Unit 3:Kennedy and the New FrontierUnit Schedule:

10/8- 28.1- Kennedy and the Cold War10/10-Cuban Missile Crisis Project/Paper Begins

10/16- 28.2- The New Frontier

“Ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country.” -John F. Kennedy

Essential Questions:Why was JFK such a popular president?

What makes a U.S. President great?

28.1 Kennedy and the Cold WarLesson Objective: To understand the 1960 Election and the Foreign Policy goals of the Kennedy AdministrationEssential Question: Why has JFK become on of our most beloved presidents?

Quiz10/9

1. Who convinced the judge to release MLK?

2. What two issues helped Kennedy win the 1960 election?

3. Kennedy’s running mate (VP) was who?

4. The dictator of Cuba overthrown by Castro was who?

5. This was built to separate East and West Berlin?

Key Terms• John F. Kennedy• Flexible Response• Fidel Castro• Hot line• Limited Test Ban Treaty

Key Dates• 1956- Cuban Revolution• 1959- Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba• Nov. 1960 Kennedy Elected president • April 1961- Bay of Pigs• August 1961- Berlin Wall Built• October 1962- Cuban Missile Crisis

The Election of 1960

• Democratic nominee- John F. Kennedy- MA Senator• Republican Nominee- Richard Nixon- Vice President of the United States• Ended up closest election since 1888!

Kennedy’s advantages:• Young, charismatic, good-looking• Wealthy, family pedigree• Economic Recession• Growing tension with Soviet Union

Kennedy’s Disadvantages:• Young, inexperienced• Catholic

• What did the election end up coming down to?• T.V. and Civil Rights

• Nixon/Kennedy Debate• Kennedy wins image battle with Nixon- most who listened on radio said Nixon was

better!• Civil Rights

• MLK is arrested • JFK reached out to Coretta Scott King – Nixon/ Eisenhower stay silent• RFK gets judge to allow MLK out of jail on bail

• African Americans in key states vote for Kennedy in large numbers

Kennedy and the Cold War• Concern over Soviet influence in the Asia, Africa, Latin America

• Especially Cuba

• Kennedy took hard line on communism- why?• Change from brinksmanship to flexible response

• Define:

• “Kennedy administration worried that reliance on nuclear weapons gave us no way to respond to large nonnuclear attacks without committing suicide. President Kennedy said we had put ourselves in the position of having to choose in a crisis between “inglorious retreat or unlimited retaliation.” We decided to broaden the range of options by strengthening and modernizing the military’s ability to fight nonnuclear war.”- Robert McNamara • Large increase in military spending• Special forces• Tripled nuclear capabilities

• This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual- is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications…the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.- Dwight D. Eisenhower “Farewell Address”

• Think:Write:Pair:Share• Is this military-industrial complex morally good or evil? Indifferent?• What does it mean for a Democracy to have this?• Is it a necessary evil in the Modern era?

The Berlin Crisis• West Berlin was “Showcase of

Democracy”• 3 million East Germans had moved

to the city in decade after airlift!• 20% of East Germany’s Population!

• That was embarrassment to Soviets• Solution?

• Berlin Wall

• Kennedy and Khrushchev looked for ways to decrease tension• Hotline established in 1963• Limited Test Ban Treaty

The Berlin Wall

Crisis In Cuba• - Eisenhower cut off diplomatic

relations with Cuba• - Revolutionary Fidel Castro

fought Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.• - “Revolutionaries are not born,

they are made by poverty, inequality, and dictatorship”- Castro takes control of oil

refineries and commercial farms- U.S. responded by restricting the

trade of Cuban sugar- Bay of Pigs Invasion