History_Final_Exam

Patricia History 467 Dr. John Stevens May 21, 2010 Characterize John F. Kennedy’s presidency. Was he a success or a failure' If a success, how was he a success' If a failure, how was he a failure' John F. Kennedy officially declared to run for president of the United States on January 2, 1960. Kennedy main opponent at the Los Angeles Convention was a senator from the state of Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson. Kennedy was nominated on July 13, 1960, as the Democratic nominee candidate for president. Kennedy knew Lyndon B. Johnson had strong ties to the South and needed someone with Johnson strength to win the South. He asked Johnson to be his running mate for Vice President and Johnson agreed. Kennedy was a great speaker, who was also handsome and charming. He famously told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, “I am not the catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party candidate for president who also happens to be catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters and the church does not speak for me.” One of the first televised presidential elections debates in history was in 1960, between Kennedy and Republican candidate and Vice President, Richard Nixon. Nixon came ready to debate with all of his statistics, but he was nursing an injured leg and sporting “five o’clock shadow.” His demeanor was tense and uncomfortable, while Kennedy appeared to be more relaxed and more confident. They had a huge television audience and they declared Kennedy the winner of the debate. The election between Kennedy and Nixon was one of the closest elections of the twentieth century. page 2 John F. Kennedy was sworn in on January, 20, 1961 as the 35th president of the United States. In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens, one of his most famous quotes, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your Country.” Kennedy did not have a certain set of ideas in mind when he became president, he did not make a lot of campaign promises like most presidents do, but he did promise on getting the nation to move again. Kennedy appointed seven task forces to prepare reports on some of the most important national issues, ranging from reorganizations of our defense to the disposal of agricultural surpluses abroad. He set up nineteen more groups, some to handle foreign policies and others domestic issues. When Kennedy took office in January, he had some of the nation’s leading experts submitting reports on problems the New Frontier had to face and try to resolve. President Kennedy foreign policies were dominated by American Soviet relations. Most of the foreign policies revolved around the interventions of the early stages of the cold war. The Cuban Mission Policy prior to Kennedy election, the Eisenhower administration had created a plan to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba. On April 17, 1961, Kennedy ordered the previously planned invasion of Cuba to proceed. He had support from the CIA, in what was known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The U. S. had trained about 1500 Cuban exiles to return to small island of Cuba to overthrow Castro. The invasion was supposed to take place without the support of the U. S. air support. Things did not go as planned by Kennedy; he had to negotiate for the release of evading troops. The failure of the plan came from a lack of dialog between the military leadership. After twenty months Cuba released the exiles for exchange of 53 million page 3 worth of food and medicine. After the incident Castro was wary of the U.S. and believed they could invade his island again. Kennedy was faced with the Cuban Mission Crisis in 1962, when CIA spy planes took pictures of a Soviet missile site under construction in Cuba. Kennedy was faced with big problems, if he attacked the site it may lead to a nuclear war with the U.S.S.R., but if he did nothing the U.S. could face the threat of nuclear weapons launched from close range. Kennedy began negotiations with the Soviet Union and ordered them to remove all defense material that was being built in Cuba. If they did nothing the Soviet and Cuban people would face navel quarantine. A week later Kennedy and Soviet Khrushchew reached a cordial agreement. He agreed to remove all missiles subject to U. N. inspections, if the U. S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba and remove its Jupiter missiles place in Turkey. This is the closest the world as ever been to a nuclear war. Kennedy was one of the first presidents to ask congress to create the Peace Crops. Through this program, Americans could volunteer to help underdeveloped nations in education, farming, health care and construction. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, on June 11, 1963 Kennedy intervened, when Alabama governor George Wallace blocked the doorway to the University of Alabama to stop two black students from enrolling. Wallace moved aside when two federal agents, Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach and the Alabama National Guard. Later that evening Kennedy gave a civil rights address on national television and radio. Kennedy proposed what later became the Civil Rights Act of 1964. page 4 During Kennedy time in office, he did a lot of good things to help our Country. Kennedy Domestic policy was called the New Frontier. He promised federal funding for education, medical care for the elderly, economic aid to rural regions, and government interventions to halt the recessions. He also promised to end racial discrimination. In 1963 he proposed a tax reform which included income tax cuts; it was later passed by congress in 1964, after his death. In Southeast Asia, Kennedy followed Eisenhower lead by using limited military action to fight the communist forces led by Ho Chi Minh. During Kennedy time in office, he increased the number of U.S. military in Vietnam from 800 to 16,300. Kennedy was strongly considering pulling out of Vietnam after his 1964 election, but he was assassinated before it happen. Kennedy had few major programs to pass during his administration, but under his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, congress did vote them in 1964-65. Kennedy was a success as president for the short term he served, from 1960 – 1963.