Election of 1960 & the Berlin Crisis Semester 2 Week 9

The Era of TV Politics Begins  The TV debates of the 1960 presidential election had enormous impact  Following the first debate, the media focused more strongly on the appearance of the candidates  Suddenly the whole country seemed to have become experts on makeup and television lighting  TV had been used in campaigns as early as 1948, it was not until the 1960 election that a large majority of voters used TV as a voting tool

The Candidates  Both candidates shared the desire to lead the nation through the challenges of a new decade, but they differed in many ways  JFK, a Catholic came from a wealthy & influential MA family  Nixon, a Quaker, from CA, came from a financially struggling family  JFK seemed outgoing & relaxed  Nixon struck many as formal & even stiff in manner

The Issues  The campaign centered on the economy and the Cold War –they differed little on these 2 issues  Both promised to boost the economy & portray themselves as “Cold Warriors” determined to stop the forces of communism  JFK argued that the nation faced serious threats from the Soviets  In Cuba, Fidel Castro was allying himself with the USSR  At home, many people lived in fear of a soviet nuclear attack  JFK voiced his concern about a suspected “missile gap,” in which the U.S. lagged behind the Soviets in weaponry  Nixon countered that the U.S. was on the right track under the current administration  Nixon stated that only he had the necessary foreign policy experience to guide the nation

Issues for Kennedy as a Catholic  JFK came under scrutiny about his religion  The U.S. had never had a Catholic president  many Protestants had concerns about JFK  JFK decided to confront this issue openly in a speech, “I believe in an America where the separation of the church & state is absolute, he said, “where no Catholic prelate would tell the president, should he be a Catholic, how to act”

JFK Win Narrow Victory  4 televised debates strongly influenced the outcome of the election; the closest in history  JFK won popular vote by 119,000 out of 68 million votes cast & the Electoral College by  In several states only a few thousand votes could have swung the Electoral College numbers the other way

The Plan in Berlin  The lines of German occupation had hardened  W’rn regions had combined into one to create West Germany  The sector controlled by the USSR became East Germany  The city of Berlin, lying inside East Germany was also divided  USSR demanded a peace treaty that would make the division of the city permanent

The Berlin Crisis  JFK feared the Soviet effort in Germany was part of a larger plan to take over the rest of Europe  6/1961, JFK had 1 st conversion w/ Soviet premier (leader) Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna, Austria; this went poorly, JFK felt bullied  JFK asked Congress for a huge increase of more than $3 billion for defense & more military personal

Berlin Wall  USSR built a wall in Berlin that effectively sealed East Berliners in their region of the city  This became an enduring symbol of East-West conflict for the next 3 decades Nikita Khrushchev

PREPARE FOR QUIZ  TAKE OUT A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER  NUMBER 1-5

QUIZ 1. What year was the 1 st television debate? 2. Who were the candidates for Election of 1960? 3. What religion was Kennedy? 4. Where did JFK meet Khrushchev? 5. What was an enduring symbol of the Cold War for 3 decades?