JFK: A Presidency

Election of 1960 Problems in America: Who Ran? Economic recession Was America losing to the Soviets in the Cold War? Who Ran? Democratic John Kennedy Republican Richard Nixon What 2 issues pushed Kennedy over the top? Television and Civil Rights

Kennedy the Candidate Arguments against Kennedy: He was too Young, inexperienced He was Catholic How did the debate help him? He looked and spoke better than Nixon (even though Nixon was more knowledgable) How did MLK help him? After MLK was arrested for civil disobedience, JFK got his Brother to call the judge and have him released

The Camelot Years The election was the closest since 1884 Kennedy’s inauguration set a tone of grace, elegance, and wit Who was in Kennedy’s Inner Circle? McGeorge Bundy: a national security advisor Robert McNamara: secretary of defense Dean Rusk: Secretary of State Robert Kennedy: Attorney General

Foreign Policy: Castro Comes to Power Cuba is 90 miles off the coast of Florida Led a guerrilla movement to topple Fulgencio Batista Promised to eliminate poverty, inequality, and dictatorship U.S. first recognized his government, but then Castro seized control of U.S. oil refineries Due to rough conditions in cuba, a counter-revolutionary movement took hold of miami

Foreign Policy: Bay of Pigs Began with Eisenhower and then Kennedy approved the mission 9 days into his presidency April 17th, 1961 Air strike fails, exiles fail to make it to shore- Americans killed or imprisoned Major embarrassment for Kennedy as Castro claims western defeat

Foreign Policy: Cuban Missile Crisis America found out that the soviets were building illegal missile sites in Cuba Four options: Do nothing and attempt negotiations Blockade Cuba to prevent future supplies from entering cuba Bomb missile sites Amphibious invasion of Cuba

Foreign Policy: Cuban Missile Crisis We choose: Blockade of Cuba 13 days America sat on the brink of Nuclear war We had 100,000 troops waiting in Florida (the largest invasion force ever assembled) Khruschev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade “For a moment, the world stood still”- Robert Kennedy

Foreign Policy: Berlin Crisis 3 million East Germans had fled into Western Berlin in the years following the Berlin airlift Khruschev wanted to block off western Berlin to protect the East German economy August 13th, 1961: Construction on the wall began which would separate East and West Berlin Symbol of the Cold War Divide

Foreign Policy: The Hot Line 1963: direct line between White House and Kremlin Meant to prevent Nuclear War

Foreign Policy: The Limited Test Ban Treaty Banned testing nuclear weapons in the air Wanted to prevent environment damage

Domestic Policy New Frontier: Name for Kennedy’s Domestic Policy Stimulating the economy: Pushed deficit spending Increased minimum wage, cut taxes Raised defense budget by 20%

Domestic Policy: Poverty Abroad: Peace Corps: Volunteer assistance to the developing nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America Huge Success 1968: 35,000 volunteers had served in 60 nations Alliance for Progress: Offered economic assistance to Latin American countries Not a success- resented by Latin Americans due to our history with them

Domestic Policy: Poverty At Home: Michael Harrinton’s book The Other America brought the topic of poverty to the forefront Profiled 50 million Americans who struggled with less than $1,000/year Kennedy tried to push through Civil rights legislation Presented a bill to congress that would get passed through under Johnson

Domestic Policy: Race to the Moon Soviet Yuri Garigan became the first person in space Kennedy saw this as a challenge, wanted to surpass them Invested millions into nasa Apollo 11 becomes the U.S. space mission to land on the Moon The Eagle was the craft that actually landed on the moon- Neil Armstrong, first person to walk on the moon

assassination November 22nd, 1963 Kennedy is shot in Dallas, Texas Governor Connally was also shot Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the shooting- he was then killed by Jack Ruby Warren Commission was put in charge of the investigation into his death- concluded Oswald acted alone, however in 1979, a reinvestigation alleged he was a part of a larger conspiracy.