jfk domestic & social

domestic/new frontier successes

-established new frontier in acceptance speech, criticised values of consumer soc, said Americans must adopt values of frontier men - working together for good of the country

-priorities were “poverty & surplus” (didnt initially interest him as it didnt affect him, campaign in West Virginia “opened his eyes”), “peace & war” (intelligent + interested in FP) and “ignorance & prejudice)

-had intelligent men in administration

-poverty: 1961 area redevelopment act granted $394mill to extend employment opps to poorer states, created 26,000 jobs & benefited 15,000 people. min wage inc to $1.25 w/ additional 3.6 mill ppl covered

-education: inc in vocational training, expansion of scholarships & student loans. extended Ike’s school lunch programme so 700,000 more children could have a hot lunch. govt provided grants to construct new facilities for those training to be in healthcare

-arranged additional $9bill for NASA to put man on moon by end of 60s. 6 men safely put in space in his presidency

domestic/new fronteir failures

-men in administration had little experience in governing, often made chaotic rapid decisions

-poverty: congress poorly funded schemes, 5 mill remained unemployed, ½ a million of poorest workers uncovered by min wage (especially black women), rural poverty persisted, 20% pop in poverty were the biggest 3 ethnic minorities. congress aimed to get USA out of recession not alleviate poverty. boom years over. jfk lacked understanding of economics. failed congressional support - fed financial aid for elementary/secondary education rejected, tax cuts to stimulate econ rejected

-CR bill to end Jim Crow in south stuck in congress until after jfk death

social change successes

-success of CR movement inspired other oppressed communities to fight for rights + used techniques black Americans lay groundworks for

-kennedys youth + independence/growth of young people created youth protest & politicisation

-SDS established by uni of Michigan students inspired by socialists in 1930s. wanted to change poltical/social system, peaceful FP, liberate poor + minorities

-emphasised potential of individs, participatory democracy & New Left consisting of younger people

-Betty friedans “the feminine mystique” showed women in 1960s should prioritise education & personal ambition over roles as wives & mothers

-1st lady Eleanor Roosevelt persuaded jfk to setup presidential commission on the status of women 1963.

-1964 CRA banned workplace discrim of sex & race (after death)

-womens activism grew dramatically, especially mc women, for equal pay, work opps & respect

social change failures

-youth movements didnt come to national attention until anti Viet war protests in 1965

-equal rights amendment to constitution (equal rights for both sexes) never introduced)

-most women remained in low paid work, stereotypes for educated women to be nurses + teachers. women constituted 80% of teachers but only 10% of principals, 7% of doctors, 3% of lawyers

-schools expelled/fired pregnant teachers/students. some states prohibited contraception for married women + some wouldn’t allow female jurors.

-18 states said women couldn’t enter financial agreements w/out male cosign.

-CR organisations didnt involve women much, alienated women from CR movement

election

-jfk good looking, idyllic family, young & dynamic, charismatic in media

-offered sympathy to MLK when arrested for Atlanta sit in & helped his release. 70% Americans in favour of JFK

-tv debate: Kennedy looked tanned + healthy (makeup), nice suit, manipulated questions to introduce his own topics, looked straight at camera. Nixon pale bad makeup, awkward stance (infected knee), fidgets + looks sideways, sweating due to illness, would say “no comment” instead of defending himself. most people had TVs so saw this

-ike made huge spending cuts leading to recession in election year & didnt challenge jfk’s inaccurate statement on missile gap. weakened Nixons campaign

-nixon didnt let ike campaign for him at first, Ike didnt sell him well, nixon made foolish promise to campaign in all states (exhaustion in tv debate), inaction after MLK arrest so lack of black vote, lost southern white vote by promising a black cabinet member, didnt focus campaign on swing states