America: Opportunity and Inequality - America and the 'Great Society'

Question 1

what was the “New Frontier”?

Answer 1

• when Kennedy was elected he talked about the USA being at the edge of a “new frontier”
• he promised that there would be a “new generation of leadership - new men to cope with new problems and new opportunities”.
• he wanted to make America a better, fairer place by eliminating poverty and inequality, improving educating and fighting unemployment
• famously, during his speech as he was sworn in as president in January 1961, he said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”
• he called for the advance of “the civil and economic rights essential to the human dignity of all men”

Question 2

what were the “New Frontier” successes in civil rights?

Answer 2

• JFK spoke often about his commitment to the Civil Rights Movement.
• he gave more important government jobs to African Americans than any other president had before. He created the CEEO (Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity) to ensure that all federal government employees had equal employment opportunities.
• he stood up to Southern politicians who failed to defend civil rights - and even sent in soldiers to protect a black student, James Meredith, who won a place at Mississippi University but was being persecuted by racists

Question 3

what were the “New Frontier” failures in civil rights?

Answer 3

• some people thought that JFK could have done much more but he seemed too concerned with what Southern politicians and voters thought of him
• in addition, the CEEO only helped those who already had a government job and did nothing to find jobs for millions of unemployed African-Americans actively
• he also tried to get Martin Luther King to call off his grand march to Washington DC because he felt it made some politicians in Congress even more determined to resist civil rights

Question 4

what were the “New Frontier” successes in the economy?

Answer 4

• JFK cut taxes to give people more money to spend made $900 million available to businesses to create new jobs and gave grants to companies to buy high-tech equipment and train their workers to use it.
• he also increased government spending on the armed forces, creating jobs

Question 5

what were the “New Frontier” failures in the economy?

Answer 5

• in some cases, the new equipment in the factories meant that fewer workers were needed, so some people lost their jobs.
• and many of the jobs that the government created depended on the huge amount of money it spent, which made vulnerable to spending
• in fact, by 1963, 4.5 million people were unemployed - only 1 million fewer than in 1960.
• also, the unemployment rate for African-Americans was twice that of white Americans

Question 6

what were the “New Frontier” successes in healthcare and decreasing poverty?

Answer 6

• JFK increased the minimum hourly wage from $1 to $1.25 and made $4.9 billion available for loans to improve housing, clear slum areas and build roads and telephone lines.
• he also established training schemes for the unemployed and his Social Security Act increased benefits for the elderly and unemployed.
• he raised money for research into mental illness and allocated funds to develop poor countryside areas
• he also had plans to introduce an ambitious system of health insurance for the elderly called “Medicare”

Question 7

what were the “New Frontier” failures in healthcare and decreasing poverty?

Answer 7

• the minimum wage was only helpful to those in work, and the loans for people to improve their housing were only useful if the recipient could afford the loan repayments
• in addition, US Congress defeated JFK’s proposals for Medicare

Question 8

what were the “New Frontier” successes in education?

Answer 8

• JFK established the Peace Corps, an organisation that sends volunteers abroad to assist people in poorer countries
• they work as teachers, nurses, doctors and technical advisors
• this greatly appealed to young Americans and was a huge success - it still survives today
• JFK was also keen to introduce an education law to give more money to schools

Question 9

what were the “New Frontier” failures in education?

Answer 9

• JFK’s efforts to provide federal funds for schools were denied
• Congress was dominated by politicians from the Southern states and refused to support his plans

Question 10

why was Johnson elected in 1964?

Answer 10

• JFK had been president for three years when he was killed. This meant that Johnson, who had been JFK’s vice president, took over for one year before seeking election in his own right
• in 1964, LBJ won the election easily. This was perhaps partly a result of the public’s sympathy and respect for the work of JFK and his vice president- and partly due to Johnson’s promise of a “Great Society”

Question 11

what was Johnson’s “Great Society”?

Answer 11

• LBJ hoped to create n America that used its wisdom and wealth to advance the quality of our American civilisation”
• he called for an “end to poverty and racial injustice” and a “place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents”

Question 12

what were the differences between Johnson’s and Kennedy’s style of presidency?

Answer 12

• whereas Kennedy was a smooth, well-polished politician, LBJ was an intimidating, tough-talking veteran
• as he was a Southerner from Texas, he had a good understanding of the SOuth and could relate to the concerns of the Southern politicians
• but he could be manipulative and devious, often searching for and using the weaknesses of his political opponents against them
• he was known for leaving over people (he was 6 feet 5 inches tall) firmly grabbing their arm, or poking them in the chest and he knew how to “do deals”

Question 13

how did the Great Society help civil rights?

Answer 13

• firstly, the Civil Rights Bill that JFK promised to sign became law. The new Civil Rights Act banned discrimination based on race and gender in employment and ended segregation in all public places
• Johnson followed this up in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act, which banned literacy tests and other obstacles that stopped African-Americans being able to register to vote
• within 12 months, there were over 400,000 newly registered black voters and within three years most of the black population of the South had registered to vote
• this Act effectively removed the last of the infamous Jim Crow Laws

Question 14

what did LBJ introduce in the Great Society measure?

Answer 14

• “Operation Headstart” gave money to schools in cities to provide a better education for the poor
• the minimum wage increased from $1.25 to $1.40
• A Housing Act funded low-income housing
• The Model Cities Act cleared up inner-city slums
• the Volunteers in Service To America (VISTA) programme was set up as a domestic version of the Peace Corps
• the elementary and Secondary Education Act provided significant funding for schools
• the Jobs Crops was introduced to help high school leavers get jobs
• Medicare was eventually created (JFK’s idea) to fund healthcare for the elderly and low-income families
• the Immigration Act ended racial quotas for people entering the USA
• Air and Water Quality Acts tightened controls over pollution
• the Wilderness Protection Act saved 9.1 million acres of forest from industrial development
• the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities gave grants to fund artists and galleries
• safety standards were improved for consumer products

Question 15

what were people’s positive views on Johnson?

Answer 15

• his supporters argue that he did more than many other presidents, including JFK, to make America a better, fairer society
• in 1959, 56% of African Americans lived in desperate poverty, but by 1970 this had fallen to around 30%; white families saw a reduction from 18% to just 8%
• millions now had a good standard of healthcare

Question 16

what were people’s negative views on Johnson?

Answer 16

• by the time he completed his first full presidency in 1968, unemployment was on the increase and there was widespread rioting in the poorer areas of some cities
• LBJ had fully supported and encouraged US involvement in the Vietnam War - aware that was becoming increasingly unpopular and costly
• as a result, LBJ decided not to run for president again

Question 17

what did President Kennedy set up for women in 1960?

Answer 17

• under pressure from Eleanor Roosevelt, je set up the Status Commission to report on women in the workplace

Question 18

what did the Commission on the Status of Women report in 1963?

Answer 18

• women earned around 60% less than men for the same job
• 95% of managers were men - the majority of work for women was part-time and with limited responsibility
• only 4% of lawyers nd 7% of doctors were women
• in some jobs women could legally be dismissed if they married

Question 19

what was the Feminine Mystique?

Answer 19

a book by Betty Friedan explained that women should have equal rights with men and that women should be able to pursue a fulfilling carer
- she wrote about the hundreds of female college students she had spoken to who felt depressed and undervalued because they had achieved excellent qualifications in school but had married and had children instead of developing their career
- the book became a best seller

Question 20

when and what was the Equal Pay Act?

Answer 20

• in June 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, making it law that women and men receive equal pay for the same job

Question 21

how did the feminist movement grow?

Answer 21

• the Equal Pay Act was followed in 1964, by the Civil Rights Act that banned discrimination in employment on the basis of race and sex
• in 1966, Friedan and others established the National Organisation for Women to demand complete equal rights for women in US law and a woman’s right to make her own decisions with regards to reproduction
• more women’s groups emerged, including the Women’s Campaign Fund, the North American Indian Women’s Association and the National Black Feminist Organization
• collectively, all were known as the “feminist movement”

Question 22

what was the impact of the feminist movement?

Answer 22

• within a few years, NOW had around 40,000 members
• they wrote to politicians, organised large demonstrations and took to court companies that failed to pay women the same wages as men
• however, NOW members were manly middle-aged and middle-class, and groups of younger, more extreme women used a different approach to highlight their cause
• they became known as the Women’s LIberation Movement or “Women’s Lib”

Question 23

what was ERA?

Answer 23

• in 1972, a change to the US constitution (the Equal Rights Amendment) was passed by Congress
• it said that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied by the United States or by an State on the account of sex”

Question 24

who opposed ERA and why?

Answer 24

-Phyllis Schlafly led the Stop ERA campaign
- she argued that ERA would lead to women in combat, greater abortion rates, unisex bathrooms and homosexual marriages. The campaign was successful - the ERA failed to become part of the US Constitution because not enough states voted for it

Question 25

what was the “Roe v Wade” case?

Answer 25

• Feminists argued that women should be free to decide what happens to their bodies and should not be forced to have a child if they didn’t want to
• in the famous “Rose v Wade” court case, lawyers argued successfully that 21-year-old Jane Roe had the right to an abortion
• she had already two children, both of whom had been put up for adoption
• in 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that women had the right to safe and legal abortion, overriding the anti-abortion laws of many states