The Tumultuous ‘60s
Domestic Policies
John F. Kennedy
- **Space Program**: Aimed to land on the moon; part of broader technological advancements.
- **Civil Rights**: Efforts made to strengthen voting rights laws and assist schools in voluntarily desegregating. Policies gained momentum post-assassination.
New Frontier
- **Objectives**: Address social, economic, and technological challenges.
- Expand civil rights.
- Federal aid for education.
- Space exploration (Apollo program).
- Fight poverty and stimulate economic growth.
- **Success**: Laid groundwork for civil rights, advanced the Apollo program, promoted economic growth.
Lyndon B. Johnson
- **War on Poverty**: Programs to reduce poverty.
- **Medicare**: Health insurance for the elderly.
- **Medicaid**: Aid for poor and elderly care.
- **VISTA**: Volunteers in Service to America, similar to domestic Peace Corps.
- **Job Corps**: Education and skills for employment.
- **Office of Economic Opportunity**: Coordinated anti-poverty programs.
- **Public Broadcasting Act**: Supported educational programming (PBS).
Great Society
- **Objectives**: Eliminate poverty, racial injustice, improve education, healthcare, and the environment.
- **Programs**: Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, War on Poverty.
- **Success**: Reduced poverty, expanded healthcare access, strengthened civil rights.
Foreign Policies
John F. Kennedy
- **Peace Corps**: Sent volunteers abroad to aid in education and health in developing countries.
- **Alliance for Progress**: Economic assistance to Latin America, supported infrastructure and education.
- **Bay of Pigs**: Failed invasion of Cuba, tarnished US reputation.
- **Cuban Missile Crisis**: US-Soviet standoff over missiles in Cuba, led to communication improvements and enhanced US global standing.
- **Berlin Wall**: Soviet actions in Berlin did not directly affect US but had geopolitical implications.
Lyndon B. Johnson
- **Pueblo Incident**: Capture of US Navy ship by North Korea; perceived weakness for the US.
Key Events
Assassination of JFK
- **Assassin**: Lee Harvey Oswald.
- **Warren Commission**: Investigation into JFK's assassination, leading to various conspiracy theories.
Civil Rights Movement
Key People
- **Martin Luther King, Jr.**: Led major protests and marches.
- **Malcolm X**: Advocated for Black separation and founded OAAU.
- **Stokely Carmichael**: Leader in the Black Power movement.
- **Jackie Robinson**: Integrated Major League Baseball.
- **James Farmer**: Co-founded CORE and led Freedom Rides.
- **James Meredith**: Integrated the University of Mississippi.
- **Medgar Evers**: NAACP leader, assassinated.
- **Huey Newton**: Founded the Black Panther Party.
- **Elijah Muhammad**: Promoted separate nation for black Muslims.
- **Robert Kennedy**: Enforced civil rights laws and protections.
Legislation
- **Civil Rights Act 1964**: Prohibited discrimination.
- **Voting Rights Act 1965**: Eliminated voting loopholes.
- **Civil Rights Act 1968**: Addressed housing discrimination.
- **24th Amendment**: Abolished poll taxes.
Protests
- **Greensboro Sit-Ins**: Led to desegregation in dining.
- **March on Washington**: Famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
- **Selma March**: Highlighted voting rights and met police resistance.
- **Freedom Summer**: Exposed voter suppression and racial violence.
- **Freedom Riders**: Challenged interstate segregation laws.
Civil Rights Groups
- **SNCC**: Aimed to register black voters; part of the Freedom Summer project.
- **CORE**: Focused on ending segregation in interstate transport.
- **SCLC**: Led by MLK, used peaceful protests to highlight racial injustice.
- **Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party**: Challenged segregationist political structures