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Chapter 24: The New Frontier
and The Great Society
Section 1: The New Frontier
The Election of 1960
• The 1960 presidential election began the era of
television politics.
▫ Voters began using this medium as a voting tool.
• The Democrat:
▫ John F. Kennedy
 A wealthy Catholic from MA.
• The Republican:
▫ Richard Nixon
 A Quaker from a financially struggling family.
• During the campaign Democrats spent over $6
million in TV and radio ads, while Republicans
spent over $7.5 million.
• Two main focuses of the campaign:
▫ The economy
▫ The Cold War
• Kennedy felt that the U.S. faced a threat from the
Soviets because we were behind the Soviets in
weaponry.
▫ Nixon believed that the Republican administration
was on the right track with its foreign policy.
• Kennedy would win the election in one the closest
races in American history.
The Kennedy Mystique
• What did Kennedy offer?
▫ Youth
▫ Optimism
▫ Charisma
• He told Americans during his inaugural address
“ask not what your country can do for you, ask
what you can do for your country.”
• Kennedy was the 1st president to broadcast his
press conferences live on TV.
Success and Setback on the Domestic Front
• The New Frontier▫ Kennedy hoped to increase:
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Aid to education
Provide health insurance to the elderly
Create a Department of Urban Affairs
Help migrant workers
▫ Kennedy was unsuccessful in pushing through
many of his domestic programs.
 Many Republicans and conservative Southern
Democrats felt the New Frontier was too costly.
• Kennedy advocated the New Deal strategy of
deficit spending that had been implemented
during FDR’s presidency.
• Congress was convinced to invest more funds for
defense and space exploration to create jobs and
encourage economic growth.
• Kennedy and the Women’s Movement:
▫ JFK helped the women’s movement by creating a
Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.
 This called for federal action against gender
discrimination and affirming the right of women to
equally paid employment.
Warren Court Reforms
• Chief Justice Earl Warren and his court took on
a much more activist tone, which helped to
shape national policy.
▫ The Warren Court took stands on:
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The Civil Rights Movement
Freedom of the Press
Separation of Church and State
The rights of the accused.
• One of the biggest issues for the court was
reapportionment.
▫ The way in which states draw up political districts
based on changes in population.
• The Warren Court decided on the principle of
“one man, one vote,” which required state
legislatures to reapportion electoral districts so
that all citizens’ votes would have equal weight.
• During the 1960s, the Supreme Court used the
14th Amendment to apply to the Bill of Rights to
the states.
▫ Due Process required that the law not treat an
individual unfairly, arbitrarily, or unreasonably,
and the court must follow proper procedures and
rules when trying a case.
• Separation of Church and State was resolved
with the court ruling that states could not
compose official prayers and require prayer in
public schools.
Chapter 24
Kennedy Confronts Global Challenges
• JFK focused much of his time on foreign policy as
the nation’s rivalry with the USSR deepened.
• JFK attempted to curb communism and reduce the
threat of nuclear war.
• Unlike Eisenhower, Kennedy supported a “flexible
response.”
▫ He asked for a build up of conventional troops and
weapons
 This was costly but allowed the U.S. to fight a limited
style of warfare.
▫ JFK also supported the Special Forces- a small army
unit established in the 1950s to wage guerrilla warfare.
Alliance for Progress
• An attempt to improve U.S. and Latin American
relations.
• It is a series of cooperative aid projects with
Latin American governments.
▫ Over a 10 year period, $20 Billion was promised to
Latin America.
▫ In Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, and Central
America republics, real reform took place.
▫ In other countries, the governing rulers used the
money to remain in power.
Peace Corps
• Created to help less developed nations fight poverty,
training young Americans to spend two years
assisting in a country.
• The Peace Corps is still active today and has become
one of JFK’ s most important and withstanding
legacies.
• Space Race▫ Both the U.S. and the USSR began hoping to dominate
space to enhance their positions on Earth.
▫ JFK wanted Americans to be the first to reach the
moon and he pushed Congress to make it a reality.
The Cold War in
Space
• Sputnik-
▫ The 1st satellite launched into space by the USSR in 1957.
▫ JFK worried that the Soviet success in space might convince
people that communism is than capitalism.
• Yury Gagarin-
▫ Became the first person to orbit the Earth in 1961.
 6 weeks after JFK gave went before Congress and gave a speech
telling the nation that we will land a man on the moon by the end
of the decade.
• John Glenn-
▫ In 1962, Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth.
• July 1969 Apollo 11 Mission-
▫ Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins landed on the
moon.
 “The Eagle has landed” Armstrong became the first human to walk
on the moon.
Crises of the Cold War
• Fidel Castro and Cuba began forming an alliance
with the Soviets and its leader, Nikita
Khrushchev.
• During the Eisenhower presidency, the CIA had
secretly trained and armed Cuban exiles known
as La Brigada.
• JFK’s advisers approved a plan to invade Cuba
using La Brigada.
Bay of Pigs
• On April 17, 1961
• 1,400 armed Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of
Pigs on the south coast of Cuba.
• Disaster struck as JFK cancelled air support for
the exiles in order to keep the U.S. involvement a
secret.
• Most of the La Brigada were either killed or
captured by Castro’s army.
The Berlin Wall
• After meeting the Soviet leader Khrushchev, JFK
refused to recognize East Germany or to have
the U.S. withdraw from Berlin.
• Khrushchev retaliated by constructing a wall
through Berlin, stopping movement between the
Soviet sector and the rest of the city.
▫ For the next 30 years, the Berlin Wall symbolized
the Cold War division between East and West.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
• During the summer of 1962, American
intelligence agencies discovered that Soviet
technicians and equipment had arrived in Cuba
and that military construction was in progress.
• Photographs proved that the Soviets had placed
long- range missile in Cuba.
• JFK ordered it stopped but work continued on
the site.
• Nuclear holocaust was feared but neither JFK
nor Khrushchev wanted WWIII.
• JFK agreed not to invade Cuba and to remove
the missiles in Turkey.
• The Soviets agreed to remove missiles in Cuba.
• The Cuban missile crisis was the closest the
world came to a nuclear war.
▫ This is also known as the 13 Days.
• Both sides agreed to work out a plan to ease
tension.
▫ In 1963 both sides agreed to a treaty banning the
testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere.
▫ The missile crisis led to the demise of Khrushchev
and the new Soviet leadership was less interested
in reaching agreements with the West.
▫ The result was a huge Soviet arms buildup.
The Death of a President
• On November 22, 1963 while riding in a
presidential motorcade in Dallas, Texas, JFK
was shot twice.
▫ He was pronounced dead shortly after.
• Lee Harvey Oswald, a Marxist, was accused of
killing Kennedy.
▫ Oswald was shot a killed two days later by Jack
Ruby.
 It was suspected that Ruby killed Oswald to protect
others involved in the murder.
The Warren Commission
• Chief Justice Warren concluded with his report
that Oswald was the lone gunman.
• The report of the Warren Commission left a few
questions unanswered and conspiracy theories
have persisted.
• JFK successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, continued to
promote many of JFK’s programs.
Chapter 24
Johnson take the Reins
• LBJ took office during what seemed like a
prosperous time for the United States.
▫ In reality, if you moved away from the nation’s affluent
suburbs, there were some 50 million poor people.
▫ JFK and LBJ made the elimination of poverty a major
policy goal and promised to devote national resources
to reduce human suffering.
• LBJ was a Texan who spoke directly and roughly at
times. He sought ways to find consensus.
▫ His ability to build coalitions made him one of the
most effective and powerful leaders in Senate history.
War on Poverty
• Johnson declared that his administration was
waging an unconditional war on poverty in America.
• In August 1964, Congress created the Office of
Economic Opportunity (OEO)
▫ Focused on creating jobs and fighting poverty.
• The Election of 1964:
▫ Democrat candidate= Lyndon Johnson
▫ Republican candidate= Barry Goldwater
 Americans were not ready for Goldwater’s aggressive
message and Johnson won in a landslide.
The Great Society
• LBJ promised a Great Society during his campaign.
▫ It was a vision of a more perfect, more equitable
society.
• Between 1965 and 1968, over 60 programs were
passed.
▫ Including Medicare and Medicaid.
• Medicare is a health insurance program for the
elderly funded through Social Security.
• Medicaid is financed health care for those on welfare
or living below the poverty line.
Education Reforms
• Head Start Program▫ Preschool program administered to disadvantaged
children.
• VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America)▫ Was a domestic version of the Peace Corps.
▫ VISTA put young people to work in poor school
districts.
• Johnson urged Congress to act on legislation
that would deal with the deterioration in inner
cities.
• The Department of Housing and Urban
Development▫ Passed in 1965
▫ Its first secretary was Robert Weaver.
 The first African American to serve in a cabinet.
▫ “Model Cities” was a broad-based program with
matching funds from local and state agencies, that
supported programs in the areas of
transportation, health care, housing, and policing.
• Immigration Reform Act of 1965▫ Played a key role in changing the composition of
the American population.
▫ It kept a strict limit on the number of immigrants
admitted to the U.S. each year.
▫ It eliminated the national origins system.
 The system that favored northern European people.
▫ Immigrants arrived in the U.S. from all parts of
Europe and from Asia and Africa.
Legacy of the Great Society
• The impact of the Great Society was felt by all
aspects of American life and improved many
lives.
• Some Americans opposed the massive growth of
federal funds and criticized the Great Society for
intruding too much in their lives.
• There is a continued debate over the success of
the Great Society.
▫ It did result in many Americans asking questions,
questions Americans continue to ask today.