Helpful Facts - JFK

From PEOPLE on YAHOO answers:

JFK, quite the charismatic breath of fresh air in an stodgy age of stuffy corruptive politics, sought to end Vietnam, lent political support to the Civil Rights movement by establishing the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, created the Peace Corps, challenged NASA to have an American land safely on the Moon and return to Earth, lent his political support for his Attorney General brother, RFK to battle organized crime and he stared down the steel eyed Communist aggressor, Russia, who were not only supplying Cuba with nuclear missiles---but were eager to launch them on the U.S.

JFK had his turblent moments of trials and tribulations as well: His decision to sign Executive Orders to dissolve the CIA came when he realized he was outright lied to about the Bay Of Pigs effort to liberate Cuba. JFK found out a sweet cozy deal was set up between CIA and Mafia to take over Cuba--and open up a mega-franchise of casinos, brothels and drug trade pipelines. The Bay Of Pigs fiasco was probably his biggest mistake in office.

There purportedly were moments during flashpoint minutes during the Cuban Missile Crisis--when several military and naval high command officers showed displays of defiance towards the President; their resignations afterwards were accepted quietly.

JFK and RFK both were aware their father's partnership with organized crime bootleggers during Prohibition led to the Kennedy family's prestige and wealth; the Mafia got him voted in as President. But that didn't make what was done right---something both brothers Kennedy sought to change and make right. And so, JFK and RFK bulked up to batter ram the Mafia, weaken and imprison them for good.

JFK went against the grain of corruptive D.C. politics--upsetting a lot of empowered people in areas of politics, military....and even organized crime.

And on Novemember 22, 1963---the men who bitterly HATED JFK---killed him in broad daylight, for the world to see---and send a message THEY were in control once again and to NEVER stand in their way.

It was done, many theorize, in the name of saving America---for it was rumored Kennedy secretly corresponded with Soviet leader Kruschev. And many young, but powerful (and evidently, deadly) upstarts in D.C. also contended Kennedy may himself be Socialist.

Today, believe it or not, several of these men---albeit they are well in their 70s---are still alive, which alone gives cause to why we will NEVER anytime soon know the brazen sordid whole truth to who ordered and orchestrated JFK's ( and quite likely RFK's ) murder.

They didn't want JFK to continue on as President---and they damn well didn't want RFK to make it as President.

Personal Life:
Anyways, he was Senator for Massachusetts and a WWII hero where he saved his fellow crew and ship in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati. He was honored with a purple heart and he also went to college in Harvard where he excelled in football more than schooling. He suffered a bad back and had to take a large amount of pain killers and antihistamines. He married Jackie Bouvier, but was a sex addict so he had numerous liasons with Marilyn Monroe and other prominent women of the time. It has been said he was a very sick man and suffered from STD's too.

Presidency:
He acted on Eisenhower's Bay of Pigs invasion. He trained Bolivian and ex-Cuban patriots to bring down Fidel Castro. Castro gave them an ultimatum to fly the aircrafts out of Cuban international waters or he would shoot them down. JFK didnt listen and it was an utter mess.

Ill give JFK credit where credit is due he created the Peace Corps. that is the only significant thing he has done as president.

In regards, to the Cold War it was in his presidency it was at an alltime high and we wee on the brink to literally go to war w/ the USSR. However, we didnt and we tend to give JFK credit when in actuality Nikita Khrushev was the one who saved the day. Castro wanted war on all cost he wanted nukes from the USSR, but Khrushev was wary and didnt want to give it to him because even though their was a series of resentment between the US and USSR he knew if they went to war total destruction would come out of it. So, he left Castro alone.

Also JFK did practically nothing for the Civil Rights Movement as he refused to invite Martin Luther King Jr., a very important figure of the CRM into the White House for a lunch. JFK also spearheaded the very unpopular Vietnam War because he sided and gave financial aide and military aide to Southern Vietnamese dictator Diem, who was responsible for the genocide of millions of Vietnamese monks in his countryside. This angered the Viet cong and Ho Chi Mihn and they declared war on the South and the US backed Diem's side and JFK sent an abundance of US troops to die in this war.

In fact, LBJ, JFK's Vice President often gets a bad rap because of the Vietnam War. But, he was put into a bad situation by JFK, in which he had no choice but continue with the war. As for the Civil Rights Movement LBJ had the best domestic policy than any US President in his term in the Great Society. Unlike, JFK he welcomed Martin Luther King Jr. with open arms and the struggle of segragation ended with the Lyndon Johnson presidency.

I think JFK is loved now because he was undeniably charismatic and a good speaker and the fact he got assassinated makes him forever remembered. But, the fact is he wasnt as great as he was perceived to be.

-Created the Peace Corps
--Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
--Supported racial integration and Civil Rights; proposed what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964
--Created Project Apollo, which led to the first man landing on the moon six years after JFK's death
--Created the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity which sought to end discrimination in government and covert discrimination among government contractors.

Guided us, safely, through the cuban missile crisis. Probably the most important period of his presidency.

Medgar Wiley Evers

Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi who was assassinated by Byron De La Beckwith.

On November 24, 1954, Evers was appointed Mississippi’s first field secretary. President of the NAACP Mississippi State Conference and civil rights activist, E.J. Stringer, helped him gain this position.

Evers was involved in a boycott campaign against white merchants and was instrumental in eventually desegregating the University of Mississippi when that institution was finally forced to enroll James Meredith in 1962.

The admission of Meredith led to a riot on campus that left two people dead. Evers’ involvement and investigative work brought about hatred in many white supremacists. In the weeks leading up to his death, Evers found himself even more of a target. His public investigations into the murder of Emmett Till and his vocal support of Clyde Kennard made him a prominent black leader and therefore vulnerable to attack. On May 28, 1963, a molotov cocktail was thrown into the carport of his home. Five days before his death, Evers was nearly run down by a car after he emerged from the Jackson NAACP office.

On June 12, 1963, Evers pulled into his driveway after just returning from a meeting with NAACP lawyers. Emerging from his car and carrying NAACP T-shirts that read "Jim Crow Must Go," Evers was struck in the back with a bullet fired from an Enfield 1917 .303 rifle that ricocheted into his Jackson, Mississippi home. He staggered 30 feet before collapsing. He died at a local hospital 50 minutes later, just hours after President John F. Kennedy's speech on national television in support of civil rights.^[8]

Malcolm X

Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, andhuman rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. His detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, antisemitism, and violence. He has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska. By the time he was thirteen, his father had died and his mother had been committed to a mental hospital. His childhood, including his father's lessons concerning black pride and self-reliance and his own experiences concerning race, played a significant role in Malcolm X's adult life. After living in a series of foster homes, Malcolm X became involved in hustling and other criminal activities in Boston and New York. In 1946, Malcolm X was sentenced to eight to ten years in prison.

While in prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam. After his parole in 1952, he became one of the Nation's leaders and chief spokesmen. For nearly a dozen years, he was the public face of the Nation of Islam. Tension between Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad, head of the Nation of Islam, led to Malcolm X's departure from the organization in March 1964.

After leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X became a Sunni Muslim and made a pilgrimage to Mecca, after which he disavowed racism. He traveled extensively throughout Africa and the Middle East. He founded Muslim Mosque, Inc., a religious organization, and the secular, black nationalist Organization of Afro-American Unity. Less than a year after he left the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X was assassinated while giving a speech in New York.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) (conventionally pronounced /ˈsnɪk/) was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Bakerheld at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960. SNCC grew into a large organization with many supporters in the North who helped raise funds to support SNCC's work in the South, allowing full-time SNCC workers to have a $10 a week salary. Many unpaid volunteers also worked with SNCC on projects in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and Maryland.

SNCC played a major role in the sit-ins and freedom rides, a leading role in the 1963 March on Washington, Mississippi Freedom Summer, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party over the next few years. SNCC's major contribution was in its field work, organizing voter registration drives all over the South, especially in Georgia and Mississippi.

A final SNCC legacy is the destruction of the psychological shackles which had kept black southerners in physical and mental peonage; SNCC helped break those chains forever. It demonstrated that ordinary women and men, young and old, could perform extraordinary tasks.

—Julian Bond^[1]

In the later 1960s, led by fiery leaders such as Stokely Carmichael, SNCC focused on "black power", and then protesting against the Vietnam War. As early as 1965, James Forman said he didn’t know “how much longer we can stay nonviolent” and in 1969, SNCC officially changed its name to the Student National Coordinating Committee to reflect the broadening of its strategies. It passed out of existence in the 1970s.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The SCLC had a large role in the American Civil Rights Movement.^[1]

^{During its first few years, SCLC activities were focused primarily on education, voter registration, and support for local struggles being waged by SCLC affiliates. SCLC and Dr. King were sometimes criticized for lack of militancy by younger activists in groups such as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and theCongress of Racial Equality (CORE) who were participating in sit-ins and Freedom Rides.}

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Christian_Leadership_Conference}

James H. Meredith

James H. Meredith (born June 25, 1933) is an American civil rights movement figure. He was the first African Americanstudent at the University of Mississippi, an event that was a flash point in the American civil rights movement. Motivated by the broadcast of President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address (which did not mention civil rights per se)^[1] Meredith decided to apply his democratic rights and then made the ultimate decision to apply to the University of Mississippi.^[1]Meredith's goal was to put pressure on Kennedy administration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Meredith

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP and pronounced N-double-A-C-P, is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States ^[3] Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination".^[4] Its name, retained in accord with tradition, is one of the last surviving uses of the term colored people.

The NAACP bestows the annual Image Awards for achievement in the arts and entertainment, and the annual Spingarn Medals for outstanding positive achievement of any kind, on deserving African Americans. It has its headquarters inBaltimore, Maryland.

John Foster Dulles

John Foster Dulles (February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world. He advocated support of the French in their war against the Viet Minh in Indochina and it is widely believed that he refused to shake the hand of Zhou Enlai at the Geneva Conference in 1954. He also played a major role in the CIA operation to overthrow the democratic Mossadegh government of Iran in 1953 (Operation Ajax) and the democratic Arbenz government of Guatemala in 1954 (Operation PBSUCCESS).

MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE

HS204.01 U.S. SINCE 1945

MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE, SPRING 2010

The exam consists of an essay and short answers.

PART ONE: Essay, 70%

TWO of the following will appear on the exam; write on ONE.

1. The Cold War generated intense rivalry between conflicting political systems. From the American perspective, describe the central issues involved, and compare and contrast Cold War initiatives and achievements within any two administrations between 1945 and 1963. (You may include FDR’s final term as one choice). Make specific reference to course readings for supporting evidence in your essay.

2. Personality, image, and symbolism played important roles in American politics and culture in post-WWII decades. Write an essay describing these factors and their influence over American life during TWO specific time-periods between the 1940s and the Kennedy Administration. Draw specifically from course readings to generate supporting evidence for your essay.

3. You are a 20 year old college student in 1950 caught up in the drama of the Red Scare. Locate yourself geographically, politically, and economically in an essay on your mindset and on the complexity of this issue. Discuss the range of issues generating the Red Scare and your thoughts on Cold War propaganda. Draw specifically from the readings to generate supporting evidence for your essay.

PART TWO 30%

12 of the following will appear on the exam. Identify and give the significance of 6 (total) terms or names. A typical answer will consist of at least a paragraph.

MCCARRON ACT YALTA DOMINO THEORY

NATIONAL SECURITY ACT

NEW FRONTIER CAMELOT

TAFT-HARTLEY ACT

DOUGLAS MACARTHUR

PHIL GRAHAM

MISSILE GAP

DIXIECRATS

ETHEL ROSENBERG

HUAC

SECURITY VS IDENTITY

MCCARTHYISM

BIG BARBECUE

KHRUSHCHEV

NSC-68

FAIR DEAL

HENRY CABOT LODGE

BAY OF PIGS

WHY ENGLAND SLEPT

PROFILES IN COURAGE

ARMY-MCCARTHY HEARINGS

BIG BARBECUE

Nothing symbolized the good life better than the backyard cookout, even President Dwight Eisenhower had to grill his thick, succulent steaks in the White House roof. Sometimes the fifties were called the Great BARBECUE. The country was peaceful and prosperous during this time. There was money to buy things... cars, college, homes.

Missile Gap

Missile Gap - the real sparks flew within the American intelligence community, particularly between the US Air Force and the Central Intelligence Agency. Each The Air Force agrueing that the Soviets had hundres of missiles and the CIA stating that they only had twelve. In reality they only had four. This controversy leaked to the press, where Democrats argued that Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower was not spending enough money on national security and was therefore placing the country in danger. In the 1960 election campaign John F. Kennedy echoed these charges—allegedly because he did not have access to the intelligence data. Soon after Kennedy was elected he changed that opinion saying in fact that the US was far more prepared that the Soviet Union.

The Missile Gap, for those who are unfamiliar with Cold War history, was a controversy that raged soon after Sputnik concerning the number of Soviet ICBMs. Did the Soviets have hundreds of ICBMs whereas the United States had not yet deployed its own?

The Soviets had few operable ICBMs; in spite of this Khrushchev publicly boasted of the Soviets' missile programs, stating that Soviet weapons were many and numerous. The First Secretary hoped that public perception that the Soviets were ahead would result in psychological pressure on the West and political concessions

The McCarran-Ferguson Act

The McCarran-Ferguson Act - The McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 (15 U.S.C.A. § 1011 et seq.) gives states the authority to regulate the "business of insurance" without interference from federal regulation, unless federal law specifically provides otherwise.

is a United States federal law that exempts the business of insurance from most federal regulation, including federal anti-trust laws to a limited extent. The McCarran–Ferguson Act was passed by Congress in 1945 after the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Association that the federal government could regulate insurance companies under the authority of the Commerce Clause in the U.S. Constitution.

The Act was sponsored by Senators Pat McCarran (D-NV) and Homer Ferguson (R-MI).

WASHINGTON (Feb. 26, 2010) — By a 406-19 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act, which repeals the exemption health insurers have under the McCarran-Ferguson Act.

Passed in 1945, the McCarran-Ferguson Act states that federal antitrust law applies to the insurance industry only to the extent that it is not regulated by state law. The Automotive Service Association, which for years has championed a total repeal of McCarran-Ferguson as anti-competitive and injurious to small business, praised passage of the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act as a good first step.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/mccarran-act-intro.html