The 1960s: Kennedy & Johnson Mr. Ermer U.S. History Honors Miami Beach Senior High

Election of 1960 Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon vs. Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy ▫Nixon promises moderate reforms ▫Kennedy promises new liberal reforms bigger than any since New Deal  Kennedy’s plan called the “New Frontier” Kennedy’s youth and personality central to the campaign ▫First presidential campaign television plays large part in ▫Nixon/Kennedy debate televised and carried on radio Kennedy wins election, overcoming doubts about his youth and religion, becoming nation’s first Catholic president November 22, 1963: Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas ▫Lee Harvey Oswald arrested as shooter, Jack Ruby assassinated Oswald ▫Chief Justice Earl Warren heads commission to investigate assassination Kennedy unable to push through his reforms before death

Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) Vice President Johnson sworn in after Kennedy is shot ▫Born poor, rose to power through Congress, believed in active power ▫Great coalition builder, uses skill and Kennedy’s legacy to pass reforms Johnson wins election of 1964 against super conservative Rep. The Great Society—the “war on poverty” ▫Medicare and Medicaid, provide healthcare to elderly and poor ▫Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to assist poor  Controlled through “community action,” proves ineffective and corrupt ▫Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ▫Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ▫Immigration Act of 1965  Eliminated the national quota system

Kennedy’s Flexible Response U.S. must use more than nuclear deterrence to fight communism ▫Focus on ability to fight “limited wars” in “emerging areas” Bay of Pigs ▫Before leaving office, Eisenhower approves invasion of Cuba, using CIA-trained Cuban exiles ▫When Kennedy took office, CIA had spent months training Cuban exiles in Guatemala, Castro also learned about the invasion from leak ▫Exile force expects U.S. air support, uprising of Cubans against Castro ▫April 17, 1961: Castro forces ambush invasion, Kennedy cancels air support, uprising never happens August 13, 1961: Khrushchev orders building of Berlin Wall Cuban Missile Crisis ▫October 14, 1962: U.S. spy plane takes pictures of Soviet missile sties being built in western Cuba (Soviet answer to U.S. missiles in Turkey) ▫October 22: Kennedy orders U.S. naval blockade of Cuba ▫October 26: Khrushchev agrees to remove missiles, if U.S. promises not to invade Cuba—crisis over ▫“Hotline” installed in White House for direct contact with Kremlin

Work On It: On page 376, write and answer questions 1-10