John F. Kennedy
- Elected 35th President after Eisenhower's two terms
- Wins 1960 election, begins 1961 with Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson
- Defeats Richard Nixon
- Youngest President at 43
- First and only Catholic President
- Advocate of the Space Race
The U-2 Incident, 1960
- USSR shoots down American spy plane known as a U-2 (Pilot Gary Powers taken prisoner)
- High altitude planes had flown over Russia taking pictures for years
- With introduction of Rocket missiles they were able to shoot one down
- Russians walk out of a Summit conference in Paris
Summary
The political landscape was changing when JFK reached Washington. World War II was over, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt was dead. President Harry Truman was doing his best to expand the liberal social programs of his predecessor, but he faced staunch opposition from a coalition of Southern Democrats and Republicans, who anticipated winning the White House in the 1948 election. (In actuality, Truman would eke out a narrow, comeback victory over Republican Thomas E. Dewey.) It took some time for the inexperienced and youthful-looking JFK to find his footing in the capital. During his first term, he hewed close to the Democratic party line on domestic policy, voting against reducing funding for school lunches, opposing the weakening of rent control, mobilizing veteran support for a housing bill that failed to pass, and supporting attempts to raise the minimum wage. During this time, he served on the House Education and Labor Commission, as one of the two most junior members. I believe that the Americans thought and still think that JFK was one of the best presidents they ever had.