John F. Kennedy

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John F. Kennedy

• 1961-1963
• Domestic Policy

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CLOSEST ELECTION SINCE 1884

• Kennedy won the election by fewer than 119,000
  votes
• That means ½ of America didnt want him to win

JFK
RMN
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ASK NOT . . .

• In his inaugural address, JFK
  uttered this famous
  challenge Ask not what your country can do for
  you --- ask what you can do for your country

Delivered Friday, January 20, 1961
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I. Kennedy White House

• A. Lyndon B. Johnson Vice-President
• B. Robert F. Kennedy -gt
• Attorney Gen.
• C. White House was
• full of young (mid-30s
• to early 40s) pragmatic
• thinkers!

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• D. Compared to King Arthurs magical court
  Camelot. (Jacqueline Kennedy was very stylish!)
• Invited artists, musicians, etc. to the White
  House.
• E. Compared also to James Bond sophisticated,
  cool, and a womanizer!
• Unfortunately JFK was a
• womanizer!

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THE CAMELOT YEARS

• During his term in office, JFK and his beautiful
  young wife, Jacqueline, invited many artists and
  celebrities to the White House
• The press loved the Kennedy charm and JFK
  appeared frequently on T.V.
• The Kennedys were considered American Royalty
  (hence Camelot reference)

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THE KENNEDY MYSTIQUE

• The first family fascinated the American public
• For example, after learning that JFK could read
  1,600 words a minute, thousands enrolled in
  speed-reading courses
• Jackie, too, captivated the nation with her eye
  for fashion and culture

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John Kennedy and his siblings From youngest to
oldest Jean, Robert, Patricia, Eunice, Kathleen,
Rosemary, Jack, and Joe, Jr.
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Caroline Kennedy

• She recently put her name in to fill the vacant
  Senate seat that Hillary Clinton left when she
  accepted the Secretary of State position for Prez
  Obama
• New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand got the seat

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THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST

• JFK surrounded himself with what one journalist
  described as the best and the brightest
  available talent
• Of all of his elite advisors who filled Kennedys
  inner circle, he relied most on his 35-year-old
  brother Robert, whom he appointed attorney general

RFK was Johns closest friend and advisor
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A MAN ON THE MOON
Armstrong

• Under President JohnsonFinally, on July 20,
  1969, the U.S. would achieve its goal
• An excited nation watched as U.S. astronaut Neil
  Armstrong took the first steps on the moon
• Space and defense-related industries sprang up in
  Southern and Western states

One small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind
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(6) 23rd Amendment

• proposed on June 16, 1960, and ratified on March
  29, 1961. The amendment rectified an omission in
  the Constitution that prevented residents of the
  District of Columbia from voting in presidential
  elections- allowing citizens living in Washington
  DC to vote in National elections (for Prez)

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(14) Engel v Vitale (1962)

• A landmark US Supreme Court case that determined
  that it is unconstitutional for state officials
  to compose an official school prayer and require
  its recitation in public schools.
• NO PUBLIC SCHOOL PRAYER

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The Rule of the Law
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(15) Rachel Carson/ Silent Spring (1962)

• Rachel Carson is regarded by many as the
  godmother of the environmental movement. It was
  her book, Silent Spring, that sowed the seeds of
  passion for protecting the environment

Advocate of nature and environmental ethics,
against the misuse of chemicals in nature ...
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• (2) New Frontier name given
• to the Kennedy domestic
• platform can also be
• applied to the foreign
• policies previously
• discussed!

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III. Economy

• A. Problems deciding on how to deal with the
  budget deficit Kennedy did not push for a tax
  cut until 1963 (It will be passed after his
  death!)
• B. Kennedy wanted to work WITH big business (not
  against) and asked Congress to ease anti-trust
  legislation
• C. Forbes ranks Kennedy first in reducing the
  unemployment rate.

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Deficit Spending

• D. Kennedy advocated deficit spending to
  stimulate the economy
• E. Deficit Spending is the govt practice of
  borrowing money in order to spend more than is
  received from taxes

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• D. Area Redevelopment Act of 1961 394
  million given in loans and grants designed to
  help city and rural areas of low income and/or
  chronic unemployment
• E. Minimum wage was raised to 1.25
• F. Council of Economic Advisors proposed to
  stabilize prices by tying wage increases to
  productivity
• G. Kennedys administration is ranked as the
  third highest in economic prosperity (behind
  Clinton and LBJohnson)

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Civil Rights Review

• Jim Crow Era South, post-Reconstruction
• Plessy v. Ferguson separate but equal
• FDR sympathetic to African-Americans, outlawed
  segregation in government work areas
• Truman desegregated the armed forces
• Eisenhower enforced Brown
• v. Board of Education,
• Topeka (integration of schools)

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• The Civil Rights Movement Reading

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IV. Civil Rights

• A. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) appeal launched
  by a Florida prisoner
• 1. all citizens are entitled to legal
• counsel in a case involving a possible
• jail sentence

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• B. African-Americans continued their struggle
  for desegregation.
• 1. Kennedy was a strong supporter of
• African Americans appointed
• several African Americans to high
• administrative positions
• 2. Thurgood Marshall- Linda Browns
• lawyer in Brown vs Board appointed to
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
• 3. Very strong supporter of MLK,Jr

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• Thurgood Marshall Reading

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• C. CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)
• and
• SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating
  Committee) grew out of the Greensboro
• sit-in

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• D. Freedom Rides May 1961 CORE director James
  Farmer led a group of black and white freedom
  riders on a bus trip into the heart of the
  South. Trip began in Washington D.C. and ended
  in New Orleans would focus national attention
  on the inequality of segregated facilities.
  Violent mobs in South Carolina and Alabama beat
  riders and firebombed a bus.

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Freedom Ridersnotice where the trip stops
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• Kennedy ordered federal marshals to protect civil
  rights organizers freedom rides forced the
  Kennedy Administration to take a much stronger
  stand on desegregation.
• Voter registration drive for African Americans
  began in 1961 R. Kennedy asked SNCC to focus on
  increasing the amount of registered voters in
  MS only 4000 out of 394,000 were registered to
  vote due to continued violence!

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• Freedom Rides Analysis

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James Meredith
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• (12)James Meredith and the University of
  Mississippi September, 1962
• 1. Governor Ross Barnett personally
• blocked the African American
• Meredith from registering.
• 2. JFK ordered several hundred marshals to
  escort Meredith into a university dormitory.
  Mobs moved in shooting streetlights, throwing
  rocks and bottles.
• 3. JFK sent in federal troops to save the
  marshals but not before 2 people were killed
  and 375 were wounded.

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1963 Birmingham, Alabama March
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• I. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a group to
  Birmingham, AL, to protest segregation
• 1. led to his arrest and writing of Letter
• from Birmingham Jail, which defended
• the use of civil disobedience and warned
• that not obeying the law would leave the
• streets flowing with blood.
• 2. Once freed, King led new
• demonstrations TV cameras captured
• the Birmingham police (under the
• direction of police chief Bull Connor)
• using attack dogs, clubs, and fire hoses
• to end demonstrations

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• J. Birmingham actions sparked Kennedy to request
  support for a strong civil rights bill to end
  segregation and protect black voters

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March on Washington
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(17) March on Washington August 28, 1963

• Led by Martin Luther King
• 1. I Have a Dream Speech
• 250,000 gathered at Lincoln Memorial to march
  sing in support of Civil Rights.
• Led by MLK, Jr. to call for a color-blind
  society

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• March on Washington Analysis

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I HAVE A DREAM
It was initially opposed by JFK, who thought it
would undermine the bill Congress began working
on a civil rights bill in the fall
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I have a Dream Speech Analysis
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• (16) June 11, 1963University of Al, George
  Wallace Alabamas Governor
• stood in the doorway of the University to
  prevent Vivian Malone ( a black female) from
  registering
• - Kennedy sent federal marshals to force the
  enrollment of the students
• - JFK addressed the nation on June 12 about
  the moral issue of segregation

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• Wallace and Kennedy Reading

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• (18) Same evening of Kennedys televised address,
  Medgar Evers
• a civil rights leader in Mississippi
• was assassinated in his driveway in
• Jackson, MS by.
• Bryon De La Beckwith, a KKK member,
• was arrested for his murder (finally
• convicted in 1994, three decades later)

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• Medgar Evers Reading

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(20) Assassination of JFK

• A. Kennedy lost key Southern Democratic
  supporters due to civil rights issues.
• He scheduled a trip to Texas to begin rebuilding
  support in the South (you
• know politicians always
• thinking about the
• next campaign)

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JFK SHOT

• As the motorcade approached the Texas Book
  Depository, shots rang out
• JFK was shot in the neck and then the head
• His car was rushed to a nearby hospital where
  doctors frantically tried to revive him
• President Kennedy was dead (11/22/63)

JFK SHOT
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• C. November 22, 1963 JFK was fatally shot in
  the head and neck by Lee Harvey Oswald

• A 24-year-old Marine with a suspicious past left
  a palm print on the rifle used to kill JFK

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JFK Cartoon Analysis
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• D. LHO was caught several hours later seemed
  mysterious and emotionally unstable.
• His actions were never fully explained
• L.H.O was shot two days after his arrest by
  Jack Ruby (on live TV)!

• He was charged and as a national television
  audience watched his transfer from one jail to
  another, nightclub owner Jack Ruby broke through
  the crowd and shot Oswald to death

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• E. Lyndon B Johnson, became the next prez, when
  he took the oath of office on Air Force One with
  Jackie Kennedy by his side

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JFK LAID TO REST

• All work stopped for Kennedys funeral as America
  mourned its fallen leader
• The assassination and the televised funeral
  became historic events
• Like 9-11, Americans can recall where they were
  when they heard the news of the Presidents death

Three-year old John Kennedy Jr. salutes his
fathers coffin during the funeral
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• F. This events, along with contradicting
  eyewitness testimonies of the JFK assassination,
  caused many to believe there was a conspiracy
  behind the murder of the president. Later
  investigations approved by President LBJ and led
  by Chief Justice Earl Warren concluded Oswald
  acted alone.
• But DID HE REALLY?!?!?!?!?

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UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

• The bizarre chain of events led many to believe
  that Oswald was part of a conspiracy
• The Warren Commission investigated the
  assassination and determined that Oswald had
  indeed acted alone
• Recent filmmaker Oliver Stone isnt so sure his
  film, JFK, is filled with conspiracy theories

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And what about this responsible for
death???
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