An Overview of John F. Kennedy's Administration

At 43, John F. Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected President, and, at 46, the youngest ever to die in office. He was also the first Roman Catholic to become President, and the first President to have been born in the 20th century. He won the presidency with his "New Frontier" program, after a unique series of television debates with his opponent, Republican Vice-President Richard M. Nixon. As President, Kennedy won world respect as the leader of the Free World. He greatly increased United States prestige in 1962 when he turned aside the threat of an atomic war with Russia while forcing the Russians to withdraw missiles from Cuba. On the home front, the U.S. enjoyed its greatest prosperity in history. Blacks made greater progress in their quest for equal rights than at any time since the Civil War. And, as the result of a promise made by Kennedy in a televised public address, the United States made its first manned space flights and prepared to send astronauts to the moon.

Election of 1962
Place of Nominating Convention	Los Angeles
Ballot on Which Nominated	1st
Opponents	Richard M. Nixon (Republican) Harry F. Byrd
Electoral Vote	303 (Kennedy) to 219 (Nixon) to 15 (Byrd)
Popular Vote	34,226,731 (Kennedy) to 34,108,157 (Nixon)
Age at Inauguration	43


His Vice-President and Cabinet
Vice-President	Lyndon B. Johnson
Secretary of State	Dean Rusk
Secretary of the Treasury	C. Douglas Dillon
Secretary of Defense	Robert S. McNamara
Attorney General	Robert F. Kennedy
Postmaster General	J. Edward Day John A. Gronouski, Jr. (1963)
Secretary of the Interior	Stewart L. Udall
Secretary of Agriculture	Orville L. Freeman
Secretary of Commerce	Luther H. Hodges
Secretary of Labor	Arthur J. Goldberg W. Willard Wirtz (1962)
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare	Abraham A. Ribicoff Anthony J. Celebrezze (1962)

Major Domestic Events of His Administration
U.S. population was about 190,417,800 in 1963.
1961	The Peace Corps was launched by executive order.
1961	The 23rd Amendment gave residents of the District of Columbia the right to vote in national elections.
1961	Congress approved an increase in the minimum hourly wage from $1 to $1.25.
1961	A group of Negro and white freedom riders entered Montgomery, Alabama, by bus to test local segregation laws.
1962	Congress passed the Trade Expansion Act, giving the President wide powers to cut tariffs.
1962	James Meredith became the first Negro to enroll at the University of Mississippi.
1962-1963	The Supreme Court ruled official prayers and Bible reading in public schools unconstitutional.
1963	The Supreme Court ruled that states must supply counsel in criminal cases for individuals who cannot afford it.
1963	Rioting broke out in Birmingham, Alabama.
1963	Medgar W. Evers, NAACP field secretary for Mississippi, was assassinated in Jackson.
1963	The Alabama National Guard was federalized to enforce the integration of the University of Alabama.
1963	About 200,000 persons staged a Freedom March in Washington, D.C., in support of equal rights for Negroes.
November 22, 1963	President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.


Major World Events of His Administration
1961	Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space.
1961	Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
1961	Alan B. Shepard, Jr., became the first American to fly in space.
1961	The Berlin Wall cut off East Berlin from West Berlin.
1961	The U.S. set up the Alliance for Progress, an aid program for underdeveloped Latin American countries.
1961	Dag Hammarskjöld, United Nations Secretary General, was killed in a plane crash in Africa.
1962	John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit the earth.
1962	Ez-Nazi Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel for crimes committed prior to and during World War II.
1962	Algeria gained its independence from France.
1962	The U.S. launched Telstar I, the first satellite to relay television programs between the U.S. and Europe.
1962	The U.S. and Russia nearly waged war over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
1963	The Atomic Test-Ban Treaty was signed by the U.S., Russia, and other countries, banning all except underground nuclear tests.
1963	U.S. and Russia set up the "hot-line" direct communication system between Washington and Moscow.
1963	Military officers in South Vietnam overthrew and killed President Ngo Dinh Diem.

Presidents of the United States. Internet Public Library. www.ipl.org/div/potus/jfkennedy.html
The American President. Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. www.millercenter.virginia.edu/academic/americanpresident/kennedy

Richard M. Nixon
Civil War
Stewart L. Udall
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Berlin Wall
Dag Hammarskjöld
World War II
Telstar
Cuban Missile Crisis

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THE ROBINSON LIBRARY --> American History. --> United States: General History and Description. --> Late Twentienth Century, 1961-2000. --> John F. Kennedy's Administration, 1961-1963.

This page was last updated on 08/16/2011.