kennedy

unfinished

Reasons for Kennedy's 1960 election win

Eisenhower's decisions, Nixon's errors, Kennedys personality and promises

1960 Election Eisenhower's decisions

• Didn't speak favourably of Nixon

• 1960 recession due to spending cuts and federal reserve thriftiness damage reputation of republicans

• refused to allow Nixon to call for presidential candidates to talk openly about their health

1960 Election Nixon's errors

• started campaign Oct 1960

• TV debates against Eisenhower's advice (free advertising for Kennedy)

• over exhausted by campaigning in all states

• No rapport with journalists

1960 Election Kennedy's personality and promises

• tall, young, tanned

• charmed journalists

• contrasted Eisenhower

• Called Coretta King after MLK arrest

• Johnson as running mate

• New Frontier

Foreign Policy aims

• Contain Communism

• improve US' international reputation

• be first in arms race

• avoid nuclear war and encourage agreements on the ban of nuclear testing

Berlin Crisis

1961 - Khrushchev's ultimatum, refusal reaffirmed US commitment to West Berlin

Berlin Wall

1961 - physical symbolism of ideological divide, due to 'brain drain'

number of east Berliners fled to west berlin

1949 - 1961; approx. 2.5 million

Consequences of Berlin Wall

• west propaganda

• east rebuild economy

• JFK 'wall is better than war'

• Khrushchev convinced JFK could be pushed around

Bay of Pigs

1961 - Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro, failed and Kennedy humiliated

Reasons for Bay of Pigs

• thought easy foreign policy win

• rise of communist regime in Cuba

• Eisenhower administration approved CIA action

Number of Cuban exiles used in bay of Pigs

16,000

Fidel Castro

prime minister of Cuba 1959, alignment with Soviet Union, declare himself communist after 1961

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 - USSR missiles in Cuba

Number of Soviet missile basis in Cuba 1962

6

Consequences of Cuban Missiles Crisis

• Naval Blockade

• USSR remove missiles if US remove from Turkey

• Hotline from Moscow to Washington

• Khrushchev fell from power

• danger of nuclear war

Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

1963 - prohibited nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, outer space, and underwater

Strategic Hamlet Project

1962 - moved Vietnamese villages to fortified villages away from Vietcong

Number of US military advisors in Vietnam by 1963

17,000 (green berets)

Assassination of Diem

1963 - unpopular leader of South Vietnamese

Self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc

June 1963 - Buddhist Monk - protest against the Diem government's persecution of Buddhists

Peace Corps

1961 - volunteers to help poor nations through teaching and technical aid, led by Sergeant Shriver

Peace Corps approval rating

71%

Number of countries helped by Peace Corps 1961-63

44

First man to orbit earth

1961 - USSR

Robert Kennedy

Attorney General

Robert McNamara

Secretary of Defence 1961-68, previously taught statistics at Harvard; favoured military intervention and heavily encouraged escalation in Vietnam

Dean Rusk

Secretary of State, fractious relationship with Kennedy, but appointed as would give him personal control over foreign policy

McGeorge Bundy

National Security Advisor, former intelligence officer in WW2 and professor of Government at Harvard - advocated escalation in Vietnam

Increase minimum wage

1961 - by 25%, 3.6 million more workers included

Federal Highway Act

1961

Omnibus Housing act

1961 - $5 billion for extension of existing programmes i.e. urban renewal, public housing, low-interest loans for middle class families

Food Stamp Programme

1961 - $22 million annually, feed 240,000 people

Fair Labor Standards Act

1961

Equal Pay Act

June 1963, banned sexual discrimination in terms of wages in many professions

Food and Agriculture Act

1962- Federal subsidies to farmers

Clean Air Act

1963

Manpower Development and Training Act

1962 - train workers who were unemployed because of increased automation and technical change

Impact of Manpower Development and Training Act

351 approved programmes, 12,600 trainees in 40 states

Medicare Bill

Proposed 1963, rejected and passed under Johnson 1965

Social Security Act

1963 - expanded benefits

Area Redevelopment Act

1961 - $394 million to extend employment opportunities in poorer states, created 26,000 jobs, poorly funded by congress

Unemployment rate 1962

6%

Feminine Mystique

1963 - Betty Friedman, criticised domestic stereotypes

Port Huron Statement

1962 - SDS, - dissatisfaction and disillusionment many young people were feeling, called upon change to political and social system, peaceful foreign policy, liberation of the poor and all enslaved by conformity.

SDS

Students for a Democratic Society - est. 1960, aimed to create a more democratic society and advocated for various social and political issues, including civil rights, anti-war activism, and student rights.

SNCC

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, est. 1960

Freedom rides

1961 event organized by CORE and SNCC in which an interracial group of civil rights activists tested southern states' compliance to the Supreme Court ban of segregation on interstate buses

Consequences of 1961 Freedom Rides

• Firebombed and attacked by KKK

• media attention

• Kennedy administration embarrasses by media

• Bobby Kennedy demand enforcement of desegregation

Birmingham Campaign (Civil Rights)

1963 - Challenge segregation and integrate the city, SCLC, led by MLK

Consequences of 1963 Birmingham Campaign

• MLK arrested

• KKK bomb MLK motel room

• Bull Connor violence, release dogs and watercannons on protestors

• Kennedy place 3,000 national guardsmen to stabilise situation

• Encourage JFK to put forward Civil rights Bill