Kennedy and Johnson Years [1960-1968]: chapter 21

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Kennedy and Johnson Years 1960-1968 chapter 21

• My fellow Americans, ask not what your country
  can do for you ask what you can do for your
  country. Kennedy

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The Election of 1960

• TV Presidential Debate
• Nixon - ill, serious, not overly handsome
• Kennedy - young, relaxed, handsome
• Kennedy skilled on TV Nixon skilled at using TV
• debate gave him momentum going into the election
• Polls showed
• Those who watched debate on TV selected Kennedy
  as the winner
• Those who listened to debate on Radio selected
  Nixon as the winner

http//www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/kenned
y-nixon-debates
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Election of 1960

• Kennedy young, energetic Senator, also Roman
  Catholic
• Nixon seasoned veteran who had lots of
  political experience
• Kennedy won the popular election by 119,000 votes
  out of 69 million

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Kennedys Domestic Programs

• Kennedys programs and incentives The New
  Frontier
• Kennedy did not have a mandate (public
  endorsement of his proposals). Difficulty
  getting his bills passed in Congress.
• The Economy
• Fought big business price fixing
• Proposed large tax cut
• Combating Poverty and Inequality
• Kennedy - convinced the poor needed direct
  federal aid
• Congress passed a minimum wage increase and the
  Housing Act of 1961
• Other Kennedy Initiatives
• Kennedy began trying to achieve his goals through
  executive order
• Issued many executive orders

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The Space Program

• In 1961, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the
  first man to travel in space
• Fearing America had fallen behind in
  technological development, Kennedy called for
  more funding and better results

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Space Program

• The United States should commit itself to
  achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of
  landing a man on the moon.
• The nation accepted the challenge and funding for
  NASA increased

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The Warren Court

• Referred to as the Warren Court because of its
  Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953-1969)
• Warren Court overturned many old laws and
  established new legal precedents

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Major Decisions of the Warren Court
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The Warren Court

• During the Kennedy-Johnson years, the Supreme
  Court, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren,
  handed down many controversial landmark verdicts.
• The Court ruled on social issues including
• Obscenity
• prayer in public schools
• use of birth control.
• Court ruled on the rights of persons accused of
  committing crimes.
• Miranda rule, a result of the 1966 case Miranda
  v. Arizona, required police to inform accused
  persons of their rights.
• Court decisions changed the nature of
  apportionment, or the distribution of the seats
  in a legislature among electoral districts.

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v2QiFg7MJL3E
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Warren Court Criticism

• Correctly or not, much of the criticism of the
  Warren Court during the 1950s and 1960s centered
  on perceptions that the Supreme Court had become
  too activist.
• Instead of simply deciding what the Constitution
  required, the justices attempted to enforce their
  own notions of justice.

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Continued Warren Court Criticism

• Liberal decisions found many supporters
• However, such judicial activism stirred
  considerable opposition both on and off the
  Court.
• While indicating their own support for the
  liberal direction of Supreme Court decisions,
  such justices as Felix Frankfurter and John
  Marshall Harlan II advocated greater judicial
  restraint (limited nature of court power)

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Warren Court Criticism

• Criticized for going far beyond the language of
  the Constitution and
• weakening democracy by usurping (take by force)
  the role of the people's elected representatives.
  
• In 1968, presidential candidate Richard Nixon
  blamed the Court's decisions for rising crime
  rates
• Nixon promised to appoint strict constructionists
  (those who interpret the original intent of the
  Constitution) to the Supreme Court if elected to
  the presidency.

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Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961

• 1959 - Fidel Castro overthrew the U.S. backed
  dictator Fulgencio Batista
• Castro installed a communist government
• President Kennedy learned of a plan by outgoing
  President Eisenhower to train exiled Cubans in
  Guatemala to overthrow Castro
• 1961 - Day of the invasion - air strike was
  limited and missed the Cuban air force
• 1,500 U.S.-backed invaders captured by Castros
  forces
• Humiliating loss for the US

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vcleb8OXBd_ 8
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The Berlin Crisis 1961

• Soviet Union wanted to stop the flow of East
  German people to West Germany through Berlin
• Soviet demanded a treaty to make the division
  permanent

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The Berlin Wall 1961

• JFK felt like the Soviets were going to try to
  take over more of Europe
• called for a large increase in military spending
• Army placed on alert
• Soviets responded by building the Berlin Wall

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The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

• October 1962, American spy plane revealed the
  Soviet Union were building missile bases on Cuban
  soil
• Tension escalated between the US and USSR

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Cuban Missile Crisis1962

• Kennedys response a naval quarantine
  (blockade) of Cuba
• Soviet ships approached the blockade world
  waited in fear
• At the last minute Soviet leader Khrushchev
  ordered ships turned around

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Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
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Cuban Missile Crisis Map 1962
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Cuba 1961-1962

• Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles that
  were already there in exchange for the U.S.
  staying out of Cuba and U.S. missiles being
  removed from Turkey

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vH5ZzL9KsyPY
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Limited Test Ban Treaty 1963

• The Limited Test Ban Treaty also was a result of
  this crisis, it banned nuclear testing above the
  ground

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JFK Foreign Policy

• Flexible Response - moved away from the drastic
  stances of Massive Retaliation Less militant
  response
• Alliance for Progress - Proactive ventures in
  Latin America
• The Peace Corps

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vv08lq5tNaPA
(Flexible Response)
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vaeXRLvcPp-I
(Alliance for Progress)
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The Peace Corps

• The Peace Corps
• Kennedy established program for group of
  volunteers that were sent overseas to help
  developing nations around the world as
• Educators
• health workers
• technicians

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vEqOH2M12VUglistPL
DE8B75064FA22525
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Kennedy Assassination
t

• Began his reelection campaign, JFK traveled to
  Dallas, TX with his wife
• The Governor met them at the airport and together
  they took an open-air limousine through Dallas
• In the Texas School Book Depository, Lee Harvey
  Oswald took aim and shot Kennedy from the sixth
  floor
• Kennedy was pronounced dead at the Hospital
  shortly after on Nov. 22, 1963.

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Nation in Mourning

• Nation grieved
• Alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald
• Oswald shot by Jack Ruby (Dallas night club
  owner)
• President LBJ ordered the Warren Commission on
  the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
• Concluded Oswald had acted alone

http//www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-jfk-anniversar
y-20131117-dto,0,7472345.htmlstoryaxzz2tg6knC C
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Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) Path to the White
House

• LBJ skilled politician
• youngest minority leader of the Senate
• later Senate majority leader.
• very successful

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• Johnson easily won the election over Barry
  Goldwater in 1964
• Characterized Goldwater as a trigger happy war
  monger who would use nuclear weapons.

• Presidential Election of 1964 (p. 843)

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LBJ in action

• Famous for his ability to use the political
  system to accomplish goals
• Johnson inspired fear and awe among his colleagues

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The Great Society

• Johnson began a series of major legislative
  initiatives called the Great Society

http//www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/45872954
45872954
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Major Great Society Programs
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The Great Society

• Great Society programs included major poverty
  relief, education aid, healthcare, voting rights,
  conservation and beautification projects, urban
  renewal and economic development

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The Great Society

• The Tax Cut
• Johnson proposed a large tax cut that would pay
  for itself with the increase in the economy
• War on Poverty
• He started Head Start (preschool for low income
  families)
• Volunteers in Service to America VISTA
  (volunteers for low income neighborhoods)

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• Figure 28.4 Legal Immigration to the United
  States by Region, 19311984 (p. 828)

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The Great Society

• Aid to Education The 1965 Elementary and
  Secondary Education Act, provided billions of
  dollars in aid to public and private schools.
• Medicare and Medicaid
• Medicare - provides low-cost medical insurance to
  most Americans over age 65
• Medicaid - provides medical and health services
  to poor Americans of any age.
• Immigration Reform Immigration Act of 1965
  -replaced immigration quotas with overall limits
  from various parts of the world.
• Immigration rose dramically during the 1960s and
  1970s.

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Johnsons Foreign Policy

• Johnsons Foreign Policy
• The Dominican Republic
• After Communist rebels attack the country,
  Johnson sent 22,000 marines to ensure the
  government not become Communist and they were
  successful
• Vietnam
• Johnson became deeply involved in Southeast Asia
• U.S. backed South Vietnam against forces wanting
  a Communist government

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vsOYKHY2mBmQ (DR)
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWtm9Pr98Bk4
(Vietnam)