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Chapter 17 Summary The New Frontier & Great Society Section 1: Kennedy and the Cold War KENNEDY BECOMES PRESIDENT John F. Kennedy ran against Richard Nixon for president in the 1960 election. Kennedy called his plans for changing the nation the New Frontier. He spoke out about changes, but he also spoke out against communism. He won by a small majority of the popular vote. Kennedy had young, smart advisers, including the attorney general, who was his brother, Robert Kennedy. THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION In 1960 the CIA had been training exiled Cubans to invade Cuba. They wanted to remove Fidel Castro, the Communist dictator of Cuba. He had ties to the Soviet Union. The invasion, called the Bay of Pigs invasion, began during Kennedy’s early days in office. Many things went wrong and the invasion was a failure. Cuba grew closer to the Soviet Union. THE BERLIN CRISIS Kennedy met with Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, in 1961. Khrushchev demanded that the United States recognize East Germany as an independent nation and remove its troops from West Berlin. West Berlin was an island of freedom surrounded by East Germany. Kennedy reacted by sending more troops. Thousands of East Germans were escaping to West Berlin. To stop them, the East Germans closed the borders and built a high wall around Berlin. Anyone caught crossing the wall was shot. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visited West Berlin and told its people they would not be abandoned. Two years later, Kennedy, too, visited Berlin and repeated the promise. THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS The Cuban missile crisis began in October 1963, when U.S. spy planes found that the U.S.S.R. had put nuclear missiles in Cuba. These could strike anywhere in the United States. In response, Kennedy blockaded Cuba by sea. He put U.S. forces on full alert. Soviet ships carrying missile parts approached the American ships. Fortunately, at the last minute they turned back. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba if the United States promised never to invade Cuba. KENNEDY’S FOREIGN POLICY Kennedy created several programs to help poorer nations. The Peace Corps trained volunteers to serve as teachers and health care workers in poor countries. The Alliance for Progress gave aid to Latin America. However, it often tied the aid to anti-Communist dictators who were not supported by the people. Kennedy’s strategy was the flexible response. This meant strengthening non-nuclear forces so there were choices other than nuclear war. Chapter 17 Summary © Holt, Rinehart and Winston Section 2: Kennedy’s Thousand Days KENNEDY’S NEW FRONTIER Kennedy was skilled at using the media to project the image he wanted. He showed himself as young and athletic. Actually, he had many health problems. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was attractive and from a wealthy family. She supported the arts and made the White House the nation’s unofficial cultural center. Kennedy wanted to improve the nation with his New Frontier plans. However, he did not have a clear mandate. The election of 1960 was too close to be seen as permission for him to act. Kennedy urged Congress to reduce taxes in order to fight unemployment. He proposed federal aid for education and creation of a health plan for the elderly. Congress acted on none of these ideas. Kennedy did convince Congress to pass financial help for poor areas of the country. Congress also created a job retraining program and raised the minimum wage. In 1961 the Soviet Union caught Americans by surprise. It launched the first human into space. Kennedy proposed that within 10 years the United States should land a human on the moon. The space race began. THE WARREN COURT During Kennedy’s presidency, the Supreme Court made major changes in U.S. society. Led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the court made many important decisions about the laws of the land. The court became known as the Warren Court. In 1954 the court banned racial segregation in schools. In 1962 the court required the states to redraw the boundaries of their legislative districts when populations changed. In 1964 it decided that a person has a right to a lawyer during police questioning. The court also prohibited formal prayers and daily Bible readings in public schools. The justices said that the government may not make any one religion the nation’s “official” religion. THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was working to build support for his re-election campaign in Texas. He was in Dallas, riding in an open car on his way to deliver a speech. Suddenly shots were fired and Kennedy was killed. Within hours, Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the next president. Just hours after Kennedy was shot, the police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a troubled man with connections to Cuba and the Soviet Union. As Oswald was being moved to the county jail, he was shot to death by Jack Ruby, a man with ties to organized crime. These occurrences caused people to wonder if Oswald had acted alone. President Johnson named Earl Warren to head the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination. It concluded that Oswald and Ruby had each acted alone. Kennedy offered great promise to Americans. In world affairs he had won friends for the nation through the Peace Corps and bettered relations with the Soviet Union. At home, however, he was not able to accomplish all he set out to do. Chapter 17 Summary © Holt, Rinehart and Winston Section 3: The Great Society JOHNSON BECOMES PRESIDENT Johnson had been a congressman, a senator, and Senate majority leader. By 1960, when he became vice president, he had more influence in Washington, D.C., than any other Democrat. He had great political skills and great compassion for the underprivileged. ENACTING KENNEDY’S AGENDA Johnson told the nation that he would carry on Kennedy’s programs. He asked Kennedy’s advisers to stay. One of Kennedy’s plans was to fight poverty. Johnson called it the War on Poverty and gave it high priority. He got Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act. It created the Job Corps, a worktraining program for unemployed youth, and VISTA, Volunteers in Service to America. VISTA was a domestic Peace Corps. Kennedy’s tax cut bill was passed and the economy grew while unemployment fell. Johnson also got Congress to finally pass the Civil Rights Act. THE GREAT SOCIETY Johnson’s plans for the country went beyond those of Kennedy. He wanted to create the Great Society, a society with abundance, liberty, and justice for all. In the 1964 election, Johnson faced conservative Barry Goldwater. Goldwater suggested using nuclear weapons in Vietnam and thought that government programs to help people were similar to communism. Johnson won the election by a landslide. With a mandate to act, Johnson pushed Congress into action. In 1965 it passed the first large-scale program of government aid to public schools. Other programs created the first federal college scholarships and Head Start, a preschool education program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development was created. Congress approved the money for Medicaid. This provided free health care for poor people. Medicare, a health care program for the elderly, was also begun. In 1967 Johnson also signed laws to improve the environment and to create the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. JOHNSON’S FOREIGN POLICY Progress on the Great Society slowed by the end of 1966. One reason was that the government was spending $2.5 billion per month on the Vietnam War. Johnson was determined not to lose ground to the Communists. In 1965 he had sent troops to the Dominican Republic to end a revolt. The development of the Johnson Doctrine said that the United States had a right to step in if a Communist dictatorship might be established. In 1967 Johnson signed the first direct treaty with the Soviet Union in 50 years. Also, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 58 other nations agreed to ban weapons in outer space. In a 1968 crisis, the North Koreans captured the U.S. Navy spy ship Pueblo. Johnson negotiated a settlement for the Pueblo incident. North Korea released the crew but kept the ship. Chapter 17 Summary © Holt, Rinehart and Winston