"CAMELOT": THE KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION

1. "CAMELOT": THE KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION EUGENIA LANGAN MATER ACADEMY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL HIALEAH GARDENS, FLORIDA

2. JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, 1917- 1963. 35TH PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. JAN. 1961 – NOV. 1963 THE THOUSAND DAYS – CALLED "CAMELOT" BECAUSE THE LERNER AND LOWE MUSICAL WAS A FAVORITE OF JFK'S – AND IT FIT!

3. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: • TODAY: • WHAT WERE JFK'S FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC POLICIES, AND WHY? HOW EFFECTIVE WERE THEY? • WHY WAS THE EARLY 1960s A PERIOD OF GREAT OPTIMISM? • TODAY AND BROAD • HOW DID U.S. IDENTITY CHANGE IN THE EARLY 1960s? • HOW DOES TELEVISION AFFECT ELECTIONS?

4. ELECTION OF 1960 DEMOCRATS P VP JFK CATHOLIC WWII NAVY HERO HOUSE, 1947 - 53 SENATE , 1953 – 60 LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON (TEX.) -- "MASTER OF THE SENATE" NEW DEAL DEMOCRAT HOUSE, 1937 – 49 WWII NAVY VET (COMBAT?) SENATE, 1949-60

5. REPUBLICANS NOTE REPUBLICAN TRADITION OF NOMINATING VP OR MOST "SENIOR" CANDIDATE FROM LAST ELECTION RICHARD MILHOUSE NIXON, (CAL.) QUAKER AND RED-BAITER WWII NAVY VET (NON-COMBAT) HOUSE, 1947-50 SENATE, 1950 -53 VICE PRESIDENT 1953-61. HENRY CABOT LODGE, JR. (MASS.) CAREER DIPLOMAT AMBASSADOR TO: UN, S. VIETNAM, W. GERMANY

6. HOW COULD A CATHOLIC GET ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.? • AMERICANS HAD A NEW BOOGIE-MAN: GODLESS COMMUNISTS INSTEAD OF CATHOLICS • BUT IT WAS AN ISSUE IN THE ELECTION – WOULD THE POPE TAKE OVER AMERICA • EVEN TODAY, MANY AMERICANS BELIEVE THAT CATHOLICS ARE NOT CHRISTIANS! • IT WASN'T JUST ANY CATHOLIC – IT WAS JFK!

7. THE KENNEDY MYSTIQUE • YOUNG (YOUNGEST PRESIDENT EVER ELECTED (43)) HANDSOME WAR HERO WITH BEAUTIFUL WIFE, RICH, SOPHISTICATED – ABOVE, WEDDING PHOTO AND 1960 HARVARD PARADE

8. THE YOUNG, GOOD-LOOKING, TANNED KENNEDYS CAMPAIGNING IN 1960

9. DECORATEDWAR HERO, PACIFIC THEATER • 1943: PT-109, THE TORPEDO BOAT JFK COMMANDED WAS SUNK JAPANESE DESTROYER • HE LED SURVIVORS TO "DESERT" ISLAND, SWAM TO OTHER ISLANDS LOOKING FOR FOOD AND WATER (RESCUED 6 DAYS LATER) • HIS TAKE ON HOW HE BECAME A HERO: "IT WAS INVOLUNTARY. THEY SANK MY BOAT"

10. 1955: THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING BOOK • ABOUT SENATORS HE ADMIRED TED SORENSON, 1928- 2010, WHO PROBABLY WROTE THE BOOK AND JFK'S SPEECHES

11. John THE BIG IRISH FAMILY Rosemary Joe, Jr. Rose Robert Pat Joe, Sr. Eunice Kathleen Jean Teddy

12. THE FATHER WHO WAS DETERMINED THAT HIS SON WOULD BE PRESIDENT JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, AS AMBASSADOR TO THE COURT OF SAINT JAMES (1938-40), HE WAS ALSO FIRST SEC CHAIR. HIS WIFE ROSE WAS DAUGHTER OF BOSTON MAYOR.

13. THE TRAGIC FAMILY THE ELDEST SON, JOSEPH, JR. DIED IN WWII. THE SECOND DAUGHTER, KATHLEEN, DIED IN A PLANE CRASH DURING THE WAR. THE ELDEST DAUGHTER, ROSEMARY, WAS RETARDED AND LOBOTOMIZED.

14. AND THE CANDIDATE'S OWN LOVELY FAMILY

15. HIS PROMISES (?): • A "NEW FRONTIER": " W]e stand today on the edge of a New Frontier -— the frontier of the 1960's, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats. ... Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus."

16. TELEVISION! • 1960: FIRST TELEVISED PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES • MOST PEOPLE WHO LISTENED ON RADIO THOUGHT NIXON WON – MOST WHO SAW IT ON TV THOUGHT KENNEDY WON

17. 1960 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION NOT A LANDSLIDE IN POPULAR VOTE (0.1% MARGIN) – AND IN MANY STATES THE VOTES WERE AS CLOSE OR CLOSER

18. PRESIDENTIAL MAP, 1969 DEMOCRATS LOST SEATS IN BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS – CONTROLLED HOUSE 262-175. IN SENATE, INSUFFICIENT MAJORITY (64-36) FOR CONTROL

19. THE INAUGURATION, JANUARY 20, 1961 "ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU. ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY."

20. NOTABLE KENNEDY CABINET MEMBERS HIS BROTHER, ROBERT, ATTORNEY GENERAL, DEAN RUSK, SECRETARY OF STATE, ROBERT MCNAMARA, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

21. A NEW STYLE IN THE WHITE HOUSE (AND THE COUNTRY) THE KENNEDYS WHITE HOUSE – DINNER FOR ANDRÉ MALRAUX THE EISENHOWERS

22. THE FAMILY MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE (WITH CAROLINE AND JOHN JR. (JOHN-JOHN)

23. THE ICONIC AMERICAN FAMILY

24. 1962: JACKIE KENNEDY'S TV TOUR OF NEWLY REDECORATED WHITE HOUSE – 3 OUT OF 4 VIEWERS WATCHED AND NO POPULIST UPRISING

25. 1961 – PUBLICATION OF MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING BY JULIA CHILD ET. AL. -- IT'S A BEST SELLER -- THERE'S A NEW TYPE OF EDUCATED BOURGEOISIE (BUT STILL LOTS OF REACTIONARIES AND THE GROWING COUNTER-CULTURE

26. THE NEW FRONTIER – MOSTLY UNCONQUERED -- SAME REPUBLICAN-SOUTHERN DEMOCRATIC Coalition THAT DEFEATED TRUMAN'S FAIR DEAL KILLED NEW FRONTIER IN CONGRESS (NO VOTES ON MOST!) • MAJOR NEW FRONTIER GOALS: • CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION -- NO • MEDICARE (HEALTH INSURANCE FOR ELDERLY)- NO • ANTI-POVERTY PROGRAMS • DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE -- NO • HOUSING ACT OF 1961 – URBAN RENEWAL – YES • BUT THERE'S $$ IN THIS FOR BUSINESS • IT OFTEN MEANS DESTRUCTION OF POOR NEIGHBORHOODS

27. INCREASES IN MINIMUM WAGE AND SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS -- YES • PILOT FOOD STAMP PROGRAM - YES • MASS TRANSIT -- NO • TAX CUTS TO STIMULATE ECONOMY - NO (HOW TIMES CHANGE! • NASA – YES – BUT THAT IS REALLY A COLD WAR PROGRAM – SPACE RACE WITH SOVIETS

28. 1961: PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN ESTABLISHED • CHAIRED BY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT • 1963: COMMISSION REPORT ISSUED, FINDING employment discrimination, unequal pay, legal inequality, and insufficient support services for working women (EXAMPLE = LACK OF CHILD CARE FOR WORKING WOMEN) ROOSEVELT AND KENNEDY IN 1961

29. 1963: EQUAL PAY ACT No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section [section 206 of title 29 of the United States Code] shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs …" NOT WORTH THE PAPER IT Was printed on – almost no women did "equal work on jobs" – even today on the average women get paid less than men for the same jobs (men don't take maternity leaves, stay home to take care of sick kids, etc.)

30. KENNEDY AND THE COLD WAR

31. THE PEACE CORPS – JFK CREATED BY EXECUTIVE ORDER MARCH 1961, CONGRESS RATIFIED SEPTEMBER 1961: • "To promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower." • "WORLD PEACE" = EDUCATION, BUILDING THIRD-WORLD ECONOMIES, TO AVOID SPREAD OF COMMUNISM (funding has been cut since 1980) • Director = jfk's brother-in-law sargentshriver

32. BUT OVER 10,000 PEOPLE JOINED BY 1966 FOR TWO-YEAR TOURS AS TEACHERS, • CHRIS MATTHEWS • SENATOR CHRISTOPHER DODD • MANY AUTHORS INCLUDING PAUL THEROUX AND KINKY FRIEDMANN • IN GENERAL, THERE WAS A WAVE OF VOLUNTEERISM AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE 1960s AND 1970s –REMEMBER THE FREEDOM RIDERS! • YOUNG PEOPLE LINING UP TO WORK IN D.C. FOR GOVERNMENT, INTEREST GROUPS • PERFECTIONISM REDUX! WE'LL SEE MORE OF THAT IN THE LATER 1960s.

33. THE SPACE RACE • SOVIET COSMONAUT YURI GAGARIN, FIRST MAN IN SPACE (UP AND DOWN), APRIL 1961 • MERCURY ASTRONAUT AND MIAMIAN HAM THE CHIMP, FIRST AMERICAN IN SPACE (UP AND DOWN), JANUARY 1961

34. MERCURY ASTRONAUT SCOTT CARPENTER, FIRST HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS AMERICAN IN SPACE (UP AND DOWN). MAY, 1962

35. MERCURY ASTRONAUT JOHN GLENN, FIRST AMERICAN TO ORBIT THE EARTH, 1962. • IN 1963, HE TESTIFIED AGAINST ALLOWING WOMEN ASTRONAUTS • REPUBLICAN SENATOR FROM OHIO, 1975-1998. • SPACE SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT (WHILE IN SENATE) 1998

36. PUBLICITY PHOTO OF THE ORIGINAL MERCURY ASTRONAUTS. THE SPACE PROGRAM WAS HEAVILY PUBLICIZED – PROPAGANDA ABOUT U.S. SUPERIORITY • EXAMPLE: ON DAYS OF LAUNCHES, CLASSES WERE CANCELED AT PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND KIDS HAD TO WATCH THE LAUNCHES

37. 1961: THE ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS – A MARSHALL PLAN FOR LATIN AMERICA - $10 BILLION OVER 10 YEARS (ORIG. $20 BILL. BUT CUT DUE TO VIETNAM)

38. GOALS • CONTAIN COMMUNISM IN LATIN AMERICA • RAISE GDP 2.5%/ YEAR, BUILD INDUSTRY, ETC. (LIKE MARSHALL PLAN BUT NOT AS MUCH $ AND NOT AS SERIOUS A PRIORITY) • MOST OF THE $$ WENT TO DICTATORS WE SUPPORTED – DID NOT TURN LATIN AMERICA INTO WESTERN EUROPE • ALSO DID NOT LEAD TO LATIN AMERICAN LOVE OF U.S. ("YANQUI, GO HOME!")

39. 1961 – THE BERLIN WALL. • THANKS TO THE MARSHALL PLAN, THE STANDARD OF LIVING AND AVAILABILTY OF CONSUMER GOODS WAS MUCH HIGHER IN WEST BERLIN THAN IN EAST BERLIN. • EAST BERLINERS COULD GO ACROSS BORDER AND SEE THIS, EVEN MOVE TO WEST • RESULTING DISCONTENT AND "BRAIN DRAIN" WAS A THREAT TO SOVIET DOMINION IN EAST BERLIN AND EAST GERMANY GENERALLY. • 1961: THE EAST GERMAN (SOVIET) GOVERNMENT STARTED BUILDING A FORTIFIED WALL BETWEEN EAST AND WEST BERLIN. • OF COURSE THE U.S. REACTED WITH OUTRAGE – THESE WERE WHITE FOLK, NOT KOREANS OR VIETNAMESE!

40. CONSTRUCTION OF THE BERLIN WALL

41. THE BERLIN WALL IN FRONT OF THE BRANDENBERG GATE

42. U.S. REPONSE: KENNEDY WENT TO BERLIN AND MADE A SPEECH: "Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was CIVIS ROMANUS SUM. 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!"

43. APRIL, 1961: THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION • RECALL THE U.S. PROPRIETARY ATTITUDE TOWARD CUBA, AND THAT WE REFUSED TO SUPPORT THE CUBAN REVOLUTION (LAND REFORM) • IN 1960, THE CIA BEGAN RECRUITING AND TRAINING CUBAN EXILES IN MIAMI TO INVADE CUBA • CIA GAVE THEM WEAPONS AND EVEN SOME PLANES. • CIA PROMISED THEM U.S. MILITARY SUPPORT FOR THE INVASION

44. THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT KNEW FROM SPIES THAT THE INVASION WAS COMING. • ALSO A FEW DAYS BEFORE AIR ATTACKS ON CUBAN AIR FORCE FIELD WERE MADE BY CUBAN PILOTS IN FIGHTER PLANES PROVIDED BY THE U.S. – THEY TOOK OFF FROM NICARAGUA • ON APRIL 17, 1961, 1400V GROUND TROOPS – PRIMARILY THE 1,300 CUBAN EXILES IN BRIGADE # 2506, BEGAN THE INVASION OF CUBA AT PLAYA GIRON

46. THOUGH THE TRANSPORT SHIPS THAT BROUGHT THEM TO CUBA WERE “PRIVATE,” THEY WERE ESCORTED BY U.S. NAVY DESTROYERS. ALSO AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER WAS NEARBY. AND THE CUBAN EXILES EXPECTED U.S. AIR FORCE AIR SUPPORT FOR THEIR INVASION • WE DO NOT KNOW TO THIS DAY WHETHER PRESIDENT KENNEDY (ELECTED 1960) KNEW IN ADVANCE ABOUT THE INVASION, BUT WE KNOW HE CALLED OFF THE AIR SUPPORT AND NAVAL SUPPORT. • ** WHY – IF U.S. HAD PARTICIPATED IN INVASION OF CUBA, AN ALLY OF THE SOVIET UNION, WE MIGHT HAVE WOUND UP IN NUCLEAR WAR WITH THE SOVIET UNION

47. BRIGADE 2506 AND OTHER EXILE FORCES COULD NOT WIN WITHOUT U.S. AIR SUPPORT, OF COURSE – FEWER THAN 1500 MEN AGAINST THE ENTIRE CUBAN MILITARY AND CUBA’S ARMED POPULACE. • APPARENTLY THE MEN EXPECTED CUBAN POPULACE WOULD RISE UP AGAINST CASTRO WHEN INVASION OCCURRED • THERE WERE A FEW B-26 ATTACKS ON CUBA, PILOTED MOSTLY BY THE CIA AND SOME BY AIR NATIONAL GUARDSMEN, AND ONE WAS SHOT DOWN, KILLING FOUR AMERICANS • BUT THERE WAS NO DIRECT AIR COVER FOR THE GROUND TROOPS.

48. BRIGADE #2506 CAPTIVES IN CUBA

49. 118 CUBAN EXILE FORCES AND FOUR AMERICANS WERE KILLED IN THE INVASION. 1,204 CUBAN EXILES AND TWO AMERICANS WERE CAPTURED. • FIVE OF THE CUBANS and BOTH AMERICANS WERE EXECUTED. OTHERS DIED IN CAPTIVITY. • iN 1962 THE U.S. TRADED FOOD AND SUPPLIED TO CUBA FOR THE SURVIVORS. THEY WERE BROUGHT TO MIAMI AND GIVEN A WELCOME-BACK RALLY AT THE ORANGE BOWL. PRESIDENT KENNEDY ATTENDED. • 6. THIS INCIDENT MADE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE U.S. AND THE SOVIET VERY TENSE IN 1961, AND LED DIRECTLY TO THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS.

50. PRESIDENT KENNEDY TO BRIGADE 2506 SURVIVORS AT THE ORANGE BOWL: “SO SORRY, GUYS. HERE, TO MAKE IT ALL UP TO YOU, HAVE YOUR BRIGADE FLAG BACK!” (AND CUBAN-AMERICANS VOTED ACCORDINGLY UNTIL 1992)