Transcript Stormy Sixties

Stormy Sixties
Chapter 39: Pt 1
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NEW FRONTIER
• Kennedys = glamour, vitality
• “wiz” kids: Bobby, Attny General;
McNamara, Sec of Defense
• Peace Corp
Ask not what your country can
do for your country.
Let the word go forth from this
time and place, to friend and foe
alike, that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of
Americans
Domestic Programs
• Not a strong Democratic support in
Congress, Southern Democrats not on his
side
• Medical and education bills stall
• Put support behind tax cuts
• Promises to put a man on the moon
Europe/Africa
• Soviets construct Berlin Wall
• Lowered tariffs to promote trade with the
Common Market
• Send $$ but no troops to Congo to help
control violence
• Doesn’t want to be caught in “Massive
Retaliation,” increases spending on
ground troops, special forces (Green
Barets)
Vietnam
• Used conference in Geneva to try to stop
Laos Civil War
• Diem’s government in S. Vietnam not
getting it done, Kennedy orders more
“military advisors”
• Eventually gave up on Diem and probably
helped coup
Cuba
• Went ahead with pre-planned Bay of Pigs--major failure
• 10/62 spy planes see missiles in
Khrushchev backed Cuba
• Naval quarantine used
• “eyeball to eyeball” Soviet’s blink, deal
made
• prob. Costs NK his job, JFK urges a way
to peacefully coexist
Civil Rights
• Promised to end discrimination with “the
stroke of a pen”
• Freedom Riders force JFK to support Civil
Rights Movement
• Fed Marshalls sent in when U of Miss
integrated
• March on Washington
JFK’s Death
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Lee Harvey Oswald, Dallas, 11/22/63
Many cry, some cheer
LBJ sworn in on plane
Camelot
Kennedy programs become more
achievable