1. Life During the 1950s and 1960s

2. Baby Boom
After World War II, soldiers returned home to marry and start families
Between so many babies were born, we now call this era the baby boom
79 million babies

3. Levittowns As families grew they needed affordable housing
Levitt and Sons was a company that built affordable, similar-looking housing in suburbs outside of cities
“Levittowns” became the nickname for affordable housing developments built during the 1950s

4. Role of Women
Women had stepped up to take the place of men in factories during WWII
Many were forced out of these jobs after the war ended and men returned home
Women were expected to be caretakers in the home
Many women who had worked during the war began to question their roles in society

5. Kennedy and the Cold War

6. Election of 1960 Voters were restless Republican- Richard M. Nixon
Economy in a recession
Afraid of falling behind the Soviet Union
Republican- Richard M. Nixon
Vice President under popular Eisenhower
Older and experienced
Democrat- John F. Kennedy
Young, Roman-Catholic, handsome, wealthy, charismatic

7. First Televised Presidential Debate
70 million viewers
Nixon assumed Kennedy would come off as inexperienced
Kennedy had been coached by TV producers, wore makeup
Played an important role in John F. Kennedy’s win
“That night, image replaced the printed word as the natural language of politics”
- Russell Baker, Journalist

8. Civil Rights
MLK Jr. and 33 others arrested for sitting at an all-white lunch counter
Eisenhower refused to intervene
Nixon made no comment
Kennedy phoned his wife, Coretta Scott King, to express sympathy and had his brother, Bobby Kennedy, convince the judge to let MLK Jr. go
This helped him gain the support of the African-American community

9. Election of 1960

10. Cuba Becomes Communist
Revolution in Cuba
Eisenhower administration
Fidel Castro
Promised democracy
Declared himself a communist
Welcomed aid from Soviet Union
Repressed those who did not agree
10% of Cubans went into exile to the U.S.

11. The Bay of Pigs
March Eisenhower had C.I.A. train Cuban exiles to invade Cuba
Kennedy took office and immediately had to decide whether to go through with the mission or not
April around 1,500 Cuban exiles supported by the U.S. military landed on the southern coast of Cuba called “the Bay of Pigs”
Goal: overthrow Castro’s government

12. The Bay of Pigs (a.k.a. The Bay of Embarrassment)
U.S. airstrike was reported as successful even though it was a failure
1,500 exiles vs. 25,000 Cuban soldiers armed with Soviet weapons
Cuban exiles killed or captured
JFK paid $53 million ransom
Very publicly embarrassing for the U.S.
“We look like fools to our friends, rascals to our enemies, and incompetents to the rest”

13. The Cuban Missile Crisis
1962- flow of weapons from Soviet Union to Cuba increased dramatically
Threat of spread of nuclear weapons to Cuba
JFK warns that the U.S. would not tolerate nuclear weapons in Cuba
In October 1962 American planes revealed that Soviet missiles were in Cuba

14. The Cuban Missile Crisis
Six days of possible nuclear war
Soviet ships headed for Cuba
U.S. Navy prepared to quarantine Cuba and keep the ships from coming within 500 miles of Cuba

15. The Cuban Missile Crisis Resolved
Soviet ships stopped short then eventually turned around
Soviet Union offered to remove the missiles in Cuba
U.S. promised not to invade Cuba and removed missiles from Turkey
Both leaders were criticized

16. President Kennedy was assassinated in Texas a year later by Lee Harvey Oswald

17. Vice President Lyndon B
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) is sworn in as President of the United States as Jackie Kennedy looks on

18. LBJ’s “Great Society”
Johnson's Great Society programs involved the following:
War on Poverty - improve living conditions and enable people to end the cycle of poverty
Education - new and better-equipped classrooms, minority scholarships, and low-interest student loans
Medicare- guaranteed health care to every American over age 65
Medicaid - provided health care assistance to the poor
Environment- measures for clean air and drinking water