1. J.F.K.

2. Textbook Reading….
Chapters 20 and 21 cover this unit. Definitely read, (no seriously) chapter 21, as it covers the Civil Rights Movement and we missed most of those days.

3. The Election of 1960.
Richard Nixon (more on him later in the unit) runs as the Republican nominee, J.F.K. runs as the Democratic nominee.
This was the first campaign to have a televised debate. Kennedy appears calm, cool, and collected, while Nixon looked sweaty and nervous.
People who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon won, people who watched it, Kennedy
The modern “image” of the President is born.

4. Kennedy and Civil Rights.
MLK had been arrested in Atlanta for protesting a segregated lunch counter, and sentenced to hard labor.
Nixon did not take a position on this, but Kennedy did. He called King’s wife and expressed sympathy.
His brother, Bobby, called the judge and convinced him to let King go.
This gave Kennedy a huge boost in the African American community.

5. The Kennedy’s Popularity
He only won the election by just over 100,000 votes, but America becomes obsessed with the Kennedys.
He was young, had a beautiful wife and children, went on television often, invited celebrities to the White House….he was unlike any president before him and America ate it up.

6. Domestic Policy He labeled his policy the “New Frontier.”
He called on Americans to be the leaders in science and to end poverty.
He tried to get Congress to pass legislation that would give more money to education, help fix rough urban neighborhoods, improve medical care for the elderly…
But he had very little success. He had not been elected by a large margin and most people in Congress did not like him, especially Republicans and Southern Democrats.

7. Kennedy’s successes
He had promised to create the “Peace Corps” and he did. It was a volunteer organization that was made up of mostly recent college graduates who did development work in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
It was largely ridiculed, but ended up being a huge success.
The Alliance for Progress was also set up and that provided economic and technical assistance to Latin American countries.

8. The Space Race
Although the Soviets beat us to Space, but about a month, Kennedy takes this as a challenge and jumpstarts America’s space program. We build a new launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida and a command center in Houston.
He promised we would make it to the moon by the end of the decade, and he was right (even though he was dead.)
Speaking of which….

9. November, 1963, Dallas, Texas.
Kennedy and his wife are visiting Texas to drum up support among the democrats in the state who were not happy with how pro civil rights Kennedy had been during his administration.
He was riding with his wife and the governor and his wife, in an open car down the streets of Dallas.
Three (maybe more?) shots rang out and Kennedy was shot and killed.

10. Who did it? Lee Harvey Oswald is charge with the crime.
He was a 24-year-old ex-Marine, who had received a dishonorable discharge.
He had briefly lived in the Soviet Union and he supported Castro.
But he ended up getting killed by a nightclub owner named James Ruby, while he was being transferred to another jail.
He died soon after and a trial was never held.

11. Conspiracy???
Well, this was pretty bizarre and a lot of people had questions.
The Warren Commission was set up by the government and tasked with investigating the assassination.
They concluded that Oswald was the lone gunman and acted alone.
Case closed.

12. Here’s a list of the “conspiracies” you need to place in your organizer.
The CIA.
The Soviets
Just Oswald (Lone Gunman)
The Mafia
LBJ (Kennedy’s Vice President)
The Cubans