John F. Kennedy
By Conner Mann
The Election of Kennedy
- John F. Kennedy ran for President of the United States in the Election of 1960
- John F. Kennedy was a Democrat
- Kennedy won the popular vote in 303-219.
- Kennedy was the youngest person ever elected President. His New Frontier idea was evident in the Space Race, The Peace Corps, and FBI investigations
The Cold War
- "Flexible Response": strategy pushed by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara that developed an array of military options that could be precisely matched to the necessities of the crisis at hand. This increased the military spending.
- Kennedy and Nam: 1961 he increased military advisors to protect South Vietnam but in 1963 Kennedy encouraged the killing of the South's leader Diem.
- Cuba: Kennedy's Alliance for Progress was the Marshall Plan for aid to Latin America. The Bay of Pigs fiasco led to Cuba's Soviet Union attachment. The Soviet Union began installing nuclear missiles in Cuba until the 1963 pact prohibiting trial nuclear explosions was signed. Know as the Cuba Missile Crisis
- Berlin Crisis: Thousands of East Germans fled to West Germany because of the pro-west ideals.
- Berlin Wall: The emigration from East Germany was restricted with the construction of the Berlin Wall, or the real Iron Curtain of the Cold War.
Kennedy and Civil Rights
- The Kennedy's and the Kings maintained a good relationship
- 1963: MLK Jr led a desegregation peaceful protest in Birmingham, the most segregated city in America
- August 1963: MLK Jr made his famous March on Washington and the I have a Dream Speech in support of Kennedy's push for civil rights.
Kennedy's Assassination
- November 22, 1963 JFK was killed while parading through the streets of Downtown Dallas
- He was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. Lyndon B. Johnson took over as President.
- Kennedy's ideas lived on, and his public image swelled after his death