John F. Kennedy
Ryo Yoshida
Election of Kennedy
- Democratic Party nominated John F. Kennedy
- Republican Party nominated Richard Nixon
- Kennedy wins election of 1960 with an electoral count of 303 to 219
- The closest it has been since election of 1916
- "New Frontier": Kennedy's campaign program that attempted to stabilize the economy and pass reform acts in education, civil rights, and health care
The Cold War
- "Flexible Response": The idea of developing many military options to fit the necessities of the crisis at hand
- 1961- Kennedy increased "military advisers" in South Vietnam to protect Diem from communists
- Cuba
- April 17, 1961- Cuba's Bay of Pigs, an American attempt to overthrow Cuban communist government, failed
- October 1962- US found out Soviets were installing nuclear weapons in Cuba (Cuban Missile Crisis)
- October 22, 1962- Kennedy ordered quarantine of Cuba and required Soviets to remove nuclear weapons
- October 28, 1962- Khrushchev agreed to take out missiles in exchange for removal of quarantine
- August 1961- After threats by US, Soviet Union constructed Berlin Wall that stopped population drain to West Germany
Kennedy and Civil Rights
- 1960- Freedom Riders worked to end segregation in facilities serving interstate bus passengers
- Voter Education Project registered blacks
- 1963- Martin Luther King, Jr. launched campaign against segregation
- Kennedy gave speech to promise to solve racial problems
Kennedy's Assassination
- To prepare for the next presidential campaign, Kennedy went to many states, including Texas
- November 22, 1963, Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas
- Extremely tragic event that shocked the nation