Chapter 22 - The Kennedy & Johnson Years

Chapter 22 - The Kennedy & Johnson Years 1

Chp 22, Section 1 - - The New Frontier 2

1960 Presidential Election = John F. Kennedy (Dem) vs. Richard M. Nixon (Rep) 1 st TV debates in history Nixon was the more experienced politician Kennedy was young, handsome & spoke directly to the camera Nixon was tired, sweaty, and looked mostly at Kennedy John F. Kennedy Richard M. Nixon 3

Media and Politics How you look becomes almost as important as intelligence Politics becomes much more expensive since TV commercials are expensive! 4

John F. Kennedy ** 43 years old. Youngest President ever elected. Wife = Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy In office = 1961-1963 ** Assassinated November 22, 1963 Vice President = Lyndon B. Johnson 5

1960 Presidency Shifts to Younger Generation JFK = 43 years old Barack Obama = 49 years old 6

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy 7

Jacqueline and John Kennedy with their children, John Jr. (left) and Caroline (right) at their home in Hyannis Port, MA. 8

John F. Kennedy Kennedy won a really close election so he did not have a **mandate from the people. First Roman Catholic president Experienced politician (House & Senate) WWII hero! Captain of PT 109 PT boat rammed by Japanese destroyer and Kennedy towed one of his badly burned crew members to an island, saving his life. 9

John F. Kennedy {1960 1963} Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to President Kennedy at a celebration of his 45 th birthday. She did it in a very sexy way. Many believe that JFK had an affair with her. 10

John F. Kennedy {1960 1963} Famous quote at Kennedy s inaugural address = My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. 11

Kennedy s Domestic Programs ** New Frontier = Kennedy s program to improve the economy, help the poor, and speed up the space program. The Other America was a 1962 book by Michael Harrington that said 20% of Americans were living below the poverty line. Kennedy tried to pass government programs to help the poor, but most failed in Congress (partly because of the small margin of victory in the election = 119,000 votes). 12

Kennedy Administration Successes Executive Order providing surplus food to unemployed Americans Largest peacetime defense buildup in history - - mostly to build missile programs Increased minimum wage ($1 to $1.25) Built world s largest nuclear power plant at Hanford, WA. Many of America s nuclear weapons were built at this plant in Washington. Area Redevelopment Act - - sent gov t money to help needy regions Signed 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Said nuclear testing could take place only underground 13

Hanford, WA Nuclear Site 14

Hanford occupies 560 square miles. When: 1943 Construction began What: Nuclear weapons facility, including nine nuclear reactors, producing plutonium for US nuclear weapons arsenal Why: Manhattan Project/ Cold War 1st plutonium-production reactor that fueled the bomb dropped on Nagasaki Peak years of weapons material production: 1960s Who: Operated by Department of Energy; Previously, Atomic Energy Commission *** Legacy: World's largest clean-up project!!! 15

Kennedy Administration Successes Alliance for Progress helped Latin America. Peace Corps 1. Volunteer organization (need college degree / 27 months) sending people to developing countries to aide in education and rural development projects. 2. Very popular program that is still going strong. 18

Top Left: the Peace Corps logo Top Right: Volunteers being sworn in Bottom Right: President Kennedy talking to Volunteers 19

The Space Program (NASA) In 1961, a Russian by the name of Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. He orbited the earth. America felt scared it was falling behind the Soviet Union in the space race. 20

The Space Program Kennedy increased funding for NASA & challenged them to put the first man on the moon In 1962, John Glenn became the first American in space. Glenn shows President K the space capsule. 21

In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person ever to walk on the moon! This meant that the U.S. had moved ahead of the Soviet Union in the space race! 22

Picture of the Apollo 11 crew. L to R = Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon! 23

Astronauts as they were seated in the Apollo 11 command module for the journey to the moon. 24

Apollo 11 re-entering the Earth s atmosphere (gravity). The heat generated is enormous! The bottom side of the command module is a heat shield for the astronauts. 28

Kennedy Assassination = November 22, 1963 Was in Dallas for presidential campaign Lee Harvey Oswald {communist supporter} convicted of killing Kennedy Dallas nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, shot Oswald to death while he was being transferred from one jail to another. Made the investigation more difficult. **The Warren Commission (led by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren) found that Oswald acted alone. This decision has always been very controversial. Many believe that there was a second shooter that was involved. 30

Dealey Plaza (Dallas) at the time of the Assassination 31

Left - - John Jr. salutes his father s casket as it passes by. This was John John s 3 rd birthday. 34

Chp 22, Section 2 - - The Great Society 35

Lyndon Baines Johnson became the 36 th President of the U.S. in 1963. He was raised in a high poverty area of rural Texas. He became a teacher and taught in Houston, TX. He was impacted by the poverty level of his Mexican- American students and is known for his programs to fight poverty. 36

LBJ s childhood home 37

The Johnson Treatment LBJ was known for his persuasive capability. He would grab your lapels or shoulders and get in your face. He rewarded people with praise and punished his enemies. Johnson almost always got what he wanted. LBJ found out everything about the person to be persuaded and used it to influence them. (Left) Johnson gives The Johnson Treatment to Senator Green, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 38

LBJ as a teacher in Houston, TX in 1927 LBJ taught public speaking and was the debate team coach at Sam Houston High School. 39

The Importance of Educational Opportunity (Lyndon Baines Johnson) If every child born could acquire all the education that their intelligence quotient (IQ) permitted them to take, God only knows what our gross national product (average amount of money made by the nation in one year) would be. The strength that we would add to our nation militarily, diplomatically, economically is too large even to imagine. There is no investment that we could make that would return such high dividends (payback). If we could just assume when a child is born that that child was going to be trained until it reached the point that it could no longer profit from that training and that if the economic situation in the family did not exist, that the government would provide a scholarship. To see that brought about, you would eliminate slums and most crime as well as the need for poverty programs. Because all of these things that we frown upon and that give us problems in this country ultimately are traceable to the dropout or to the lack of education or to environment or to health problems or something else which could be cured by giving every person the right to all the education that he or she could take. 40

Presidential Election of 1964 Barry Goldwater (Republican / on the left) was soundly defeated by Lyndon Baines Johnson (Democrat / on the right). This gave LBJ a **mandate to develop his government ideas in what became known as the **Great Society. 41

Due to his solid victory over Goldwater, Lyndon Baines Johnson was nicknamed Landslide Lyndon! 42

**The Great Society Economic Opportunity Act (1964) Created nationwide programs to help the poor and fight the causes of poverty like illiteracy. Became known as the **War on Poverty. a. Head Start = preschool for low income families. b. VISTA = Volunteers in Service to America. Sent volunteers to help poor communities in the U.S. 43

**The Great Society Civil Rights Act (1964): 1. Banned discrimination in public accommodations {programs and jobs supported by federal $} 2. Gave federal government power to enforce desegregation and prosecute voting rights violations. 44

The Great Society Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965): first major federal aid package for education in history. Gave states $ based on the number of low income children. Medical Care Act (1965): Created medical care programs like: **Medicare = federally funded health care for the elderly (65 & older). **Medicaid = low cost health insurance to poor Americans of any age, who can t afford private insurance. 45

The Great Society Voting Rights Act (1965): ended literacy tests for voting; allowed fed agents to monitor voter registration. Higher Education Act (1965): provided scholarships and loans Immigration Act (1965): ended discriminatory ethnic quotas. Family members of American citizens were exempt from the quotas. 46

The Warren Court 1. Chief Justice Earl Warren was a controversial leader of the Supreme Court from 1953-1969. 2. His court was concerned with protecting the rights of the individual against the power of the government. 3. The court s liberal decisions often angered Warren s Republican Party. 47

The Warren Court **Engel v. Vitale 1962 landmark Supreme Court case which found that school prayer was unconstitutional based on the 1st Amendment requirement of separation of church and state. Background to the Case - - New York Public Schools adopted a voluntary prayer in 1951. The prayer was part of a moral education goal. The Prayer = Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we Beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country." In 1958, five parents brought a lawsuit against the school. 48

The Warren Court Clarence Earl Gideon (left) was charged with breaking and entering into a Panama City, Florida pool hall. Gideon, was denied his request that an attorney be appointed to represent him because it was not a capital case. The Supreme Court reversed his conviction, holding that defense counsel is "fundamental and essential" to a fair trial. **Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) Landmark Supreme Court case that said suspects in criminal cases who can not afford a lawyer, will have an attorney (public defender) provided for them by the government. 49

The Warren Court Ernesto Arturo Miranda was arrested based on circumstantial evidence linking him to the kidnapping and rape of an 18-year-old woman 10 days earlier. After two hours of interrogation by police officers, Miranda signed a confession to the rape charge. **1966 Miranda v. Arizona = Landmark Supreme Court case which required a suspect in a crime to be notified of his/her rights before being questioned by the police. (right to remain silent, anything said can be used against you in court, right to an attorney, attorney appointed for you if you can t afford one, etc.) 50

Results of the Great Society Negative = many people complained that the federal bureaucracy needed to carry out the programs was too expensive. Many thought anti-poverty programs made the poor lazy & dependent on the government. Positive = the number of Americans living in poverty was cut in half! Michael Harrington (author of The Other America) said the government should have spent even more on anti-poverty. 51

Chp 22, Sec. 3 - - Foreign Policy in the Early 1960s 52

Fulgencio Batista = became Cuban dictator, in 1934, with American support. Batista allowed American companies to get control of most of Cuba s economy. 53

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba 56

Havana, Cuba 57

Havana, Cuba 58

In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista and became the new leader of Cuba. He turned Cuba communist and took back a million acres of land which was owned by American corporations. These companies were not compensated. 59

Fidel Castro made Cuba an ally of the Soviet Union. {Shown above = Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev (left) and Cuban President Fidel Castro {right}. 60

In 1960, President Eisenhower approved a plan to train 1500 Cuban exiles to invade and overthrow the Castro government. The CIA trained them in Guatemala. 61

Training location for 1500 Cuban exiles. 62

President Kennedy ordered the April 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion! 63

(left) Cuban exile soldiers are taken to prisoner of war camps by Castro s army. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a horrible failure. The 1500 Cuban exiles were no match for Cuban forces. Kennedy refused to allow American air strikes to support the invasion force. America was trying to make it look like the Cuban people were rising against Fidel Castro s communist government. The world now saw that the U.S. was really behind the invasion and it made the U.S. look bad. 65

In 1961, the Soviets built **the Berlin Wall to permanently separate democratic West Berlin from communist East Berlin. Many educated people from East Germany were coming to Berlin, crossing to West Berlin and catching a plane to democratic West Germany. The wall stopped the brain drain. 66

**The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis = In October of 1962, pictures from an American spy plane showed that the Soviet Union was building missile bases in Cuba. 68

Soviet Missile in Cuba 69

American U-2 Spy Plane Maximum speed: 500 mph Cruise speed: 429 mph Range: 5,566 nautical miles Service ceiling = 85,000+ ft Flight endurance: 12 hours 70

The U.S. had missile bases in Turkey and Italy, which are very close to the Soviet Union. Soviet Union wanted the U.S. to remove its missiles. 71

**Cuban Missile Crisis = In October of 1962, the U.S. found out that Soviet ships, carrying nuclear warheads for the missiles in Cuba, were on their way to Cuba. 72

President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent Soviet nuclear warheads from reaching Cuba. For 3 days, {Oct. 22-25}, the world watched and waited to see if there would be 82a nuclear war!!

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba if the U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba and took its missiles out of Turkey. The two leaders also installed a hotline so they could speak if an emergency arose. 83

Kennedy & Johnson Foreign Policy Kennedy feared that Communism would spread to the poor nations of Latin America. **The Alliance for Progress was an American program to help build democratic governments in Latin America. The United States pledged billions of dollars to help L.A. nations create jobs and homes for their people. Some Latin American nations did not trust the U.S. because it had interfered in many L.A. nations. 85

Johnson s Foreign Policy The Dominican Republic Johnson thought that rebels, backed by Communists, had attacked the military government. He sent thousands of U.S. Marines and defeated the rebels. It turned out that the rebels had not received Communist support. 86

Johnson s Foreign Policy Vietnam Johnson was committed to preventing the spread of communism. Johnson ordered a major increase in the number of American troops sent to Vietnam. 87

Vietnam 88

Foreign Policy in the Early 1960s Assessment Which of these events started the Cuban Missile Crisis? (A) The CIA trained Cubans for an invasion to overthrow Castro. (B) The United States learned of Soviet missile bases in Cuba. (C) Fidel Castro took over Cuba and developed Soviet ties. (D) American airstrikes attempted to destroy Cuba s air force. What was the Alliance for Progress? (A) A treaty which banned nuclear testing above the ground (B) A program which sent American volunteers overseas (C) A program to build stable Latin American governments (D) An international plan to overthrow the government of the Dominican Republic 89