JFK

JOHN F. KENNEDY  Kennedy defeats Nixon  TV debates propel Kennedy to victory  New era in American politics: the television age

The New Frontier  Improve overall quality of American life and reenergize American foreign policy  Increased minimum wage $1.25  Extended unemployment insurance  Increased defense spending by 20%  Space program develops - NASA

In 1960, the minimum wage was $1.00 an hour. Here's what some basics cost in 1960: New house; $11,700 Average monthly rent: $88 Gas: 22c a gallon New car: $2,050 Health insurance for family: $75 a month mum-Wage-and-What-It-Buys-You-1950s-to-Now.aspx?index=1

Helping Poverty Abroad Peace Corps  Program of volunteer assistances to developing nations Alliance for Progress  Offered economic and technical assistance to Latin American countries

Fills Cabinet w/ fresh faces

Kennedy’s Foreign Affairs

Flexible Response  Preparing for a variety of military responses to international crisis instead of just focusing on using nuclear weapons

Bay of Pigs Invasion  Pro-Soviet Cuban leader Fidel Castro takes over in 1959  CIA trained anti-Castro refugees prepare for invasion of Cuba  April 1961 – 1,500 invaders are destroyed by Castro forces COMPLETE DISASTER!!!

Cuban Missile Crisis – Oct 1962  U-2 spy plane photos reveal nuclear missiles in Cuba  JFK decides to set up a naval quarantine (blockade of Cuba to stop the flow of missile parts)  Soviet ships turn around at last minute to avoid confrontation  Soviets agree to remove missiles if U.S. pledges not to invade Cuba  U.S. secretly agrees to take out missiles in Turkey

Berlin Wall Crisis – 1961  11 million East Germans flee to West Berlin  Khrushchev gives deadline of December for U.S. to withdraw from West Berlin  JFK refuses and Khrushchev builds a wall so East Berliners cannot get into West Berlin war/berlin-wall/videos/deconstructing- history-berlin-wall

Hotline Established  Direct phone line from D.C. to Moscow

Limited Test Ban Treaty  Barred nuclear testing in the atmosphere