The New Frontier Chapter 20-2

The Promise of Progress President Kennedy set out to transform his broad vision of progress into what he called the New Frontier Kennedy had difficulty turning his vision into reality, however He offered Congress proposals to provide Medical Care for the aged, rebuild blighted cities, and aid education, but he couldn’t gather enough votes In his efforts to push his domestic reform measures through Congress, Kennedy showed little skill Since he had been elected by the slimmest of margins, he lacked a popular mandate-a clear indication that voters approved of his plans As a result, he often tried to play it safe politically

Stimulating the Economy One domestic problem that Kennedy team tackled was the economy During the campaign, Kennedy had criticized the Eisenhower administration for failing to stimulate economic growth Kennedy’s advisers pushed for the use of deficit spending Kennedy’s administration believed that stimulating economic growth depended on increased government spending and lower taxes, even if it meant that the government spent more than it took in As a result many of the proposals Kennedy sent to Congress in 1961 called for increased spending

Addressing Poverty a Broad Where the first campaign promises Kennedy fulfilled as a creation of the Peace Corps, a program a volunteer assistance to the developing nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America Despite many reservations, the Peace Corps became a huge success By 1968, more than 35,000 volunteers of all ages had served in 60 nations around the world A second foreign aid program, the Alliance for Progress, offered economic and technical assistance to Latin American countries Between 1961 and 1969, the United States invested almost $12 billion in Latin America, in part to deter these countries from picking up Fidel Castro’s revolutionary ideas

Race to the Moon On April 12, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin became the first human in space Kennedy saw this is a challenge and decided that America would surpass the Soviets by landing a man on the Moon Within a year the United States had not only duplicated the Soviet feat, but also put a communications satellite, Telstar, into space Meanwhile, NASA had began to construct new launch facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and a mission control center in Houston, Texas Seven years later, on July 20, 1969, the United States would achieve its goal of a man on the move

Addressing Domestic Problems While progress is being made on the new frontiers of space exploration, and international aid, many Americans suffered at home The issue of poverty struck some 50 million Americans as a scrape by each year on less than $1000 a person In addition the poverty Kennedy was forced to deal with the idea of segregation Throughout the south, demonstrators raised their voices to what would become some of the most controversial civil rights battles of the 1960s By 1963, Kennedy began to focus more closely on these and other issues at home He would instruct the Justice Dept. to investigate racial injustices in the south and declare a national assault on the causes of poverty In addition to a percent Congress of a sweeping civil rights bill and a proposal to cut taxes by over $10 billion

Tragedy in Dallas By the fall of 1963 Kennedy had begun to lose popularity due to his support of civil rights issues In November he would take a trip to Dallas in an effort to mend relations with the states Democratic leaders This would be his last trip as he would be assassinated while traveling to a luncheon with supporters Vice President Lyndon Johnson was now President

Four Days in November In the days that followed the assassination one lone gunman would be charged with the death of President Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald Oswald had a suspicions past as he had a dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps, had lived in the Soviet Union, & had supported the Castro regime in Cuba Just two days after the assassination Oswald was being transferred between jails when a Dallas nightclub owner, Jack Ruby, gunned him down The next day the President would be laid to rest at Arlington Commentary

Unanswered Questions The bizarre chain of events made many to believe that Oswald was part of a conspiracy to kill the President, not a lone gunman In 1963, the Warren Commission investigated & concluded that in fact Oswald did act alone In 1979 a reinvestigation was conducted & found that Oswald was part of a conspiracy & that he was one of two shooters Reasons for the assassination have ranged from a plot backed Castro, to another backed by the Russians, to our own CIA In the end Americans came to learn that even through our darkest times our government can withstand even the gravest actions