The 1960s? Kennedy

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Nixon
JFK
The 1960s? Kennedys America
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1960 Presidential Election

• Eisenhower was termed out
• Nixon (Rep. ? Ikes VP) v JFK (Dem.)
• JFK Won. A number of factors helped him.
• Recession blamed on Republican
• Civil Rights
• Helped MLK get out of jail (hed been held on
  phony charges)
• Won JFK a large percentage of black votes
• Big deal in a close election JFK won by only
  100,000 votes
• Dawning of television era
• JFK was telegenic
• What impact on voters of a transition from
  connecting with a candidate through the printed
  word to connecting with a candidate through TV?

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Presidents Then
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Presidents Now
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Camelot

• JFK and his wife Jacqueline (or Jackie-O) were
  young and attractive
• They were known for being young, witty, and
  classy
• Jackie-O set fashion trends
• Term Camelot compared JFKs white house to King
  Arthurs court, full of dashing and brave knights

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• (Marilyn Monroe clip http//www.funstrangeamazin
  g.com/?p1154)

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Domestic Politics The New Frontier

• Old Frontier ? ? The Wild West ? explore new
  areas and broaden American horizons physically
• New Frontier ? ? Social Problems ? explore
  overlooked societal problems ? broaden Americas
  horizons metaphorically
• Poverty
• estimated that 60 million Americans were in
  poverty
• responded by lowering taxes increasing
  government spending (aka deficit spending)
• also increased minimum wage to 1.25
• Peace Corps
• created a volunteer program for Americans to help
  poverty stricken nations throughout the world
• Also spread a positive American image

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• Technology
• to compete with Soviet space superiority Kennedy
  increased government spending promised America
  a man on the moon within 10 years (successful! ?
  happened in 1969)
• led to new technologies for science industry
  which helped economy
• Civil Rights
• supported Civil Rights Activists by providing
  troops to protect their efforts in the South
• created a Civil Rights bill that guaranteed
  equal access to all public accommodations and
  gave the U.S. Attorney General (his brother) the
  power to file school desegregation suits
• Kennedy died before approved, but later became
  the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (one of the most
  important pieces of Civil Rights Legislation in
  American history)

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Foreign Policies Cold War Tension

• Sputnik (1957)
• First man-made satellite
• Soviets are ahead
• They can launch bombs farther than us!
• Cuba not Contained (1959)
• Cuban revolution under Fidel Castro
• Cuba is now communist
• First Western Hemisphere Communist nation ? enemy
  in our own backyard

• U2 Incident (1960)
• An American spy plane was shot down while flying
  over the Soviet Union
• Americans denied it was a spy plane
• American (Francis Gary Powers) was supposed to
  commit suicide with poison if caught, but he did
  not
• Soviets produced the American pilot who admitted
  he was on a spying mission
• Increased suspicions

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Further Problems During JFKs Presidency Berlin
and CMC

• Berlin Crisis (1961)
• Germans living in East Berlin were moving to
  West Berlin
• Why? ? Western economy was more successful!
• angered Soviets because it made communism look
  bad
• Soviets built the Berlin Wall ended crisis but
  escalated Cold War tensions
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• Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
• USSR placed nuclear missiles on island of Cuba
• nearly led to nuclear war between U.S. U.S.S.R
  Kennedy able to successfully convince Soviets
  to remove missiles
• Hot Line (1963)
• Kennedy Khrushchev (Soviet leader) decide to
  establish a direct phone line between the leaders
  to prevent future crises

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