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The 1960s. Election of 1960. JFK. JFK was a new sort of president Roman Catholic Young – just 43 Small children with a glamorous wife In many ways embraced his public image. “The New Frontier”.
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JFK • JFK was a new sort of president • Roman Catholic • Young – just 43 • Small children with a glamorous wife • In many ways embraced his public image
“The New Frontier” • JFK saw that Americans still embraced some of the New Deal legacy but at the same time did not want hand-outs • “Ask not what...” • Strident anti-communist • Republican and Southern Democrat Congress
A Mixed Record • Wanted and received a military increase (20%) • Created and sponsored the Peace Corps • Huge supporter of the Space Program. Wanted a man on the moon by 1970. • However • Fight poverty – fail • Federal sponsorship of education - fail • Health Care system for the elderly – fail • Civil Rights – semi fail
Kennedy v. Russia • Kennedy met with similar difficulties in his dealings with Russia • His short presidency's foreign policy is highlighted with 3 events • Bay of Pigs, Berlin Wall, & the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Bay of Pigs Invasion • Communist Fidel Castro in Cuba • Feared a Western Hemisphere alliance with the USSR • Kennedy approved a plan where the CIA trained 1,500 anti-Castro exiles • In April, 1961 the exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs • Complete failure • Kennedy kept trying – Operation Mongoose
The Berlin Wall • After Nixon's failed summit, JFK met with Khrushchev in 1961 • Became a bullying match. Mobilization • People were fleeing East Berlin • Berlin Wall constructed
Cuban Missile Crisis • This is as close to nuclear war that the US has ever been • 1962 U-2 spy planes showed that the USSR was deploying nuclear missiles to house in Cuba • Feared that these missiles would be active in a few weeks • US Jupiter missiles in Turkey • Options? • Complete embargo of Cuba • Resolution & “Hotline”
The Kennedy Assassination • Nov. 22, 1963 in Dallas • Shots from the Book Depository, killing JFK and injuring TX Gov. John Connally • A few hours later Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested • Oswald was then killed by Jack Ruby. Mob ties • Warren Commission
Lyndon Johnson Takes Over • From Texas, public university • US Senator in a highly debated and contested election • Not flashy, but a very good politician • Was immediately up for presidential election and won the 1964 ballot in a landslide • Despite the large victory in the election a political change occurred in the Rep. Party. The white middle-class South was shifting to the Republican Party
“The Great Society” • LBJ sponsored New Deal type programs under his label “The Great Society” • War on Poverty – Government programs such as Head Start, food stamps, and preschools • Medicare – Federal assistance to the elderly for emergency care and doctor fees • Medicaid – Medical coverage to welfare recipients • Immigration Act – removed immigration quotas
Reaction to Vietnam & the 60s Counterculture • The more radical youth movements of the 60s came out of the failures in Civil Rights, Women's Movements, and the Vietnam War • Hippie Culture – long hair, jeans, sexual freedom (after the rise of contraception), anti-consumerism, exploratory music, & illegal drugs • Was it a revolution or just being young and free? A bit of both?
The Election of 1968 • LBJ announces he will not seek a second term • Dems. split into 4 groups- Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, Robert Kennedy, and George Wallace • Robert Kennedy might have won the nomination for the Dems but was assassinated in June, 1968 by Sirhan Sirhan • Nixon for the Republicans • Humphrey got the Dem nomination and Wallace went Independent