- What Happened to JFK
- November 22, 1963
- President Kennedy traveled to Dallas, Texas to campaign for re-election
- A parade had been scheduled
- As the motorcade passed by the Texas School Book Depository, a shot rang out.
- Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 PM
- Lee Harvey Oswald, the known assassin, was captured
- Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner, stepped through the crowd and shot Oswald, killing him.
- Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) was sworn in the same day
- Remembered as a good president until the end (Vietnam issues)
- Largest reforms since the New Deal
- Civil Right Bills: banned discrimination based on race or gender in employment, and ended segregation in all public facilities
- Built on JFK’s Peace Corps by creating by creating a massive system of volunteer work in the US, especially in schools
- Declared a “war on poverty”
- Challenged Americans to create a “great society”
- Voting Rights Act: Banned literacy tests and other ways of illegally stopping voting.
- Invention of medicare: government-subsidized health insurance for the elderly (building on social security)
- National Endowment for the Arts: put public money into artists and galleries (culture)
- Immigration Act: ended discriminatory immigration quotas
- What a president! So many changes! However, events in the late 60’s started funneling money away from poverty and towards Southeast Asia