The New Frontier

1. The New Frontier

2. New Frontier • 1960 election was closely contested between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy • Main issues: the economy and the Cold War. The candidates were very similar on these issues.

3. New Frontier • Other factors played an important role in the election: style, background, personal manner. • Candidates spent heavily on television advertising, and engaged in a series of televised debates. • Kennedy appeared relaxed, outgoing, and tan, while Nixon appeared stiff and pale

4. The Kennedy Mystique • Kennedy was youthful and optimistic, and his family became the subject of constant media coverage. • His charisma came through on television, and he was the first to broadcast press conferences live on television.

5. Success and Setback on the Domestic Front • Not all were taken with Kennedy, and because his victory was so close, it was sometimes difficult for him to pass his legislative package, called the New Frontier. • Congress defeated his proposals for health insurance for the elderly and federal aid to education.

6. Kennedy did have some success getting his economic program passed. • Deficit spending to create jobs: Congress agreed to spend more on defense and space exploration. • Congress defeated his tax cut proposal, however. • Kennedy efforts to channel funds to poorer areas: Area Redevelopment Act, Housing Act

7. On women’s rights, JFK: • Appointed women to prominent positions in the administration • Created the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women • Issued an order to end gender discrimination in federal employment • Signed the Equal Pay Act

8. Warren Court Reforms • Earl Warren: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, nominated by Eisenhower. Led an activist court. • Voting rights: • Baker v. Carr: Federal courts can intervene to protect voting rights. • Reynolds v. Sims: State legislative districts must be equal in population.

9. Extending due process: • Mapp v. Ohio: Evidence seized in violation of federal constitution can’t be used at state trials. • Gideon v. Wainwright: Criminal defendant has right to an attorney regardless of ability to pay. • Miranda v. Arizona: Police must advise suspects of rights.

10. Prayer and Privacy • Engel v. Vitale: States cannot compose and require official prayers to be recited in school. Later, Court barred daily Bible readings in public schools. • Griswold v. Connecticut: State ban on sale of birth control devices was unconstitutional.