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JOHN F. KENNEDY AND THE AMERICAN CITY: THE URBAN PROGRAMS OF THE NEW FRONTIER, 1961- 1963 William A. Foley, Jr. Submitted to the Faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History Indiana University December, 2005 ii Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ________________________________________ Joan Hoff, PhD, Director of Dissertation Research Doctoral ________________________________________ Committee: James H. Madison, PhD, Chair of Committee ________________________________________ George I. Juergens, PhD, Third Reader ________________________________________ Irving Katz, PhD, Fourth Reader Date of Oral Examination: December 20, 2005 iii © December 2005 William A. Foley, Jr. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iv Dedication To the Foley Families of Massachusetts and Indiana, “May the Road Rise to Meet You, May the Wind Be Always at Your Back, (and) May the Sun Shine Warm Upon Your Face.” An Old Irish Blessing… v Acknowledgements Many individuals and institutions contributed to the completion of this dissertation, and I wish to acknowledge them. First, my parents, the late William A. Foley and Miriam E. Foley, helped in so many ways, with encouragement, advice and financial assistance when we were starving graduate students, that the debt of gratitude is overwhelming. To my wife of 39 years, Mairin T. Foley, the debt is equal and even more significant. She not only typed this whole manuscript, but as well helped reproduce huge amounts of material, and further when I was unable due to other requirements to work on it, remained faithful to the cause and encouraging to the end, until completed. To our children, William M. Foley and Sonya F. Berle, extensive and special thanks are due for the same like kind encouragement over the years, and support, plus ideas. Additionally, I owe them both a huge debt for all the good times missed when they wanted to do things, but could not because the dissertation had to be completed. I wish to thank our son-in-law Bob Berle who offered many great ideas and much encouragement, and an enthusiastic “thank you” goes to our grandchildren William and Michael Foley, and Lila, Adeline, Miriam and Beatrice Berle. Particular thanks are in order to our oldest two Grandchildren, William for “typing” and helping design the “book cover,” and to Lila for art work along the same lines, and for carefully helping align documents for writing sequence. Dr. Joan Hoff has been outstanding in all of this as chairperson and a true academic mainstay of solid support, excellent ideas, plus always willing to listen to my problems, no matter how trivial. Moreover, she contributed greatly to my views regarding the Kennedy administration and its policies, and performed marvelous editorial work. Additionally, in the human dimension, one could not ask for a finer chairperson and mentor. Dr. James H. Madison provided excellent advice and support on this dissertation, and I wish to thank him for his assistance with my graduate program over the years, and for his friendship. Dr. George I. Juergens served as an outstanding advisor and mentor regarding American social, intellectual and urban history, and has provided exceptional encouragement over the years in completing this dissertation. Dr. Irving Katz’s role has been truly significant as well, providing continuous excellent advice and support throughout, mixed with enlivened discussion and sprinkled with humor. A special thanks is as well given to Dr. Jeanne Peterson as a member of my coursework committee in British history, for her fine assistance and marvelous help with historiography. At Indiana University, recent past Chairs and Directors of Graduate Studies, deserve special thanks for their faith in me and for their continued support. I humbly wish to acknowledge Dr. James Madison again, Dr. Michael McGerr, Dr.Alex Rabinowitch, the late Dr. William Cohen, Dr. Carl Ispen and Dr. Peter Guardino for their support, advice and assistance. vi And very importantly, Ms. Alexia Bock, Administrative Assistant and Graduate Secretary, has been has been a true inspiration in all of this, and over the time it has taken me to finish, she has become a fine confidante and grand facilitator. I also wish to thank the Archivists at the John F. Kennedy Library. William Johnson, Sylvie J. Turner, Larry J. Hackman, William Moss, Magan DeNoyers, Suzanne K. Forbes, Alan B. Goodrich, Steven Plotkin, John Stewart and Tim Fitzgerald. My thanks also go to all the Archivists at the National Archives and Records Administration, in Washington and College Park. As well, I wish to thank William Capron, Lee White, Bob Weaver, Dan Fenn, Dave Powers, Ted Sorensen, and Fred Hayes, of the Administration, whom I met, communicated with, at times worked with, and have the greatest respect for, because they helped move America into a better place, and they helped keep her there. To all the poverty planners of the Kennedy administration, whom I met at the Brandies Conference in June 1973, my thanks for your bravery, hard work and your compassion in framing a “war on poverty.” Finally, to my thousands of students, in 26 years teaching American History at Harvard, Boston, Simmons, Curry College, Emmanuel College, the JFK Library, Indiana University, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Ball State University, and the Army War College, thanks so much for all the great intellectual collaboration, discussion, and for your ideas. In addition, a “happy day,” to Dr. Robert G. Gunderson, who cannot be present at my defense, but more than anyone, built the American Studies Program at Indiana University at Bloomington. I also wish to thank Jon Haywood of Boston University, Dan Delvecchio of Boston and Harvard University, and Drs. Kevin Reynolds and Clay Chun at the Army War College, collectively for providing great work environments and encouraging completion of this dissertation. vii Preface Since this dissertation is long, the preface shall be short. I had the honor to teach, to the best of my knowledge, the only complete history course on the presidency and administration of John F. Kennedy anywhere in the country, from the fall of 1973 through the spring of 1980, at Harvard University, Boston University, Simmons College, Emmanuel College, and lecture on the subject at Curry College and in JFK Library workshops. While doing that, I became somewhat a regular at the JFK Library, and had the true honor of serving on several committees or participating in certain Library sponsored conferences, and actually contributing to other “teaching workshops.” No group of professionals ever so warmly welcomed me, as did the JFK staff, and I shall always remember them, as “the best of times.” My students came to the JFK with enthusiasm and left the same way. Treated so very well, particularly by the amicable and outgoing Dr. Dan Fenn, Dave Powers, John Stewart, Larry Hackman, Megan DeNoyers, Alan Goodrich, Will Johnson, Bill Moss, Joan-Ellen Marci and all the archivists, they left with magnificent impressions of the Library, its staff and its ambience, as well they should have. I have yet to meet a finer group at any presidential library. They did not try to “fool” anybody, and collectively, they simply represented character and still do. However, although my parents took me while in early high school to see JFK, the young candidate for president in the autumn of 1960, I firmly wanted to believe what the event appeared to be in the press: that the New Frontier stood for good things, later simply stopped by dark and malevolent forces from accomplishing greatness. Graduate School altered some of that impression, but regarding the cities, I continued that somewhat “wishful” view, until I finally completed this research. In urban affairs this story is hard to tell simply because it is a painful revelation of illusion versus reality, and the late president does not come out well. Others do, but not JFK. Covering all aspects of urban affairs and housing, from the “central administration level at the White House and HHFA,” over three years down to the “city level” in certain cases, any one chapter could constitute a complete dissertation if expanded. However, although warned, I chose to do it the hard way, by covering most of the entire urban program, and succeeded only after great effort. I hope you find this interesting, because there are some real causes, and heroes and heroines here, who tried to advance effective federal policy for America’s cities in the first half of the 1960’s. December, 2005 William A. Foley, Jr. viii Abstract William A. Foley, Jr. John F. Kennedy and the American City: The Urban Programs of the New Frontier, 1961-1963 Out of necessity in 1960, John Kennedy promised to find the “workable solution to urban problems.” Yet he failed to do so, because his interests lay elsewhere. Balancing his 1963 budget for Congressional approval to gain a 1964 tax cut meant more than an effective urban program. Had Kennedy exercised leadership and emphasized implementing his promise through combining new and existing programs, he might have found the elusive workable solution. Contrasted against JFK’s lackluster leadership in urban affairs, the hard work of Dr. Robert C. Weaver, his Housing and Home Finance Agency staff and later the “reformers” also becomes a focal point. Collectively, they came closest to finding the solution. They tried to reshape urban America using available programs without being able to fully implement their newer ideas, before the “fires” came. In addition, this dissertation highlights seven themes. In urban affairs, JFK remained an enigma, and he wanted it that way. Secondly, he used his office as a “modern” president, but thirdly, he presented many serious policy contradictions.

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