Kennedy's 'New Frontier': 1960-63

In November 1960, John F Kennedy was elected President.  He was young (44) with a family, and charismatic. 

His inaugural address challenged every American: “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country".  With an eye for the modern and the dramatic, he labelled his domestic policy: the 'New Frontier':

Going Deeper

The following links will help you widen your knowledge:

Basic account from BBC Bitesize

Opposition to the New Frontier

Kennedy’s nail-biter election victory  - BBC Witness History

  Essay: What was the impact of Kennedy’s ‘New Frontier’ programme on Civil Rights, Poverty, Health and Education?

YouTube

JFK's Presidency - traditional account

The 'New Frontier' Programme [ESCAPE]

1. Economic growth

   • Kennedy's 1961 economic stimulus programme included the creation of 420,000 jobs in construction, and $400 million in aid to distressed areas. 

   • He reduced interest rates, and cut taxes on businesses and investment.

   • He opened negotiations with the European Economic Union to reduce trade tariffs. 

   • When the steel industry proposed raising prices, he shamed them into cancelling the proposal, saying it would damage economic growth. 

2. Space race

   • In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first person to fly in space; the US was losing the space race.  On 12 September 1962, Kennedy vowed to get to the moon (“and other things”) before the end of the decade “not because they are easy, but because they are hard”, and funding for NASA’s Apollo programme was increased to do so. 

3. Civil Rights and Women's Rights

   • Government contractors were required to take “affirmative action” to ensure that employees were treated without regard to their color, creed, or race. 

   • He set up the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (1961).  Its ‘Plan for Progress’ worked with hundreds of large employers to adopt equal employment practices.  It did little, however, to enforce the Equal Pay Act.

   • He banned segregation on interstate transport (in response to the Freedom Rides). 

   • On 11 June 1963 he gave a televised Report to the American People on Civil Rights launching his proposals for civil rights legislation – including desegregation of schools and public facilities, and full voting rights; after his assassination this would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

   • For women, he set up the Commission on the Status of Women (1961) and signed the Equal Pay Act into law in 1963. 

4. Alleviate Poverty/ Housing

   • The Fair Labor Standards Act (1961) increased the minimum wage from $1 an hour to $1.15. 

   • His 1961 economic stimulus package included a 20% increase in Social Security payments, and aid for the children of unemployed workers. 

   • The Social Security Amendments (1961) allowed retirement at 62, and increased aid to widows and widowers.  Changes in eligibility extended benefits to an additional five million Americans.

   • A pilot Food Stamp programme (1961) to help poor families buy food. 

   • Free school meals extended to ¾ million more children. 

   • The Area Redevelopment Act (1961) was a job creation programme, though it was not successful. 

   • The Housing Act (1961) set up the Dept.  Housing to promote home-building, slum clearance and rural housing. 

   • The Senior Citizens Housing Act (1962) funded loans for apartment projects for people 62+. 

5. Public Health/ Environment

   • A Medical Health Bill for the Aged (‘ Medicare’) Bill was proposed, but rejected by Congress. 

   • The Social Security Amendments (1961) improved medical services for disabled children and prenatal care for low-income families. 

   • A Clean Air Act (1963) set emission standards for air quality, and gave government powers to control air pollution.

   • Greater funding to deal with water pollution.

   • The 170 sq.km Whiskeytown (California) Area; the 146km-long Flaming Gorge Park (Wyoming); Pisccataway Park (Maryland); the Cape Cod, Point Reyes and Padre Island National Seashores;  and Buck Reef Island wildlife/ outdoor areas were all established in 1961-62, along with a large number of Historical Monuments.

6. Education

   • Executive funding for Special Education, and to prevent school drop-outs and deliquency. 

   • A pilot programme of youth vocational training. 

   • The Health Professionals Educational Assistance Act (1963) provided grants for training of doctors, dentists, pharmacists etc. 

   • Executive Order 10924 created the Peace Corps under Sargent Shriver, which sent volunteers to help developing countries in fields like education, farming, health care, and construction.  Tanganyika and Ghana in Africa were the first countries to benefit.  By 1963, there were 5,000 volunteers working abroad. 

   • In addition, most New Frontier programmes included an educational element. 

Source B

JFK, Jackie and daughter Caroline, 1960.

Interpretations

Kennedy’s assassination on 22 November 1963 led to a paean of praise.  Journalist Theodore White, commenting on the young President, his elegant wife and young family, quoted Kennedy’s favourite musical: ”for one brief shining moment, there was Camelot” (a reference to the legend of King Arthur). 

The histories of the next few years belonged to what are called the ‘Camelot School’ – e.g. Kennedy’s special assistant Arthur Schlesinger, whose A Thousand Days (1965) highlighted the 'New Frontier' and portrayed him as a glamorous and progressive leader. 

Later revisionist historians were less accepting.  Professor of Political Science Bruce Miroff (1976) accused Kennedy of failing to grasp the opportunity that was presented to him, and thought that his reforms and policies could have achieved much more.  Biographer Herbert Parmet (1983) concluded that he was “an ‘interim’ President who had promised but not performed”. 

Historian Thomas Reeves was even more hostile (1991).  Reeves’s Kennedy was a flawed personality, a womaniser, arrogant, devious, ruthless and hypocritical.  He was also very poorly – with Addison’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome and back pain – for which, throughout the crises of 1961, he was taking large doses of amphetamines.  Reeves considered Kennedy inept in domestic politics, unable to control the Southern Democrats (although he was a Democrat), which was why so many of his Bills failed in Congress. 

Recent historians have been kinder.  Robert Dallek (2003) concluded: “Kennedy’s thousand days inspired visions of a less divisive nation and world, and demonstrated that America was still the best hope of mankind”.  And Thurston Clarke, focussing on Kennedy’s Last 100 Days (2013) believed that Kennedy had grown into a great President – that his poverty programme, civil rights legislation and Medicare plans laid the basis for the achievements of President Johnson’s ‘Great Society’.