JOHN FITZGERALD

KENNEDY“For One Brief

Shining Moment….Camelot”

ELECTION OF 1960• JFK VS. NIXONRecession/Soviet Fears

– Promised active leadership

– Candidates very similar in positions

– Close election

– TV & Civil Rights helped JFK win

Kennedy the Candidate• Wealthy family

• Organized campaign

• Handsome

• Charisma

• Would be youngest ever elected

• Inexperience• Roman Catholic

– Why would people be fearful of these things?

TELEVISED DEBATES• First ever

• Nixon hoped to make JFK look bad in foreign policy

• Camera loved JFK, not so much for Nixon

• TV audience = JFK• Radio audience =

Nixon

Civil Rights Leads to Victory

• King arrested in Alabama, sentenced to hard labor for minor traffic violation

• Bobby Kennedy got judge to release King on bail

• Votes helped carry key states

The Kennedy Mystique• First Family fascinated the

public

• Youth and vibrancy in the white house- modern day Camelot

• Invited artists, celebrities, scientists & poets into White House

• 1st lady- fashion icon

• Appealing young family

The Best and the Brightest• Surrounded himself with a team

of young group of advisors

• Robert McNamara-sec of defense

• Dean Rusk-sec of state

• Robert Kennedy-attorney general.

Kennedy Takes Over• Hard line on

Communism

• Redefine nuclear strategy– massive retaliation not

an option– flexible response

• strengthen conventional weapons

• provide more options• led to massive defense

spending• Created Green Berets

Bay of Pigs

• Fidel Castro takes over Cuba

• Friendly w/Soviets

• Ike had CIA train rebels for Cuban invasion

• JFK approves plan

• Disaster - Embarrassment

• JFK said he would resist further Communist expansion

Cuban Missile Crisis• Khrushchev

promised to defend Cuba

• Sent nuclear weapons to Cuba

• JFK warns we won’t put up with it!

Cuban Missile Crisis• U-2 spy planes

deliver photographic evidence

• Missiles could get to US in minutes

• Brink of nuclear war

Global game of chicken• US Navy quarantines

island - no more Soviet ships to Cuba

• Khrushchev offers to remove missiles if we agreed not to invade Cuba

• US agrees and also removes missiles in Turkey

• Castro closed Cuba’s door, many migrated while they could

Ich Bin Ein Berliner…OOPS

• Berlin Crisis– People trying to

escape to West Berlin

– Khrushchev builds Berlin Wall, with armed guards

– Symbol of oppression

– Finally came down in ‘89

Ways to Ease Tension• Hot Line

– Direct communication in time of crisis

• Limited Test Ban Treaty– no more testing of

nukes in atmosphere

The New Frontier• Difficult/couldn’t

gather enough votes from Congress

• Tended to “play it safe”

• Challenged people to volunteer– “Ask not what

your country can do for you;ask what you can do for your country.”

New Frontier Programs• Economy at home

– deficit spending by govt

– increase min. wage-$1.25

– pump $ into economy• Poverty Abroad

– Peace Corps• volunteer assistance

to developing nations– Alliance for Progress

• economic and technical help for Latin America

Race for Space• Yuri Gagarin

becomes 1st human in space

• US should commit to putting man on moon and returning him safely

From the Earth to the Moon

• NASA goes into overdrive-new tech

• Universities/industry• John Glenn orbits

earth 3x in 1962• 1969: Neil

Armstrong 1st person to set foot on moon

JFK Acts on Poverty & Civil Rights

• Called for “national assault” on poverty

• Ordered Justice Dept. to investigate injustices

• Proposed civil rights bill