The New Frontier

• Kennedy becoming president was a big deal:

  • He was the youngest president (at the time)
  • People thought he was handsome
  • Family is growing fast
  • First Catholic president, people thought the Pope would be involved in politics, the Klan is targeting Catholics
• Kennedy called his plan “The New Frontier” because he wanted this year to be a year of rapid change and of mass development.
• He was more focused on form policy rather than domestic policy, but he did

  • raise minimum wage,
  • passed Housing Act of 1961,
  • proposed a huge education bill but it was killed in Senate,
  • passed the Community Mental Health Act,
  • formed the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (focused on women’s rights, mental and physical health, workplace),
  • passed a bill that allowed for equal pay, not based on gender,
  • invests a lot in Apollo program.
• Apollo 11 was the first shuttle to get to the moon.