Kennedy Presidency 1961-1963

1
Kennedy Presidency1961-1963

• US Senator From Massachusetts/ Democrat
• Winning a very close election, Kennedy brought
  youth and a sense of energy and optimism to the
  White House --The Prince of American Royalty.
• Creation of the Peace Corps and his pledge to get
  to the Moon were notable moments in Kennedys
  Presidency, but he is best known for Foreign
  Policy
• Bay of Pigs (April, 1961)
• Cuban Missile Crisis (October, 1962)
• Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) and buildup of
  conventional military arms/forces by the US
• Initial US Military Involvement/Buildup in
  Vietnam (1960-1963)
• Assassinated in Dallas Texas on November 22, 1963

2
Johnsons (1963-1969)Domestic Policy

• Johnson was determined to (1) wage a War
  on Poverty, (2) expand the social reforms of
  the New Deal (the Great Society), and
  (3) further the Civil Rights Movement
• 1) Office of Economic Opportunity (OEC) was
  created and given a billion dollar budget to
  create self-help programs, such as Head Start for
  preschoolers Job Corps for vocational education
  literacy programs and legal services for the poor.

3
Johnson Domestic Policy, Continued

• 2) Great Society programs included Medicaid
  Medicare Elementary and Secondary Education Act
  new immigration laws the National Foundation of
  the Arts and Humanities creation of Departments
  of Transportation (DOT) and Housing and Urban
  Development (HUD) increased funding for higher
  education, public housing and crime prevention
  and environmental and consumer protection
  programs.
• 3) 1964 Civil Rights Act, 1965 Voting Rights Act,
  and ratification of 24th Amendment
• Plagued by Vietnam, decided not to run for
  reelection

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Nixon Administration Highlights (1969-74)

• Domestic Policy New Federalism Federal
  government gives local governments
  grants to address local needs (rather
  than dictating from Washington ) -
  Republican response to Johnsons Great Society
• Economic Policies Stagflation (Stagnant economy
  plus lots of inflation, caused by foreign
  competition, war costs, and OPEC embargo) fought
  with policies of deficit spending 1971 90-day
  wage/price freeze taking the dollar off the gold
  standard, and a 10 import tax. Nixons policies
  provided a temporary economic fix, but the
  stagflation would resurface in the late 70s.

5
Nixon Administration Highlights, Continued

• Foreign Policy
• Still fighting (and expanding) the Vietnam War,
  until Peace Accords of January, 1973. We will
  get back to this tomorrow
• Détente with China and Soviet Union
• Visited China in February, 1972, initiating
  diplomatic exchanges that effectively ended the
  Cold War with China, ultimately led to
  recognition of the Communist Government in 1979,
  and opened significant trade with this nation.
• Used his relationship with China to put pressure
  on USSR to reduce some nuclear arms (ABMs) seen
  as 1st round of Strategic Arms Limitations Talks
  (SALT), a significant step in reducing Cold War
  Tensions.

Nixon visits Chinese premier Zhou Enlai in
Beijing, Feb. 1972
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Read Pages 917-921 of the textbook, Then ENTRY
48

• In one paragraph summarize what happened during
  the Watergate Scandal.
• What evidence is there that Nixon was guilty of
  committing a crime? Explain.
• If you were Gerald R. Ford would you have
  pardoned Richard Nixon? Explain.
• Explain why the Watergate Scandal caused
  Americans to lose faith in their government.

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Gerald Ford1974-1977

• Replaced Spiro Agnew as Vice
  President in 1973, when Agnew resigned for
  having taken bribes when
  governor of Maryland.
• Ford was Scrupulously honest/ Good reputation,
  BUT
• Had to deal with Watergate leftovers Pardoned
  Nixon to end the Watergate national nightmare
  once and for all.
• Also had the misfortune of lingering Vietnam
  issues, including the fall of Saigon, the South
  Vietnamese capital, and the fall of Cambodia to
  Communism.
• Oh, and the economy tanked again
• Lost the 76 election to relative unknown, Jimmy
  Carter.

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Jimmy Carter1977-1981

• Deeply religious Christian
• Washington Outsider, who refused to
  play the political game,
  and it hurt
  his presidency
• Human Rights Diplomacy ex. Cut off aid to Chile
  and Argentina because of human rights violations
  by their military governments and renegotiated
  the Panama Canal Treaty to gradually transfer
  (critics said give-away)control of the Canal
  from US to Panama
• Stagflation was back in full force, as was
  deficit spending and a new energy crisis

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OPEC

• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
  Countries, which regulates the price and supply
  of oil, created an embargo against Israel's
  allies during the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
• Raised the price of gas by 400 between 1973 and
  1979 and
• Created an energy crisis, especially during the
  harsh winter of 1976 to 1977
• Huge gas-guzzling vehicles did not help.

10
Camp David Accords

• 1979 created a peace agreement between Israel
  (Begin) and Egypt (Sadat)
• Single greatest success for Carter Administration
• However, not all was call in the Middle East

11
Iran Hostage Crisis 1979-1981

• Fundamentalist Islamic holy men, led by Ayatollah
  Khomeini took power from Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in
  Iran in Jan., 1979 .
• Iranian student radicals took hostages in the US
  embassy to protest US backing of the former Shah
• 52 Americans were held hostage for
  444 days (November 4, 1979 to January
  20, 1981)
• The hostages initially were held in
  buildings at the embassy, but after
  a failed (1980) rescue mission they
  were scattered to different locations
  around Iran to make rescue impossible.

12
Social Revolutions and Cultural Movements of the
1960s and 70s

• Civil Rights/ Black Power
• Student Movement and the New Left
• Antiwar (Vietnam)
• Counterculture and the Sexual Revolution
• Minority Rights (Hispanic, Native and Asian
  Americans)
• Gay Liberation Movement
• Environmental Movement
• And

• Individual Rights Supreme Court Cases

• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
• States must provide lawyers to indigent
  defendants
• Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
• Defendant must be read rights upon arrest

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The Womens Movement

• The Civil Rights Movement, increased education
  and employment since WWII, and the sexual
  revolution all contributed to the renewal of the
  Womens Movement in the 1960s
• Betty Friedans The Feminine Mystique is widely
  credited with sparking the beginning of this
  second-wave feminism in the US.2
• National Organization for Women
  (NOW) worked hard for the
  ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment
  (ERA), which passed through
  Congress, but failed to be ratified.
• Equal Pay Act (1963) and Civil Rights Act (1964)
  helped women in the workplace

Steinem at a news conference, Women's Action
Alliance, January 12, 1972
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Roe V. Wade (1973)

• Supreme Court Case, in which the Court ruled 72
  that a right to privacy under the due process
  clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a
  woman's decision to have an abortion and thus
  gave women the right to an abortion until
  viability.
• In disallowing many state and federal
  restrictions on abortion in the US, Roe v. Wade
  prompted a national debate that continues
  to this day.