The Assassination of JFK

1. The Assassination of JFK Austin Mangelsdorf

2. Background Information Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 Lee Harvey Oswald was charges with the crime, but was shot and killed two days later by Jack Ruby, before a trial could be held There are many different theories as to whether or not Oswald acted alone

3. Pre-Assassination • JFK was sworn into office on January 20, 1961 • Inherited problems and/or legislation from former administrations involving bother both domestic and foreign events, including: • The Cold War • Problems with Cuba • Racial tensions especially in education • The Space Race

4. Racial Tensions • What is Ben Willis-ism? • Benjamin C. Willis was the Superintendent of Schools in Chicago in the 1960’s • Accused of perpetuating segregation by refusing to move black children into white schools. • This is a poster used to advertise a march that was planned to protest this racial inequality in the school systems • This was a problem that Kennedy kept at arms length during his presidency

5. The Space Race The space race between the U.S. and the Soviets only added to the tensions between the two during the Cold War In Kennedy’s State of the Union address in January of 1961, he suggested international cooperation in space. Khrushchev, head of the Soviet Union, declined April 12, 1961: Soviets launch 1st man into space. U.S. begins surge to become first on moon

6. Cuba April 17, 1961: The offensive known as the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, ending in embarrassment for the U.S. October 14, 1962: CIA spy planes take pictures of missile sites being built in Cuba. October 22, 1962: Kennedy announces that the U.S. will stop and inspect all Soviet ships entering Cuba

7. Kennedy is Assassinated

8. Vietnam Kennedy continues to provide aid to Vietnam until after reelection (he needed to keep the U.S. there partially in order to help hi get reelected) Even though he is very anti-communist he doesn’t actually want to get to involved with a war Because of this, the anti-war protest does not arise during that time Leads to more American lives being spared North Vietnam still overpowers the South Vietnamese

9. Civil Rights Act It has been theorized that Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act in honor of Kennedy. He was able to do so due to his influence as a Southern Democrat amongst this influential group in congress Had Kennedy tried to get this act passed he would have had a far more difficult time than Johnson and would ultimately fail This causes riots across the country with many causalities Riots in response to the neglect of the Civil Rights issue

10. Gun Control The Gun Control Act of 1968 is not suggested as it was mainly in response to the Kennedy and MLK assassinations which, in this reality, is missing the death of JFK which was very influential This leads to a far more lenient gun policy and creates a domino effect where today we are now debating the same gun control laws, just with different premises Gun violence proceeds to spike leading to multiple court cases involving instances of gun violence

11. Modern Times There are a few differences that would have occurred had Kennedy not been assassinated: The war in Vietnam would have been different or possibly non-existent leading to the preservation of a generation of young men, some of which would have died otherwise Election results would have been different, especially around his time, however as time passed is very difficult speculate on the results of those elections, even todays. There may have also been a setback in the Civil Rights act getting passed, possibly affecting today with regards to such relations, however nothing big