John F. Kennedy

John F . Kennedy : Social , Political and Military Contributions As President

John Fitzgerald Kennedy is one of the most celebrated United States president , and perhaps no other president was so popular as JFK . The thirty-fifth in succession , he was also the youngest and the first ever Roman Catholic elected US president . Having served only for approximately one thousand days , he has led the Americans , and the whole world , towards peace and prosperity . His famous inaugural speech urged the Americans to ask not what the country could do for you ask what you

could do for your country ' and to the whole world to ask what together we can do for the freedom of man ' According to Gary Knapp , in his book Building the American Dream , Kennedy had a special appeal to the youth of America . His outlook of optimism and courage was understood by young America and the youth around the world . The spirit exemplified by President Kennedy was accepted not only by young people but many older citizens as well , who saw in him and in the hopes for 'the New Frontier ' a challenge that gave vigor and purpose to America and other nations ' But what was it that gave Kennedy such a high appeal among Americans , and the people of the whole world in this matter , during and even after his time ? What has caused him to continue to rank highly in public opinion ratings of former US presidents

The world was shocked upon hearing the news that John F . Kennedy was assassinated in the afternoon of November 22 , 1963 . It certainly was a sad day for America and America would never be the same again . In a little more than a half year , more than 3 ,000 ,000 Americans paid their last respect for the president . John F . Kennedy fought for the cause of equal rights , calling for new civil rights legislation . He was strongly against war , hoping to negotiate first with enemies of the United States , eventhough he ruled with an iron fist when needed . His goal was to banish the world of war and coercion . His administration thus saw the beginning of new hope for both the equal rights of Americans and the peace of the world . In his inaugural speech , Kennedy said : Let every nation know , whether it wishes us well or ill , that we shall pay any price , bear any burden , met any hardship , support any friend , oppose ant foe , in to assure the survival and the success of liberty Powerful words of courage that inspired , not only so many Americans , but people of the whole world . In the spring of 1963 , he said : We all inhabit this small planet . We all breathe the same air . We all cherish our children 's future ' In this Knapp added : But to work for peace and one 's fellow men , to dare to brave any tempest that appeared , that was what freedom and America was all about and that was the heritage to America from John F . Kennedy

John F . Kennedy established the Peace Corps in March 1961 , an organization that enabled young Americans to volunteer in developing countries around the world . It was designed to encourage mutual understanding between Americans and other cultures of the world . It was a product of the Cold War , wherein Kennedy pointed out that the Soviet Union had hundreds of men and women .prepared to spend their lives abroad in the service of world communism ' while the United States did not have an equivalent organization . Kennedy wanted to involve Americans more actively in the cause of global democracy , peace , development and freedom

The major American moral and legal conflict during Kennedy 's term was the area of civil rights . The African-Americans agitation to discrimination had become widespread and well organized and Kennedy attempted to aid them by enforcing existing laws . He signed executive s outlawing discrimination in most federally funded facilities such as airports . He signed an demanding that the federal government adopt affirmative action ' to reach out and hire more African-American employees . He also asked Congress to pass a civil rights bill that would guarantee African-Americans the right to vote , to attend public schools , to have equal access to jobs , and to have access to public accomodations . Lyndon Johnson , who succeeded Kennedy after his assassination , used his connections and the outpouring of emotion from the United States in response to the death of Kennedy to urge the congress to pass the Civil Rights Bill which was finally done on July 1964

Perhaps the greatest achievements of John F . Kennedy during his term as the president was his participation in the Cold War . The Cold War is the struggle between communism and the free market systems of Europe and the United States , fought with , among others , propaganda and political use of military and economic aid . It was at its height during the Kennedy administration and at times risked becoming extremely hot , yet catastrophe was avoided , making Lawrence Freedman to ask : Was this through good luck or good management ' One of Kennedy 's real test was handling a crisis in Cuba wherein his sponsoring of a rebel invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs turned out to be a fiasco . Cuba , at that time became part of the Cold War with the pronouncement of its leader in the belief in Communism . The Soviet Union , led by Nikita Krushchev , took this as a weakness of the Kennedy administration and made secret arrangements with the Cuban Government that was then led by Fidel Castro . They supplied Cuba with nuclear missiles in the guise of protecting the island against another American-sponsored invasion An American spy-plane photographed the unmistakeable missile sites that was still under construction . This became , of course , a major threat and concern for the people of the United States as it put the easternd United States within range of a nuclear missile attack . Kennedy placed a naval blockade around Cuba to prevent other nuclear supplies from entering the island while , at the same time , demanding the removal of the missiles and destruction of the sites . He called upon Krushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine , reckless and povokative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations . He also warned that an attack from Cuba on any nation in the western hemisphere would be considered an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States itself . Krushchev , realizing that the crisis would easily escalate into a nuclear war , finally agreed to the missiles in return for an American pledge not to invade Cuba . It should be noted that Krushchev recognized that the Soviet Union is in a weak military position as the United States already have the technology for the atomic bomb , which was considered the most powerful nuclear weapon at that time , while the Soviet Union does not . The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest to a full-pledged war directly between the United States and the Soviet Union . This was perhaps Kennedy 's greatest moment as president . With his exceptional handling , Kennedy proved to the Nation that war could be avoided through proper negotiations . The early 1960s are now recognized as a turning point in the Cold War , after which it never turned quite so dangerous again . Kennedy was in charge during some of the most frightening and dangerous days of the Cold War . He gave active consideration to large-scale conventional military operations and thought hard about the danger in all cases of escalation to nuclear exchanges . Freedman analyzed Kennedy 's approach : When it came to fundamental issues of foreign policy , his strategy was dominated by a determination to avoid the nuclear cataclysm that he feared above all else without giving ground to the Cold War

Kennedy also introduced the Alliance for Progress to accelerate the change in Latin American countries by strenghtening democratic institutions , as most of these countries have the same social , economic and political conditions that had led Castro 's success in Cuba and could easily be exploited by the Communists . All Latin American nations except Cuba , joined the Alliance for Progress , pledging to bring our people accelerated economic progress and broader social justice within the framework of personal dignity and individual liberty ' The Alliance for Progress and Kennedy 's particular concern for democratic institutions brough the US renewed popularity in Latin America

Politically , John F . Kennedy also contributed innovations that succeeding politicians emulate . John Barnes enumerated some of them

He made his own rules . When he ran for congress in 1946 without having held any previous office , old line Boston polls grumbled that he was cutting the line . Kennedy didn 't care . He just built his own organization , a practice that he would retain throughout his career Today , virtually all ambitious politicians rely on their own organizations , rather than on party organizations , to win elections

He started early . In 1951 , he began laying the groundwork to take on the wealthy , handsome and popular Republican incumbent US senator from Massachusettes , Henry Cabot Lodge , Jr , in what was certain to be the Republican year of 1952 . Kennedy travelled the state , never taking a single vote for granted . He began runing for president in 1958 and declared his candidacy in January 1960 , both of which were considered absurdly early at the time . Now , the early start is a standard operating procedure

He mastered TV . The poitical debate had all but died by the early 1950s But Kennedy , thought that if he could hold his own in a televised debate , it would help him . His theory proved correct in both Lodge and Nixon . Today , entire cable television networks are devoted to nothing but political debate

He made friends of the press corps . Kennedy was the first president to answer questions from journalists on live television 'the dumbest idea since the hula hoop ' groused the New York Times columnist James Reston at the time . The live presidential press conference , of course , is now an institution

He made policy makers of the White House staff . Under the Kennedy administration , the cabinet was eclipsed as a major decision-making body by the White House staff , which moved to the force as the chief executive 's primary advisers and instruments

Indeed , President Kennedy was notoriously sensitive to press comment and would go to great lengths to influence the media 's coverage of his administration and his policies . His use of television and press conferences in the marketing of policy , and at the same time of himself set the standards for others to follow ' He had a sensitivity for popular opinion which gave him an invaluable filter through which he assesses alternative options , for he realized that if a convincing rationale could not be found for popular consumption , that might be because the policy was a bad one

It would be difficult to categorize Kennedy 's achievements into social political , and military . As a politician , all of his actions are driven by his political interest and thus might be categorized as political and that while establishing the Peace Corps and the Alliance for Progress could be seen as a social contribution , its roots were in response to the growing popularity of Communism in other countries , an evident product of the cold war and could also be considered as a military achievement

Bibliography

Barnes , John A . 2005 . John F . Kennedy on Leadership : The Lessons and Legacy of a President . AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn

Freedman , Lawrence . 2002 . Kennedy 's Wars : Berlin , Cuba , Laos , Vietnam Oxford University Press (US

Hodge , Marie . 2007 . John F . Kennedy : Voice of Hope . Springer

John F . Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum . 2008 . JFK in History http /www .jfklibrary .org /Historical Resources /JFK in History

John F . Kennedy ' 2007 . Microsoft (R ) Encarta (R ) Online Encyclopedia HYPERLINK "http /encarta .msn .com " http /encarta .msn .com

Kennedy , John F . January 20 , 1961 . Inaugural Address

Knapp , Gary . 2007 . Building the American Dream . Authorhouse

Microsoft (R ) Encarta (R ) Online Encyclopedia 'John F . Kennedy

John F . Kennedy . Inaugural Address

Gary Knapp . Building the American Dream .

. 36

Ibid ,

. 44

Kennedy . Inaugural Address

Ibid ,

. 44

Marie Hodge . John F . Kennedy : Voice of Hope .

. 2

JFK Library and Museum . JFK in History : Peace Corps

John A . Barnes . John F . Kennedy on Leadership : The Lessons and Legacy of a President .

. 3

Microsoft (R ) Encarta (R ) Online Encyclopedia 'John F . Kennedy

JFK Library and Museum . JFK in History : Civil Rights Context in the Early 1960s

JFK Library and Museum . JFK in History : The Cold War

Lawrence Freedman . Kennedy 's Wars : Berlin , Cuba , Laos , Vietnam .

. x

Microsoft (R ) Encarta (R ) Online Encyclopedia 'John F . Kennedy

Ibid

Freedman . Kennedy 's Wars .

. xii

Ibid ,

. xii

Microsoft (R ) Encarta (R ) Online Encyclopedia 'John F . Kennedy

John Barnes . John F . Kennedy on Leadership .

. vii-viii

Freedman . Kennedy 's Wars .

. 6 ...