President Kennedy's Domestic Policy

 

Kennedy won the 1960 election over Richard Nixon

 

Was the youngest elected president at 43

 

Won with the support of Catholics, minorities, and labor unions

 

was the first president to appoint a family member to his cabinet: Robert F. Kennedy

 

The New Frontier:

     Americans now had new opportunities in

           technology, science, and social

           relations, similar to those moving west

           in the 1800's

 

     Modernized many programs:

           Social Security

           raising minimum wage

           lowering tariffs

           furthering slum clearance and public

                housing

     Added some new programs:

           provided funds for research and

                treatment of mental retardation

           improving facilities and teaching in

                medicine

           retraining of poor farmers and

                chronically unemployed

          

Attempted but failed to secure laws such as

           reduction of taxes

           federal aid to public education

           medical care for those on social

                security

           voting rights and equal treatment for

                African-Americans in all public

                places

 

Assassination: Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald November 22, 1963

 

The Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination concluded that Oswald acted alone

 

 

President Lyndon B. Johnson's Domestic Policy

 

Talented in forging compromise "Come now and let us reason together" was a favorite phrase

 

Admired FDR as "one of the giants of all time" and sought to use power to further the public well being

 

Re-election in 1964 brought many new Democrats to Congress which broke the power of the Conservative Coalition

 

The "Great Society": Johnson's goals for improving America

 

Johnson believed that man now possessed the capacity to:

     end war

     eliminate poverty

     eradicate racial injustice

     dispel ignorance

     share in abundance

     overcome disease

     revitalize cities

     allow man to live a life of freedom and

           prosperity

 

     in short, man could create a "Great

           Society"

 

The Great Society Congress (1965-6) passed many of Johnson's requests for wide ranging domestic legislation

 

Some of the laws passed included:

 

VISTA (Volunteers in Service To America)

 

Office of Economic Opportunity: created to fight the "War on Poverty"

     Project Headstart: provides education to

           preschoolers in poor families

     Project Upward Bound: to aid low income

           high school students to attend college

     Job Corps: provide vocational training for

           high school dropouts

 

Elementary and Secondary Education Act:

     provided federal aid to education, largest

           share to schools with large numbers

           of poor students

 

Medicare: provided health insurance and     

     some health care to those over 65

 

Medicaid: provided funds to states to help the

     needy not covered by Medicare

 

 

Cabinet Department: Housing and Urban Development:

     created to help improve housing and

           economic development in cities

     Robert C. Weaver was the first African

           American to hold a cabinet post

 

Civil Rights Act 1965: prohibited

     discrimination in voting, employment, and

     public places

 

Voting Rights Act: strengthened previous

     voting laws

Higher Education Act: provide grants for college construction and student loans

 

Immigration Reform 1965: based on skill and

     family, not race

 

Clean Rivers Restoration Act: provide funds

     for sewage treatment plants

 

Traffic Safety Act: required car     

     manufacturers to meet safety standards

 

Truth in Packaging Act: required truthful

     labeling of food, drugs, cosmetics

 

Meat Inspection Act: strengthened earlier

     laws

 

Civil Rights Act 1968: banned discrinimation

     in sale and rental of housing

 

Truth in Lending Act: requires lenders to state

     the true cost of consumer credit

 

 

Safe Streets and Crime Control Act: granted

     money to local law enforcement

 

Gun Control Act: banned interstate mail order

     sales of guns, prohibited sales to minors