Another Camelot?

The election of President Obama marks a first for American Presidents. He is the first African American elected to the Presidency and broke the racial barrier.

In 1960, John F. Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic elected to be President, breaking the religion barrier. Kennedy had a vision for America that today is described as "Camelot." He tried and succeeded to implement innovative and progressive policies to change the country. President Obama was elected because he too had a vision of change for America that the people could believe in.

Kennedy faced the challenges of the Cold War and Vietnam. Obama faces the challenges of Iraq, Afghanistan, and terrorism.

How do the challenges and vision of Kennedy and Obama, both Democrats, compare? Assign students to complete a report of at least 150 words that cites at least three resources; or students can prepare an PowerPoint presentation of at least two minutes and seven slides.

Students should address the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can add or substitute others):

• How is Obama's vision of change similar to Kennedy's?
• What actions did Kennedy take that might be instructive to Obama in foreign policy?
• What actions did Kennedy take that might be instructive to Obama in domestic policy?
• What differences do you see in the visions of these Presidents?
• What similarities do you see in the visions of these Presidents?

Pathfinder 1: Click the 1960 icon > John F. Kennedy's Camelot
Pathfinder 2: Click the 1960 icon > John F. Kennedy and the Cold War

Use our custom ProQuest models for written or PowerPoint reports written and PowerPoint-style reports.

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