Transcript Chapter 20

The 1960’s
Section One
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Objectives:
• To describe The Camelot Years
• To describe and evaluate our 1960’s
military policy
• To describe the crisis over Cuba
• To describe JFK’s assassination…
Election of 1960
• John F. Kennedy, Dem. (young,
inexperienced, Catholic, charismatic)
• Richard Nixon, Rep. (experienced, not as
charismatic)
• First televised debate – “That night, image
replaced the printed word as the national
language of politics.” Kennedy won.
• Kennedy won the vote of the African
Americans; Robert befriended Martin
Luther King, Jr. and his family.
Closest election in over 100 years
• JFK’s Inaugural Address:
• http://www.jfklibrary.org/AssetViewer/BqXIEM9F4024ntFl7SVAjA.aspx
• “The Camelot Years” – JFK and his
beautiful young family led a presidency of
elegance and artistic achievement.
• JFK’s Cabinet was considered “the best
and the brightest”
• Sec. of State – Dean Rusk
• Sec. of Defense – Robert McNamara
• Attorney General – Robert Kennedy
(younger brother)
• JFK felt Soviets were gaining more allies
in the 3rd world.
• Third World – poor underdeveloped
countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America
that were not aligned with the Soviets or
the Americans.
• JFK blasted Eisenhower for losing Cuba to
the Communists.
• JFK’s foreign policy was “flexible
response” – strengthening non-nuclear
military capacity.
• We doubled military spending.
Special Forces,
or Green Berets were
created.
(We will talk about JFK
And Vietnam later)
• Eisenhower had warned against so much
defense spending.
• Both the US and Soviet Union could
annihilate each other – so the strategy of
“mutually assured destruction” served as
a deterrence.
• Crisis over Cuba:
– 90 miles off coast of Florida.
– Fidel Castro took over Cuba and cut off
relations with the US. The US issued a
trade embargo, so, he sought aid from
the Soviets.
– In the Cuban revolution, he had
promised his people he would deliver
them from poverty, inequality, and
dictatorship.
– Castro quickly took US controlled sugar
land.
• Exiled Cubans built a revolutionary
movement in the US.
• Pres. Eisenhower had secretly given the
CIA permission to train these exiles for an
invasion of Cuba.
• JFK approved the plan. Apr. 17, 1960,
Bay of Pigs Invasion took place.
• JFK called off air support at the last
minute.
• Everything went wrong. Castro’s troops
captured and killed the invading army.
• JFK was embarrassed and forced to pay
ransom for surviving commandos.
• Khrushchev promised to defend Cuba by
sending Soviet weapons, including nuclear
weapons.
• 1962, US spy planes spotted Soviet
missile bases in Cuba.
Reading Activity:
• Check Moodle for “Cuban Missile Crisis
Story” and for instructions on partner
website activity.
Cuban Missile Crisis:
• JFK informed the nation about the missile
sites. For the next 6 days, we faced the
possibilities of a nuclear war.
• The US set up blockade of Cuba. If the
Russian ships broke the blockade, we
would go to war.
• The 2 sides made a deal…
• Khrushchev removed the missiles from
Cuba and we agreed not to attack Cuba
again.
• Later, we removed missiles from Turkey.
• We opened a direct hot line between
Washington and Moscow, so there would
be no mistakes in communication.
• Castro began to close Cuba’s doors….
Berlin Wall
• 1961, East Berlin (Communist) Germans
were leaving by the hundreds.
• Soviets built a wall separating East and
West Germany. The Berlin Wall became a
symbol of Communist oppression.
• Limited Test Ban Treaty – no nuclear
testing in the atmosphere, both US and
Russians agreed.
JFK’s Domestic Policies:
“New Frontier”
• “We stand today on the edge of a New
Frontier.”
• This was JFK’s plan for liberal changes in
the gov’t.
• However, he did not have a popular
mandate since he was elected by a slim
margin, so he got few ideas passed.
• We were entering a recession when JFK
took office; his accomplishments in the
economic area were minor.
• One of the promises JFK made was to
form a Peace Corps – successful program
for young people who volunteer to assist
in developing nations of the world.
• JFK est. the Alliance for Progress – loaned
money to Latin Am. countries.
Space Race:
• 1961, Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first
human in space.
• JFK spent lots of $ on US space program.
• 1969 – Neil Armstrong took first steps on
the moon.
• “One small step for man, one giant leap
for mankind.”
• The Other America – book by Michael
Harrington, showed the world the true
extent of poverty in America.
• JFK began to take a more aggressive
approach to poverty and segregation in
the South.
• and then he was shot….
JFK at airport in Dallas before he was shot.
Who really killed JFK?
• November 22, 1963 – Dallas, TX. JFK
was assassinated in a car in front of the
Texas School Book Depository.
• Zapruder, a citizen, filmed the shooting…..
• Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the
crime.
• A couple days later, he was killed by Jack
Ruby.
• On July 27, 1963, Lee was accompanied by Dutz and
Lillian Murret (his aunt and uncle) and Marina to
speak at the House of Studies at Spring Hill College
in Mobile, Alabama. There he discussed his
experiences in the Soviet Union before an audience
of Jesuit seminarians.
• Among a variety of views he expressed was the
following: Question: Why don't the Russians see
they are being indoctrinated and they are being
denied the truth by these jamming stations?
• Answer: They are convinced that such contact would
harm them and would be dangerous. They are
convinced that the state is doing them a favor by
denying them access to Western radio broadcasts.
• Source: Commission Exhibit 2649, 25H727-728.
• Conspiracy theories rose even though
Oswald’s prints were on the gun that
killed JFK.
• The Warren Commission was set up to
study the case. It was determined in
1963 that Oswald acted alone. But a
new study in 1979 concluded that it
was probably a conspiracy. Papers
were also released in 1994 and others
will be released in 2017.
• VP Lyndon Baines Johnson took the oath
of office aboard Air Force One.
Lyndon Baines Johnson
“The Great Society”
• Both JFK and LBJ wanted to help the
poor.
• LBJ’s ambitious reputation was legendary.
He was Southern, Protestant, making him
an asset for JFK.
• LBJ, Texan, supporter of the small farmer
and rancher, master of politics, LBJ
idolized FDR.
When LBJ took over, he urged
Congress to pass the civil rights and
tax bills that JFK had supported.
• Congress passed a tax cut, and the
economy grew.
• Also, they passed the Civil Rights Act,
1964 – prohibiting discrimination based on
race, religion, national origin, and sex and
gave the federal gov’t new powers to
enforce it.
War on Poverty:
• LBJ declared an “unconditional war on
poverty in America”.
– Economic Opportunity Act – money for
youth programs, antipoverty measures,
small business loans, and job training.
• Project Head Start – underprivileged
preschooler
• VISTA – Volunteers in Service to America
1964 Election:
Barry Goldwater – Rep.
LBJ – Dem.
Goldwater believed that it was not
the federal gov’t’s business to try
to right social and economic wrongs
such as poverty and discrimination.
• Goldwater threatened to use nuclear
weapons to intervene in Vietnam.
• LBJ opposed this.
• LBJ won by a landslide.
“The Great Society”
• LBJ now promised America would be “The
Great Society” – he wanted to end poverty
and discrimination and he believed
education was the key.
Great Society Programs:
• Medicare & Medicaid
• Clean Air Act & Water Quality Act (Silent
Spring, Rachel Carson)
• Truth in Packaging Act
• Dept. of Transportation
• Higher Education Act
• Immigration Act
• LBJ appt. the first African Am. cabinet
member (HUD secretary) Robert Weaver.
• LBJ’s program was liberal and the
Supreme Court supported his reforms.
Earl Warren, Chief Justice
Warren’s Court:
• Chief Justice Earl Warren led the liberal
reforms of the SC of the 1960’s
– 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education, est.
integration.
– banned state-sanctioned prayer in public
schools
– limited power of communities to censor
books, films, etc.
– Tinkers (et. al.) vs. Des Moines (et. al).- supported
the Tinkers in the black armband case of free
speech.
• greatly expanded the rights of the accused
– Mapp vs. Ohio - illegally gained evidence
cannot be used in court
– Gideon vs. Wainwright – free legal council to
the poor
– Escobedo vs. Illinois -accused have a right to
an attorney when questioned by the police.
– Miranda vs. Arizona – all suspects must be
read their rights. (see p. 694-695)
• Impact of the Great Society and the
Warren Court was more power to the
federal government and more spending for
the federal government.
• Ultimately, there would be a conservative
backlash.
• the Vietnam Conflict brings an end to
Johnson’s presidency.