1. Republican Richard Nixon offered experience Served 8 years as VP Had foreign policy experience during the critical stages of the Cold War Promised to keep gov’t spending & taxes low The election of 1960 marked a turning point in U.S. politics

2. Democrat John F. Kennedy offered youth & hope Served 2 Senate terms Had no foreign policy experience; Seen as inexperienced; Catholic Offered active leadership to address America’s problems The election of 1960 marked a turning point in U.S. politics

3. 1960 was the 1 st time presidential debates were on TV TV debates helped JFK win the election Marked the beginning of TV dominance in politics 1960 was the 1 st time presidential debates were on TV TV debates helped JFK win the election Marked the beginning of TV dominance in politics The election of 1960 marked a turning point in U.S. politics

4. President Kennedy’s vision for America was called the “New Frontier”New Frontier President Kennedy wanted to improve the lives of all Americans He wanted to wage a “war on poverty” to help close the gap between the rich & the poor JFK committed to create the Civil Rights Act

5. Kennedy became dedicated to Civil Rights by what he saw on TV

6. By 1950, the United States was a segregated society: De jure segregation  established by laws (Jim Crow) De facto segregation  established by accepted norms

7. But after WWII, African Americans gained success in civil rights In 1948, Truman became the 1 st president to attack segregation Truman issued an executive order to integrate the military He outlawed discrimination in the hiring of government employees

8. The modern Civil Rights movement began in 1954 with the Supreme Court decision Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas “separate facilities are inherently unequal” Plessy v Ferguson (1896)

9. In 1957, President Eisenhower was forced to enforce the integration law Arkansas governor Orval Faubus called the National Guard to keep black students from enrolling in Little Rock’s Central High School Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus

10. Eisenhower sent the Army to force integration for the black students (the “Little Rock Nine”)

11. In 1955, Rosa Parks’ arrest for disobeying an Alabama law requiring segregation on city buses sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott

12. Minister Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a 381-day boycott of the bus system to protest segregation The boycott led to the integration of city buses

13. The success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott led MLK to form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957 The SCLC was formed to use activism & non-violent protest to bring an end to segregation

14. Martin Luther King’s non-violent approach inspired other groups to act In 1960, students from NC A&T led a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro, NC

16. The “sit-in” movement led to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Non-violent resistance training, Atlanta 1960

17. In 1961 “Freedom Riders” rode buses throughout the South to test whether integration orders were being enforced Freedom riders faced arrest & violence but exposed the lack of enforcement of desegregation laws in the Deep South

18. In 1963, MLK organized a march to integrate Birmingham, Alabama – considered the “most segregated city in America” Birmingham Police commissioner Bull Connor used violence to suppress the demonstrations

19. TV reports of the violence in Birmingham made it difficult for average Americans to ignore segregation Public outrage over police brutality forced Birmingham officials to end segregation The Birmingham march was a turning point in the Civil Rights movement Events in Birmingham revealed the need for greater action by the national government

20. Among those watching the violence on TV was President John F Kennedy who committed to a national civil rights act to end discrimination