20.2 The New Frontier

The Camelot Years  The Kennedy Mystique  The new first family fascinated the public  Kennedy surrounded himself with young intellectuals and businesspeople  He relied mostly heavily on his 35 year old brother Robert, whom he appointed attorney general

The Promise of Progress  “We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier”  Medical care for the aged  Rebuild blighted urban areas  Aid education  Kennedy had been elected by the slimmest of margins  He lacked a popular mandate, a clear indication that the voters approved of his plans

Stimulating the Economy  By 1960 the country was stuck in a recession  Deficit spending  The government spent more than it received as income  Increased the minimum wage

Addressing Poverty Abroad  Peace Corps  A program of volunteer assistance to the developing nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America  Alliance for Progress  Offered economic and technical assistance to help Latin American countries improve their living standards

Race to the Moon  April 12, 1961  Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin had soared 188 miles into the sky and circled the earth in 108 minutes, becoming the first human in space  It took less than a year for the U.S. to duplicate the Soviet feat  July 20, 1969  U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon

The Impact of the Space Program  Schools and colleges across the country expanded their science programs  Numerous other scientific and technical developments  Computers, miniaturized electronics made possible by transistors

Tragedy in Dallas  November 22, 1963  Jacqueline sat next to her husband in the back sea of an open-air limousine  Rifle shots rang out and Kennedy was shot in the head  President Kennedy died less than an hour after he had been shot  Lyndon Baines Johnson took the oath of office aboard the presidential airplane  Dallas police charged Lee Harvey Oswald with the murder of John F. Kennedy  November 24, 1963  Dallas nightclub owner, Jack Ruby shot the president's alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald

Unanswered Questions  Some people wondered if Oswald had acted as part of a conspiracy  The Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy had been shot by Oswald, “a sorry little loser”, acting on his own