John F. Kennedy
35th President
Election of 1960
- Democratic candidate running against Republican Nixon
- Kennedy had 303 electoral votes while Nixon had 219
- Religious groups played a big part: Nixon had many Protestant votes while Kennedy had Catholic votes
Cuban Missile Crisis
- In Oct. 1962, an American U2 plane captured images of a missile being built in Cuba by the Soviets
- Kennedy kept very quiet about it and decided that the best plan of action was to surround Cuba with a naval blockade
- Bays of Pigs: An attempt by USA to rid Cuba of communists
Berlin Crisis
- When Berlin Wall was built, Kennedy and Khrushchev met, and Kennedy sent the message that the USA accepted the permanent separation
Civil Rights
- Civil Rights Act of 1964: Made segregation in public illegal
- Equal employment opportunity commission had to enforce the law
- The Kennedys and Martin Luther King's Family were very close
- Kennedy gained many votes because of his promise to end segregation
Kennedy's Assasination
-In November of 1963, Kennedy was assassinated near Dealy Plaza, in Dallas, Texas
Was shot by a sniper - Lee Harvey Oswald, who was later also assassinated.
-The White House is taken over by Lyndon B. Johnson