1.4 - Kennedy's New Frontier - social welfare and unemployment

Question 1

What did Kennedy suggest in his July 1960 speech accepting the Democratic nomination for the Presidency, and how was this a contrast to Eisenhower’s policies?

Answer 1

Kennedy suggested the New Frontier Programme (his campaign) emphasised his dynamism in contrast to the stagnation and complacency under Eisenhower, demonstrated by his campaign slogan ‘let’s get the country moving again’

Question 2

What did Kennedy ask Congress for in his New Frontier legislative programme?

Answer 2

He suggested that in the New Frontier of the new decade Americans should meet new challenges in science, space, international tensions, ignorance, prejudice, poverty and surplus.

Question 3

How successful were Kennedy’s attempts to tackle unemployment, underemployment and an unskilled workforce?

Answer 3

Kennedy’s attempts to tackle unemployment underemployment and unskilled workforce was successful to a certain extent because:
* On one hand: Encouraged Congress to pass measures to help with unemployment underemployment and unskilled workers (especially due to CW concerns) and introduced Area Redevelopment Act (1961) granting $394 million to extend employment opportunities in certain states. Furthermore Kennedy’s request for a programme to train and retrain workers caused Congress to pass the Manpower d
Development and Training Act of 1962 which by the end of the year administration claimed 351 approved programmes to 12,600 trainees in 40 states
On other hand: Area Redevelopment Act - 5 million people remain unemployed across the nation and Congress refused to reauthorize the act in 1963 and although Kennedy claimed that the manpower development and training act was highly significant historians generally agree that it had little impact on unemployment because it may be subsidised officials and private interests who provided the training rather than greatly decreasing the number of unemployed

Question 4

List FIVE other measures that Kennedy introduced to help poor Americans:

Answer 4

1. Minimum Wage Act raised the minimum wage by $0.25 to $1.25 and covered an extra 3.6 million workers
2. The national Highway system was extended and this provided jobs in the construction industry
3. The Food and Agriculture act of 1962 gave federal subsidies to farmers
4. In the Omnibus Housing Act of 1961 Congress granted 5 billion for the extension of existing programmes such as urban renewal and public housing an authorised low interest loans for struggling middle class families
5. Kennedy used his executive powers to focus on federal purchasing power construction projects on areas of high unemployment and to direct the Department of Agriculture to double food distributions to the poor and unemployed. Kennedys pilot food stamp programme fed 240,000 people at a cost of $22,000,000 annually

Question 5

List FIVE ways that Congress obstructed Kennedy’s New Frontier programme:

Answer 5

1. In 1961 Congress rejected his proposal for federal financial aid for elementary and secondary education
2. In 1963 Congress rejected Kennedys proposal for senior citizen health care to alleviate the poverty from which many of the elderly suffered because of medical bills
3. Between 1961 and 62 Congress repeatedly rejected Kennedy’s proposal for a department of urban affairs and housing to coordinate programmes to hold urban decline
4. The civil rights bill to end Jim Crow laws in the South was stuck in Congress at the time of Kennedy’s death
5. In 1963 Congress rejected tax cuts to stimulate the economy

Question 6

Why, and for what reasons, do most historians consider Kennedy’s legislative record an overall failure?

Answer 6

Overall historians consider Kennedy’s legislative record an overall failure because no major new domestic policies were passed during his presidency as much of what Congress passed was not new frontier registration but extensions of existing programmes.
* Congress was dominated by Republicans and conservative southern Democrats who opposed federal expenditure and intervention in education health insurance
* Congressman representing rural areas and small cities opposed expenditure on big cities while southerners rejected measures to assist black ghettoes
* Kennedy dislike the congressional bargaining in which the P Lyndon Johnson excelled he feared unfavourable comparisons and therefore did not use Johnson legislative expertise in his first year in particular Kennedy relied upon inexperienced aides to promote his legislative agenda
The disastrous US backed invasion of communist Cuba confirmed Kennedy’s belief that national security took priority over social and economic reforms

Question 7

What was the impact of the margin on JFK’s abilities

Answer 7

Kennedy’s small margin of victory in the 1960 election, his lack of deep connections to influential members of Congress, and his administration’s focus on foreign policy and hindered the passage of New Frontier policies

Question 8

What were some other bills to aid JFK’s new frontier

Answer 8

• Health insure bill (paid for hospitalisation and nursing costs for elderly) failed to pass either house of congress
  
  • Proposed bill providing 2.3 billion in federal educational aid to the states, with more money going to states with lower per capita income
    Though senate passed education bill defeated in house by coalition of republicans, southern democrats and catholics