New Frontier - Review on Kennedy's New Frontier, Legislation and Programs

The administration and policies of US President Kennedy (1961–3). It was characterized by a high international profile and a liberal domestic stance.

Part of the Politics series on Progressivism This article has some overlap with these other political positions

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American Progressivism

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The Square Deal

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The New Deal

The New Frontier

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The term New Frontier was used by John F.

Review on Kennedy's New Frontier

John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier program was intended to boost the economy, provide international aid, provide for national defense, and to boost the space program.

Overall, Kennedy’s New Frontier Program was successful in boosting the economy, as well as paving the way for many political, international and social reforms.

Legislation and Programs

Economy

Taxes were lowered 16% - 20%.

The Trade Expansion Act of 1962 authorized the President to negotiate tariff reductions on a reciprocal basis of up to 50 percent with the European Common Market.

Wages

Amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1961 greatly expanded the FLSA's scope in the retail trade sector and increased the minimum wage for previously covered workers to $1.15 an hour effective September 1961 and to $1.25 an hour in September 1963. The minimum for workers newly subject to the Act was set at $1.00 an hour effective September 1961, $1.15 an hour in September 1964, and $1.25 an hour in September 1965.

Housing

Omnibus Housing Bill 1961. In March 1961 Kennedy sent Congress a special message, proposing an ambitious and complex housing program to spur the economy, revitalize cities and provide affordable housing for middle-income and low-income families. The bill proposed spending $3,190,000,000, in which the major emphasis was on the improvement of the existing housing supply instead of new starts and a cabinet-level Department of Housing and Urban Affairs would oversee the programs. Promised to make the Federal Housing Administration a full partner in urban renewal program by authorizing mortgage amounts to finance rehabilitation of homes and urban renewal Committee on housing combined programs for housing, mass transportation, and open space land bills into a single bill.

Unemployment

The Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962 authorized a three-year program aimed at retraining workers displaced by new technology. The 1963 amendments to the National Defense Education Act included $731 million in appropriations to states and localities maintaining vocational training programs.

Medical

In 1963 Kennedy, who had a mentally retarded sister, submitted the nation's first Presidential special message to Congress on mental health issues. The National Institute of Mental Health assumed responsibility for monitoring community mental health centers programs.

Equal rights

The President’s Commission on the Status of Women was an advisory commission established on December 14, 1961, by Kennedy to investigate questions regarding women's equality in education, in the workplace, and under the law. Among the practices addressed by the group were labor laws pertaining to hours and wages, the quality of legal representation for women, the lack of education and counseling for working women, and federal insurance and tax laws that affected women's incomes. In order to eliminate some forms of sex-based pay discrimination, Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law on June 10, 1963.

Crime

The Juvenile Deliquency and Youth Offenses Control Act was signed into law September 22, 1961.