John F. Kennedy

Political Party Affiliation: Democratic Party

Platform: Dynamic foreign policy, military preparedness, progressive labor policy, prosperity on farms, defense of civil liberties, aid for the aged, fiscal responsibility.

Ways the political party was altered/reformed:

Encouraged catholic voters through his religious standing and gained black voters by supporting the Civil Rights Movement.

World Events: Bay of Pigs, Berlin Wall, Geneva Conference, Cuban Missile Crisis, Space Race.

National Events: Gideon v. Wainwright, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Birmingham Church Bombing, Kennedy signs nuclear test-ban, JFK Assassination.

Scandals: Constant scandal about supposed relationships with number of women from White House secretaries to Marilyn Monroe.

Were policy goals successfully accomplished?

Yes (even after he died); Apollo 11, he took the economy out of recession, he established the Peace Corps, averted nuclear war, etc.

How will history remember them?

Historians rate him as a good president, not a great one, but Americans consistently give him the highest approval rating since FDR. He was very personable and likeable, therefore many remember him fondly and as being a good, if not one of the best, presidents. They also remember his death as a great tragedy and loss for the country.

Bay of Pigs

Fidel Castro overthrew General Fulgencio Batista, the American-backed president in Cuba in 1959. For the next two years, the CIA attempted to push Castro from power. In April 1961, the US launched a full-scale invasion of Cuba. However, it did not go well; the invaders were outnumbered by Castro's troop and surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting.

Civil Rights Movement

Struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for blacks to gain equal rights under the law in the United States.

Space Race

Beginning in the late 1950s, space became another dramatic arena for competition between the Soviet Union and the USA, as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology.

Malcolm X

"African-American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X articulated concepts of race pride and black nationalism in the 1950s and '60s."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968."

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Baker and other Tennessee citizens alleged that a 1901 law designed to apportion the seats for the state's General Assembly was virtually ignored. Baker's suit detailed how Tennessee's reapportionment efforts ignored significant economic growth and population shifts within the state.

Birmingham Campaign

Spring of 1963. One of the most influential campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement. It was the beginning of a series of lunch counter sit-ins, marches on City Hall and boycotts on downtown merchants to protest segregation laws in the city.

Black Panther Party

"A political organization founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to challenge police brutality against the African American community."