J.F.K. - The New Frontier
Domestic Policies:
- The Peace Corps - Man on the Moon pledge
- Tax cut to stimulate the economy - Most programs stalled
Foreign Policies :
- Berlin Wall ( 8/61 )
- Trade Expansion Act ( '62 ): reduced Am. tariffs by 50% on European goods
- Belgian Congo violence and Laotian Civil War led to policy of "Flexible Response"
- Military advisors sent to Vietnam in late 1961 & Diem Coup (10/63)
- Alliance for progress: Marshall Plan for Latin America
- Cuba: Bay of Pigs invasion (4/61)
- Cuban Missile Crisis (10/62): Naval quarantine & removal of Soviet missiles
- American University speech (6/63): Peaceful coexistence (détente) with Soviets
Civil Rights Movement:
- Birmingham (spring 1963)
- Univ. of Mississippi (James Meredith): Federal troops
- March on Washington (8/63): "I Have A Dream" speech
November 22, 1963 - John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas
Lyndon B. Johnson (L.B.J.)
- A legislative Wheeler-Dealer
- More successful with Congress
- Called for a "War on Poverty" and the creation of "A Great Society"
Election of 1964
Johnson ( D ) v. Goldwater ( R )
* Gulf of Tonkin incident (8/64) which led to the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution"
Domestic Policies
- Aid to education
- Medicare
- Department of Transportation
- Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD)
- Robert C. Weaver (1st Black Cabinet Member)
- Nat'l enowment for the Arts and Humanities
- Reformed immigration quota system
Black Revolution
- 1964 Civil Rights Act: Prohibited racial discrimination in public accommodations and employment
- 24th Amendment (1/64): Abolished the Poll Tax
- Watts Riots (8/65): Debate between nonviolence & militancy
- Malcolm X: Favored Black Separatism
- Stokely Carmichael: "Black Power"
- "White Backlash"
April 4, 1968 - Martin Luther King, JR. assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee
Vietnam, cont'd
- Viet Cong attack U.S. military base at Pleiku (2/65) U.S. responds with "Operation Rolling Thunder"
- 500,000 troops sent by 1968 at cost of $30 billion/YR
- Increased opposition/draft resistance/Hawks v. Doves
"Credibility Gap"
- Tet Offensive (1/68) exposed failure of U.S. policies
- Eugene McCarthy v. Robert Kennedy v. Hubert H. Humphrey
- L.B.J. drops out of 1968 Election
June 5, 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan in Los Angeles, California
Election of 1968
- Riots at Democratic Convention in Chicago
Nixon ( R ) v. Humphrey ( D ) v. Wallace ( A.I. )
43.4% 42.7%
- Both Nixon and Humphrey call for "An Honorable Peace" in Vietnam
- Nixon failed to carry a single major city and only 5% of the Black vote