Kennedy
Zach Price
Events of Kennedy's Term
Election of 1960
- Dem- JFK
- Repub- Nixon
- Kennedy was a Roman Catholic, and to this point the majority of Presidents elected had been Protestant, so it was thought that he would lose because of this.
- The election was incredibly close, and JFK only won the popular vote by .02%.
- The televised debates played a huge role, mainly because of Nixon's appearance. He had an injured leg and looked sickly in general, and this was a dissuading factor when voting for him.
- Flexible Responses: The process of developing multiple military strategies to use in different situations.
- Alliance for Progress: It was a program that tried to lower the distribution of wealth in Latin America and quiet Communist agitation. Mostly unsuccessful.
- Bay of Pigs: Exiles landed in the Bay but Kennedy was against the direct intervention of the overthrow of Fidel Castro, leading to the exiles' surrender
- Kennedy ordered a quarantine of Cuba, blocking it until Soviet ships approached and signed a compromise to pull missiles out of Cuba.
- Ended the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Berlin Wall: A wall constucted by Soviets in the middle of Germany which stopped people in Communist East Germany from crossing over into West Germany.
- Kennedy was a supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, and his support swayed many African American votes in his favor, which played a large factor in his winning the election.
- MLK began a campaign against discrimination in Birmingham, Alabama, where protesters were attacked by dogs and sprayed with water hoses. JFK was shocked and promised to find a solution to racial discrimination.
- March on Washington: MLK leads a peaceful march of 200,000 supporters in August of 1963 in support of civil rights.
- He was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
- Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby who 'avenged' Kennedy
- LBJ was sworn into office, and for the most part retained Kennedy's cabinet and staff.