Ch 27-2 Kennedy’s Thousand Days
The Main Idea
John F. Kennedy brought energy, initiative, and important
new ideas to the presidency.
Content Statement
Analyze how the Cold War influenced domestic and
international politics between the end of WWII and 1992.
(Bay of Pigs, Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis)
Ch 27-2 vocabulary
• Jacqueline Kennedy
• New Frontier
• Mandate
• Earl Warren
• Warren Court
• Lee Harvey Oswald
• Warren Commission
Ch 27-2 vocabulary
• Jacqueline Kennedy: (1929-1994) American first lady; she was the
wife of JFK and was known for her style and social grace.
• New Frontier: nickname given to JFK’s plans for changing the nation.
• Mandate: authorization to act. Especially politically.
• Earl Warren: (1891-1974) American jurist and politician; he was Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969. Under his leadership
the court made many decisions that extended to individual rights.
• Warren Court: a term that refers to the years when Earl Warren
served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
• Lee Harvey Oswald: accused assassin of JFK. Ties to Communist
U.S.S.R.
• Warren Commission: a commission headed by Chief Justice Earl
Warren to investigate the assassination of JFK.
1. Kennedy’s New Frontier
1.Image / Reality
• Images of Kennedy
showed a young,
vital president. / He
suffered from
Addison’s disease
and a bad back.
• Almost like a movie
star
• PT-109
• Kennedy encouraged
the press to
photograph and write
about his children/
Jacqueline Kennedy
tried to protect their
privacy.
2.Congress
• Most in the early 1960s
were not reform minded,
which was reflected in
Congress.
• Kennedy’s narrow victory
left him without a clear
mandate to rule.
Congress didn’t approve
many New Frontier
proposals.
• Sometimes Kennedy was
able to bypass Congress
and solve problems.
Election of 1960
2. Kennedy’s New Frontier Problems
• Conservative Southern Democrats allied with Republicans and
blocked a great deal of JFK’s plans.
• JFK wanted to reduce taxes, provide federal aid to education,
and to create a health care plan for older Americans. Congress
did not act on these plans.
• JFK bypasses Congress to deal with increased steel prices. Very
effective.
• Steel companies plan to raise prices. JFK attempts to stop this to
combat inflation.
• JFK withdraws government contracts from steel companies
raising prices and starts a public campaign against these
companies.
• The companies relent and lower prices to original levels.
3.Space Program
•Khrushchev claimed the Soviet lead in space
showed the superiority of communism.
•“Is there any place where we can catch them
(USSR)” JFK
•U.S. feared if U.S.S.R. was ahead of us here
they could be ahead in weapons development
too.
•Afraid of nuclear bombings from space.
•In May 1961 Kennedy vowed that the United
States would land a man on the moon.
•The space race became a part of the Cold
War—a part that the United States would win.
•Sputnik 10/1957
4. The Warren Court/The Supreme Court in the Early 1960s
• During the Kennedy presidency, Supreme Court
decisions made major changes in American society.
• Under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren,
Court rulings extended individual rights and freedoms.
• Voting-rights reform
• The rights of the accused
• Religious freedom
4. The Warren Court/ Chief Justice Earl Warren
Many historians regard Earl Warren as one of the most
important chief justices. Some say second to only John
Marshall.
Warren did not have a positive record on civil rights
when President Eisenhower appointed him chief
justice in 1953.
• Called for the internment of Japanese Americans
during World War II.
• Fought against an effort to make California’s state
Assembly more representative of the people.
However, as chief justice, Warren led the Court to one
of the most significant civil rights advances in U.S.
history.
• Brown v. Board of Education (1954) banned racial
segregation in the nation’s schools.
The Warren Court
5.
Votingrights
Reform
• Prior to legislation in the 1960s, states did not
redraw the boundaries of legislative districts to
reflect population changes. Big cities were not
getting equal representation based on
population.
• Baker v. Carr (1962), Westberry v. Sanders
(1964), and Reynolds v. Sims (1964) changed
this practice to make each citizen’s vote more
equal. “one person, one vote”
6.Rights
of the
Accused
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961), Gideon v. Wainwright
(1963), Escobedo v. Illinois (1964), and
Miranda v. Arizona (1966) extended the Bill of
Rights to the actions of state governments.
7.Religious
Freedom
• In Engel v. Vitale (1962) and other cases, the
Warren Court defined the religion guarantees of
the First Amendment. Banned public religious
ceremonies. No official religion of U.S.
8.Kennedy’s Assassination
On November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated
in Dallas, Texas.
He was campaigning there to gain support from Southern
Democrats.
Vice President Johnson was sworn in within hours.
Kennedy’s death shocked the nation and the world.
Within hours, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald.
Known Communist. Worked for Texas School Book
Depository. Police officer found shot dead nearby.
While being transferred to the county jail, Oswald was shot to
death by Jack Ruby.
3 or 4 shots. Lone gunman??
Lee Harvey Oswald
9. The Warren Commission
• The strange circumstances surrounding President Kennedy’s death caused people to
wonder whether Oswald had acted alone in killing the president.
• President Johnson appointed the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination.
• They determined that there was no conspiracy and that Oswald and Ruby had each
acted alone.
• Additional government investigations and many private ones have never found
credible evidence of a conspiracy.
• Has not stopped conspiracy theories from developing.
• Presented findings on September 24, 1964:
• 3 shots fired: 2 hit and one missed.
• 1 shot: Single Bullet Theory, lack of damage to presidential limousine.
• 2nd shot: kill shot to JFK’s head
• Zapruder Film released in 1975. Spurs controversy. Leaves issues unexplained.
• Magic Bullet comes into question. Found at hospital later.
• Second Shooter?
• Herminio Diaz: Cuban exile bitter about Bay of Pigs Invasion
• George Hickey: Secret Service Agent that shot JFK by accident
Magic bullet
Magic bullet
Magic bullet-found later, not damaged
Grassy Knoll-heard shots fired
Grassy Knoll-heard shots fired
10. An end and a beginning/The Kennedy Legacy
Foreign
Relations
• Some felt the drama of the Kennedy presidency
was more evident than its achievements.
• However, in foreign affairs, relations with the
Soviet Union had improved.
• The Peace Corp produced goodwill toward the
United States.
• Kennedy did not have much success with
domestic issues.
Domestic
Achievements • He acknowledged that the nation’s social,
economic, and environmental problems would
take many years to solve.