John F Kennedy
By - Mike Breton
Election of 1960
- Richard Nixon (R), former Vice-President of 8 years under Eisenhower, vs. Massachusetts senator John F. Kennedy.m
- Americans asked whether or not Kennedy would place national interest above the wishes of the pope.
- Kennedy assured that he would
- Nixon decided to not bash Kennedy's religion, but rather his inexperience , and stressed his own commitment against communism.
- Kennedy stressed his WWII heroisms, courage, and character.
- He named Democratic opponent Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate, due to the fact that Johnson was from Texas.
- He was youngest president at age 43
Cold War
- Kennedy believed that the US needed a "Flexible Response" to communism.
- America needed a variety of military options because Communism required maximum preparation.
- He endeared himself to Western Europe when he gave a speech in West Berlin and said "I am a citizen of West Berlin"
- Bay of Pigs - a group of CIA-trained Cuban were sent to Cuba in hopes of creating a revolution that would throw Fidel Castro from power.
- When Kennedy got word that the Soviet Union moved nuclear missiles to the Cuban coast, he ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba
- The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest instance of direct confrontation during the Cold War
Civil Rights / Assination
- Gave equal access to public facilities, ended segregation in schools, and provide federal protection of the right to vote
- On November 22nd, 1963, while in campaigning in Dallas, Kennedy was shot in the head and neck, and Texas governor John Connally was also badly injured. Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Hospital, and pronounced dead at 1:00 pm.
At 1:50 pm, Lee Harvey Oswald, who is the assassin of President Kennedy, was arrested in a nearby theatre. 2 days later, when being transported from the Dallas Police headquarters, Oswald was shot and killed by local nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
The New Frontier
- Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade
- Congress responded by conjuring up billions of dollars, and in 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human being to set foot on the moon. Kennedy was not there to see it, but America had completed his challenge.
- Kennedy also signed legislation to increase minimum wage and Social Security benefits, and approved the Civil Rights movement. Also know as "Camelot"