The American Age
New Frontiers and a Great Society
1960-1968
Introduction
The 1960s opened as an optimistic decade for Americans. The strength of
the country’s industrial and consumer economy was preeminent in the
postwar world. The Cold War had spawned a broad anti-communist
consensus against the Soviet Union among most Americans despite fears of
a nuclear war. African Americans and women continued to work to attain
greater equality in civil rights. President John F. Kennedy represented a new
generation that was coming to leadership, and in his inaugural address, he
called for a shared vision of progress.
By the end of the decade, however, the political, economic, and foreign
policy consensus had begun to fray. Americans were deeply divided over the
Vietnam War, social movements challenged the status quo, the economy
faltered, and more Americans began to distrust politicians and the
government. Over the course of the decade, American society became
increasingly fragmented.
,Election of 1960
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in 1917, the grandson of Irish-Catholic
immigrants who came to the United States in the nineteenth century to
escape poverty and oppression in their homeland. Joseph P. Kennedy, John
Kennedy’s father, a wealthy investor and canny politician, was determined
to see one of his sons become president. After wartime service in the U.S.
Navy, John Kennedy was elected to represent Massachusetts in the U.S.
House of Representatives in 1946, then moved on to the U.S. Senate six
years later. In 1960, he secured the Democratic presidential nomination.
Forty-three years old, handsome, Harvard educated, and a war hero, he
exuded what the Kennedy family described as “vigor.” His campaign slogan
was the “New Frontier,” and he promised to “get the country moving
again.”
At age forty-seven years, Vice President Richard M. Nixon, the Republican
Party’s presidential nominee in 1960, was older than Kennedy but still
relatively young. He was also a World War II Navy veteran. First elected to
the House of Representatives in 1946 and then to the U.S. Senate in 1950
before being selected by Dwight D. Eisenhower as a running mate in the
1952 presidential election, Nixon’s rise to national prominence was even
faster than Kennedy’s. Born in Yorba Linda, California, Nixon enjoyed few of
the advantages that had shaped Kennedy’s privileged early life. His father
ran a general store and gas station where young Nixon put in long hours. He
attended a local college, and, although he went on to graduate from Duke
University School of Law, he found only modest employment opportunities
before departing for military service. But Nixon was fiercely ambitious as
well as resentful of those who had an easier path to success. This ambition,
along with controversial campaign tactics that included labeling opponents
as disloyal to the United States, earned him the nickname “Tricky Dick.”
Nixon was from the region of the United States that was coming to be called
the “Sun Belt,” stretching from Florida through the Old South into Texas and
the Southwest states and ending in Nixon’s own southern California. The
, area’s population was growing fast, compared with the northeastern and
midwestern states. It was home to many military bases and the expanding
defense industry, as well as conservative-leaning evangelical Protestant
churches. Nixon’s brand of fierce anti-communism played well in the region.
Behind the rhetoric, however, not much separated the two candidates’
platforms. Both were political centrists: on domestic issues, Nixon was less
conservative and Kennedy less liberal than the mainstream of their
respective parties. Both were committed “Cold Warriors.”
One clear difference between the two candidates was the way they
appeared on television to the majority of Americans. The emerging
dominance of television as a means of communication had a profound
impact on the 1960 presidential race because it made running for the
presidency as much about style and image as about substance. The telegenic
Kennedy owed his narrow victory in part to the better impression he made
in the four televised presidential debates, in which he came across as
younger, more vital, and more appealing than his haggard and sweating
opponent. In the end, less than a single percentage point separated the
candidates’ shares of the popular vote. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of
the United States, was the youngest person elected to that office.
The 1960 presidential election was
the first to feature televised debates
between candidates. This photo was
taken at a debate in October 1960
between (left) Democratic candidate
John F. Kennedy and (right)
Republican candidate Richard Nixon.
Many analysts have argued that
Kennedy’s youthful looks and
pleasant demeanor helped him win over television audiences and
contributed to his victory in the electio
New Frontiers and a Great Society
1960-1968
Introduction
The 1960s opened as an optimistic decade for Americans. The strength of
the country’s industrial and consumer economy was preeminent in the
postwar world. The Cold War had spawned a broad anti-communist
consensus against the Soviet Union among most Americans despite fears of
a nuclear war. African Americans and women continued to work to attain
greater equality in civil rights. President John F. Kennedy represented a new
generation that was coming to leadership, and in his inaugural address, he
called for a shared vision of progress.
By the end of the decade, however, the political, economic, and foreign
policy consensus had begun to fray. Americans were deeply divided over the
Vietnam War, social movements challenged the status quo, the economy
faltered, and more Americans began to distrust politicians and the
government. Over the course of the decade, American society became
increasingly fragmented.
,Election of 1960
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in 1917, the grandson of Irish-Catholic
immigrants who came to the United States in the nineteenth century to
escape poverty and oppression in their homeland. Joseph P. Kennedy, John
Kennedy’s father, a wealthy investor and canny politician, was determined
to see one of his sons become president. After wartime service in the U.S.
Navy, John Kennedy was elected to represent Massachusetts in the U.S.
House of Representatives in 1946, then moved on to the U.S. Senate six
years later. In 1960, he secured the Democratic presidential nomination.
Forty-three years old, handsome, Harvard educated, and a war hero, he
exuded what the Kennedy family described as “vigor.” His campaign slogan
was the “New Frontier,” and he promised to “get the country moving
again.”
At age forty-seven years, Vice President Richard M. Nixon, the Republican
Party’s presidential nominee in 1960, was older than Kennedy but still
relatively young. He was also a World War II Navy veteran. First elected to
the House of Representatives in 1946 and then to the U.S. Senate in 1950
before being selected by Dwight D. Eisenhower as a running mate in the
1952 presidential election, Nixon’s rise to national prominence was even
faster than Kennedy’s. Born in Yorba Linda, California, Nixon enjoyed few of
the advantages that had shaped Kennedy’s privileged early life. His father
ran a general store and gas station where young Nixon put in long hours. He
attended a local college, and, although he went on to graduate from Duke
University School of Law, he found only modest employment opportunities
before departing for military service. But Nixon was fiercely ambitious as
well as resentful of those who had an easier path to success. This ambition,
along with controversial campaign tactics that included labeling opponents
as disloyal to the United States, earned him the nickname “Tricky Dick.”
Nixon was from the region of the United States that was coming to be called
the “Sun Belt,” stretching from Florida through the Old South into Texas and
the Southwest states and ending in Nixon’s own southern California. The
, area’s population was growing fast, compared with the northeastern and
midwestern states. It was home to many military bases and the expanding
defense industry, as well as conservative-leaning evangelical Protestant
churches. Nixon’s brand of fierce anti-communism played well in the region.
Behind the rhetoric, however, not much separated the two candidates’
platforms. Both were political centrists: on domestic issues, Nixon was less
conservative and Kennedy less liberal than the mainstream of their
respective parties. Both were committed “Cold Warriors.”
One clear difference between the two candidates was the way they
appeared on television to the majority of Americans. The emerging
dominance of television as a means of communication had a profound
impact on the 1960 presidential race because it made running for the
presidency as much about style and image as about substance. The telegenic
Kennedy owed his narrow victory in part to the better impression he made
in the four televised presidential debates, in which he came across as
younger, more vital, and more appealing than his haggard and sweating
opponent. In the end, less than a single percentage point separated the
candidates’ shares of the popular vote. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of
the United States, was the youngest person elected to that office.
The 1960 presidential election was
the first to feature televised debates
between candidates. This photo was
taken at a debate in October 1960
between (left) Democratic candidate
John F. Kennedy and (right)
Republican candidate Richard Nixon.
Many analysts have argued that
Kennedy’s youthful looks and
pleasant demeanor helped him win over television audiences and
contributed to his victory in the electio
