Transcript The New Frontier and the Great Society

THE NEW FRONTIER
AND Ch 15
THE GREAT SOCIETY
THE NEW FRONTIER
 Election of 1960
 Nixon and Kennedy – 1 st Presidential Debate on TV
 Those who watched said Kennedy won, those who listened sided
with Nixon
 Both claimed they would boost the economy and be “Cold
Warriors”
 Kennedy claimed the US lagged behind the USSR “Missile Gap”
 Kennedy’s faith (Catholic) became an issue
 Kennedy won in one of the closest elections ever
 Kennedy Takes Office - “The New Frontier”
 Increased spending on education, health care for the elderly
 Kennedy found opposition in Congress (even tho his party
controlled)
SUCCESSES AND SETBACKS
 Stimulated economy by deficit spending on defense/space
 Wanted Tax Cuts – gave businesses more money to expand,
which would create jobs – Congress blocked
 Congress also blocked increased funding for schools and
health care for the elderly
 Kennedy did get an increase in the minimum age and more
spending on low income housing
 WOMENS RIGHTS
 Equal Pay Act, appointed women to high government positions
 FOCUS ON THE DISABLED (Kennedy’s sister was disabled)
 Research money looking into developmental disabilities
 Increased money for Mental Health facilities
 Kennedy family will begin organization that will become “SPECIAL
OLYMPICS+
WARREN COURT REFORMS
 ONE PERSON ONE VOTE
(BAKER v. CARR)
 S.C. ruled that districts needed to be REAPPORTIONED based on
population – giving urban areas more political power which also
increased the representative power of minorities, who lived in cities
 Expanding DUE PROCESS
 14 th Amendment extended Due Process rights to the state
 MAPP v. OHIO – Search and Seizure – illegally attained evidence
 GIDEON v WAINWRIGHT – Right to an attorney
 MIRANDA v ARIZONA – Must be read your rights
 PRAYER and PRIVACY – Separation of Church and State
 ENGEL v VITALE – no prayer in schools
 ABINGTON SD v. SCHEMPP – no reading of Bible by schools
 GRISWOLD v. CONNECTICUT – birth control is a privacy issue the
states cannot interfere with
JFK AND THE COLD WAR
 Containing COMMUNISM – Kennedy took over in middle of the
Cold War. Used a range of methods to contain communism
 “FLEXIBLE RESPONSE” – Wanted to use tactics besides massive
retaliation to limit communism
 Troop buildups, conventional weapons
 AID TO OTHER COUNTRIES
 Latin America believed helping to relieve poverty would gain allies
 Helped government resist communism while helping them help their
people with financial/food aid
 ALLIANCE for PROGRESS – series of cooperative aid projects in Latin
America - $20B for schools, housing, health care, farming
 PEACE CORPS – helping developing nations fight poverty
COLD WAR IN SPACE
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1957 – USSR puts 1 st man in space (Yury Gagarin)
1957 – USSR puts 1 st satellite in space (SPUTNIK)
The USSR was winning the “Space Race”
Kennedy challenged the Congress/people of US to achieve the
goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s
Massive ef fort to reach that goal
1962 – John Glenn became the 1 st American in space
1969 – Neil Armstrong became to 1 st person to stand on the
moon
The US became the only country to ever put a man on the
moon
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
 The “Space Race” put the US in front of the USSR
technologically – has been ever since
CRISES OF THE COLD WAR
Bay of Pigs
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After Castro led revolution in Cuba, US began plans to overthrow him
CIA set up bases to train Cuban exiles to lead counter -revolution
4-17-61 - 1,400 armed Cuban exiles landed at Bay of Pigs – disaster
Kennedy cancelled air support, people did not rise up against Castro
Within 2 days, rebels arrested or killed
HUGE embarrassment for the Kennedy administration – made Kennedy
look weak to other international leaders
Berlin Wall goes up
1961 – Kennedy and Khrushchev met
Khrushchev demanded western powers leave Berlin, recognize Eberlin
Kennedy refused – confirmed commitment to W.Berlin
Khrushchev countered by building a wall around W. Berlin to keep East
Berliners from escaping
 Berlin Wall becomes symbol of Cold War
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THE BERLIN WALL
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
 Summer 1962 – US U2 planes got pictures of missile sites
being constructed in Cuba – Soviet troops sited
 Oct ‘62 – Kennedy announce USSR was placing long -range
nuclear missiles in Cuba that could reach most of the US
 Naval Blockade ordered to stop more missile from reaching Cuba
 Kennedy demanded launch cites be dismantled – Khrushchev denied
 Kennedy announced that any missile launched from Cuba would be
viewed as a USSR attack on USA and would result in a full out
nuclear response against the USSR
 Khrushchev had to deal with hardliners in own country
 Khrushchev finally agreed to remove missiles in exchange for US
promise to NEVER invade Cuba, and to remove missiles (outdated) in
Turkey
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
 Crisis made both leaders face possible results of a nuclear
war - both sides would perish
 1963 – US/USSR agreed to ban nuclear tests in atmosphere
 Direct phone line was established between White House and Kremlin
 Khrushchev was humiliated on the world stage, fell from power in 64
DEATH OF A PRESIDENT
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Nov. 22, 1963 – Kennedy traveled to Dallas TX to campaign
Shots rang out as Kennedy hit by assassin’s bullets
Lee Harvey Oswald captured, accused to crime
3 days later – Jack Ruby killed Oswald as he was being
transferred to Court House for arraignment
Commission (led by Earl Warren) determined that Oswald has
acted alone (no conspiracy)
US went into mourning for Kennedy
1 ,000 days of Kennedy’s presidency remembered as “Camelot”
Lyndon Johnson became president and vowed to get many of
Kennedy’s priorities passed in his memory
KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
THE GREAT SOCIETY
 Determined to ‘build on Kennedy’s legacy’
 JOHNSON’S LEADERSHIP ST YLE
 Direct, In-your-face style
 Reputation of getting things done (politics, twisting arms, threatening)
 Able to build coalitions of different sides
WAR ON POVERTY
50 million in poverty (slums, Appalachia, Deep South, Reservations)
LBJ believed powerful, wealthy government should try to improve the
lives of those trapped by poverty
Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
Office of Economic Opportunity
Neighborhood Youth Corps (VISTA, Upward Bound, Work Experience Program)
 Election of 1964 – LBJ easily won reelection less than 1 year
after Kennedy assassinated
THE GREAT SOCIETY
 CIVIL RIGHTS
 Civil Rights Act of 1964 –barred discrimination in laws
 Voting Rights Act of 1965 – protected voters from
discriminatory practices
 Dept of Housing and Urban Development- to help cities
improve & develop, healthcare and transportation
 MEDICARE, MEDICAID
 Health care for the elderly and poor
 EDUCATION
 Millions to public and private schools
 Head Start, preschool for disadvantaged children
THE GREAT SOCIETY’S LEGACY
 Touched nearly every part of live
 POSITIVE – millions of lives improved, helped underprivileged
children be ready for school, gave voice to the poor
 NEGATIVE – costs (federal budget skyrocketed), programs did
not work (or took way too long)
 Biggest impact of the GREAT SOCIET Y is that it got people
talking about the problems of poverty, disadvantage
 It challenged those who were doing well to care for, help those
who were not doing so well
 Set very high goals, believing that even if you fall short, you are
better of f than when you started