USHS_LM_48.qxp:Layout 1 4/16/07 1:20 PM Page 461 NOTEBOOK GUIDE CHAPTER The Age of Camelot 48 Was John F. Kennedy a great president? Key Content Terms READING NOTES As you complete the Reading Notes, use these Section 48.2 Key Content Terms in your answers: Create a spectrum, like the one below, in your notebook. New Frontier Bay of Pigs invasion As you read Section 48.2, record facts about President National Aeronautics Berlin Wall Kennedy that you think show what was great or not and Space Cuban missile crisis so great about his presidency. In addition to any Key Administration Test Ban Treaty Content Terms, include the following terms in your (NASA) notes: “Kennedy style,” televised presidential debate, Peace Corps “the best and the brightest,” tax cuts, civil rights, Sputnik, and Neil Armstrong. PREVIEW As a group, discuss Documents A–G from Student Answer the following in your notebook, using complete Handout 48A. Add the names of each document to sentences: your spectrum and note whether you think the docu - ment shows that Kennedy was great, not so great, or • If you were to determine the best president of all somewhere in between. time, which five criteria would you use? • Based on your criteria, who do you think was the best president of all time? Why? Not So Great Great During the Cuban missile crisis, During the Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy overreacted by establishing Kennedy established a quarantine a quarantine around Cuba, which around Cuba to prevent the USSR almost caused World War III. from sending in more weapons and aid. © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute The Age of Camelot 461 USHS_LM_48.qxp:Layout 1 11/15/07 3:42 PM Page 462 Notebook Guide 48 Section 48.3 Writing for Understanding Create a new spectrum for Section 48.3. As you read, follow the directions for Section 48.2 to record notes on Write a five-paragraph essay that answers the question, Kennedy’s presidency. In addition to any Key Content Was John F. Kennedy a great president? Terms, include the following terms in your notes: ExCom, quarantine, hotline, and Alliance for Progress. Your essay must include the following elements: An introduction, including As a group, discuss Documents H–L from Student •a hook that creates interest in the topic of your essay Handout 48A. Add the names of each document, includ- •a thesis statement that clearly states your perspective ing a brief explanation, to the appropriate place on your on the essay question spectrum. Three body paragraphs that each include Section 48.5 •a topic sentence that clearly states one argument Create a new spectrum for Section 48.5. As you read, supporting your thesis statement. record specific details about each historian’s views of • at least two pieces of evidence (visual details, facts, President Kennedy that you think help show what was data, quotations, or examples) that support the topic great or not so great about his presidency. sentence. For the first body paragraph, use evidence from Section 48.2 and Documents A–C. For the sec- ond, use evidence from Section 48.3 and Documents D–G. For the third, use evidence from Section 48.4 and Documents H–L. • a one- to two-sentence explanation of how each piece of evidence supports the topic sentence or thesis statement. A conclusion that includes • a reworded version of your thesis statement • a brief summary of your main arguments • a brief response to the question, So what? 462 Chapter 48 © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute USHS_LM_48.qxp:Layout 1 4/16/07 1:20 PM Page 463 Student Handout 48A Documents on Kennedy’s Presidency Document A: Document B: How the 1960 Presidential Debates Inaugural Address, 1961 Influenced Voters In your hands, my fellow citizens . will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been sum- moned to give testimony to its national loyalty . Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need—not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, . a struggle against the com- mon enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself . I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it . And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. Source: Broadcasting 59(19): 1960. —John F. Kennedy Document C: Document D: The Kennedy Family Landing on the Moon, 1969 I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of land- ing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. —John F. Kennedy, 1961 Document E: Document F: Economic Growth, 1958–1966 Critique on Civil Rights The Kennedy Administration has done with Negro citi- zens what it has done with a vast number of Americans: it has charmed them. It has intrigued them. Every seventy- two hours it has delighted them. On the Negro question it has smoothed [ointment] on a stinging burn even though for a moment (or for perhaps a year) it cannot do anything about a broken pelvis. It has patted a head even though it could not bind up a joint . Experienced observers know that snags have developed, that changes have had to be ordered . It is plain [that] the civil rights legislative line [has been] abandoned [by this administration]. Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, 2006. —Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP, 1961 © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute The Age of Camelot 463 USHS_LM_48.qxp:Layout 1 4/16/07 1:20 PM Page 464 Student Handout 48A Document G: Document H: National Address on Civil Rights, 1963 The Bay of Pigs, 1961 The heart of the question is whether all Americans are I not only could not stifle controversy among your read- to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, ers—I welcome it. This Administration intends to be whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as candid about its errors; for, as a wise man once said: we want to be treated . “An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to One hundred years of delay have passed since President correct it.” We intend to accept full responsibility for our Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs . are not fully errors; and we expect you to point them out when we free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. miss them. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppres- Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and sion. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, no country can succeed—and no republic can survive. will not be fully free until all its citizens are free. —John F. Kennedy, from “The President and the Press,” —John F. Kennedy given to the American Newspaper Publishers Association, New York City, April 27, 1961 Document I: Document J: Letter to the Editor of Time Magazine Cuban Missile Crisis Political Cartoon Sir: Essentially, President Kennedy’s action with respect to Cuba is a declaration of war, yet a declaration in which the opportunity to make the surprise move, to take the initiative, is ineptly left to the enemy. It is a prime exam- ple of the half measures that are so disastrous in the field of international affairs. By calling for a limited blockade, the President is in no manner harming the Castro regime or effectively elimi- nating its offensive capabilities. Yet once again, he is handing the Russians a huge advantage—the opportun - ity to take the initiative, to choose the time, place and form of a new crisis . This pathetic situation would not exist today had the president acted courageously, and staged a rapid, force- ful and decisive invasion of Cuba, presenting Russia with a fait accompli. —E. G. E. Embiricos, Warren G. Heller, Tom Emerson, and George A. Gratsos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. Document K: Document L: Speech at the Berlin Wall, 1963 Peace Corps Poster All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner.” [“I am a Berliner.”] —John F. Kennedy 464 Chapter 48 © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute USHS_LM_48.qxp:Layout 1 4/16/07 1:20 PM Page 465 Student Handout 48B Graphic Organizer for a Five-Paragraph Essay Topic: Paragraph 1 Hook: Introduction Thesis statement: Paragraph 2 Topic sentence: Body Evidence: Use evidence from Section Explanation: 48.2 and Documents Evidence: A–C. Explanation: Paragraph 3 Topic sentence: Body Evidence: Use evidence from Section Explanation: 48.3 and Documents Evidence: D–G. Explanation: Paragraph 4 Topic sentence: Body Evidence: Use evidence from Section Explanation: 48.4 and Documents Evidence: H–L. Explanation: Paragraph 5 Reordered thesis: Conclusion Summary: © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute The Age of Camelot 465 USHS_LM_48.qxp:Layout 1 4/16/07 1:21 PM Page 466 Information Master 48A Survey of Presidential Leadership Presidents, Ranked from Best to Worst Criteria for Evaluating Presidents Abraham Lincoln 90.0 Franklin Delano Roosevelt 87.6 Administrative skills George Washington 84.2 Credibility Theodore Roosevelt 81.0 Crisis management Harry S. Truman 75.3 Woodrow Wilson 72.3 Economic management Thomas Jefferson 71.1 Foreign affairs Dwight D. Eisenhower 69.9 Performance within context of times Lyndon Baines Johnson 65.5 Public persuasion Ronald Reagan 63.4 Pursued equal justice for all James K. Polk 63.2 Andrew Jackson 63.2 Relations with Congress James Monroe 60.2 Vision setting William McKinley 60.1 John Adams 59.8 Source: American Presidents, www.americanpresidents.org.