• From wealthy & powerful Massachusetts family • WWII war hero • Author of Pulitzer-winning book Profiles in Courage • Elected to the US Senate in 1953 as a Democrat
• Vice President to President Eisenhower • From California • Lost support due to poor performance in the 1st televised debate
“Let the word go forth… that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans… The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it… And so, my fellow Americans-ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.”
With JFK’s youthful glamour, beautiful wife, and talented advisors, the Kennedy White House reminded many of a modern-day Camelot, the mythical court of King Arthur. • New Frontier : Domestic and Foreign Policy agenda of change and challenge to communism • Foreign policy of “Flexible Response” to issues
• The CIA had been training Cuban exiles since Eisenhower’s term • JFK okayed their mission to invade Cuba and start an uprising against Castro • The invasion was a complete failure and embarrassment for the US • Thousands were fleeing East Berlin for the West • Soviet leader Khrushchev demanded that the US & its allies leave the city • Kennedy refused and Khrushchev responded by building the Berlin Wall to keep citizens in “Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was civis romanus sum [‘I am a Roman citizen’]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’... 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!” -- June 26, 1963 speech by Kennedy in West Berlin • In October 1962, the US discovers the Soviets are building missile sites in Cuba • Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba and orders the missiles to be removed • A “nuclear holocaust” seemed very possible • After an intense week, Khrushchev offers Kennedy a deal • US removes missiles from Turkey & agrees not to invade Cuba • Soviets remove the missiles • Designed to help fight poverty around the world
• Sent young American volunteers to perform humanitarian service
• Still alive today and one of JFK’s most important legacies
The Space Program • Committed the US “We choose to go to the Moon in to landing a man this decade and do the other things, on the moon not because they are easy, but because they are hard.“ – Kennedy
speech from Sept. 1962 • Pushed the Soviets for cooperative missions but they refused Civil Rights • Supported integration & civil rights
• Proposed civil rights legislation that eventually became the Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Created Presidential Commission on the Status of Women which vowed federal action against gender discrimination • Signed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 • November 22, 1963 Kennedy visits Dallas, TX • Rifle shots ring out as their car approaches the Texas Book Depository • Kennedy was shot in the head and died soon after at the hospital Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested for the assassination – however he was killed 2 days later on live TV by nightclub owner Jack Ruby
• President Johnson fought to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as “Kennedy’s greatest legacy” • His brother Robert Kennedy was on his way to the presidency when he was assassinated in 1968