JOHN F. KENNEDY

&THE NEW FRONTIER

Objective…• Summarize the significance of

the 1960 election..

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Born May 29,1917

Died

Nov, 22, 1963

JFK: Biography…• Wealthy family• Graduated Harvard 1940• WW II vet - Purple Heart• 1946-52 US House & Senate• 1960 elected U.S. President

The Election of 1960

• The Cold War & economy• RMN: Maturity; experience (VP); anti-

communist; well known• JFK: Youthful; intelligent;

sophisticated; war hero

) The candidates & issues…

Election obstacles for JFK…• Youth…youngest elected (43)• Catholic• Inexperienced

) The impact of the televised debates?...

• JFK strengths…- Looking at camera- White shirt- Youthful- Handsome- Confident

• RMN weaknesses…- Looking at audience- Blue shirt- Unshaved- Older looking- Nervous

• Grace, elegance & wit• Inspires hope,

commitment & sacrifice• Beautiful young wife &

young children• TV loved him• Modern-day Camelot

) What gave the Kennedy Administration its popular appeal

among the nation’s youth?

The 1960 Election

JFK RMNElectoral Vote: 303 219Percentage: 49.7% 49.6%A difference of 100K votes out of 34M

Closest election of the century

Objective…• Identify and explain the policies of

the New Frontier.• Evaluate the performance of the

Kennedy Administration

) The agenda of the New Frontier…

• Improve the economy• Manage the Cold War• Anti-poverty• Urban renewal• Health care for elderly people• Aid to education• Raise min. wage• Raise Soc. Sec. / Unemployment • The space program• Advance civil rights

The inauguration of JFK

“Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for

your country” - JFK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLdA1ikkoEc

The New Frontier Success vs. Failure

• Social Security (Modest improvement)• Aid to public schools• Funding mass transit• Medical insurance for retired

Failures

) Success • Increase min. wage

• Public housing funding• Higher Ed. Act (1963)…• 58b) Pres. Com. on the Status of Women…• 58c) Equal Pay Act (1963)…• 58d) Revenue Act of (1962)…• 58e) Expanded NASA…

56) Why was it difficult for liberal Democrats to achieve the New Frontier agenda?

58a ) The Peace Corps…

• Goals of the Peace Corps. 1) Help people in foreign countries by

improving: Education; health; education; & agriculture

2) Promote the understanding of Americans in foreign countries

The Apollo Missions"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the

goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." -JFK 1961 address before Congress

• The program goal was to land a human on the Moon. • Apollo 11 landed the first humans, Neil Armstrong & Edwin

"Buzz" Aldrin on the Moon in July of 1969. • Fulfilled JFK's goal of reaching the Moon before the end of the

decade and before the Soviets. • The greatest accomplishment of our space program.

) What do the authors of your text view as Kennedy’s greatest domestic

achievement?…

An overall strengthening of the executive branch…

• Direct control & decision making by JFK

• Kennedy’s White House staff made decisions previously reserved for the Cabinet leaders.

Kennedy and the Cold War

Objective…• Trace the continuing events and policies

of the Cold War through the Kennedy Administration.

60) Special Forces/ Green Berets…Motto: “Liberate from

oppression”

"... THE GREEN BERET ...a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom."

60) The Alliance for Progress

“Therefore I have called on all people of the hemisphere to join in a new Alliance for Progress …a vast cooperative effort, unparalleled in magnitude and nobility of purpose to satisfy the basic needs of the American people for homes, work and land, health and schools” - JFK March 13, 1961

The Alliance for Progress was initiated by President Kennedy to establish economic cooperation

between the U.S. and South America.

Kennedy & Vietnam• A worsening situation• Approves military aid • Approves 16,000 advisors• NO REGULAR TROOPS• “In the final analysis it is their war” - JFK

61)  Kennedy & Vietnam…a. How did Kennedy support the Diem regime…b. Why did the regime fail to win support… c. The policy shift in 1963…d. The Vietcong…

Ngo Dinh Diem President of South Vietnam

• Catholic dictatorship – Oppressive leader• Believed communism was evil • Ruthlessly crushed opponents• Buddhist monks committed suicide

Monks commit suicide in protest…“…He never moved a muscle, never

uttered a sound.”

Kennedy & Vietnam• Diem is an ineffective leader• Nov, 1963 - CIA pays SV generals to carry

out a coup• Diem is murdered

The assassination of Diem

1961 The Cuban Revolution & the Bay of Pigs

) Why did DDE establish and economic boycott and sever diplomatic relations with Cuban 1960?

Castro &

Khrushchev

DDE & JFK discuss the Bay of Pigs Invasion at Camp

David

63) What was the Bay of Pigs Invasion?…

The Bay of Pigs Invasion April, 1961

The US executes an unsuccessful plot to overthrow Castro…

- Eisenhower plans- Kennedy approves - A CIA operation - 1,189 prisoners & 100 invaders killed

Prisoners taken at the Bay of Pigs

) Why did the B of P invasion fail?…

The Missile Crisis) What led to the CMC?… How was

the CMC resolved?…

The U-2 spy plane that photographed the Soviet

missile sites…

Completed missile site

Missile construction site…

Results of the CMC…• Washington/ Moscow hotline…• The U.S. withdraws missiles from Turkey• Nuclear Test Ban Treaty…

The Soviets build the Berlin Wall to stop people from escaping from East Berlin…

1961: The Berlin Wall

JFK: The Berlin speech …“Ich bin ein Berliner”… “I am a Berliner”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH6nQhss4Yc

President Kennedy

& Attorney General Robert Kennedy

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy: A hard focus on organized crime & the

Teamsters• Relentless crusade against organized

crime & the mafia… 800% increase in organized crime prosecution & convictions

• Relentless pursuit of Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa… I.E. Union corruption under his leadership.

The Assassination of JFKThe Texas

School Book

Depository

Arriving in DallasThe presidential motorcade

http://www.jfk-assassination.de/media/drawings/route.php

The JFK Assassination Zapruder Film (Digital version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q91RZko5Gw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfSXkfV_mhA&feature=related

71)  Lee Harvey Oswald…

The media announces the death of JFK…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8Q3cqGs7I&feature=related

The assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald

Jack Ruby

Live on television Jack ruby murders lee Harvey Oswald… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awy3h5QK7WI&feature=fvst

Swearing in LBJ on Air Force One during the

return trip from Dallas, Texas …

JFK’s funeral march

.

The day JFK was buried it was John-Johns third birthday.

JFK Memorial Video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZsCabQdnhk

The WarrenCommission…

The conclusion reached by the Warren Commission was that Lee Harvey Oswald was working alone. Oswald is said to have fired three shots. The first shot struck President Kennedy in the upper back, passed through his body and then struck Governor John Connally. The second shot is said to have missed its target. The third shot struck the President in the head. The total time for the shots was 4.8 to 5.6 seconds

Was the Commission merely a cover-up? There is controversy over the issue even today.

"THE WINK”

CONGRESSMAN ALBERT THOMAS KNOWINGLY WINKS AT A SMILING LBJ AFTER THE ASSASSINATION

I forgot about the test tomorrow.