Ch 27-2 Kennedy’s Thousand Days

The Main Idea

John F. Kennedy brought energy, initiative, and important new ideas to the presidency.

Content StatementAnalyze how the Cold War influenced domestic and

international politics between the end of WWII and 1992. (Bay of Pigs, Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis)

Ch 27-2 vocabulary

• Jacqueline Kennedy

• New Frontier

• Mandate

• Earl Warren

• Warren Court

• Lee Harvey Oswald

• Warren Commission

Ch 27-2 vocabulary

• Jacqueline Kennedy: (1929-1994) American first lady; she was the wife of JFK and was known for her style and social grace.

• New Frontier: nickname given to JFK’s plans for changing the nation.

• Mandate: authorization to act. Especially politically.

• Earl Warren: (1891-1974) American jurist and politician; he was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969. Under his leadership the court made many decisions that extended to individual rights.

• Warren Court: a term that refers to the years when Earl Warren served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

• Lee Harvey Oswald: accused assassin of JFK. Ties to Communist U.S.S.R.

• Warren Commission: a commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of JFK.

1. Kennedy’s New Frontier

1.Image / Reality

• Images of Kennedy showed a young, vital president. / He suffered from Addison’s disease and a bad back.

• Almost like a movie star

• PT-109

• Kennedy encouraged the press to photograph and write about his children/ Jacqueline Kennedy tried to protect their privacy.

2.Congress

• Most in the early 1960s were not reform minded, which was reflected in Congress.

• Kennedy’s narrow victory left him without a clear mandate to rule. Congress didn’t approve many New Frontierproposals.

• Sometimes Kennedy was able to bypass Congress and solve problems.

Election of 1960

2. Kennedy’s New Frontier Problems

• Conservative Southern Democrats allied with Republicans and blocked a great deal of JFK’s plans.

• JFK wanted to reduce taxes, provide federal aid to education, and to create a health care plan for older Americans. Congress did not act on these plans.

• JFK bypasses Congress to deal with increased steel prices. Very effective.

• Steel companies plan to raise prices. JFK attempts to stop this to combat inflation.

• JFK withdraws government contracts from steel companies raising prices and starts a public campaign against these companies.

• The companies relent and lower prices to original levels.

3.Space Program

•Khrushchev claimed the Soviet lead in space showed the superiority of communism.

•“Is there any place where we can catch them (USSR)” JFK

•U.S. feared if U.S.S.R. was ahead of us here they could be ahead in weapons development too.

•Afraid of nuclear bombings from space.

•In May 1961 Kennedy vowed that the United States would land a man on the moon.

•The space race became a part of the Cold War—a part that the United States would win.

•Sputnik 10/1957

4. The Warren Court/The Supreme Court in the Early 1960s

• During the Kennedy presidency, Supreme Court decisions made major changes in American society.

• Under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren, Court rulings extended individual rights and freedoms.

• Voting-rights reform

• The rights of the accused

• Religious freedom

4. The Warren Court/ Chief Justice Earl Warren

Many historians regard Earl Warren as one of the most important chief justices. Some say second to only John Marshall.

Warren did not have a positive record on civil rights when President Eisenhower appointed him chief justice in 1953.• Called for the internment of Japanese Americans

during World War II.• Fought against an effort to make California’s state

Assembly more representative of the people.

However, as chief justice, Warren led the Court to one of the most significant civil rights advances in U.S. history.• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) banned racial

segregation in the nation’s schools.

The Warren Court

• Mapp v. Ohio (1961), Gideon v. Wainwright(1963), Escobedo v. Illinois (1964), and Miranda v. Arizona (1966) extended the Bill of Rights to the actions of state governments.

5.Voting-rights

Reform

• Prior to legislation in the 1960s, states did not redraw the boundaries of legislative districts to reflect population changes. Big cities were not getting equal representation based on population.

• Baker v. Carr (1962), Westberry v. Sanders(1964), and Reynolds v. Sims (1964) changed this practice to make each citizen’s vote more equal. “one person, one vote”

6.Rightsof the

Accused

• In Engel v. Vitale (1962) and other cases, the Warren Court defined the religion guarantees of the First Amendment. Banned public religious ceremonies. No official religion of U.S.

7.ReligiousFreedom

8.Kennedy’s Assassination

On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

He was campaigning there to gain support from Southern Democrats.

Vice President Johnson was sworn in within hours.

Kennedy’s death shocked the nation and the world.

Within hours, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald. Known Communist. Worked for Texas School Book Depository. Police officer found shot dead nearby.

While being transferred to the county jail, Oswald was shot to death by Jack Ruby.

3 or 4 shots. Lone gunman??

Lee Harvey Oswald

9. The Warren Commission

• The strange circumstances surrounding President Kennedy’s death caused people to wonder whether Oswald had acted alone in killing the president.

• President Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination.

• They determined that there was no conspiracy and that Oswald and Ruby had each acted alone.

• Additional government investigations and many private ones have never found credible evidence of a conspiracy.

• Has not stopped conspiracy theories from developing.

• Presented findings on September 24, 1964:

• 3 shots fired: 2 hit and one missed.

• 1 shot: Single Bullet Theory, lack of damage to presidential limousine.

• 2nd shot: kill shot to JFK’s head

• Zapruder Film released in 1975. Spurs controversy. Leaves issues unexplained.

• Magic Bullet comes into question. Found at hospital later.

• Second Shooter?

• Herminio Diaz: Cuban exile bitter about Bay of Pigs Invasion

• George Hickey: Secret Service Agent that shot JFK by accident

Magic bullet

Magic bullet

Magic bullet-found later, not damaged

Grassy Knoll-heard shots fired

Grassy Knoll-heard shots fired

10. An end and a beginning/The Kennedy Legacy

• Kennedy did not have much success with domestic issues.

• He acknowledged that the nation’s social, economic, and environmental problems would take many years to solve.

ForeignRelations

• Some felt the drama of the Kennedy presidency was more evident than its achievements.

• However, in foreign affairs, relations with the Soviet Union had improved.

• The Peace Corp produced goodwill toward the United States.

DomesticAchievements