Overview of 1960's Economics. By the 1960s, the post-war boom had flourished for over a decade, and had begun to wane.
Under conservative Eisenhower, the nation had grown, but only cautiously. When Kennedy swept into office, his energy and enthusiasm inspired Americans to take on challenges both foreign and domestic. Kennedy's goals were to stimulate the economy, reduce unemployment, support growth and democracy abroad and establish an important economic position on the international front.
Labor Union. In the 1960s, the percentage of workers who were members of unions was falling from the peak achieved in the 1940s and 1950s.
While 31.5% of workers were union members in 1950 and 33.2% were in unions in 1955, that percentage fell to 31.4% in 1960, 28.4% in 1965 and 27.3% in 1970. Union participation has continued to fall since then. Thus, although unions have had an important impact on the American economy, an increasingly smaller percentage of American workers have been part of this impact since the late 1950s. Poverty. In 1960, over one fifth of the population of the United States was living below the poverty line.
Congress attempted to address the issue in 1961, by passing the Rural Areas Development Act. The act provided loans for low-income farmers to expand land holdings; created new rural jobs through community projects such as home repair and water-system construction; encouraged new industry in rural areas; and provided funding for the occupational retraining of farmers. It was not until the publication of Michael Harrington's 1962 book, The Other American: Poverty in the United States, that the extent and characteristics of the "new poverty" which afflicted at least 39 million Americans was exposed to the general public.
Shocking in its revelations and eloquent in its testimony, Harrington's book influenced many, including President Johnson, to make a serious effort to eradicate poverty from the United States. Inflation. LBJ. The "Treatment" The "Treatment" (2) VID: The Great Society in 15 Minutes. JFK. JFK's inauguration speech: 50 years on. John F Kennedy's grave at Arlington cemetery, looking out over the Potomac river on Washington, is marked by an eternal flame and the words he delivered in his inauguration speech 50 years ago today.
Engraved in stone is the best-remembered line: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country will do for you – ask what you can do for your country. " Those words sum up a speech remembered as inspirational, a call for altruism, to end poverty, disease and war. But that is not how the speech was viewed everywhere at the time. Guardian reporters did not mention that quotation, or much else from the speech, in their reports on the front pages the next day. They were more preoccupied with the weather: six inches of snow had fallen ahead of the speech and it was a chilly inauguration. Nor has history been kind to Kennedy: his administration is now viewed more as symbolic and short on achievement. Ted Sorenson: JFK's inaugural address was world-changing.
John F Kennedy delivered his inaugural address on January 20, 1961 John F Kennedy's inaugural address – delivered on a bitterly cold, snow-laden January 20 1961 – was a joint effort, like most of his major speeches during the previous eight years of our collaboration, and was the culmination of his long uphill quest for the presidency.
He won that prize in the previous November's election with the narrowest popular vote margin. He was the first Catholic to be entrusted with the presidency and, at 43, was the youngest ever elected. The inaugural address, in my view, was not Kennedy's best speech. That honour goes to his American University commencement address, June 10 1963, in which he called, as no American president or other western leader had ever called, for a re-examination of the cold war, a re-examination of our country's relations with Russia, and a re-examination of the meaning of peace. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. . · Ted Sorensen is an author and lawyer. VID+ The Sixties. The Tumultuous 1960s.