Kennedy 1961-63 and the New Frontier

Question 1

Kennedy and New Frontier

Answer 1

• He won the presidential election campaign of 1960 and was president until his assassination in 1963.
• In his acceptance speech as president he mentioned the New Frontier. At first it was simply a slogan to unite and inspire the American people and get them behind him. However, it soon became a program of reform and change in which Kennedy hoped to make the US a fairer society
• It aimed to tackle 3 focus areas: poverty, inequality and deprivation. Above all else, he wanted to make the USA a fairer and better society and he asked Americans to join him in being New Frontiersmen.

Question 2

Civil Rights

Answer 2

• Kennedy introduced a Civil Rights bill to Congress in Feb 1963. This aimed to give black Americans equality in housing and education.
• Kennedy sent troops to ensure James Meredith could be the first black student at Mississippi University.
• Kennedy threatened legal action against Louisiana for not funding mixed schools.
• Kennedy appointed Thurgood Marshall as Americas first black federal judge.

Question 3

Social Reform

Answer 3

• Housing Act 1961: Provided cheap loans for the redevelopment of inner cities
• Area redevelopment Act 1961: Gave loans to states with long term unemployment
• Social Security Act 1962: Gave greater financial aid to elderly and unemployed.
• Manpower and Training Act 1962: Provided retraining for the long term unemployed
• Kennedy planned to start Medicare, a cheap system of state health insurance.
• Kennedy increased minimum wage from $1.00 an hour to $1.25 an hour.

Question 4

Economy

Answer 4

• Kennedy increased spending on defence and space technology which created jobs
• Kennedy decided not to balance the budget and instead introduced a general tax cut, more spending means more goods sold to increase economic growth and reduce unemployment
• Kennedy introduced $900 million public works programmes to build roads and public buildings

Question 5

Opposition

Answer 5

• Religion: He was the first Catholic president
  This created suspicion from the more traditional Protestant Politicians
• Position: His position as president wasn’t strong as he had only won by a narrow margin in the 1960 presidential campaign
• South: Greatest opposition came from Southern Congressmen, even democrats, who disliked his commitment to civil rights. They felt that equal rights for Black Americans would cost them votes of whites in the South
• Congress: Many older members of Congress felt he was too young and inexperienced and distrusted his “Brains Trust”.
• Socialist: Some people were suspicious of the radical nature of his “New Frontier” and the pace of change and saw it as a socialist programme.