THE NEW FRONTIER AND THE GREAT SOCIETY

Unit 13

The New Frontier and Kennedy

Guiding Questions

How did the election of 1960 change the way candidates ran their campaigns?

What were some domestic policies initiated when Kennedy took office?

How important are some of the Warren Court rulings for today’s society?

Terms to Know

Missile gap Reapportionment Due process Arbitrary

Election of 1960

Both parties used television as a campaign method Democrats spent more than $6 million Republicans spent more than $7.5 million

First televised presidential debate Sept. 26, 1960

John F. Kennedy- Democratic candidate Wealthy and powerful Senator from Massachusetts Catholic Outgoing and relaxed

Richard Nixon- Republican candidate Eisenhower’s vice president Quaker Formal and stiff

Election of 1960 Platforms

John F. Kennedy Richard Nixon

• Promised to boost the economy• Was determined to stop the forces

of communism• Claimed the U.S. was behind the

Soviets in weaponry- missile gap• Kennedy’s Catholicism concerned

many Americans, but Kennedy stressed the importance of keeping church and state separate

• Promised to boost the economy• Was determined to stop the forces

of communism• Warned that the Democrats’

financial policies would boost inflation

• Stated he was only wone with foreign policy experience needed for the nation

• Kennedy won the popular vote by 118, 574 votes• Won Electoral College by 303 to 219

• Many people were mesmerized by Kennedy’s youth and optimism• Said a new generation was in charge

Kennedy Takes Office

New Frontier- Kennedy’s programs for a legislative agenda Hoped to increase aid to education Give insurance to the elderly Create a Department of Urban Affairs

Kennedy was unable to win passage of many of his programs Most Democrats felt they did not owe him

anything Southern Democrats saw Kennedy’s programs

as too expensive

New Frontier Success and Setbacks

Successes Setbacks• Congress agreed to raise the

minimum wage• Congress approved Kennedy’s

proposal for the Area Redevelopment Act and a Housing Act which helped create jobs and build low-income housing in poor areas

• Equal Pay Act was signed in 1963- women had a right to equal pay for comparable work

• Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Mental Health Centers Construction Act of 1963- gave money to build research centers and mental health centers; Paid to train teachers to work with people with developmental disorders

• Congress blocked a proposed tax cut because they feared it would cause inflation

• Congress blocked Kennedy’s plans for health insurance for senior citizens and federal aid to education

• Poor relations with business community after Justice Department began looking into whether steel industry was illegally setting prices

The Warren Court

Earl Warren became chief justice of the United States in 1953 Governor of California

Under Warren’s leadership, the Supreme Court made several rulings that reshaped U.S. politics and society

Warren Court Reforms

Reapportionment Due ProcessWay in which states draw up political

districtsLaw may not treat individuals unfairly,

arbitrarily, or unreasonably

Rural voters had more political influence even though population was far less

Supreme Court began using 14th amendment to apply the Bill of Rights to the states

• Baker v. Carr (1962)- Court ruled that federal courts could hear lawsuits aimed at forcing states to redraw electoral districts

• Reynolds v. Sims (1964)- Court ruled that states must assign electoral districts over

• “One person, One Vote”- shifted political power to urban areas; Gave African Americans and Hispanics more power

• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)- State courts could not consider evidence obtained in ways that broke constitutional law

• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)- Defendants in state court had the right to a lawyer, even if they could not pay for one

• Escobedo v. Illionois (1964)- People suspect to crime have access to a lawyer; Police must inform suspects of their right to remain silent

• Miranda v. Arizona (1966)- Police must tell suspects they have right to remain silent and that anything they say can/will be used against them; Must tell suspects they have access to a lawyer

Separation of Church and State Engle v. Vitale (1962)

Ruled that states could not create official prayers and order students to recite them in public schools

Abington School Distric v. Schempp (1963) Ruled against state-required Bible readings in

public schools Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Stated that not allowing the sale and use of birth control devices went against the right to privacy in the Constitution

Discussion Questions

What role do you think television played in Kennedy’s victory over Nixon?

What do you think Kennedy meant by the following statement? “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”

How did Miranda v. Arizona affect defendants in criminal cases?

JFK and the Cold War

Guiding Questions

How were President Kennedy’s programs to combat communism different from the programs of previous administrations?

What was the most important foreign policy event of the Kennedy administration? Why was it the most important?

Terms to Know

Flexible response Space race Hot line

Containing Communism

Flexible Response Alliance for Progress

Peace Corps

• Kennedy wanted to build up conventional troops and weapons

• Felt Eisenhower focused too much on nuclear weapons

• Built up the Special Forces

• Series of cooperative aid projects with Latin American governments

• Hoped to create a free and economically successful Latin America, less likely to support Communist-inspired revolutions

• U.S. gave $20 billion to Latin American countries over a 10-year period

• Provide better schools, housing, health care, and fairer land distribution

• Mixed results

• People volunteered to help local people in less-developed countries

• Spent two years in countries that asked for help

• Built roads, taught English, laid out sewage systems, trained medical staff

The Cold War in Space

Soviets were beating the U.S. in the space race- the Cold War competition over dominance of space exploration capability Sputnik (1957)- First space satellite Yury Gagarin (1961)- First astronaut to orbit Earth

Kennedy feared that Soviet success in space race would convince world that communism was better than capitalism Kennedy stated he wanted to land a man on the moon before the

end of the decade U.S. began a huge effort to develop necessary technology to

land man on the moon John Glenn (1962)- First American astronaut to orbit the Earth

July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon Apollo 11

Kennedy’s Cold War Crises

Bay of Pigs Berlin Wall Cuban Missile Crisis

• Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government and immediately made ties with the Soviets (1959)

• Eisenhower had feared the Soviets would use Cuba as a base for spreading revolution and authorized the CIA to secretly train and arm a group of Cuban exiles (la Brigada)

• Kennedy became president and authorized the invasion

• Launched on April 17, 1961; Landed at Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba

• Complete disaster; Made the U.S. look weak and disorganized

• Kennedy met with Nikita Khrushchev in Austria in June 1961

• Kennedy refused to leave West Berlin

• Khrushchev responded by build a wall around West Berlin

• Berlin wall blocked all movement between the Soviet sector and the rest of the city

• Berlin Wall became a symbol of the Cold War

• U.S. spies learned Soviet technicians and equipment had arrived in Cuba in summer 1962

• Kennedy announced the USSR had long range nuclear missiles in Cuba on October 22, 1962

• Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to stop delivery of more missiles and demanded existing missile sites be taken down

• After secret negotiations, U.S. removed missiles from Turkey and USSR removed missiles from Cuba

• Agreed to banning test of nuclear weapons in atmosphere

Kennedy’s Assassination

Kennedy was shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and accused of killing Kennedy Confused and resentful Marxist Spent time in the Soviet Union

Oswald was killed while in police custody by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963 Led many to believe there was a conspiracy

Warren Commission investigated and found Oswald was only assassin

Discussion Questions

Which do you think would be more effective in combating communism—economic aid or military resistance? Why?

Why was it important to Kennedy that the United States to put the first person on the Moon and “win” the space race?

Why do you think Kennedy responded to the Cuban missile crisis with strong words and quarantine instead of with a military solution?

The Great Society

Guiding Questions

How did President Johnson’s experience in Congress help him get legislation passed?

How does Great Society legislation influence current government programs and philosophies?

Terms to Know

Consensus Subsidy

Johnson Becomes President

Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office hours after Kennedy was assassinated 26 years of experience in Congress Ability to build partnerships through favors,

bargaining, flattering, and threatening made him one of the most effective and powerful leaders in Senate history

Johnson urged the nation to build on Kennedy’s legacy

War on Poverty

Johnson was a teacher in a low-income area in Texas and saw extreme poverty firsthand Believed wealthy, powerful government should try to

make the lives of its citizens better Johnson continued on Kennedy’s plans for

antipoverty program Knew anything tied to Kennedy would be popular

Economic Opportunity Act (1964)- created 10 new programs with the Office of Economic Opportunity Focused on public services, illiteracy and

unemployment Many aimed at young, inner-city Americans

Office of Economic Opportunity Programs

Neighborhood Youth Corps Work study program that helped poor young men and women

get a high school diploma or college degree Job Corps

Helped unemployed people ages 16-21 gain job skills Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA)

Helped people overcome poverty by putting skilled, community-minded young volunteers to work in poor neighborhoods and rural areas

Upward Bound Offered tutoring to high school students

Work Experience Program Provided day care and other support for those in poor

households so they could go to work

Election of 1964

Johnson easily won reelection over Republican candidate Barry Goldwater Gained more than 61% of the popular vote Won all but 6 states of the Electoral College

The Great Society

Healthcare Education Civil Rights

Urban Problems

Immigration

• Medicare- offered health insurance to all senior citizens

• Medicaid- paid for health care for people on welfare who lived below the poverty line

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965- gave millions of dollars to public and private schools

• Project Head Start- included disadvantaged preschoolers in educational efforts

• Civil Rights Act of 1964- barred discrimination

• Voting Rights Act of 1965- protected voters from discriminatory practices

• Department of Housing and Urban Development- designed to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and affordable housing

• “Model Cities”- improve transportation, health care, housing, and policing

• Immigration Act of 1965- ended the immigration system started in the 1920s that favored immigration from northern European immigrants

Legacy of the Great Society

Much debate over the effectiveness of the Great Society Success was limited in many ways Programs did not work as well as hoped

Great Society suffered due to funding of Vietnam War Some Great Society programs continue

Medicare, Medicaid, Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Project Head Start

Raised many questions regarding How the federal government can help disadvantaged citizens How much government can help society before hindering

private sector How much help can people get without losing motivation to

provide for themselves

Discussion Questions

Why do you think Johnson’s antipoverty programs targeted education and job support for young people?

What were the successes of the Great Society? What were the failures?