diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'smith/16_jfk')
| -rw-r--r-- | smith/16_jfk | 122 |
1 files changed, 122 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/smith/16_jfk b/smith/16_jfk new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70c202b --- /dev/null +++ b/smith/16_jfk @@ -0,0 +1,122 @@ +President Kennedy supported a "New Frontier for America." + +Feb 1960: Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum. First sit-in of four +African-American students at café. Waited 40min, read bibles, Henry +Thoreau's essay, brought back more. Continued. Similar sit-ins across +country. Greensboro officials lifted whites-only policy. Meal-ins at +churches and wait-ins at public pools. Much violence against protestors. + +Presidential Election during 1960 + - Kennedy v. Nixon, pretty similar histories + - Both more interested in foreign affairs than domestics. + - Eisenhower couldn't name any major accomplishment of Nixon, his VP + - Nixon led anti-Communist hearings + - Became known as cunning deceiver + - Kennedy was "more pragmatic than ideological," charismatic, + political celebrity. 35th pres. + - Rich and powerful Roman Catholic family, accomplished wife + - First presidential debate: Nixon had a virus, described as + menacing, pale, sickly. + - Kennedy's father, a business, engineered his campaign to support + books, helped him win. + - Kennedy saw Cold War as a conflict between capitalist godliness + and ruthless godlessness of the Soviets. + - Kennedy saw civil rights as an obstacle because he needed Southern + whites' votes, but he did help free MLK from prison. + - One million leaflets distributed by civil rights people to black + churches in favor of Kennedy. + +Kennedy's inaugural speech was about "keeping America strong" and +"reducing friction with Soviets." "We shall do [anything] to protect +liberty. So ask ... what you can do for your country." +- Kennedy suffered from serious medical problems, despite his strong, + healthy image. +- Kennedy appointed his entirely inexperienced brother as AG. +- Mixed success with foreign affairs + - Absolutely bungled Bay of Pigs. Believed it would inspire + anti-Castro Cubans to rebel, but his advisors were entirely + inaccurate on how effective the Cuban exiles would be. + - Castro had 20K soldiers waiting + - JFK refused to support the rebels when he realized he was + failing + - Elevated position of Fidel Castro. +- Gorbachev was empowered and threatened to take all of Berlin. JFK + brought in troops to demonstrate power. The Soviets built the wall, + becoming a propaganda weapon for the US. + +JFK didn't want to support the Civil Rights movement until he needed to +because it would lose support of Southern Democrats. +Freedom Rides were Civil Rights movement about desegregating +buses/public transport by occupying them. +Much pushback on Freedom Rides. +MLK, in church, held meeting to honor freedom riders. Attacked by white +racists; JFK urged Alabama governor to intervene. Freedom riders were +jailed, despite federal judges ruling in their favor. + +Bobby Kennedy realized segregationists, like Mississippi governor, would +never stand down to the White House trying to integrate black people. +White mob shouting "go to hell, JFK" against people trying to protect +one black student, required JFk to send in the national guard. + +The Battle of Ole Miss +- Violent white supremacists trying to barricade the campus vs. +- Marshals, gassing the mob that was burning cars, throwing molotovs, + etc. +- Eventually, after thousands of nat. guard sent in, the student + registered at Ole Miss. +- One journalist: "it's as if the Civil War never ended." + +- Cuban Missile Crisis approved by Gorbachev. Felt justified because, + after Bay of Pigs, US installed missiles in Turkey. +- Over 13 days, Kennedy and a Security Council figured out a plan to + remove the missiles. Discussed the "unthinkable possibility of a + nuclear exchange with the Soviets." + - "Not a real strategic threat." + - Eventually, National Security Council settled on two options: + - airstrike of missiles and invasion if necessary + - Bay of Pigs made JFK fearful of this. + - Also feared that invasion of Cuba would allow Sovs to take + over West Berline and cause WW3 + - JFK supported: blockade of Cuba to prevent more missiles. + - Kruschev agreed to move the missiles in exchange for: + - US secretly removing Turkish missiles + - Promise not to invade Cuba + - Relationship between Sovs and US improved because approaching the + brink of Cold War made them soften Cold War rhetoric. + +Birmingham, Alabama. Supremacists refuse to negotiate with Civil Rights +Activists. +- Alabam led by openly racist George Wallace, promising to uphold + segregation regardless of the cost. +- MLK felt that breaking segregation in Alabama would display + segregationist brutality to the world. + - Millions of Americans were outraged + - 3000 demonstrators + - wrote "letter from a Birmingham Jail," a defense of nonviolent + civil disobedience + - Biggest foe of change was the white moderate: "I agree with + you in the goal you seek, but I do not agree with you in your + methods." + - JFK supported the Civil Rights movement eventually + - Called it a moral issue + - Killing of Medgar Evers, a black kid, caused JFK to hold a meeting + with Civil Rights leaders. + - The March of Washington for Jobs and Freedom + - Largest political demonstration in history + - "You didn't see blacks or whites; you saw America." + - Civil Rights activists gave speeches, entertainers sang + protest songs + - "I Have a Dream" speech was improvised. +Remained "A dream deferred" for some time. + - KKK attacked a church, killing four. + - Sparked a new wave of indignation. +- Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy in Kansas. + - Oswald idolized Castro and hated the US. + - Also called a policeman + - JFK seemed to have a premonition: "We're heading into nut country + today. If someone wants to shoot me from a window with a rifle, no + one can stop it, so why worry about it?" he told his wife. + - This was at the end of the election, when Kennedy was on the + campaign trail. + +Next up, Lyndon B Johnson |