The New Frontier: JFK and the Age of Camelot

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The New Frontier JFK and the Age of Camelot

• Ch. 29

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Part I The 1960 Election

• The Election of 1960 marked a major change in the
  way Americans participated in politics. Politics
  became a televised event.

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The New Generation

• Americans had hope for the future
• Had gotten through the Depression
• Had beaten Fascism in Europe and Japan
• Had rebuilt the world (especially the West) to be
  democratic
• Had the best nuclear arsenal in the world
• Had become more prosperous, lived healthier, and
  longer than ever

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John Fitzgerald Kennedy

• Long established Massachusetts family, made
  wealthy from selling alcohol during Prohibition
• Considered nouveau riche, part of the newly
  monied
• Irish-Catholic, attended private schools,
  including Harvard
• Served in U.S. Navy during WWII, earned medals
  for valor and purple heart (back injuries)

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JFKs Politics

• Elected to Congress as a Democratic
  Representative for MA
• Represented the young Baby-Boomer generation
• Promoted Liberal ideas government should work
  for the people

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Richard Milhous Nixon

• Long established Republican politician from
  California
• Pushed for strong political and economic
  conservatism
• Small government
• Traditional morality
• Tax cuts
• Strong on Communism

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The 1960 Election

• JFK looked relaxed, young, handsome
• Made for TV, looked groomed, PR ready
• Nixon looked stiff, uncomfortable, and sweaty
• First televised debates in history
• Would be a very close election, decided by a few
  thousand votes

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The Issues

• Kennedys position
• U.S. faced serious issues abroad and at home
• Needed to spend money to protect and help
  American interests, especially in Cuba
• Nixons position
• U.S. was just fine, after 8 years of
  Eisenhower/Nixon
• Needed to cut spending, because domestic spending
  was too expensive

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Part II The Age of Camelot

• JFK brought a distinctive style of leadership,
  organizing a young, ambitious Cabinet and
  attempting an overhaul of the inner-cities.

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The Results

• JFK won by narrow majority
• Youngest president elected in American history
• First Catholic president
• Assembled youngest Cabinets, many Harvard grads
• Brother, RFK was Attorney General
• Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense

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The New Frontier

• Bold, new domestic programs
• Education
• Welfare
• Health Care
• Elderly Assistance
• Inner-Cities
• Continue FDRs social action

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JFKs Problems

• Small Democratic majority in Congress
• Barely won the presidency
• Congress didnt support policies
• Christian Southern Conservative Democrats didnt
  like him
• Battled high inflation
• Contending in tensions in Cuba, Berlin, Russia,
  and Vietnam
• Most legislation would NOT pass

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The Warren Court

• JFK nominated conservative judge, Earl Warren,
  for Chief Justice
• Became an activist judge, who took a stand on a
  number of important social issues

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Warrens Decisions

• Protect the citizen, protect the police
  department, protect the Constitution Basic
  civil rights
• Baker v. Carr Change voting laws, reapportion
  election process to be based on population (keep
  power in cities)
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) cant use evidence
  illegally gathered
• Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) and Miranda v.
  Arizona (1966) the right to remain silent,
  anything said can be used in a court of law,
  right to lawyer
• Engel v. Vitale (1962) No prayer in schools
• Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) Overturns ban on
  birth control

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Part III JFKs Foreign Policy

• As a result of the Berlin Wall, Russias
  deployment of missiles to Cuba, and the threat of
  Communism spreading in Vietnam, JFK asked for a
  flexible response to make America safe.

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Flexible Response

• Challenged Eisenhowers idea of massive
  retaliation
• Pushed for the use of conventional weaponry and
  military to combat Communism
• U.S. couldnt rely on nuclear arsenal to protect
  itself

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Alliance for Progress

• JFKs pledge of support for Latin America
• Considered a Marshall Plan for brown people
• 20 billion to support internal improvements
• Supported education and schools
• Built hospitals and promote health care
• Helped distribute land
• Pros helped some
• Cons much abuse and corruption

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The Peace Corps

• JFKs call for American international
  volunteerism
• The commitment
• Spend 2 years in developing nations
• Specialize in education, agriculture, irrigation,
  sewage treatment, or health care
• Promote democracy and American influence
• Remains one of the most lasting legacys of JFKs
  presidency

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The Space Race

• JFKs promise to be the first to the moon
• 1962 NASA sends John Glenn, first American in
  space
• Used Saturn V rocket to propel out of Earths
  orbit
• 1969 Saturn V rocket launches Apollo 11
• First, and only, successful moon landing
• Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins

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The Bay of Pigs Invasion

• Considered JFKs first major foreign policy issue
• Intended to overthrow Fidel Castro, who had
  become too cozy with Khrushchev
• Eisenhower, before leaving office, had approved
  CIA training of Cuban exiles

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JFK Starts the Bay of Pigs Invasion (April 17,
1961)

• JFK hopes to start a revolution, authorizes
  invasion
• Total Failure
• 1,400 armed Cubans, called La Brigada
• Runs aground on a coral reef
• JFK cancels air support, keep Americas
  involvement secret
• Castro captured or killed almost all of La
  Brigada
• Exposed American covert operations

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The Berlin Wall(August 1961)

• Immediately following the Bay of Pigs
• JFK and Khrushchev meet in Berlin to discuss E.
  German refugees escaping to West Berlin
• JFK promises to continue support
• Khrushchev orders the construction of the wall

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The Cuban Missile Crisis(Oct. 12, 1962)

• American spy plan discovers the construction of
  missile launching sites in Cuba
• Khrushchev had offered nuclear missiles to force
  JFKs concessions in Berlin
• Began 13 days of an intense negotiation

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Nuclear Chicken

• JFK pushes for naval blockade
• Goal
• Seize any ships going into/out of Cuba
• Force the immediate removal of missiles
• The Problem
• A direct attack on Soviets would be an act of war
• The existence of the missiles were an act of war

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The Fallout(Oct. 28, 1962)

• Russia blinks!
• Russia removes missiles from Cuba
• U.S. removes missiles from Turkey
• Quarantine ends, but embargo begins
• The Problems
• Khrushchev forced from office
• Kremlin begins nuclear expansion
• U.S. and Russia agree to test ban treaty
• Establish direct communication link the red
  phone

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Part IV LBJ and the Great Society

• Taking the presidency after JFKs assassination
  (Nov. 22, 1963), LBJ was immediately confronted
  with an explosion of violence over civil rights,
  the need to engage more troops into Vietnam, and
  a need to improve conditions throughout American
  society.

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Johnsons Background

• Experience as long-running conservative, Southern
  Democrat from Texas
• Known for building coalitions by strong-arm,
  handshake, drinks, and backslaps
• Immediately sworn in as president
• Continued JFKs social and domestic programs

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The Great Society

• LBJs political experience helped push many bills
  through Congress
• Firmly committed to social action
• Declared a War on Poverty
• Started Economic Opportunity Act to coordinate
  economic recovery
• Neighborhood Youth Corp Helped youth graduate
  and get jobs
• Job Corps Provide job training and placement
  for inner-cities
• VISTA (Volunteer Service to America) Domestic
  Peace Corps

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Creating a More Equitable Society

• Medicaid (1965) Comprehensive medical insurance
  for low-income families
• Medicare (1965) Comprehensive health coverage
  for the elderly

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Education and Environment

• Project Head Start (1965) Fund preschool
  programs for low-income families
• The Water Quality Act and The Clean Air Act
  (1965) Increase regulations on industrial
  pollution

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Civil Rights

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Banned
  discrimination of ANY kind
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 Ensured voting
  rights to black Americans
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Barred
  discrimination based on race OR gender in the
  workplace

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Lyndon Johnsons Legacy

• Provided entitlement funds--out of the federal
  budget to disadvantaged groups
• Skyrocketed federal budget, causing stress on
  programs
• LBJ distracted by other domestic and foreign
  policy issues
• Vietnam
• Social Protest
• Anti-War
• Free Speech
• Feminism
• Hippies/Free Drug Movement
• Civil Rights

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