What were the main features of the New Frontier and how successful were they?

F.Moynan

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November 02

What were the main features of the New Frontier and how successful were they?

President Kennedy started the New Frontier in 1961 and to a certain degree was a great success though its progress was cut short by his early death in 1963. In many of the areas that he wanted to encompass into the New Frontier there was a strong opposition in the Congress. Those were features such as Medicare; this improved healthcare program was predominantly designed for the elderly. It was an insurance policy, which improved the standard of care for the elderly when they could not; either afford the standard that they were entitled to, or were too ill to look after themselves. This project was blocked by congress as they deemed it too expensive and futile when the money could be spent on more useful projects. The plan to spend money on improved education was also refused with the objection that the education was already adequate.

The main objectives of the New Frontier were intended to improve the lives of the average American citizen though the program got off to a slow start it made huge developments in the standard of living of the common worker. In May 1961 the President, with the approval of Congress, increased the minimum hourly wage of the common worker by 25% from $1.00 to $1.25. Also the government legislatures provided financial aid to economically depressed areas throughout the USA. Kennedy also helped to improve living standards for LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries.) throughout the world. This program named the US Peace Corps, which was launched in March 1961 and was soon afterwards authorised by Congress. The Peace Corps sent thousands of American troops abroad to raise the standard of living for millions of poor citizens in countries such as Peru, Columbia, Sierra Leone and many other countries. The Corps was extremely successful, though not only in helping the unfortunate but also in securing a huge number of internal votes who admired his idea and sympathy. He also obtained a vast increase in external popularity and an improvement in foreign relations. Those from other countries often referred to the corps fondly as ‘Kennedy’s Corps’.

Unemployment was at a low but had only been decreased by 1 million to 4.5 million since he was elected; this was due to lack of proper funding, and Kennedy’s general lack of interest in Domestic Affairs. He was simply more interested in the more ‘important’ issues such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the threat of Nuclear War with the Soviet Union. He did address these problems in a diplomatic and extremely rational way, which brought him popularity from American citizens but did not solve the domestic issues, which must surely have been lingering in the back of ...

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Unemployment was at a low but had only been decreased by 1 million to 4.5 million since he was elected; this was due to lack of proper funding, and Kennedy’s general lack of interest in Domestic Affairs. He was simply more interested in the more ‘important’ issues such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the threat of Nuclear War with the Soviet Union. He did address these problems in a diplomatic and extremely rational way, which brought him popularity from American citizens but did not solve the domestic issues, which must surely have been lingering in the back of Kennedy’s mind. The nuclear arms dilemma was encompassed in the New Frontier program and was handled well: Kennedy decided to start the mass production of conventional weapons to avoid the concept of nuclear war. Many of the nuclear warheads were destroyed in the attempt to steer clear of nuclear war at all costs. This idea was successful and brought him even more popularity inside and outside the USA.

Kennedy proposed a massive drop in taxes ($10 billion) to create new business on a national scale. For this increase in business Kennedy relied on the idea that the public would spent more on commercial products, thus increasing businesses’ turnover, due to the fact that they had more spare cash due as the taxes had been cut. This would produce many positive effects, bringing in a far greater amount of money than taxes would, helping small businesses to expand and generally increase the economic might of America.

In the early 1960s there much pressure put on Congress and President Kennedy to pass laws on Civil Rights for blacks. In mid 1963 the President asked Congress to pass laws that forbid any public services such as hotels, restaurants, cinemas and bus services to any longer segregate their facilities and to offer coloured people the same rights as their white counterparts. Kennedy ordered his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy to restore order in areas that riots had happened as the laws were greeted with mixed emotion and many southern states refused to obey the new laws and refused entry to many blacks to various colleges such as Little Rock, Mississippi.

‘The time has come for the Congress of the United States to join with the executive and judicial branches making it clear to all that race has no place in American life or law.’ Kennedy in August 1963 making his case about Civil Rights to legislatures. Kennedy made huge progress in the Civil Rights debate and essentially brought legal equality to all to the black community.

Kennedy’s laws brought the emergence of other minority rights movements such as women, the old, physically handicapped, the poor, Native Americans, prisoners and outcasts and finally lesbians and homosexuals. Progress was made in all of these areas and they were generally successful.

The start of the New Frontier was a good base but as he was assassinated in 1963 all the problems that should have been confronted were not and many of the jobs were been left half done but that which had been done provided a superb starting block for later presidencies.

Sources:

Radley College Library.

The USA: 20th CENTURY.