Kennedy's domestic policies

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New Frontier
Kennedy introduced and explained his 'New Frontier' in his presidential nomination acceptance speech in July 1960. It addressed: 'poverty and surplus', 'peace and war', and a 'new generation of leadership'
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Poverty and surplus
Kennedy claimed that campaigning in impoverished West Virginia in 1960 opened his eyes to the issue of poverty. He promised that if elected, he would not be indifferent to poverty as the Eisenhower Administration had been
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Peace and war
Kennedy had a lifelong fascination with 'peace and war'. As both congressman and senator, he focussed on foreign issues - conducting 'Cold Warrior' campaigns that emphasised the Democratic defence against evil, expansionist Communism
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A new generation of leadership
Kennedy intended to differentiate himself from the Fair Deal and New Deal, while also demonstrating his liberalism: this was done brilliantly through his New Frontier ideas, which tarnished the Eisenhower era as one of selfish complacency
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The Area Redevelopment Act
Passed in 1961, granting $394 million to extend employment opportunities in poorer states (e.g. West Virginia). Although poorly funded by Congress, it created 26,000 jobs and training programmes that benefitted 15,000. However 5 million remained unemploym
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The Manpower Development and Training Act
Passed in 1962, aiming to train and retrain workers who were unemployed because of technological advances. By December, it boasted 351 approved programmes for 12,600 trainees in 40 states. However, the act did nothing to massively effect the number of une
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The Social Security Amendment
Passed in 1961, expanding benefits for elderly and disabled people
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The Minimum Wage Act
Raised minimum wage from $1 to $1.25 an hour. An additional 3.6 million workers were covered, although 500,000 of the poorest remained without coverage (including 150,000 laundry workers, who were typically black women)
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The Food and Agriculture Act
Passed in 1962, giving federal subsidies to farmers. However, rural poverty persisted, despite administration efforts
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The Omnibus Housing Act
Passed in 1962, granting $5 billion for the extension of existing programmes such as urban renewal and public housing, and authorise low-interest loans for struggling middle-income families. However, the Act was for designed to benefit developers and cons
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Food Stamp Programme
Fed 240,000 people at a cost of $22 million annually. Kennedy also supported/extended Eisenhower's school lunch and milk programmes so that 700,000 more children could have a hot lunch, and 85,000 childcare centres and schools received fresh milk
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Legislative failures
Many historians consider Kennedy's legislative record unimpressive, as he failed to get congressional support for his major legislative initiatives, which were: federal financial aid for elementary and secondary education (rejected 1961), senior citizen h
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Legislative failures (2)
A department of Urban Affairs and Housing to co-ordinate programmes to halt urban decline, a civil rights bill to end the Jim Crowe Laws (stuck in Congress when Kennedy died, 1963) and tax cuts to stimulate the economy (rejected 1963)
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Kennedy claimed that campaigning in impoverished West Virginia in 1960 opened his eyes to the issue of poverty. He promised that if elected, he would not be indifferent to poverty as the Eisenhower Administration had been

Back

Poverty and surplus

Card 3

Front

Kennedy had a lifelong fascination with 'peace and war'. As both congressman and senator, he focussed on foreign issues - conducting 'Cold Warrior' campaigns that emphasised the Democratic defence against evil, expansionist Communism

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

Kennedy intended to differentiate himself from the Fair Deal and New Deal, while also demonstrating his liberalism: this was done brilliantly through his New Frontier ideas, which tarnished the Eisenhower era as one of selfish complacency

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

Passed in 1961, granting $394 million to extend employment opportunities in poorer states (e.g. West Virginia). Although poorly funded by Congress, it created 26,000 jobs and training programmes that benefitted 15,000. However 5 million remained unemploym

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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