This document provides an overview of John F. Kennedy's presidency from 1960-1963, known as the "Camelot Era". It discusses Kennedy challenging Nixon for the presidency in 1960 and his narrow victory. His agenda as president included establishing the Peace Corps, pursuing the space program, advocating for flexible response in foreign policy, getting involved in Vietnam, and pushing for civil rights legislation. However, his presidency was cut short when he was assassinated in 1963, leaving questions about possible conspiracies unanswered.

1. Kennedy and the Camelot
Era
1960-1963

2. Learning Goal
 NJCCCS: 6.1.12.D.12.d
 Compare and contrast American public support of the
government and military during theVietnamWar with that of
other conflicts.
 NJCCCS: 6.1.12.D.13.e
 Explain why the Peace Corps was created and how its role has
evolved over time.

3. Kennedy Challenges Nixon for the
Presidency
 The Republicans
nominated Richard Nixon
to run for president and
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. for
vice president in the
election of 1960.
 The Democrats nominated
John F. Kennedy to run for
president and Lyndon B.
Johnson for vice president.

4. John F. Kennedy Campaigning for the Presidency, 1960.
At right is his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy

5. The Presidential Issues of 1960
 John F. Kennedy's Catholicism
aroused misgivings in the
Protestant, Bible Belt South.
 Kennedy charged that the
Soviets, with their nuclear
bombs and the Sputniks, had
gained onAmerica in prestige
and power.
 Nixon was forced to defend the
dying administration and claim
thatAmerica's prestige had not
slipped.

6. Election of 1961
 Television played a key role
in the presidential election
as Kennedy's personal
appeal attracted many.
 Kennedy won the
election of 1961, gaining
support in the large
industrial centers where he
had strong support from
workers, Catholics, and
African Americans.

7. Electoral vote 303 219

8. President John F.
Kennedy and His
Wife, Jacqueline
Bouvier
Kennedy. Shown
here leaving the
White House to
attend a series of
inaugural balls in
January 1961, the
young and
vibrant first
couple brought
beauty, style, and
grace to the
presidency.

9. Review- Developing Historical
Perspective 
 What factors help explain
the public’s fascination
with the Kennedys?
 Answer:The press
portrayed the Kennedys as
a young, attractive,
energetic, and stylish
couple; attention to arts
and culture; young
children; Kennedy’s
eloquence; television; an
admiring press.

10. Enter:TheWomen’s Movement
 The baby boom during the years
afterWorldWar II caused the role
of women to revert to the typical
role of a mother and wife.
 But the majority of the clerical
and service work jobs created
after 1950 were filled by women.
 Women's new dual role as both
workers and homemakers raised
urgent questions about family
life and about traditional
definitions of gender differences.

11. The Feminine Mystique
 Feminist Betty Friedan
published in 1963 The
Feminine Mystique,
helping to launch the
modern women's
movement.
 Friedan spoke to many
educated women who
supported her indictment
of the boredom of a
housewife.

12. The Stormy Sixties
Part 1: A New Frontier

13. Kennedy's "New Frontier" Spirit
 President Kennedy, the youngest
president to take office, assembled
one of the youngest cabinets,
including his brother Robert
Kennedy, the Attorney General, who
planned to reform the priorities of
the FBI.
 Kennedy's new challenge of a "New
Frontier" quickened patriotic
pulses.
 He proposed the Peace Corps, an
army of idealistic and mostly
youthful volunteers to bring
American skills to underdeveloped
countries.

14. Peace Corps
 The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then-Sen.
John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to
serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in
developing countries. From that inspiration grew a federal government
agency devoted to world peace and friendship.
 Throughout its history, the Peace Corps has adapted and responded to
the issues of the times.
 In an ever-changing world, Peace CorpsVolunteers have met new
challenges with innovation, creativity, determination, and compassion.
 Used as a means of countering the stereotype of the “Ugly American”
and “Yankee Imperialism”.
 1st Director- Sargent Shriver, Kennedy’s brother-in-law

15. Peace Corps’ Evolution
 From AIDS education to emerging
technologies to environmental
preservation to new market economies,
Peace CorpsVolunteers have helped
people build better lives for themselves.
 Their work in villages, towns, and cities
around the globe represents a legacy of
service that has become a significant
part of America’s history and positive
image abroad.
 This unique heritage continues to inspire
and, since 1961, 210,000+ Americans
have served in the Peace Corps, working
in 139 countries and making a difference
every day.

16. The New Frontier

17. The New Frontier at Home
 Southern Democrats and
Republicans despised the
president's New Frontier
plan
 Kennedy had campaigned
on the theme of
revitalizing the economy
after the recessions of the
Eisenhower years.
 To do this, the president
tried to curb inflation.
tax collections from those making over $50,000 per year climbed by 57 percent between 1963 and 1966, while
tax collections from those earning below $50,000 rose 11 percent.

18. Kennedy vs. the Steel Industry
 In 1962, he negotiated a
noninflationary wage
agreement with the steel
industry
 When the steel industry
announced significant
price increases, promoting
inflation, President
Kennedy erupted in wrath,
causing the industry to
lower its prices.

19. The Final Frontier
 Kennedy rejected the advice of
those who wished greater
government spending and
instead chose to stimulate the
economy by cutting taxes and
putting more money directly
into private hands.
 Kennedy also proposed a
multibillion-dollar plan to land
anAmerican on the moon.

20. Rumblings in Europe
 President Kennedy met with Soviet
leader Khrushchev at Vienna in June
1961.
 After making numerous threats, the
Soviets finally acted.
 After making numerous threats, the
Soviets finally acted.
 In August 1961, the Soviets began to
construct the BerlinWall, which was
designed to stop the large population
drain from East Germany toWest
Germany through Berlin.

21. The Berlin Wall, 1961-1989.
The wall separating East and
West Berlin stood for nearly
30 yrs as a hated symbol of
the division of Europe into
democratic and communist
camps. [right] East German
soldiers stand guard as the
concrete wall is constructed,
Nov. 20th, 1961.

22. Ich Bin Ein Berliner
“There are many people in the world who really
don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the
great issue between the free world and the
Communist world. Let them come to Berlin.
There are some who say that communism is the
wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And
there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere
we can work with the Communists. Let them
come to Berlin. And there are even a few who
say that it is true that communism is an evil
system, but it permits us to make economic
progress. Lass’sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them
come to Berlin.”

23. Western Europe
 Western Europe was
prospering after the Marshall
Plan aid and the growth of the
Common Market, the free-
trade area later called the
European Union.
 Focusing onWestern Europe,
Kennedy secured passage of
the Trade Expansion Act in
1962, authorizing tariff cuts of
up to 50% to promote trade
with Common Market
countries.
 American policymakers were
dedicated to an economically and
militarily united "Atlantic
Community" with the United
States the dominant partner.
 President of France, Charles de
Gaulle, was suspicious of American
intentions in Europe and in 1963,
vetoed British application for
Common Market membership,
fearing that the British "special
relationship" with the United
States would allow the U.S. to
indirectly control European affairs.

24. Foreign Flare-ups and
"Flexible Response"
 In 1960, the African Congo
received its independence
from Belgium and
immediately exploded in
violence.
 The U.N. sent in troops
while the United States
paid for it.

25. Independence of Laos
 In 1954, Laos gained its independence
from France and it, too erupted in
violence.
 Kennedy, avoiding sending troops,
sought diplomatic means in the Geneva
conference in 1962, which imposed a
peace on Laos.
 Defense Secretary Robert McNamara
pushed the strategy of "flexible
response" - that is, developing an array
of military options that could be
precisely matched to the necessities of
the crisis at hand.
 President Kennedy increased spending
on conventional military forces.

26. Review- Summarizing 
 What was the goal of the
doctrine of flexible
responses?
 Answer:To allow the U.S.
to fight limited wars
around the world while
maintaining a nuclear
balance of power with the
soviets.

27. Stepping into theVietnam Quagmire
 The doctrine of "flexible response"
provided a mechanism for a
progressive, and possibly endless,
stepping-up of the use of force
(Vietnam).
 In 1961, Kennedy increased the number
of "military advisors" in SouthVietnam
in order to help protect Diem from the
communists long enough to allow him
to enact basic social reforms favored by
the Americans.
 In November 1963, after being fed up
with U.S. economic aid being
embezzled by Diem, the Kennedy
encouraged a successful coup and killed
Diem.

28. Backbone.The United
States supports South
Vietnam

30. Closing the gap in Latin America
 In 1961, President Kennedy
extended the American hand of
friendship to LatinAmerica with
the Alliance for Progress, called
the Marshall Plan for Latin
America.
 A primary goal was to help the
LatinAmerican countries close
the gap between the rich and the
poor, and thus quiet communist
agitation.
 Results were disappointing as
America had few positive impacts
on LatinAmerica's immense
social problems.

31. Cuban Confrontations
 On April 17, 1961, 1,200 exiles
landed at Cuba's Bay of Pigs.
 President Kennedy was against
the direct intervention of the
overthrow of Fidel Castro in Cuba,
failing to provide air support for
the exiles.
 The invasion therefore failed as
the exiles were forced to
surrender.
 The Bay of Pigs blunder pushed
the Cuban leader further into the
Soviet embrace.

32. Failed Bay of
Pigs Invasion,
1961.Cuban
soldiers
demonstrate a
beach gun
they used
against a
bridage of ex-
Cubans who
furtively
invaded Cuba
as agents of
the United
States.This
debacle was
one of several
unsuccessful
American
attempts to
overthrow
Cuban leader
FidelCastro.

33. Review-Analyzing Effects 
 What were the
consequences of the failed
invasion for the United
States?
 Answer: Failure to oust
Castro, loss of world
prestige, embarrassment
for JFK, ransom for
captured commandos.

34. Cuban Missile Crisis
 In October 1962, it was
discovered that the Soviets were
secretly installing nuclear
missiles in Cuba.
 Kennedy rejected air force
proposals for a bombing strike
against the missile sites.
 Instead, on October 22, 1962,
he ordered a naval "quarantine"
ofCuba and demanded
immediate removal of the
weapons.

36. 13 Days
 For a week,Americans waited
while Soviet ships approached
the patrol line established by the
U.S. Navy off the island of Cuba.
 On October 28, Khrushchev
agreed to a compromise in which
he would pull the missiles out of
Cuba.
 The American government also
agreed to end the quarantine
and not invade the island.

38. Peaceful Coexistence?
 In late 1963, a pact prohibiting trial nuclear explosions [The
LimitedTest BanTreaty] in the atmosphere was signed.
 In June 1963, President Kennedy gave a speech at American
University,Washington, D.C. encouraging Americans to
abandon the negative views of the Soviet Union.
 He tried to lay the foundations for a realistic policy of
peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union.

39. 7 October
1963
President
Kennedy
signs the
Limited
NuclearTest
BanTreaty
in theTreaty
Room at the
White
House.

40. The Struggle for Civil Rights
 During his campaign, JFK had
gained the black vote by stating
that he would pass civil rights
legislation.
 In 1960, groups of Freedom Riders
spread out across the South to end
segregation in facilities serving
interstate bus passengers.
 A white mob torched a Freedom
Ride bus near Anniston, Alabama in
May 1961.
 When southern officials proved
unwilling to stop the violence,
federal marshals were dispatched
to protect the freedom riders.
Freedom Ride, 1961.
Rampaging whites
near Anniston,
Alabama, burned this
bus carrying an
interracial group of
Freedom Riders on
May 14th, 1961.

41. JFK and MLK Jr.
 For the most part, the Kennedy
family and the King family
(Martin Luther King, Jr.) had a
good relationship.
 SNCC and other civil rights
groups inaugurated a Voter
Education Project to register the
South's historically disfranchised
blacks.
 In the spring of 1963, Martin
Luther King, Jr. launched a
campaign against discrimination
in Birmingham,Alabama, the
most segregated big city in
America.

42. Hosing Down
Civil Rights
Demonstrators,
Birmingham,
Alabama, 1963

43. March onWashington
 Civil rights marchers were
repelled by police with attack
dogs and high-pressure water
hoses.
 In shock, President Kennedy
delivered a speech to the nation
on June 11, 1963 in which he
dedicated himself to finding a
solution to the racial problems.
 In August 1963, Martin Luther
King, Jr. led 200,000 black and
white demonstrators on a
peaceful "March on Washington"
in support of the proposed new
civil rights legislation

44. Martin Luther King Jr., Addresses the March on Washington, August
1963. This was the occasion of King’s famous “I Have a Dream
Speech”, in which he declared, “When the architects of our greatest
republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to
which every American was to fall heir.This note was a promise that all
men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the
inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

45. Conflicting Press Accounts of the March
onWashington, 1963

47. The Killing of Kennedy
 On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was shot and killed
as he was riding in an open limousine in Dallas,Texas.
 The alleged gunman was Lee Harvey Oswald.
 Oswald was shot and killed by self-appointed avenger, Jack
Ruby.
 Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office,
retaining most of Kennedy's cabinet.
 Kennedy was acclaimed more for the ideals he had spoken and
the spirit he had kindled for the goals he had achieved.

52. UnansweredQuestions
 The bizarre chain of events made some people wonder if
Oswald was part of a conspiracy.
 In 1963, the Warren Commission, investigated and
concluded that Oswald had shot the president while acting
on his own.
 Later, in 1979, a reinvestigation concluded that Oswald was
part of a conspiracy.
 Explanations have ranged from a plot by anti-Castro Cubans,
to a Communist-sponsored attack, to a conspiracy by the CIA