Postwar Liberalism s High Water Mark I The Early 1960s the golden years of postwar liberalism a Looking ahead to the end of the Liberal Consensus b Two liberal icons Presidents John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson JFK and LBJ i LBJ had a firm belief that the gov t was a tool to make life better for the common man II Camelot the Kennedy years 1960 63 a Kennedy as myth legend martyr i Reputation for being a strong supporter of civil rights for African Americans b Kennedy and Liberal Anticommunism i Berlin 1961 1 Berlin Wall built ii Cuba 1960 62 1 Late 1950s Cuba goes Communist a Fidel Castro ALL FAIL 2 CIA assassination attempts 3 The Bay of Pigs invasion 1961 a CIA trains Cubans to rebel against Castro with US military support 4 Cuban Missile Crisis October 1962 a Soviet Union outs atomic missiles on Cuba ends with US agreeing to remove missiles from Turkey and never invade Cuba again c Kennedy s domestic liberalism i Minimum wage bill 1 25 hr ii Social Security increase tries but fails iii Housing Act of 1961 increased gov t support iv Education funding III v Tax cuts idea from Keynes The Lyndon Johnson years 1964 68 a Possibly most liberal president to date b Race 1 Pushing Democrats to embrace civil rights 2 Civil Rights Act of 1964 3 Voting Rights Act of 1965 4 Executive Order 11246 a Made racial discrimination illegal in businesses c The Great Society i A New Deal for the 1960s 1 Thought the gov t should educate poverty stricken people to benefit from the gov t programs ii Major Programs 1 Medicare Medicaid 2 The War on Poverty a Head Start i Educational programs for underprivileged kids i Trained HS and college kids for b Upward Bound employment c Job Corps i Same as Upward Bound d VISTA i Trained wealthy kids to go help out in poor neighborhoods e Community Action Programs i Gave money to local gov ts in poor neighborhoods and had the citizens decide what to do with it IV Mid 1960s liberalism is riding high but things will change
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