November 30, 2010 The Following Questions of the Day: Quiz on Section 1 What was the New Frontier and why did Kennedy have trouble with it? What were the people’s reaction to Kennedy’s assassination? How did Television play into this? Homework: Johnson Worksheet

Essay: Identify the promises that Kennedy made for his “New Frontier.” What was he able to fulfill (citing specific laws/events) and what was he unable to fill? Why was he unable to fulfill his promises?

The New Frontier Kennedy’s promise to change or transform America Asked Americans to be pioneers Explore science and space Answer questions to poverty and surplus Kennedy blocked by the same people who blocked Truman Republicans and Southern Democrats Lacked mandate – clear indication that voters approved his plans

Stimulating the Economy Kennedy tackled: Recession Unemployment of 6% Economy lagging Europe and Soviet Union Pushed for deficit spending (like FDR) Increased government spending Lowering of taxes Kennedy’s Proposals included: Increased minimum wage to $1.25 an hour Extended unemployment insurance Provided assistance to cities with high unemployment

Addressing Poverty Abroad Peace Corps – program of volunteer assistance to developing nations Kennedy’s “Kiddie” Korps Questioned American’s ability to understand other cultures Became huge success with people of all ages with all backgrounds

Addressing Poverty Abroad: Alliance for Progress – offered economic and technical assitance to Latin American countries More than $12 billion Deter Latin America from Revolution like Castro’s Brought some development but no real change

Race to the Moon April 1961 – Soviet Cosmonaut (Yuri Gagarin) became first human in space Kennedy took this as a challenge for the first on the moon May 1961 – U.S. duplicated Soviet technology Telstar relayed TV pictures across the Atlantic Ocean NASA began constructing new facilities

July 7, 1969 Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon

Because of Space Program: Universities expanded their science programs Federal funding for research and development = new technology and industries for consumer use

Addressing Domestic Problems 1962 – poverty in America was brought to national attention in “The Other America” 50 million people scraped by each year on less than $1,000 per person The Fight Against Segregation took hold Kennedy had not pushed for Civil Rights legislation (which he promised) until Proposals Assault on poverty Investigate racial injustices Civil Rights Bill Cut taxes by over $10 billion

Tragedy in Dallas Fall 1963 – Kennedy losing popularity due to civil rights but still beloved

November 22, 1963 Air Force One land in Dallas with the President and his wife There to mend political fences with the state’s Democratic Party Kennedy received a warm welcome They got into their open-air limousine Governor John Connelly and his wife sat in front of them

As the car approaches the state building: Rifle shots rang out Kennedy was shot in the head The car drove immediately to the hospital where doctors tried to revive him President Kennedy was dead

The Next Four Days: Television became the window to the world Johnson took office on the airplane Dallas police charged Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder Millions watched on November 24 th as Oswald was shot on his way to jail by Jack Ruby (nightclub owner) Everyone watched on the 25 th as his funeral became an historic event

Unanswered Questions: Was Oswald apart of a conspiracy to murder the president? Was he alone? How many times was Kennedy shot? Was it the CIA, Castro, Communists? What really happened that day? Was Oswald shot to quiet him?

Warren Commission Investigated and concluded that Oswald had shot the president while acting on his own 1979 – reinvestigation concluded that Oswald was a part of a conspiracy in which two persons may have fired at the president Americans learned one thing – our system of government is sturdy as we can smoothly transition from on president to another (even in the event of murder)