JFK 1960-1963 Flashcards
Was the presidential election of 1960 a close call or an easy win for Kennedy?
It was the closest of the century, only 119,000 votes (less than 0.2% of the popular vote) separated Nixon and JFK?
Why did Nixon lose the 1960 election? What strengths and weaknesses did he have?
Strengths - 13 years of experience in Congress, staunch anti-communist, non-privileged background
Weaknesses - Committed to visiting every state on his campaign but this made him exhausted and easily drawn into debate on the televised presidential debate
What strengths did Kennedy have in the 1960 election?
He was young, handsome and a war hero, he had strong support from Northern Democrats and appealed to African Americans. He could claim there was a “missile gap” and looked much better when debating
What type of people did Kennedy fill his administration with?
Young, like-minded people he could trust who believed they could take America into this “New Frontier” with him. The best of the best
What was Johnson’s role in the Kennedy Administration?
Vice President
Why was Johnson selected for his role in the Kennedy Administration?
He had 24 years of experience in Congress and balanced the Democratic ticket of North and South, experience and youth
What was Sargent Shriver’s role in the Kennedy Administration?
Director of the Peace Corps and part of the close knit group around Kennedy
Who was Sargent Shriver and why was he selected for his role?
Kennedy’s brother in law, Shriver was a trained lawyer and was the driving force behind the Peace Corps and was a devout Catholic
What was Robert McNamara’s role in the Kennedy Administration?
Secretary of Defensee
Who was Robert McNamara and why was he selected for his role?
He was headhunted from his success as president of Ford by Shriver. His previous career teaching accountancy at Harvard made him a devotee of statistical analysis. He was head of the Dep. of Defense and favoured military action. He was far more exuberant than Rusk and often overlooked the human side behind his numbers.
What role did Robert Kennedy have in JFK’s Administration?
Attorney General
Who was Robert Kennedy and why was he selected for his role?
JFK’s younger brother. He was credited for his efforts to do with civil rights and poverty
What role did Dean Rusk have in the Kennedy Administration?
Secretary of State
Who was Dean Rusk and why was he selected for his role?
Sec of state under jfk
Involved in foreign affairs for a long time but Kennedy knew he wanted a significant involve in foreign policy himself and they had a fractious relationship as he was often seen as a second choice and preferred using the Defense Department
What role did McGeorge Bundy have in the Kennedy Administration?
National Security Advisor
Who was McGeorge Bundy? What is he remembered for?
He was a former intelligence officer in WW2 and was involved in the Bay of Pigs decision but famous for advocating for escalating involvement in Vietnam
When does Kennedy introduce the idea of a “New Frontier” ?
After his nomination for the Democrat candidate for the 1960 election
What was a particularly large part of the “New Frontier” ?
Foreign Policy - having just gone through the U2 Crisis, losing the Space Race and rumours of the ‘missile gap’, it was a big worry.
“The whole world looks to see what we shall do”
Why did Kennedy call his liberal policies the “New Frontier”?
Because pushing for equality of opportunity was similar to pushing the frontier west in the nineteenth century
What were key provisions of the New Frontier?
- Housing Act that created 420,000 jobs
- $200 million spent on extra welfare benefits: School Lunch Act provided free lunch and milk to school children and the benefits system extended to cover 5 million more Americans
- A universal Healthcare Bill for the elderly was introduced, Medicare
- Millions of children were vaccinated through the Social Security Act of 1963
- $3.19bn spent on housing programmes, 100,000 new homes built
A new govt agency: Committee of Equal Employment Opportunity (CEEO) was established - Arranged for an extra $9bn to be given to NASA to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade
How did the new frontier compare to the new deal of Roosevelt?
More legislation approved and passed than any time since New Deal. 35 of 58 bills Kennedy had submitted for congressional approval had been approved by 1963
Why had Berlin started to become a problem by 1961?
- Khrushchev had issued an Ultimatum in 1958 which Eisenhower ignored
- It was scheduled to be spoken about at the 1960 Paris Peace Summit but didn’t go ahead.
- Kennedy met Khrushchev in Vienna in June 1961 but that was unsuccessful
Why and when was the Berlin Wall put up?
300,000 people had fled from East to West Berlin in July 1961 and on the 14th August, a barbed wire fence was put up
What was Kennedy’s reaction to the wall being put up?
An okay solution to a tricky situation - “a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war”
When did tensions come to boiling point in Berlin?
In October 1961 when Soviet and American tanks were involved in a 16-hour stand off at Checkpoint Charlie
What evidence is that the American support was popular with the West Germans?
In June 1963, Kennedy visited West Berlin and made his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” to 450,000 West Germans
Why was the Berlin Wall so significant?
It was a huge propaganda victory for the Americans, as the Soviets had to use walls to stop people fleeing their state. Also significant that conflict was avoided and that American support in Berlin was there to stay. It was Kennedy’s first major success with his New Frontier mindset and made up for the ‘failure’ of the Vienna Summit
How had the situation with Cuba worsened under Eisenhower?
IN Jan 1959, Castro deposed US-backed dictator, Batista. Cuba then accepted a trade agreement in February 1960 with the USSR and Eisenhower in response approved plans for the invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles trained by the CIA. At the end of his presidency, Eisenhower severed diplomatic relations with Cuba
Which decision on Cuba did Kennedy inherit when he became president?
Whether or not to proceed with Operation Zapata - the plan to launch an invasion of Cuba using CIA-trained Cuban exiles.
What was Kennedy’s decision with Operation Zapata?
He had criticised Eisenhower for ‘losing’ Cuba and was focussed on becoming a strong foreign policy president so he approved it. But he added strict limits such as the US would absolutely not add air support
What actually happened with Cuba in 1961?
The Bay of Pigs invasion became a huge fiasco, as 1400 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs in April but were easily overcome, as poor US intelligence had overlooked coral reefs that punctured boats and the general support for the invasion which they assumed would have a large impact
What were the consequences of the Bay of Pigs invasion?
It gave a huge propaganda victory to Castro and Khrushchev and tied them closer together. It put Kennedy on the defensive but he salvaged some credibility when he took full responsibility for his actions.
When did the Cuban Missile Crisis start?
Crisis broke out on 15th Oct 1962 when a U-2 spy plane discovers evidence of nuclear missiles on Cuba. Immediately, Kennedy assembles a team of advisers: ExComm
What was Kennedy’s response to finding the missiles on Cuba?
Kennedy made the crisis public on 22nd October when he made a televised speech to the nation. He chose to put Cuba under “quarantine” because it was a balanced option and gave time for diplomacy
Why did Kennedy call it a “quarantine” not a blockade?
A blockade could be seen as an act of war
What events happened on October 27th 1962?
Khrushchev sent a second telegram to Kennedy, this time demanding that he would remove missiles off Cuba if missiles on Turkey were simultaneously removed. On this day, a U-2 plane was shot down and the pilot killed and some advisers were keen to retaliate. Kennedy publicly accepted Khrushchev’s first telegram whilst Bobby Kennedy secretly met with Dobrynin to take missiles out of Turkey
How was Kennedy’s response to the Cuban Missile Crisis seen?
He was credited hugely for his response, only 34% of Americans reported feeling worried after his speech and the Democrats did well in the 1962 mid term elections
Who didnt like Kennedy’s actions when facing the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Kennedy hadn’t consulted Congress throughout the crisis which made some congressmen feel like a precedent had been set and they were furious.
Many in NATO saw the removal of missiles from Turkey without consultation as wrong and France under Charles de Gaulle were so annoyed that they left NATO
In what ways did Khrushchev help Kennedy’s reputation because of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Khrushchev was eager to avoid war and had Stalin still been the leader, the events and success for Kennedy might have been very different
What evidence is there that Vietnam was hardly a priority for the Kennedy administration in 1961?
Bobby Kennedy replied to a journalist who was asking about Vietnam saying “Vietnam, Vietnam….. we have thirty Vietnams a day here”
Why was it almost inevitable that the number of advisers in Vietnam would grow under the Kennedy presidency?
A combination of Kennedy’s reliance on the Defence Department (inclined to give more military solutions than the State Dep) and McNamara’s statistics which made US victory seem only a matter of time
What statistic shows the increase in involvement under Kennedy?
There were 23,000 US military advisers in 1963 compared to 800 when Kennedy became President
Which event led to international criticism of American support of Diem in Vientam?
The self-immolating monk
Who took role as Commander in Vietnam in January 1964 and what reason did he have for the US being tied to Vietnam?
William Westmoreland, he said that the US’s complicity in Diem’s death had meant that they were obliged to stay in Vietnam and sort the mess out
Why did the SCLC single out Birmingham as the right place for a march?
They calculated that Birmingham’s Public Safety Commissioner, Bull Connor as the perfect adversary. He desperately wanted publicity and thought that he would be popular if he acted violently and sternly to African American protests
Nicknamed “Bombingham” for its Klan activity
Why was the Birmingham march particularly controversial?
School children were put at the front of the march so that there was televised footage of 900 children being arrested and of the police using water cannons and dogs and this quickly led to national attention
How did the Birmingham march end, what agreement was made?
An agreement was reached that lunch counters, rest rooms and drinking fountains would be desegregated within ninety days
What event soured the Birmingham march success?
Martin Luther King’s motel was bombed and Kennedy was forced to send in 3000 federal troops to stabilise the situation
What happened in Birmingham in September 1963?
The KKK bombed Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, killing 4 young girls
What was the situation by 1960 with the promise of desegregation that had followed the Brown vs Board of Education ruling?
It had disappeared, Jim Crow laws were still operating in the South, preventing African-Americans accessing education and transport especially
Where did the idea of sit-ins come from originate?
In North Carolina in February 1960, four black college students refused to leave an all-white cafeteria and this quickly encouraged other students to do the same
What impact did Sit-Ins have on the civil rights movement?
They electrified the movement, within a month 50,000 students had replicated the first example
What success did the sit-ins bring?
It gave birth to the Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee ( SNCC ) and Atlanta’s schools and stores became desegregated
What was James Meredith’s story with civil rights?
He had served in the US air force and took advantage of the GI Bill, was so inspired by Kennedy’s inauguration speech that he applied to the University of Mississippi. The Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnet, tried to deny him entry but he successfully enrolled on 1st Oct 1962
What happened after Meredith’s enrollment to Ole Miss?
Riots followed in which two people were killed and so Bobby Kennedy brought in 500 US marshals to defuse the situation
What were the longer-term impacts of Meredith’s study at Ole MIss?
He graduated in August 1963 having endured abuse and isolation throughout his degree and Bobby Kennedy stepped in again when he was pushed when the Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, blocked the access of two black students to the University of Alabama. Kennedy stepped in to force the governor aside
What did the events in Birmingham and Washington prompt Kennedy to do?
Draft a Civil Rights Bill which was far more comprehensive than anything which had been passed previously
Who supported the idea of a Civil Rights Bill and who tried to stop it?
Emmanuel Celler, a Democrat from New York added provisions that banned racial discrimination in employment and strengthened the anti-segregation clauses regarding public facilities. However, in early November the bill moved committees to a Virginia Dixiecrat, Howard Smith, who made it clear he would do all he could to delay the bill
What student organisation was set up in 1960 after Kennedy’s inaugural address?
the Students for a Democratic Society - SDS, by Tom Hayden and other University of Michigan students
What happened in 1962 which highlighted the possible collaboration between union groups?
In 1962, representatives from SDS, SNCC, CORE and the Student Peace Union all met at Port Huron in Michigan
What did the social protest groups call students to do when they met up in 1962?
- Change the political and social system
- Liberate the poor, racial minorities and al those enslaved by conformity
- Support a peaceful foreign policy
Why did women’s activism grow dramatically in the 1960s?
because of the persistent inequality and the influence of Betty Friedan and other protests movements
What jobs did women have in 1963?
Low-paid ones such as waitresses and shop assistants or teachers and nurses if they were educated
What did Congresswoman Martha Griffiths say to an airline that fired stewardesses when they were married or reached 32?
“What are you running, an airline or a whorehouse?”
How was there huge employment inequality for women in the 1960s?
80% of teachers were women but only 105 of principals were women.
What did Betty Friedan publish and when?
“The Feminine Mystique” in 1963 where she drew attention to the dissatisfaction of middle-class housewives and wrote about “the problem that has no name” and how women were imprisoned in a “comfortable concentration camp”. the book tapped into a reservoir of discontent and became a bestseller
Why did women particularly struggle when campaigning for equal rights?
They weren’t seen as important in other social protest groups, such as the SNCC leader, Stokely Carmichael said “the only position for women in SNCC is prone”
What was the economic situation that Kennedy inherited?
There had been recessions in 1958 and 1960 which had damaged the Republican reputation for economic competence. He inherited a slow recovery and 6.8% unemployment.
Who did kennedy have a public dispute with which damaged his relationship with business?
The president of US Steel: Roger Blough
How did kennedy improve the economy?
In 1962 with unemployment remaining at 6% it seemed like economic issues could be the main issue in his re-election campaign. He proposed a huge tax cut in 1963 and the effect was swift with growth returning in the same year. Kennedy said “A rising tide lifts all boats” and 60% of Americans supported the tax cuts
What did kennedy want to combine into growth and what motivated him to do this?
He wanted to combine growth with social justice, having been influenced by his friend, JK Galbraith’s book: “The Affluent Society”
How did Kennedy end up being very successful econonmically/
By 1966, Kennedy’s measures had reduced unemployment to 3.8% and had increased minimum wage, expanded unemployment benefits and continued Eisenhower’s spending on highway construction
In what way did Medicare hinder the people it wanted to help?
hospitals drove up medical costs as they knew the government would reimburse them
What was Kennedy’s legacy?
A huge “what if?”. In some ways he handed over a host of problems such as Vietnam, civil rights, women, Hispanic and native American rights but also relations with the USSR and the power and independence of the FBI and CIA was becoming problematic.
Yet he was also the first president who understood the media, left the economy in a healthy state and started the process of addressing social problems.
Why did Kennedy lack to push forward with his New Frontier?
- Foreign policy concerns in Cuba, Berlin and Vietnam dominated his time
- He was a first-term president with a close-run election victory
- He was a Northern Democrat and very aware of splitting his party over civil rights
What did CORE organise in the spring of 1961?
The Freedom Rides
What was the aim of the Freedom Rides?
They wanetd to repeat their 1947 Journey Of Reconciliation and also test how much integration on transport had improved.
If they could make it from Washington to New Orleans without incident, it would prove that progress was being made
Why were the Freedom Rides significant?
Images of defiant but badly beaten riders like James Peck were broadcast globally, especially by the Soviet Union
How did Robert Kennedy act in response to the Freedom Rides?
He called off for a cooling period but the riders kept going strong and so he forced Democrat Governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisana to protect the riders.
Were the Freedom Rides successful?
Yes, it gained huge international recognition and in Nov 1961, the ICC - Interstate Commerce Commission, issued instructions ending segregation in interstate travel and facilities.
Who was the police chief of Albany and what instructions did he give to his officers?
Laurie Pritchett, he had studied the Movement and didnt want aggravatoin and presidential involvement so his instructions were:
- police the marches fairly and protect the demonstrators
- contact local jails so if African Americans were arrested they weren’t crowded into single cells
- treat King when he arrived with considerable care
What did the Albany Campaign teach King?
the importance of unity, choosing target cities and having clear goals when starting movements
When was the March on Washington?
27th August 1963
How many marchers descended on Washington in the March?
Over 200,000
Who organised the March on Washington?
James Farmer of CORE, John Lewis of SNCC, Martin Luther King jr of SCLC, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, Whitney Young of the Urban League and Randolph as head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
Name 5 differnet opponents of civil rights?
- white southerners, who belogned to Citizens’ Councils or the KKK
- Southern law enforcement officials eg Bull Connor
- Southern state governments eg Alabama under George Wallace
- Many Americans outside the South: polls showed civil rights bottom of voter concerns
- Congress: blocked Kennedy’s civil rights bill in 1963
What did JK Galbraith publish in 1958?
The Affluent Society - it emphasises the pooverty of a permanent American underclass
What did Michael Harrington publish in 1962?
The Other America - estimated that 40-60 million Americans were in poverty
What did airlines do that showed discrimination against women?
Fired women who married or reached their 30s
