JFK's Domestic Policies and Cold War Leadership

1. Kennedy’s Domestic Policies Section-1 846-849 • John F. Kennedy (JFK), at age 43 became the youngest president of the U.S. • His message to the American people was one of hope: • “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” • JFK called on young Americans to engage in acts of public service.

2. Kennedy’s Domestic Policies • JFK created public service organizations such as: • Peace Corps – 1961 = A volunteer organization designed to carry out improvement projects in developing countries. • On the domestic front, JFK created a set of reforms aimed at stimulating the economy = New Frontier. • Cutting Taxes, while increased spending for the poor, military, and space program. • This idea worried some members of Congress who felt the national budget would be unbalanced. They blocked much of the New Frontier reforms. • However, JFK was able to raise minimum wage and spending for urban improvements.

3. Kennedy Fights the Cold War • JFK led the U.S. fight against Communism by: • Maintaining a strong military. • Increasing the number of nuclear weapons. • Offering economic aid to needy countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. • During JFK’s time in office he had to deal with three major Cold War crises: • Cuba - Bay of Pigs Invasion • Creation of the Berlin Wall • Cuban Missile Crisis

4. Kennedy fights the Cold War • Cuba - Bay of Pigs Invasion – 1961: • In 1960, Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro set up a communist dictatorship in Cuba. • Castro had ties to the Soviet Union. • JFK approved a plan to train and equip about 1500 Cuban exiles living in the U.S. • This force waded ashore at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, and after 3 days of fighting was defeated. • 1,200 were captured, the rest were killed; and Castro remained in power (and still does to this day).

5. Kennedy Fights the Cold War • Creation of the Berlin Wall – 1961 • By the summer of 1961, many East Germans were moving to West Germany and elsewhere in search of a more prosperous and safe life. • Communist officials including Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev demanded that all foreign troops be removed from West Berlin. • To prevent so many “escapes,” the Communists began construction of a wall which separated East and West Berlin. • JFK responded by sending additional troops to West Berlin.

6. Kennedy Fights the Cold War • Cuban Missile Crisis – 1962 • U.S. spy planes photographed the Soviets placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. • JFK demanded that Khrushchev order that the missiles be removed. • The U.S. Navy set up a blockade to prevent SU ships from bringing more weapons. • The SU Navy had a standoff with the US Navy, but eventually the SU turned back and Khrushchev had the missiles removed.

7. Kennedy Fights the Cold War • As a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK and Khrushchev agreed to prevent conflicts that might lead to nuclear war. • The agreement consisted of: • SU removing its missiles from Cuba. • The U.S. agreeing to not invade Cuba. • The U.S. removing some of its missiles from Italy and Turkey. • U.S./Soviet telephone “hotline” so that both leaders could talk at a moments notice. • Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty = ended above-ground testing of nuclear weapons.

8. The Kennedy Assassination Section 2 – 850-854 • On November 22, 1963, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, TX by Lee Harvey Oswald. • Two hours later, VP Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) took the oath of office on Air Force One as it returned to Washington, D.C. with him, Mrs. Kennedy, and JFK’s body.

9. The Kennedy Assassination • Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and charged within hours of JFK’s assassination. • Two days later, Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby. • Jack Ruby claimed he was sparing Mrs. Kennedy the heartbreak of having to endure a trial for Oswald. • Ruby died in prison of lung cancer as he was serving a death sentence for murdering Oswald.

10. The Kennedy Assassination • Chief Justice Earl Warren was put in charge of the Warren Commission whose mission it was to determine the facts surrounding JFK’s assassination. • The Warren Commission determined that Oswald had acted alone. • To this day, many people feel that the true facts about JFK’s assassination have still not been revealed.

11. Johnson in Office • LBJ was committed to the education and civil rights legislation that he and JFK had created. • LBJ made helping the poor his highest priority by: • Creating the War on Poverty (WoP) – 1964 = programs designed to poor Americans. • Within the WoP the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) was developed. This office created: • Job Corps = teach young adults basic job skills • Head Start = preparing poor children for school • Volunteers in Service to America = domestic Peace Corps

12. Johnson in Office • Johnson won the 1964 presidential election by a landslide over Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. • The voting public overwhelmingly approved of Johnson’s domestic reforms. • LBJ set out to expand on these reforms by creating a program that he called the Great Society. • LBJ felt that the Great Society (GS) was an expansion of FDR’s New Deal and was primarily designed to give aid to poor Americans.

13. Johnson in Office • A portion of the GS’s reforms focused on improving health care and education. • Health Care: • Medicare = government health care plan for people age 65+. • Medicaid = health insurance for people w/low incomes. • Education: • $1 billion to local schools to help students with special needs. • Other GS reforms included: • Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) = improved housing for low-income families.

14. Science and Technology • LBJ supported JFK’s idea that the space race was a key component of the Cold War. • By 1961, the Soviets appeared to be winning the space race by having Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbit the Earth. • By 1962, U.S. astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. • With LBJ’s support, NASA soon surpassed the Soviet’s space achievements by landing Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin on the moon in 1969.

15. Science and Technology • “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” • Neil Armstrong – Quoted from the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon.

16. Peaceful Protests Section 3 – 855-859 • In February 1960 about 20 African Americans staged a sit-in demonstration at the “whites-only” lunch counter in the Woolworths Dept. Store in Greensboro, NC. • This method of protest against racism and segregation is known as a nonviolent resistance.

17. Peaceful Protests • Marches and picketing were other forms of nonviolent protest.

18. Peaceful Protests • As a result of Woolworths and other businesses in the South eventually integrating, African American students formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). • Purpose: To organize civil rights demonstrations.

19. Peaceful Protests • In 1961 the SNCC joined forces with another civil rights organization called the Congress of Racial Equality(CORE). • CORE began a series of protests against segregation on buses and in southern bus stations. These protests are known as the Freedom Rides. • White and non-African Americans also participated and showed their support for the freedom rides. • African American protesters used “white only” bus stations and white protesters used “black only” facilities.

20. Peaceful Protests • Often times Freedom Riders were attacked by angry white mobs. • US Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy (JFK’s brother) asked that the Freedom Riders accept a “cooling-off period.” • The Freedom Riders refused the request, so RFK sent the buses with police escorts. • In late 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission ordered a ban on all bus and railroad segregation.

21. Working for Freedom • In April of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King (MLK) organized a series of nonviolent marches in Birmingham, Alabama. • MLK was arrested and spent a brief period in jail during which time he wrote: Letter from Birmingham Jail. • This letter explained MLK’s faith in nonviolence.

22. Working for Freedom • In May, 1963 MLK and other civil rights leaders led 2,500 protestors in a march through the streets of Birmingham. • Birmingham’s police and firefighters used attack dogs and fire hoses against the marchers. • When those actions were broadcast through the media to the rest of America, many Americans began to understand that the civil rights movement had become a life-and-death struggle.

23. Working for Freedom • As a result of the violent reaction of the Birmingham marches, and rising pressure from the American public, JFK asked Congress for a bold civil rights bill. • In August, 1963 more than 250k people – African American and white held a nation-wide demonstration in Washington DC = March on Washington. • It was at this gathering that MLK gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

24. Working for Freedom • In November of 1963, JFK was assassinated and LBJ took up JFK’s cause of civil rights legislation. • LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964: • Segregation was banned in public places such as restaurants and transportation facilities. • Discrimination was prohibited on the basis of race, religion, sex, and national origin by employers, unions, or universities, that had federal government contracts or received federal government money.

25. The Right to Vote • By the summer of 1964 African American and white civil rights activists had been working to protect voting rights in several southern states. • Unfair election rules, violence, threats, and murder prevented many African Americans from exercising their right to vote. • As these actions were shown on TV and in other forms of media, the federal government took action. • Voting Rights Act of 1965 = Gave the federal government the power to inspect voter registration procedures and protect all citizens’ voting rights.

26. New Directions • During the mid to late ‘60s, some civil rights activists felt that the: • Movement was moving to slow. • Racial integration and nonviolence were not acceptable means for achieving equal rights. • These people became followers of Malcolm X, a leader in the Nation of Islam (NOI). • NOI = a religious group that favored black separatism. • Malcolm X argued that African Americans should work for social and economic independence instead of integration. • He also felt that African Americans had the right to defend themselves if attacked. • Eventually MX left the NOI and reconsidered his views on integration. • He was killed in 1965 by three members of the NOI while giving a speech in NYC.

27. New Directions • Also in 1968, MLK announced plans to march for the “Poor Peoples Campaign.” • He never made it to the march b/c he was assassinated outside his Memphis, TN hotel room on April 4, 1968 by James Earl Ray. • Many Americans were shocked by MLK’s death and riots broke out in over 100 cities. • Soon other activists took up MLK’s cause.

28. Hispanic Americans Section 4 – 862-865 • By the end of the 1960s, the Hispanic population in the U.S. had grown to more than 10 million people. • The relative success of the African American civil rights movement encouraged Hispanic Americans to fight for their own rights. • Some of these activists focused on economic opportunities. • Cesar Chavez formed a union in 1962 to improve migrant farmworkers’ pay and working conditions. • This union would become the United Farm Workers (UFW).

29. Hispanic Americans • Because of organizations like the UFW, other activists began to fight discrimination by forming the Chicano Movement. • Chicano activists sought to increase Hispanic cultural pride and political power. • As a result of their efforts, important new laws were created such as: • 1968 Elementary and Secondary Education Act = designed to address the needs of students who did not speak English. • Voting Rights Act of 1975 = areas with a large immigrant population must provide ballots in different languages.

30. The Women’s Movement • During the 1960s, women also began to work for equality. • By 1963 the federal government had determined that women received lower pay and had fewer job opportunities than men. • This was often the case even if women had the same level of experience and education as men. • In 1963 JFK gender discrimination in civil service jobs and Congress passed the Equal Pay Act (EPA). • EPA = Women and men had to be paid the same wages for the same job.

31. The Women’s Movement • In 1966 women’s rights activists formed the National Organization for Women (NOW). • NOW’s mission = to gain equal rights for women in educational and job opportunities. • In 1972 Congress passed the Educational Amendments Act in an effort to eliminate gender discrimination in education. • Any college that received federal aid could not discriminate against women.

32. Other Groups Fight for Equal Rights • American Indians and people with disabilities also demanded more rights. • In 1968 Red Power activists established the American Indian Movement (AIM). • AIM’s goal = more rights and properties guaranteed in earlier treaties. • In 1973 AIM forcibly took over a church and trading post in Wounded Knee, South Dakota. • AIM was trying to achieve its goals through the threat of violence. • Following a 71 day standoff with federal agents, a gun battle broke out in which two AIM members were killed and one federal agent was wounded. • AIM’s actions at Wounded Knee frightened away many supporters and they were unsuccessful in achieving many of their goals.

33. Youth Movements Section 4 – 866-869 • During the 1960s student protests took place across the country. • Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) = protested against racial discrimination, strict college rules, and the growing U.S. military presence in Vietnam. • Goal: a desire to challenge society in order to improve it. • SDS and groups like it felt that hippies had abandoned society and encouraged unhealthy behavior such as drug abuse. • Older Americans felt that SDS activities showed a lack of respect for authority. • This perception that there was a lack of respect for authority led to the term: Generation Gap = a division between older and younger people in which the younger people reject their parents’ values and beliefs.

34. Youth Movements • In the early 1960s, society and culture was still celebrated by the media as it had in the 1950’s. • The white, middle-class suburban lifestyle = tight, exclusive communities where the husband worked and the wife stayed home, and consumerism was key to fitting in. • Young people began to reject this lifestyle and created the counterculture (CC) = values that ran counter to those of main society. • The CC focused on individual freedom, group sharing, and nonviolence.

35. Youth Movements • One particular group of the CC called themselves hippies. • Hippies generally had long hair and dressed in unusual clothing. • Goal: a desire to reject society and create an alternative culture. • Tie-dyed clothes, and drug use characterized much of the hippie culture. • Student organizations and hippies challenged the way Americans viewed their world and help to create greater acceptance of: • Dress, music, and personal relationships.

36. An Artistic Revolution • Art and music was influenced by the new points of view introduced by student activists and hippies. • Pop art took its name from the use of popular everyday images in the creation of paintings, photographs, sculpture and other media. • Pop artists felt that traditional art lacked humor and humanity. • They tried to connect art and life. • Andy Warhol was a famous pop artist that created paintings of things such as Campbell’s soup cans and Marilyn Monroe’s face. • Critics debated whether Warhol was criticizing or celebrating consumer culture. • Pop art forced people to discuss the question, What is art?”

37. An Artistic Revolution • Music also reflected social change. • The “British Invasion” by the Beatles in 1964 sparked a wave of excitement which the media labeled “Beatlemania.” • The Beatles popularity in the U.S. opened the door to other British groups like the Rolling Stones and the Who. • Because of music from groups like these and many others became big business in the U.S., the generation gap grew even more. • Older Americans couldn’t or didn’t want to understand the music.

38. An Artistic Revolution • In 1959, Barry Gordy founded Motown Records • In the 1960s the “Motown sound” was soul music = a combination of R and B and smoother sounds. • Motown artists were = Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, and Stevie Wonder

39. An Artistic Revolution • During the 1960s, folk and rock music were also introduced. • Folk music addressed political and social problems. • Bob Dylan sang about the struggles of poor and powerless people to rise above their troubles. • Rock music used electrically amplified instruments, particularly the guitar. • Jimi Hendrix was influential in introducing this style of music to the world.

40. An Artistic Revolution • In August, 1969 about 400K people converged on a farm in upstate NY for the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. • This show has come to be known as Woodstock and was a symbol of the counterculture’s optimistic spirit.

41. All information for this PowerPoint taken from Holt “Call to Freedom” 2004