzled.
• John F. Kennedy looked tan, confident, and healthy.
 The
Main Issues
• The Economy
• The Cold War
 Kennedy claimed that the US lagged behind the Soviet
Union in weaponry and called it a “missile gap”
• Kennedy’s religion came under scrutiny
(Catholicism)
 JFK
captured the imagination of the
American public
• Youthful and Optimistic
 The
Kennedys were masters with the
media
 The Kennedys were
comparative to royalty
 Kennedy
set out to implement a legislative
agenda, which became known as the New
Frontier.
• Increased aid to education
• Health insurance to the elderly
• Create the Department of Urban Affairs
• Help migrant workers
 Republicans
as well as conservative
Southern Democrats viewed the New
Frontier as too big and too costly
 The
American economy, which had
soared through the 1950s, slowed in
1960-61.
• The gross national product grew only 2 percent
• The unemployment rate rose to 7 percent
 In
an effort to increase growth and
create more jobs, Kennedy advocated
the New Deal strategy of deficit
spending.
 In
1953 Eisenhower had nominated Earl
Warren to Chief Justice of the United States.
 “One Man, One Vote”
• Under Warren, the Supreme Court ruled that many
states needed to re-draw their political districts based
on population shifts from rural to urban and suburban
areas—known as reapportionment.
• Reynolds v. Sims: “one man, one vote”—the Warren
Court required state legislatures to reapportion
electoral districts so that all citizens’ votes would have
equal weight. It shifted political power throughout the
country from rural and often conservative areas to
urban areas.
 Civil Rights
• Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
• Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964)
• Loving v. Virginia (1967)
 Due Process
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
• Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)
 Freedom of Religion and Speech
• Engel v. Vitale (1962)
• Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)
• New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
 Due Process:
• Means that the law may not treat individuals unfairly,
arbitrarily, or unreasonably, and that courts must
follow proper procedures and rules when trying
cases.
• Due process ensures that all people are treated
the same by the court system.
 Gideon
v. Wainwright: the Court ruled
that a defendant in a state court had the
right to a lawyer regardless of his or her
ability to pay.

Kennedy and Nixon differed in many ways. Kennedy, a
Catholic, came from a Massachusetts family of wealth
and influence. Nixon, a Quaker, was a Californian from
a financially struggling family. Kennedy seems
outgoing and relaxed, while Nixon struck many as
formal and even stiff in manner. Although the
candidates presented different styles, they different
little on the two main issues. Both promised to boost the
economy and both portrayed themselves as “Cold
Warriors” determined to stop the forces of
communism.

John Kennedy captured the imagination of the American
public as few presidents before him had. Many people were
taken with his youth and optimism. He reinforced this
impression in his Inaugural Address, in which he wore
neither coat nor hat on a cold day and declared, “The torch
has been passed to a new generation.” He called on his
fellow Americans to take an active role in making the United
States a better place. Kennedy's looks, his glamorous wife,
and their young children seemed to be created for media
coverage. News people followed the family everywhere.
Plus, Kennedy himself was a master of the media,
particularly television. His charisma inspired people with “a
feeling the he was moving , and the world with him, toward a
better time.”