Transcript Unit 1 JFk Administrationx

 Day
1
 Election

of 1960
The Election of 1960 was the election of the 35th
President of the United States, which took place
on November 8th, 1960
 Candidates

Republican Nominees



Richard Milhous Nixon (President)
Henry Cabot Lodge (Vice-President)
Democratic Nominees


John Fitzgerald Kennedy (President)
Lyndon Baines Johnson (Vice-President)
 Richard



Milhous Nixon
(January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994)
Nixon was an experienced political figure from California
Before running for President, he had been Vice-President
to Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower for 8 years, and
prior to that a Republican member of Congress and the
Senate
Before getting involved in politics Nixon was a lawyer
and served in WWII
 Henry
Cabot Lodge
(July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985)
Lodge was the Republican Nominee for Vice-President
 He was a former Republican Senator and Congressman from
Massachusetts; He actually was defeated by JFK in one of his
Congressional bids in Massachusetts
 He had also been the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
 Prior to getting involved in politics, he was a newspaper
reporter


John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963)



Kennedy came from a very wealthy and politically
connected family from Massachusetts
He was a Democratic Senator and Congressmen
from Massachusetts prior to running for President
Prior to getting involved in politics, Kennedy
served in WWII
 Lyndon
B. Johnson
(August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973)
Johnson was a Democrat from Texas where he had been a
member of Congress and the Senate for over twenty years
prior to becoming Kennedy’s Vice-Presidential pick
 Johnson also ran for the Democrat Presidential nomination
against Kennedy, but finished second, which prompted Kennedy
to ask Johnson to be his Vice-President
 Prior to getting involved in politics, Johnson was a high school
teacher

Major Issues of Election of 1960

Kennedy’s Roman Catholicism

Kennedy was trying to become the first Catholic President in
U.S. history

To address fears that his being Catholic would impact his
decision-making, he famously told the Greater Houston
Ministerial Association on September 12, 1960, "I am not the
Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party
candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do
not speak for my Church on public matters – and the Church
does not speak for me.“

Kennedy questioned rhetorically whether one-quarter of
Americans were relegated to second-class citizenship just
because they were Catholic, and once stated that, "No one
asked me my religion [serving the Navy] in the South Pacific."

Relations with Cuba



Fidel Castro and his rebel forces overthrew the Cuban
government in 1959 and began to move the country
toward a Communist style of government and aligned
themselves with the Communist Soviet Union
In its first year, the new revolutionary government took
private property with little or no compensation,
nationalized public utilities, tightened controls on the
private sector, and closed down the mafia-controlled
gambling industry
The CIA conspired with the Chicago Mafia in 1960 and
1961 to assassinate Fidel Castro, according to CIA
documents declassified in 2007; Both attempts failed

Soviet Union – “The Cold War”




“The Cold War” was a continuing state of political conflict,
military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition
between the powers of the western world, led by the
United States and its allies, and the Communist world, led
by the Soviet Union, its allies
The Cold War began after the success of their temporary
wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, as the Soviet Union
and the U.S. saw each other as mutual superpowers with
profound economic and political differences
It was given the name the “Cold War” because there was
never a declaration of war between the two countries; had
there been and direct military combat ensued, it would
have been considered a “Hot War”
The leader of the Soviet Union at this time was
Nikita Khrushchev
 Have
the class be able to identify China,
Soviet Union and Cuba on a map for the
Exam
 Day
2

Presidential Debate (September 1960)
In September of 1960 Kennedy and Nixon appeared in
the first televised U.S. presidential debates in U.S.
history
 During these programs, Nixon, with a sore injured leg
and his "five o'clock shadow", looked tense,
uncomfortable, and perspiring, while Kennedy,
choosing to avail himself of makeup services,
appeared relaxed, leading the huge television
audience to favor Kennedy as the winner
 Radio listeners either thought Nixon had won or that
the debates were a draw
 The debates are now considered a milestone in
American political history—the point at which the
medium of television began to play a dominant role in
politics

Kennedy Campaign Ad 1 Vid-1 (1:00 Minute)
 Kennedy Campaign Ad 2 Vid-1 (1:00 Minute)
 Nixon Campaign Ad Vid-2 (1:00 Minute)
 Nixon Campaign Ad Vid-2 (1:00 Minute)
 Kennedy & Nixon Highlights Vid-2(10 Minutes)

 1960



Election Results
Electoral Votes: JFK 303, RMN 219
Popular Vote: JFK 34,220,911 - RMN 34,108,157
 Kennedy won the popular vote by 0.1%
 It was the closest election since 1916
 Kennedy became the youngest elected
President in U.S. history at the age of 43
Percentage: JFK 49.7% - RMN 49.6%
 Election
of 1960 Continued….
States Carried: JFK 22, RMN 26
 Blue (Kennedy), Red (Nixon)

 JFK’s



Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961)
Kennedy’s inaugural address is widely considered
to be among the best presidential inaugural
speeches in American history
In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for
all Americans to be active citizens, famously
saying, "Ask not what your country can do for
you; ask what you can do for your country."
He added: "All this will not be finished in the first
one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the
first one thousand days, nor in the life of this
Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime
on this planet. But let us begin."
 JFK’s
Inaugural Address (January 20, 1961)
 (16:00 Minutes)

http://www.jfklibrary.org/AssetViewer/BqXIEM9F4024ntFl7SVAjA.aspx
 Day
3
 JFK’s
Key Cabinet Members
 Secretary of Defense
 Robert McNamara
 Secretary of State
 Dean Rusk
 Attorney General
 Robert Kennedy

Cuba - Bay of Pigs Invasion (April 17, 1961)



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
Prior to Kennedy's election to the presidency, the
Eisenhower Administration created a plan to
overthrow the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba
Central to the plan was the arming of a counterrevolutionary insurgency composed of U.S.-trained
anti-Castro Cuban exiles led by the CIA
The officers were to invade Cuba and instigate an
uprising among the Cuban people in hopes of
removing Castro from power
By April 19, 1961, the Cuban government had
captured or killed the 1,400 U.S.-trained Cuban
invaders
Furthermore, the incident made Castro wary of the
U.S. and led him to believe that another invasion
would occur
 Bay
of Pigs Vid-3 (9:00 Minutes)
 Vietnam


In 1961 as a part of the Cold War, the U.S.
attempted to prevent the North Vietnamese from
imposing Communism on the South Vietnamese
by initially offering training and aid to the South
in their fight with Ho Chi Minh, communist leader
of the North
In April 1963, Kennedy expressed his assessment
of the situation in Vietnam: "We don't have a
prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those people hate
us. They are going to throw our asses out of
there at any point. But I can't give up that
territory to the Communists and get the
American people to re-elect me"
 Vietnam




Continued…
By July 1963, Kennedy faced a crisis in Vietnam;
despite increased U.S. support, the South
Vietnamese military was only marginally
effective against pro-Communist Viet Cong forces
The Vietnam War was dramatically escalated
following the assassination of JFK
The total American deaths in Vietnam while
Kennedy was President was 401
By the time the Vietnam War ended, there were
roughly 57,000 American deaths
 Day
4
 Cuban


Missile Crisis (October 14, 1962)
CIA spy planes took photographs in Cuba of
nuclear missile sites under construction by the
Soviets in previous months
Kennedy faced a dilemma: if the U.S. attacked
the sites, it might lead to nuclear war with the
Soviet Union, but if the U.S. did nothing, it would
be faced with the increased threat from close
range nuclear weapons

Cuban Missile Crisis Continued…
Kennedy decided to have the U.S. Navy create a
blockade of all Soviet ships leaving and arriving off
Cuba, beginning October 24, 1962
 After one Soviet-flagged ship was stopped and
boarded, on October 28, Khrushchev agreed to
dismantle the missile sites
 The U.S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba and
privately agreed to remove its Jupiter missiles in
Turkey, which according to the Soviets presented the
same problems for them that the missiles in Cuba
presented to the U.S.
 This crisis had brought the world closer to nuclear
war than at any point known before or since

Day 5
 Fog
of War Clip
 Cuban Missile Crisis Documentary
 Day
6
 Cuban Missile Crisis Continued…
 Civil



Rights
Racial discrimination was one of the most
pressing domestic issues of the 1960s
The Supreme Court of the United States had
ruled in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education that
racial segregation in public schools was
unconstitutional
Many schools, especially in southern states, did
not obey the Supreme Court's decision
 Civil


Rights Continued…
In September 1962, James Meredith enrolled at
the University of Mississippi, but was prevented
from entering
Attorney General Robert Kennedy responded by
sending some 400 U.S. Marshals, while President
Kennedy reluctantly federalized and sent 3,000
troops after the situation on campus turned
violent
 Civil


Rights Continued…
On June 11, 1963, President Kennedy intervened
when Alabama Governor George Wallace blocked
the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop
two African American students from attending
Wallace moved aside only after being confronted
by Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach
and the Alabama National Guard, which had just
been federalized by order of the President, and
which had hours earlier been under Wallace's
command
 Civil



Rights Continued…
That evening Kennedy gave his famous civil rights
address on national television and radio,
launching his initiative for civil rights legislation
The legislation was designed to provide equal
access to public schools and other facilities, and
greater protection of voting rights
His proposals became part of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964
 Day
7

Kennedy’s Civil Rights Address (13:00 Minutes)

http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/LH8F_0Mzv0e6Ro1yEm74Ng.aspx
 Civil



Rights Continued…
Led by Dr. Martin Luther King, over a hundred
thousand, predominantly African Americans,
gathered in Washington for the civil rights March
on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August
28, 1963
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I
Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony
at the Lincoln Memorial during the march
King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in
Memphis, Tennessee


Dr. Martin Luther King – “I Have A Dream” (18:00 Minutes)
August 28, 1963 – Vid-4
 Day
8
 Kennedy



Assassination
President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas,
Texas, on November 22, 1963
Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the Texas
School Book Depository from which the shots
were suspected to have been fired, was arrested
on charges for the murder of a local police
officer and was subsequently charged with the
assassination of Kennedy
He denied shooting anyone, but was killed by
Jack Ruby on November 24, before he could be
indicted or tried
 Kennedy



Assassination Continued…
Ruby was then arrested and convicted for the
murder of Oswald
President Johnson created the Warren
Commission—chaired by Chief Justice Earl
Warren—to investigate the assassination, which
concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin
The results of this investigation are disputed by
many
 Walter
Cronkite - Assassination Continued
 Vid-5 (6 Minutes)
 Fog of War Vid-6 (5:30 Minutes)
 Day
9
 Conspiracy
Theory Vid-7 (45:00)
 Day
10
 ABC
Assassination Special Vid-8 (10:31)
 Legacy


The assassination had an effect on many people,
not only in the U.S. but around the world
Many vividly remember where they were when
first learning of the news that Kennedy was
assassinated, as with the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 before it and
the September 11 attacks after it
 Legacy


Continued…
Ultimately, the death of President Kennedy and
the ensuing confusion surrounding the facts of his
assassination are of political and historical
importance insofar as they marked a turning
point and decline in the faith of the American
people in the political establishment
Many of Kennedy's speeches are considered
iconic; and despite his relatively short term in
office and lack of major legislative changes
coming to fruition during his term, Americans
regularly vote him as one of the best presidents,
in the same league as Abraham Lincoln, George
Washington, and Franklin D. Roosevelt
 Day
11 Review
 Day 12 Test