Essential Question:

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• Essential Question
• To what degree did Kennedys New Frontier
  domestic foreign policy differ from Truman
  Eisenhower in the 1950s?

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Kennedy the New Frontier
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JFKs New Frontier
But, it was not the 1st time TV influenced
politics

• The election of 1960 between Richard Nixon John
  F. Kennedy was the 1st to use TV debates
• Nixon was much better known but the TV debates
  helped swing undecided voters towards JFK
• 1960 marked the beginning of television dominance
  in politics
• Image appearance became essential traits for
  candidates

McCarthy was destroyed by TV in the Army-Senate
hearings
Eisenhower used TV to campaign in 1952 1956
Nixon used TV to defend himself in the Checkers
speech
TN Senator Kefauver used TV to investigate
organized crime
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JFKs New Frontier

• Kennedys administration reflected youth, energy,
  sharp break from Eisenhower
• JFK promised a New Frontier
• Domestic reforms in education, health care,
  civil rights
• A foreign policy committed to defeating the
  Soviet Union winning the Cold War

The JFK era began Camelot comparisons with JFK
as a modern-day Lancelot
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JFKs New Frontier
the extension of Social Security
Aid for public schools
and medical insurance for the elderly were all
shot down by Congress
An increase in the minimum wage
unemployment benefits

• JFKs New Frontier promised a return of FDR-era
  liberal policies
• But, Conservatives in Congress opposed JFKs
  social reforms in education health care
• Congress did help the poor
• The modernization of industry, govt spending,
  a major tax cut in 1963 stimulated the economy
  created jobs

Increased funds for public housing
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JFKs New Frontier

• One long-lasting achievement of the JFK-era was
  strengthening the presidency
• Eisenhower left many decisions to his staff, but
  JFK demanded more direct presidential control
• JFK transferred much of the decision-making power
  from the cabinet to his White House staff

JFK appointed tough, pragmatic, academic New
Frontiersmen to his staff
Kennedy referred to his staff as the the best
the brightest
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Kennedy Intensifies the Cold War
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Kennedy Intensifies the Cold War

• Addressing U.S. foreign policy containing
  Communism was JFKs top priority as president
• JFK believed Ike compromised with the USSR when
  the Cold War could have been won
• JFK aimed to close the missile gap increase
  U.S. defenses
• Looked to solve issues in Berlin, Vietnam,
  Cuba

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well
or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any friend,
oppose any foe to assure the survival success
of liberty. We will do this more. JFKs
inaugural address
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Flexible Response
To combat Communism to help underdeveloped
countries, JFK created the Peace Corps the
Alliance for Progress

• JFK shifted from Ikes mutually assured
  destruction to a flexible response capable of
  responding to a variety of future problems
• Increased nuclear arsenal to 1,000 ICBMs 32
  Polaris subs to create a first-strike
  capability
• Increased the army air force
• Expanded covert operations created the Green
  Berets

JFK was convinced that the USSR had more
missiles, but really the U.S. had the lead with
600 B-52s, 2 Polaris subs, 2,000 warheads
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The Space Race
The Apollo Program

• JFK hoped to avoid another Sputnik hoped to
  beat the Soviets to the moon
• JFK greatly expanded NASA announced that the
  U.S. would get to the moon by 1970
• The U.S. landed a man on the moon in 1969

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Crisis over Berlin

• JFKs 1st confrontation with the Soviet Union
  came in Berlin
• Khrushchev was upset with the exodus of skilled
  workers from East Germany to West Berlin
• The USSR threatened to remove all U.S. influence
  from West Berlin, but settled on building the
  Berlin Wall in 1961

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Ich bin ein Berliner JFK, 1963
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Containment in Vietnam

• Vietnam proved to be a tough test
• Since 1954, Communist leader Ho Chi Minh gained
  popularity in North Vietnam By 1961, he gained a
  foothold in the South
• The U.S. gave aid to unpopular South leader Ngo
  Dihn Diem
• When Diem lost control of the South, JFK gave the
  OK for a coup against Diem in 1963

Strongly in our mind is what happened in China
at the end of World War II, where China was lost.
We dont want that. JFK
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Vietnam
Viet Minh are Vietnamese communists in North
Vietnam
Viet Cong are Vietnamese communists in South
Vietnam
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Containing Castro Bay of Pigs

• Fidel Castro took over Cuba in 1959 developed
  ties with Russia
• The Eisenhower administration (directed by the
  CIA) had been training Cuban exiles for an
  invasion overthrow of Castro
• In 1961, JFK gave the OK for the CIA to initiate
  the Bay of Pigs invasion

JFK blamed the Republicans for allowing a
communist satellite to arise on our very
doorstep
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The invasion called for U.S. air support but JFK
canceled the air strike without air support,
Castro squashed the invasion
Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure
of Bay of Pigs, but did not apologize for coup
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Cuban Missile Crisis
24 medium-range 18 short range ICBMs

• To protect Cuba from another U.S. invasion, the
  USSR began a secret build-up of nuclear missiles
• On Oct 14, 1962 a U-2 spy plane discovered Cuban
  missile camps
• How would the U.S. respond?

Immediate air strike?
Full-scale invasion?
Kennedy chose to quarantine Cuba to keep new
missiles out an invasion of Cuba if the USSR
did not remove its nukes
Diplomacy trade nukes in Cuba for nukes in
Turkey?
Naval blockade to keep warheads out?
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Kennedy announced a quarantine (blockade) to keep
more missiles out demanded that the Soviets
remove the missiles already in Cuba
The Cuban Missile Crisis
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Cuban Missile Crisis
AndU.S. removal of nuclear weapons in Turkey

• The standoff ended when Russia removed its Cuban
  missiles the USA vowed to never invade Cuba
• The impact of the crisis
• Seen as a political victory for JFK
• Installed a hot line to improve US-Soviet
  communications
• This near-nuclear war convinced both sides to
  move from confrontation to negotiation

Our most basic common link is the fact that we
all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same
air. We all cherish our childrens future. We are
all mortal. JFK
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• Essential Question
• To what degree was Lyndon Johnsons Great
  Society a continuation of JFKs New Frontier
  domestic agenda?

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Let Us Continue
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"Let Us Continue"

• On Nov 22, 1963 in Dallas, JFK was assassinated
  VP Lyndon Johnson became president
• LBJ was a master politician with a reputation for
  getting results
• LBJ promised to continue Kennedy's liberal agenda
• LBJ ultimately exceeded JFKs record on providing
  economic racial equality

LBJ helped push through the greatest array of
liberal legislation in U.S. history
(Great Society), surpassing FDRs New Deal
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Americans were stunned this rapid succession of
events
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Lyndon Johnson in Action

• LBJ quickly pushed through Congress 2 key
  Kennedy bills
• A 10 billion reduction in income taxes that led
  to increased consumer spending new jobs
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 that declared
  segregation in public facilities illegal
  protected black voting rights

The most significant legislation on race since
the Reconstruction Amendments
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Lyndon Johnson in Action

• In 1964, LBJ waged a war on poverty in America
  created the Office of Economic Opportunity
• Created the Job Corps for high school dropouts
• Head Start for preschoolers
• Adult education technical training
  opportunities
• As a result of, America had 10 million fewer poor
  people by 1970

In 1964, the U.S. had 35 million poor people
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The Election of 1964

• In 1964, LBJ ran against
• Conservative Republican Barry Goldwater rejected
  LBJs liberal welfare programs called for a
  stronger foreign policy stance
• Segregationist George Wallace
• LBJ won in a landslide the Democrats took
  control of Congress for 1st time in 25 years

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The Daisy Campaign Spot

• http//www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/196
  4
• Click on the Daisy Ad

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The Great Society

• Once elected, LBJ initiated his Great Society
  domestic agenda
• Medicare Medicaid extended health insurance to
  the elderly the poor
• Extended 1 billion to improve public parochial
  schools
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned literacy
  tests provided for federal registrars for polls

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The Triumph of Reform

• By 1965, Congress passed 89 laws or
  reforms as part of LBJs social agenda
• The Great Society was the most comprehensive
  agenda of social reform since FDR
• Butthe American people did not respond well to
  LBJ
• Soonevents in Vietnam, would taint his presidency

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Johnson Escalates the Vietnam War
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LBJ Escalates the Vietnam War
I am not going to lose Vietnam. I am not going
to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the
way China went. LBJ

• LBJ continued JFKs strong foreign policy
  positions too
• He supported CIA-sponsored coups in Brazil,
  Panama, the Dominican Republic
• LBJ continued Eisenhower JFK policies towards
  Vietnam
• But in doing so, LBJ found himself under attack
  from Congress, the media, universities

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LBJ Escalates the Vietnam War

• During the Gulf of Tonkin affair in Aug 1964, the
  military bombed North Vietnam in retaliation for
  an attack on the USS Maddox
• The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave LBJ the
  authority to
• Defend Vietnam at any cost
• Unlimited military intervention to be used at
  LBJs discretion

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The Vietnam War
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Escalation
LBJs advisors wanted 100,000 troops in 1965 a
plan for 100,000 more in 1966 Estimations were
500 U.S. deaths per month

• 1965 marked the beginning of full-scale U.S.
  involvement in Vietnam
• LBJ was informed that without U.S. action,
  defeat is inevitable
• LBJ authorized bombing raids into North Vietnam
  requested 50,000 U.S. soldiers sent to Asia
• LBJ never explained to the American people how
  the govt planned to win the war in Vietnam

LBJ took middle road of limited U.S.
intervention not a withdrawal not a full-scale
invasion of North Vietnam
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Stalemate

• By 1968, 500,000 U.S. troops stationed to keep
  Vietnam from falling to Communism
• U.S. bombings search destroy attacks were
  ineffective
• Soviet Chinese weaponry freely flowed into
  North Vietnam
• Reckless bombings killed thousands of innocent
  civilians
• The bloody stalemate media depiction of the war
  led to protests

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Conclusions

• The early 1960s under JFK represented consume
  spending, a strong stance on the Cold War,
  more social reforms at home
• The transition to LBJ in 1963 brought success at
  home (civil rights the Great Society)
• But, heightened involvement in Vietnam signaled
  the onset of the counter-culture movement by 1968

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Class Discussion To what degree was the USA
winning the Cold War from 1945-1963?
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The Cold War 1948-1975
The Cold War under Truman 1945-1952
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The Cold War 1948-1975
The Cold War under Eisenhower 1953-1960
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The Cold War 1948-1975
The Cold War under Kennedy 1961-1963
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The Cold War 1948-1975
The Cold War under Johnson 1963-1968