John F Kennedy s Administration Perception vs Reality Life

John F. Kennedy’s Administration Perception vs. Reality Life seemed glamorous and “fairy-tale” like. Jackie Kennedy, “Camelot. ” Kennedys seemed to embody the image of the 1950 s perfect family. JFK often portrayed as ultra-liberal, credited w/ great civil rights advancements.

JFK’s Reality • • Privileged and wealthy background JFK & women Desperate need to prove himself Continued Eisenhower era gov’t/business cooperation • Moved VERY slowly and cautiously w/civil rights • More concerned w/foreign policy, being a “cold warrior. ”

JFK’s Administration: “The Best and Brightest” • Brother Robert as Attorney General • Ivy league educated, ties to major industries, many young (comparatively) • Official White House historian: Arthur Slessinger Jr. - enamored w/Kennedys, wrote the image they wanted to portray • “Consensus history”-dominated and reinforced ideology “Soviets=evil, U. S. =good, ” if you say U. S. did something bad, you must be a communist

The New Frontier • • Stress on technology to out-compete Soviets had launched Sputnik in 1957. NASA. (helped boost economy) Implored young people to become active: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. ” • Peace Corp • Alliance for Progress: money to help modernize Latin America • Most $ went to corrupt military dictators, who used it to enhance their lifestyles and repress dissent, or for elites to buy American products

JFK & Foreign Policy, Cuba • JFK seemed to take it personally. • Inherited planning for Bay of Pigs Invasion. April 1961 • 1, 500 anti-Castro Cubans trained in Guatemala by CIA. • Problems: over-estimated those 1500 and anti. Castro sentiment in Cuba, under-estimated Cuban military. • U. S. supposed to supply air support, pulled at last minute w/o notifying ground forces. • Castro knew it was coming-subdued whole force w/in 3 days, took 1, 200 prisoners.

Impact of Bay of Pigs • JFK infuriated. Cuba tried to initiate talks w/U. S. , admin said no. • Reinforced, to Castro, U. S. ’s intent to destroy him and his country. • After Cuban independence, when U. S. refused to recognize Cuban gov’t, Soviet gov’t recognized and offered military and non-military aid. Cuba only took non-military aid. • After Bay of Pigs, Castro began accepting military aid as well. • CIA stepped up ridiculous efforts to kill Castro. Drove him even closer to Soviets. Soviet military buildup in Cuba.

The Berlin Wall, built August 1961 • August 13, 1961 • JFK’s speech in Berlin, June 26, 1963 : • "Ich bin ein Berliner. "

• U 2 spy plane-pictures of Soviet missile silos in Cuba. • Tense in D. C. : direct attack or blockade? Blockade, called “quarantine” b/c a blockade is an act of war. • Oct. 22, 1962 announced to Congress and people. • Soviet ships heading to Cuba. Oct 14, 1962

The Cuban Missile Crisis • Stop and go negotiations w/Soviets. • Khrushchev eventually backs down, stops ships b/f quarantine line. • JFK looks like a hero, Khrushchev looks bad to Soviets. • Reality-deal made b/t US and USSR-Khrushchev pulls missiles out of Cuba, US pulls missiles out of Turkey. Khrushchev let Kennedy save face • potential for nuclear holocaust? • Installation of “hot line” (red phone) • Halt atmospheric testing • U. S. , Soviets and Britain begin talks about limiting nuclear tests

Civil Rights during the Kennedy administration • Initiated by the common people, who weren’t willing to wait any longer. • May 1961 -“Freedom Riders” • test discrimination against interstate travel, desegregate bus stations, etc… • Met with violence, bus set on fire in Alabama, effort continued, 1, 000 “riders”, black and white by the end of summer

Oct 1961 • James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. • Violence and riots surrounding the incident cause President Kennedy to send 5, 000 federal troops.

• April 16: Martin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Alabama • He writes his seminal "Letter from a Birmingham Jail, " arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. 1962

May 1962 – Civil Disobedience • During a series civil rights protests in Birmingham, Ala. , Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black demonstrators. • These images of brutality, which are televised and published widely, are instrumental in gaining sympathy for the civil rights movement around the world.

• Started w/youth (students), adults, dressed in Sunday best. • Eventually most adults were in jail.

• MLK made the controversial decision to pull children from school and put them on the picket lines

June 12, 1962 • Jackson, Mississippi • Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, 37 -year-old Medgar Evers, is murdered outside his home. • Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both trials resulting in hung juries. Thirty years later he was finally convicted of murder.

Aug 28, 1962, Washington D. C. • About 200, 000 people join the March on Washington • Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Sept. 15, 1962, Birmingham, Alabama • Four young girls (Denise Mc. Nair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. • Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths.

Women’s Rights during the Kennedy administration • Presidential Commission on the Status of Women • Didn’t really do much, but got like-minded women together to discuss issues. • At a later meeting of the PCSW, frustrated w/slow pace, some of these women will start NOW, the National Organization for Women. (1966) • 1963 -Betty Freidan publishes The Feminine Mystique

The Kennedy Assassination • November 22, 1963, Deeley Plaza, Dallas, Texas

The Kennedy Assassination • Lee Harvey Oswald

The Kennedy Assassination

The Kennedy Assassination • Public shock, Warren Commission, conspiracy theories