ABSTRACT
Kennedy’s address set the tone for an incredibly active decade of government-driven programmatic initiatives, beginning with establishment of the Peace Corps and ending with the historic landing of an American astronaut on the moon, a feat that has never been duplicated. In between, the nation witnessed an explosion of domestic policy breakthroughs, including the passage of powerful civil rights legislation, the enactment of Medicare, and the start of armative action. Political commotion was almost as frenetic on the foreign policy side of the activism ledger. Between the Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam War, and the persistent global chess game between the United States and the Soviet Union, Americans had more than their share of collective character tests. All this and more in a single decade.
