Transcript New Frontier and Great Society

New
Frontier
and Great
Society
Section 18.1
Style or Substance?
Which is more important in making an effective president?
Describe Kennedy as President.
• Inaugural address
– A statement that the young were
taking control
– Vigorous, energetic, bold
– Hawkish
• In Practice
– Slow, cautious to initiate new
legislation
– Why?
• Lacked a mandate
– Election was slim
– Not a clear endorsement of
his ideas
• Conservative Congress
What was the New Frontier?
• Kennedy’s personal domestic
progressive program
• Not an organized set of new
laws (like the New Deal)
• Included legislation for public
schools, wilderness
preservation, infrastructure,
medical insurance for elderly
• Invigorated the liberals
– Had become complacent with
the economic prosperity of
the 1950s
What is meant by describing JFK’s
Administration as “Camelot”?
• Seemed
Royal, like a
King
• JFK and
Jackie (his
wife) were
elegant,
stylish, and
good looking
• Cultivated
this image on
TV,
magazines
Describe Kennedy’s Working Style:
• Surrounded himself w/ highly educated advisers
– Called the “best and the brightest”
• Pragmatic
– Called himself “A Practical Idealist”
– Did what worked rather than what liberal
ideology wished
• Visionary
– Set goal of landing man on moon for NASA
• John Glenn-= 1st American to orbit earth
(2/62)
• Peace Corps
– Volunteers sent to developing
countries to assist in education,
building
» 80 thousand sent to 88 nations
Describe his Assassination:
Describe his Assassination:
Describe his Assassination.
• JFK went to Dallas, TX to
begin campaigning for ’64
election
• Shot twice as he rode in
open car
• Lee Harvey Oswald
– Ex Marine, communist,
Cuba sympathizer
– Shot from 6th floor of Dallas
Book Depository
– Arrested in movie theater
– Assassinated by Jack Ruby
at police station
Zapruder Film
Zapruder Slow Motion
What was the Warren Commission and
why were its findings controversial?
• Investigative
committee
headed by Chief
Justice Earl
Warren
• Concluded that
Lee Harvey
Oswald had
acted alone in
assassination
• Controversial
– Why?
What was the Warren Commission and why
were its findings controversial?
• Difficult shot
– 3 shots in 6 seconds
• Zapruder film
– Made it look like shot
came from “Grassy
Knoll”
• “Magic Bullet”
– Developed by Arlen
Specter to explain how
both JFK and Gov.
Connally were hit
• Seemed impossible
• Oswald assassinated by
Jack Ruby (nightclub owner)
– Mob hit?
Cubans?
Texas oil men?
Oliver Stone’s Theory
Click to Play
Lone Assassin or Conspiracy?
Oswald Assassinated
How did the nation react to the assassination?
How did the nation react to the assassination?
• Shocked and devastated
–“Where were you when
Kennedy was shot?”
• Shattered hopes of many
–African Americans
–Liberal idealists
• Camelot image of fallen
hero became legendary
The End of Camelot
Describe Lyndon Baines Johnson’s style
as president.
• Opposite of Kennedy
– Crude, intimidating,
unpolished
– Experienced Southerner
(Texas)
• Coalition Builder
– “The Treatment”
• Flattered or threatened
congressmen into
voting for his
proposals
What was the Great Society?
• LBJ’s continuation
and extension of
JFK’s New Frontier
program
• His vision for a just,
fair society without
poverty, racism, etc.
• Declared ‘war on
poverty’
What were some of the most important
laws of the Great Society?
• Civil Rights Act of 1964/Voting
Rights Act of 1965
• Economic Opportunity Act
– Fed programs that fought
poverty
• Medical Care Act
– Provided money for:
• Medicare = Elderly
• Medicaid = Poor
• Model Cities Act
– Gave money to build housing,
recreational facilities,
transportation for poor
– Created HUD
Was the Great Society successful?
• Poverty dropped:
– 1959= 22%
– 1969= 12%
• Under funded
– War in Vietnam began to steer
money away from programs,
which continued regardless
– Liberal economists spoke of
having ‘guns and butter’
• Resorted to deficit spending,
which led in the 1970s to “double
digit” inflation
Criticism
• Did it create a
welfare
generation?
• Give a man a
fish, feed him for
a day
• Teach a man to
fish, feed him for
life….