Chapter 26-27 Reading Flashcards
(28 cards)
1960 election
John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon; Kennedy won narrowly due to an impressive performance in a tv debate
Kennedy as president
worked to build up the country’s armed forces; “flexible response” defense policy to prepare the US to fish any size or any type of conflict; prevent the spread of communism in poor nations around the globe; believed that democracy combined with prosperity would contain/ limit communism’s spread
peace corps
sent American volunteers to help developing countries to improve the Third World politically and economically
Kennedy’s first major challenge
Cuba; executed Eisenhower’s plan to invade Cuba
Fidel Castro
took over Cuba in 1959 and aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union
Bay of Pigs invasion
invasion of Cuba with CIA- led forces of Cuban exiles; failed and strengthened Castro’s position in Cuba
Kennedy’s second challenge
Khrushchev; demanded that America remove its troops from west Berlin and recognize the divided city; ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
wall between East and West Berlin; symbol of the divide between communism and democracy
Kennedy’s third challenge
Soviets began building nuclear missile sites in Cuba in range of East Coast cities; Cuban Missile Crisis; demanded the Soviets remove the missiles; install “hot line” telephone system between Moscow and Washington, DC; US, Britain, and the Soviets signed a nuclear-weapons agreement
new frontier
described Kennedy’s proposals to improve the economy, education, healthcare, and civil rights; promised Americans that his administration would do so; most visual was the active space program
Kennedy achieved
increase in minimum wage and improvements in the welfare system; tried to make sure that women were paid equal wages for equal work
Equal Pay Act
required women to be paid equal wages for “equal work”
improving the economy
would reduce poverty
deficit spending
government practice of borrowing money in order to spend more than is received from taxes; thought it would help stimulate the economy; “new economics” from John Maynard Keynes
Kennedy introduced
bill that used federal money to aid school desegregation and demand other reforms
space race
Americans afraid they were falling behind the Soviets; Kennedy called for a man to be landed on the moon in less than 10 years
Lee Harvey Oswald
assassinated president Kennedy while he was riding in a car in Dallas, Texas
warren commission
conducted an official investigation of the shooting of Kennedy; declared Oswald acted alone
Lyndon B Johnson
became president after Kennedy; shared the same goals as Kennedy
Johnson’s first success
ensuring that congress passed the civil rights act; important bill introduced by Kennedy; to end discrimination in voting, education, and public accommodations
war on poverty
big part of Johnson’s plans; wanted to provide more training, education, and healthcare to those who need it
economics opportunity act
created agencies such as Jobs Corps, VISTA, and Head Start
great society
Johnson’s vision for America; demanded an end to poverty and racial injustice
medicare
program that provided basic hospital insurance for older Americans
