Kennedy & Johnson

Chapters 38 & 39

Kennedy’s Presidency• Young, inspirational, refreshing• Young Cabinet

– Sec. of Defense - Robert McNamara– Attorney General - Robert Kennedy

• Wanted to target organized crime and civil rights violations

• Peace Corps - volunteers inunderdeveloped countries

New Frontier

• Helped expand the House Rules Committee– Decides the rules for new programs and how

effective they might be– Had been dominated by conservatives

• Went after big businesses and later decidedon a tax cut

• Promoted the idea of landing a man on themoon

Problems in Europe• JFK met with Krushchev in 1961

– Krushchev was very belligerent andthreatened to cut off West Berlin

• Back off and built the Berlin Wall• To keep people in East Germany• Became THE symbol of the Cold War

Foreign Flare-Ups & FlexibleResponse

• Southeast Asia– Laos - was a civil war where there was the

threat of communism• JFK decided not to send troops• Brinksmanship left little room for choice for

dealing with smaller Cold War threats

• JFK & McNamara come up with FlexibleResponse– A larger number of military options– Nukes…Navy Seals…. Green Berets

Vietnam• Flexible Response proved dangerous

because it led to easier involvement– Could then lead to escalation

• Diem was in control of a shaky S.Vietnam– JFK ordered a # of military advisors there– Kennedy’s Adm. Eventually encouraged a

coup against Diem in 1963• Led to the political disintegration of the country

• At this time it was still “their war,” but wewere becoming more involved

JFK & Cuba• 1961 - JFK creates the Alliance for Progress

– Marshall Plan for Latin America– Not as effective

• JFK inherited the plans for the Bay of Pigsinvasion from Ike– Plan to oust Castro by training and supporting

Cuban refugees to overthrow his govt.– Was a disaster from the start and JFK decided

against helping– Pushed Castro closer to the Soviets

Cuban Missile Crisis• Spy photos above Cuba revealed that the

Soviets had given Castro nuclear weapons– 90 miles / 5 minutes (via ICBM)

• JFK decided on a “quarantine” of Cuba (ablockade)– Went on for a week and no one was backing down– Eventually a deal was made to not invade Cuba

and we would remove our missiles from Turkey• In 1991, we found out how bad it could have

been

Aerial Photosof Missiles inCuba

JFK’s Assassination• JFK is assassinated by Lee

Harvey Oswald in Dallas in1963– A few days later he is killed

by a man named Jack Ruby– Is an investigation by the

Warren Commission• Lyndon Johnson becomes

the new President

Lyndon Johnson• Former Senate Majority Leader

– Good with Congress and dealing• Arrogant and concieted• Fought for JFK’s initiatives when he took over

– Civil Rights Act of 1964• Banned racial discrimination in public

facilities– Created the Equal Employment Opp.

Commission

• Need to win office in his own right

Election of 1964• Dems nominate LBJ• GOP nominate Barry Goldwater, Sen.

From Arizona– Attacked income tax, Social Security, the

TVA, civil rights leg. And the nuclear testban treaty

– Followers said “In your heart you know he’sright.”

– LBJ’s supporters said “In your guts youknow he’s nuts”

Election of 1964- LBJ Wins

War on Poverty & Great Society

• Office of Economic Opportunity– $ for Appalachia

• Dept. of Housing & UrbanDevelopment– Robert Weaver - first black cabinet sec.

• Created the National Endowmentfor the Arts

War on Poverty & Great Society

• Created Medicare– Health insurance for the elderly– 1/2 of those over 65 had no health ins.

• Medicaid– Health insurance for low-income families

• Head Start - early reading program• Civil Rights Legislation

– Voting Rights Act, 24th Amendment

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

• A U.S. destroyer, the Maddox, wasattacked by N. Vietnamese gunboatswhile in international waters– A second ship, the C. Turner Joy later

attacked• LBJ asks Congress for ability to protect

U.S. forces and allies

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• Passed with 2 dissenting votes in the Houseand 1 in the Senate

• Allowed the Prez to “take all necessary steps,including the use of force, to assist anymember…. Of the SEATO requestingassistance in defense of communism”

• Allowed LBJ to escalate in Vietnam

Johnson & Vietnam

• After an attack against U.S. forces inPleiku LBJ launches air strikes

• “Operation Rolling Thunder”– Massive bombing of N. Vietnam

• Soon took over the war from S. Vietnam– Worried about the “domino theory”– Escalation continued

U.S. Troops on Vietnam

Vietnam

Opposition to Vietnam

• Allowed the Soviets more influenceelsewhere while we were busy

• Anti-war demonstrations grew at home -especially at colleges

• Lots of protest to the draft• Horrible images coming back from the

war did not help

Images from Vietnam

Credibility Gap

• Was always talk of success– When the bombing stopped it seemed like no

advantage had been gained• Dropped more bombs in one year than during all of WWII

– Constantly told success was around the corner -just need more troops

– Constant talk about high number of Vietcong andN. Vietnamese casualties but no signs of winning

Tet Offensive• Jan. 1968 was supposed to be a cease-

fire for the Tet holiday• Vietcong and N. Vietnamese were

supposed to be near defeat– Instead they launched a huge offensive– A military defeat for the Vietcong, but a big

political victory• Highlighted the credibility gap

Tet Offensive

Massivecoordinated attacks

all over SouthVietnam… sign of

an army on theverge of defeat?

PR Nightmare

• Walter Cronkite came back fromVietnam - had been there for the TetOffensive– Declared the Vietnam

War “unwinnable”• "If I've lost Cronkite,"

Johnson reportedly told an aide, "I've lost middle America."

Trouble for LBJ• LBJ, a sitting President, was being

challenged for the GOP nomination byEugene McCarthy– Almost lost to him in the NH primary– A sign he had lost the public’s confidence– Robert Kennedy also joined the race

• LBJ announces he would not seek asecond term

Election of 1968• Dems nominate Hubert Humphrey

– RFK assassinated during the campaign• Because of his stance on Israel and the 1967 Arab-Israeli

war (Sirhan Sirhan)– Dem convention in Chicago was a mess

• Lots of protests that turned violent thanks to mayor Daley -hurt the party

• GOP nominates Richard Nixon– “law & order, “silent majority”– “honorable peace” in Vietnam

• Close, but Nixon Wins– George Wallace polls well - segregation

Election of 1968

1960s Cultural Upheaval

• More and more money being spent in Vietnam -less for Great Society projects

• Protest grew against the war, poverty, racialconflict

• Protest movement among the young grew• “hippie” movement (drugs, counter-culture)• “patriotism” became a dirty word• Sexual Revolution

– “The Pill” and “free love” (with no thought aboutconsequences or STDs)