Toward New Frontiers and a Great Society

 1960 Presidential Election ◦ Television Campaign  Debate, Kennedy Commercial, Nixon Commercial DebateKennedy CommercialNixon Commercial ◦ Major issues: Cold War, arms race, space race, poverty, Civil Rights, economy, etc. ◦ Kennedy wins narrowly, promises progress  Domestic programs ◦ Most proposals languished in conservative Congress ◦ Tax cuts, defense spending, space exploration ◦ Peace Corps  Foreign Policy  See notes on Eisenhower and Kennedy Cold War Policies

 Nixon had been Vice – President for eight years  JFK began his political career in Congress in 1946 then moved to the Senate in  Kennedy only second Catholic to run for President  Mythology of first televised debate  Kennedy wins  Inaugural address struck a hopeful message

 Addressed Americans’ concern about the “missile gap”  Soviet government under Nikita Khrushchev felt Kennedy was young and inexperienced  The two leaders met once in Vienna – Kennedy refused to allow West Berlin to be turned over to East Germany – 82% of Americans supported a war if necessary JFK speaking in Berlin

 Castro leads successful revolution in 1959  Eisenhower breaks off relations and imposes economic sanctions(still in effect today)  CIA planned covert operation - Bay of Pigs invasion  1400 Cuban exiles killed or captured  Public relations disaster for Kennedy

 August 13, 1961 – put barbed wire up to cut off West Berlin  Overtime a full-scale wall was erected  Kennedy- “A wall is better than a war”  Kennedy visited Wall in June ’63 “Ich bin ein Berliner”

 Oct – “13 Days”  Soviets building missile launching pads in Cuba for short- and intermediate- range nuclear missiles  Estimated to be operational in two weeks  U.S. had bases in Italy, Britain and Turkey aimed at the Soviet Union

 U.S. places a “quarantine”, a naval blockade to prevent Soviet ships from arming the launching sites with nuclear missiles  Soviet ships turn back, missile bases dismantled  U.S. secretly agrees to remove missiles from Turkey, pledges to not conduct another invasion attempt  1963 – Britain, U.S. and U.S.S.R. sign Limited Test Ban Treaty

 Killed in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963  “Where were you when Kennedy was killed?”  Shot by Lee Harvey Oswald(“Lone Gunman Theory”)  Warren Commission investigates conspiracy  Zapruder film

 Had super majority in Senate to pass legislation  Expands on New Deal – reflected liberal faith in the government to do good  Medicare and Medicaid  Environmental legislation focused on beautification and “quality of life”  Immigration Act of 1965 eliminated quotas and promoted family reunification

 War on Poverty – embraced power of fed. gov’t War on Poverty ◦ Inspired by Michael Harrington’s book, The Other America ◦ Office of Economic Opportunity – Gov’t $ for reform ◦ Great Society reforms:  Medicare – health insurance for elderly  Medicaid – health insurance for poor/disabled  Elementary & Secondary Edu. Act – fed. $ for schools  Immigration Act, 1965 – abolished quotas  Nat’l Foundation for Arts and Humanities  Depts. of Transportation & Housing/Urban Development  Fed. $ for higher education, public housing, crime prev.  Head Start program ◦ Civil Rights Legislation  See previous notes (Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, etc.)

 VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America)– domestic Peace Corps  Head Start  “War on Poverty”  Aid to Families with Dependent Children  Food Stamps

 1965: Congress abolished all origin quotas and substituted overall hemispheric limits. ◦ The consequences for the Asian American community were profound. ◦ Hemispheric quotas replaced national quotas, leading to massive illegal immigration from Latin America. ◦ By the 1980s, Asians and Latinos dominated immigration.

19 Visions of America, A History of the United States

 Mapp V. Ohio  Unlawful search and seizure  Engel V. Vitale  Prayer in school  Gideon v. Wainwright  Right to legal counsel  Escobedo v. Illinois  Right to counsel during interrogation  Miranda v. Arizona  Required police to read the arrested their rights  Griswold v. Connecticut  Contraception devices a matter of private choice  Loving v. Virginia  Overturned bans on interracial marriage *Cases under Chief Justice Earl Warren favored expanding civil liberties and rights of the accused.