The New Frontier

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Throughout U. S. history one of the most highly important decades known as the decade of change was the 1960s.During the dawn of this decade John F. Kennedy became President, the cold war continued, and the struggle for civil rights were one of the many events that defined the ‘60s. This decade was also a decade of unfortunate losses with the loss of several prominent public figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X who were targets for assassination. With many important events that occurred this is why the 1960s was unquestionably one of the important decades in American history and in the progress of our nation. John F. Kennedy newly elected president became the youngest man to be president of the United States. He was an …show more content…

Kennedy coined the term of his new initiative “The New Frontier”. In his speech he also laid out where he wanted to get the country moving to. Kennedy states that” We stand today on the edge of a new frontier of the 1960 a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats”. The New Frontier provided a chance for renewal and revolution, this is what ultimately led to many of the greatest developments which helped shape America today. The promising goals of the New Frontier were to deliver funding for education, end the recession, and put an end to civil rights issues. Since his programs received little support by Congress many of his acts and bills to create change seemed to be impossible. In Kennedy’s inaugural address he recognized several public values that were critical to the United States that I will further discuss in this paper. Understanding the challenges Kennedy faced to achieve his vison of the New Frontier ties into the aspect of social equity and lastly, the ethical standing point and role …show more content…

During the early 1960s, African Americans faced discrimination in education, employment, and many other areas. This is by far not one of Kennedy’s values that he went by. Kennedy was cautious to push the agenda of the civil rights legislation at first but eventually the administration had to act on it. Herbert Parmet argues that the civil rights movement “overwhelmed” a President who was caught up in a revolution.” (Stern, 1989) This piece always ties into the famous quote of Kennedy’s on what can you do for your country, as a nation you can focus on making the country better by doing your part in support of your country and working together. Doing something is better than just doing nothing at all. It is then once you have made things right for the nation as a whole, the nation is able to regain itself and be solid in being able to take care of those who need help. Social equity is envisioned as the third pillar of public administration, and it encompasses notions such as equality in governmental services, responsiveness to the needs of the citizenry, and an approach to public administration that has practical applications, is problem oriented, and theoretically sound. (Holzer). Kennedy truly embodied the movement of equality in ways as such that he saw fit that every American should have the honor and access to enjoy all opportunities given to the next

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