| Lesson 12--The 1960s Intro: Changing of the Guard 1. The youngest replaces the oldest president we had 2. 1st president born in the 20th century 3. 1st president w/small children since TR 4. Indirect leadership (vs center stage leadership) 5. 1960 election: Kennedy: 303, 22 states; Nixon: 265, 26 states TV debates, first televised debates; TR was young, idealistic I 1960s Politics A. JFK--The Man 1. Graduate of Harvard; WWII Vet; Reporter for the Hearst Newspapers 2. Elected to House--1946; Senate--1952 3. Health problems--bad back, asthma, scarlet fever, Addison's Disease (human body does not naturally produce adrenaline) given the last rites several times in his life 4. "The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this country" 5. New Frontier--theme of the Kennedy administration 6. Peace Corps--March 1961; Executve rder B. JFK's Foreign Policy 1. Alliance for Progress-$20 billion into Latin America 2. The Missile Gap did not really exist 3. Defense Secretary--Robert McNamara; Theme--"Flexible Response;" Counter-Insurgency Tactics, Special Forces; Increased defense budget--25% 4. JFK--"Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate" 5. Secretary of State--Dean Rusk C. Bay of Pigs Invasion--1961 1. Operation Zapata--CIA planned invasion of Cuba and Assassination of Castro; Planned under Eisenhower admin. 2. 1,500 anti-Castro Cubans; 1,200 captured; JFK would provid no air support 3. It was a complete fiasco; he fired both the Director and Assistant Dir. of the CIA 4. The CIA and the Mafia were working together to assassinate Castro (Robert Maheau, Johnny Roselli, Carlos Marcello, Santos Trafficate, Sam Giancana) 5. Robert F Kennedy (younger brother)--White House Cubans--Operation Mongoose--Continue to try to remove Castro 6. June 1961--JFK and Khrushchev meet in Vienna; JFK asks Congress for $3.5 b for defense; Urged Americans to build bomb shelters. 7. Aug 1961--Belin Wall is constructed (1961-1989) D. Cuban Missile Crisis--1962 1. After the Bay of Pigs, The soviets sent troops and tactical & Intermediate Range Missiles to Cuba (2min response time) 2. Oct 1962--U2 Spy Plane discovered them; 13 days of October; NSC met in continuous emergency session 3. 2 proposals: Military Leaders--Immediate invasion of Cuba; RFK & McNamara--afraid invasion would appear no better than imperialistic Japan, they wanted quarantine or blockade of Cuba 4. RFK worked through a backwater channel (unofficial means of communication) 5. Soviet ships were already at sea with more missiles; it came down to a stand-off to see who, if any, would back down 6. Khruschev would remove the missiles; if the US would promise to not invade Cuba & remove missiles from Turkey 7. Operation Mongoose continues on (JFK & RFK's personal war against Castro) E. Background on Vietnam 1. America's longest War 2. FDR=Pro-Ho (Ho Chi Minh); Truman needed the French's help against the SU; IKE--$2.6 b of aid to the French in the French-Vietnamese War (1945-1954) 3. JFK's Flexible response brought the US into a prolonged military involvement in Southeast Asia 4. French was beaten in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu--1954 Geneva Peace Talks--Vietnam divided at the 17th Parallel, reunification election to take place in 1956 (US not there, took no part in it) 5. Ho Chi Minh had drawn up a Declaration of Independence for Vietnam in 1945; (Quoted Jefferson and Marx) 6. PROBLEM--Vietnam was seen as a Communist Expansion and not also as a decolonization movement 7. President Diem was illegally elected over S Vietnam in 1956; assassinated in a coup in 1963 8. Vietcong--were Ho Chi Minh supporter supporters S Vietnam 9. "Domino Theory"--if S Vietnam fell to the Communists, it would spread throughout all of Southeast Asia. "Fight them now, or later when they are stronger" **US Troops in Vietnam under JFK (military advisors, special forces, trainers) 1961--3,000 1962--11,300 1963--16,300---by the time of his death in Nov 1968--over 500,000--at the height of the Vietnam War F. JFK's Domestic Policy 1. Civil Rights (Black Vote-- 1956: R=60% D=40%; 1960: R=30% D=70%) a. Integration of Univ. of MS (1962) and Univ of AL (1963); Gov.s Ross Barnett and George Wallace b. Feb 1960: Sit-ins, SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) 70,000 in over 100 cities in 20 states c. Aug 1963: March on Washington; Over 200,000 2. New Frontier Measures a. Federal Aid to build medical schools and Mental Health Programs b. Housing Bill ($5 billion in 4 years for Urban Renewal) c. 1st Bill on Water Pollution d. Social Security Amendments (Increase Benefits) e. Test Ban Treaty w/the Soviets f. Measures that failed (Fed Aid for Edu., Medical Care for the Aged) G. JFK Assassination (Novembe 22, 1963) 1. Why he came to TX 2. Two official Government investigations of the assassination; Warren Commission: Report in 26 volumes, Sept 1964, decided that Lee Harvey Oswold killed him HSCA (House Select Committee of Assassinations) 1977-1979, 13 volumes 3. Warren Commission--"Magic Bullet Theory" (7 sepearate nonfatal wounds in two bodies) 2 hits, 1 miss 4. Both the FBI & CIA withheld evidence from the Warren Commission to cover their back-sides 5. Leaders felt that the nation needed a quick answer to avoid a war w/Russia & get country moving in new direction |
| HIST 1302 |
| Pg1-L1 Pg2-L1&2 Pg3-L2 Pg 4-L3 Pg5-L4 Pg6-L5 Pg7-L5&6 Pg8-L6 Pg9-L8 Pg10-L8&9 Pg11-L9 Pg12-L10 Pg13-L11 Pg14-L11 Pg16-L12 |
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