PRESIDENT KENNEDY'S FOREIGN POLICY.   Term Paper ID:26868 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analyzes his ineffective policy in Vietnam & his successful handling of Cuban Missile Crisis.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analyzes his ineffective policy in Vietnam & his successful handling of Cuban Missile Crisis. Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION John Fitzgerald Kennedy was President of the United States for less than three years, yet in that time he had a major impact on the country and on foreign and domestic policy lasting for a decade or more. Some of his actions produced effects that were beneficial, and others can be seen now as less effective, notably his enmeshing the country in the Vietnam War. Kennedy's presidency began in a spirit of glamour and change and ended in the assassination of an American president. The country shifted from a period of hope to a period of tension, paranoia, conspiracy theories, and a growing distrust of government. The United States became involved in the situation in Vietnam during the Eisenhower Administration, but it was during the Kennedy Administration that U.S. involvement increased and American Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The United States became involved in thesituation in Vietnam during the Eisenhower Administration, but it wasduring the Kennedy Administration that U.S. Kennedy's youth and ideas invigorated many in other partsof the world as well, though Kennedy was not fully successful in hisforeign policy efforts. Pragmatic Illusions. was thus drawn more andmore into a policy that was not working: Although it was not yet recognized in Washington, the Eisenhower administration's commitment to making South Vietnam another "showcase" of communist containment was already crumbling. FOREIGN POLICY The allure of Camelot extended overseas as well, though in a somewhatdifferent way. This was also the time in whichSoutheast Asia would become vital with the war in Indochina, soon to beknown as the Vietnamese War. This was because the people supportedthe Viet Minh and identified Ho Chi Minh as the leader of theirindependence movement (Scheer 274-275). Kennedy did not start American involvement in vietnam but did escalateit and continue earlier policies. The CIA and other agencies knew that Russian claims were spurious.The spy satellite Discoverer had spotted fewer than 2 SS-7 railmobileICBMs on spurs of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and this ended the missilegap which had been created by Khrushchev's boasts. The Bay of Pigs occurredsome two years previously and made Khrushchev believe that Kennedy wouldback down if confronted, and Kruschev may even have rationalized that Cubaneeded Soviet protection from another U.S. These missiles were medium-rangeballistic missiles with a range of about 75 miles. documentsreleased by the CIA. CIA information served to indicate the potential threatfrom Cuba and particularly the threat of Soviet missiles that might befired from Cuban soil. . The Cuban Missile Crisis remains one of the primary reasons why Castrois held at arm's length by the U.S. would attempt to institute reforms and thegovernment of South Vietnam would resist, accepting U.S. Taken as a whole, that history is far less reassuringthan the more familiar version. It is a story of blunder, miscalculationand dumb luck (Morgenthau 36). This beginning was with full awareness on thepart of the American government that, as Eisenhower said, it would be agreat tragedy for the United States to become involved in an all-out landwar in Asia (Chafe 259). For all the concern nuclear capability has raisedas to the potential for world disaster, it is also true, as Newhouse notes,that nuclear weapons affected the behavior of nations and actuallyinhibited the onset of large-scale war: Since the end of World War II, well over a half million Americans have been killed or wounded in battle. The way the Kennedy Administration ended contributed to the mythologyof the time so that Kennedy's presidency was viewed as more expansive andeffective than it really was, and the murder of a President set Camelotmore firmly as an image, leaving the President forever youthful and tragic. New York: Harper & Row. The U.S. A major issue forKennedy was to convince businessmen that he was on their side (Parmet 343-344). "At the Brink of Disaster."Newsweek , 36-39. Texas was growing more and more hostile to theAdministration at the time, and among the groups identified as dangerousand working in that area were right-wingers, the far left, anti-Castrocubans, Puerto Rican nationalists, and black militants. Historian Allan M. His personal popularity always remained oddly apolitical, divorced form any policy or program (Miroff 22).Miroff also finds that Kennedy was not fully committed to legislativeissues. How he would have fared over the nextyear or two is a matter of sheer speculation, for he did not have the timeto develop and implement a new policy. Winkler, Allan M. This was prudent at the time, but the historical record should be opened (Roche 5). Black Americans beganusing nonviolent protest as a political tool on a widespread basis, andthis would become the vehicle of choice for a number of disaffected groupsover the next few years and into our own present era. (1985). War and Peace in the Nuclear Age. government, for even as other parts ofthe world have ceased being Communist-led or have sought some accommodationwith the U.S. "The Cuban Missile Crisis Revisited."The New Leader, 5. The Kennedy administration had one other intention, . During this time, no American President ever seriously considered using nuclear weapons to shorten a war or settle a political crisis in which the interests of the United States seemed to be directly threatened (Newhouse 12).In the earliest period of the nuclear age, the United States was the onlynuclear power and believed that the situation would continue. At the time of his death, Kennedy was making a journey to garnersupport for his policies and to raise money for the 1964 election cycle(Reeves 657). New York: OxfordUniversity Press, Miroff, Bruce. The real history of the missile crisis has been coming out bit by bitfor years, partly from Soviet sources and now from secret U.S. Convinced that the Eisenhower administration;s reliance on nuclear deterrence and massive retaliation was inappropriate in a world full of trouble spots of differing dimensions, Kennedy and his foreign policy advisors embarked on a major buildup of conventional forces and counterinsurgent techniques (Chafe 265). Roche, John P. Certain questions remain about the validity of the election ofKennedy, especially because of peculiarities in Chicago, and the era waswoefully short because Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. This shows that full Americaninvolvement was considered prior to 1954 and rejected, in part becauseEisenhower did not believe that a military victory was possible given thepolitical situation in the region. At the same time, while the Kennedy era began in a spirit of exhilarationand youth that infected the whole country, many of the hopes at thebeginning went unfulfilled by the reality: Kennedy was a popular president, a star of the media unlike any President before or since, but his Presidency fell far short of any national political awakening. (1983). Reeves, Richard. The Kennedy administration essentially followed the same program asthe Eisenhower government, even though this went against the advice Kennedyhad given a decade before that military involvement in South Vietnam wouldnever achieve the intended goal. The country shifted from aperiod of hope to a period of tension, paranoia, conspiracy theories, and agrowing distrust of government. Some claimed that French lost because the U.S. The Kennedy presidency was a majorchange from the more staid era of Eisenhower. analysts believed that the Soviets had no more than 44 operationalintercontinental ballistic missiles and 155 long-range bombers, while theUnited States had 156 such missiles, 144 sub-launched Polaris missiles, and1,3 strategic bombers: Deploying medium-range missiles in Cuba gave Soviet forces a significant increase in the number of warheads that could reach the United States--though it is unlikely that Khrushchev had nuclear war in mind (Morgenthau 36).Khrushchev wanted parity with the United States, and he saw the Cuba gambleas the best way to approach this ideal, or at least to make the worldbelieve Russia had achieved it. The image that prevailed for the Kennedy years was derived from theBroadway show Camelot. American involvement in Vietnam shifted in theKennedy era to become a full-fledged war by the time of the JohnsonAdministration. Kennedy.New York: Dial Press. Vietnam would be anunfortunate legacy, while his success in the Cuban Missile Crisis would becelebrated. Second, Roche points out that we certainly knewthat the Soviets were not producing missiles at the rate they claimed theywere. The CIA monitored activity in Cuba and attempted to assess themilitary capabilities of the Cubans. This move was based on the belief first that it was essentialthat a Communist takeover of the region be stopped and second that it waspossible to stop it without engaging in an all-out war. Parmet describes the Kennedy years as follow: "Camelot" began with smoke from a defective rostrum and closed with a burst of gunfire in the street of an American city. (1976). Some of hisactions produced effects that were beneficial, and others can be seen nowas less effective, notably his enmeshing the country in the Vietnam War.Kennedy's presidency began in a spirit of glamour and change and ended inthe assassination of an American president. The Camelot eraoffered hope to a new generation, and its ending dashed those hopes and ledto increased tensions and new demands during the rest of the 196 s. invasion. Parmet, Herbert S. New York:Vintage books. The missile crisis developed when it was clear thatthe Soviets were placing nuclear missiles in Cuba and were preparing tobring in more. New York: Simon &Schuster. Works Cited Chafe, William H. Throughout the nuclear era, thethreat of nuclear war seemed to be enough to prevent it, though there weretimes when tensions rose to such a pitch that even that was not certain.the Cuban Missile Crisis was one such instance. Soviet ships withmissiles of a longer range were spotted and stopped: The Kennedy Administration, presumably to maintain the sense of emergency both here and in Latin America, generated the myth that we were all in the target zone. The Cold Warbegan with two nuclear powers, The U.S. Kennedy never managed to achieve the goals he had set for himselfand his Administration, and it is not clear whether he would have been ableto bolster his popularity for a second term and have the time to finishwhat he started. The avuncular Eisenhower wasa calming figure during the early years of the Cold War, while Kennedyexemplified youth and vigor and promised great change. New York:Viking Press. The Kennedy Administration had much to sayabout labor, about civil rights, and about effecting change in thepolitical culture, though it is still argued how much it managed to doabout any of these issues. The Unfinished Journey. was drawn in slowly to fillthe vacuum. Kennedy stands as a major figure more because of hispersonality and what he meant to the era in which he served than because ofspecific accomplishments. involvement increased andAmerican troops were committed to the support of South Vietnam. The CIA worked to prop upthe Diem government, but it fell early in the Kennedy years. to test its new strategy of "flexible response" to Soviet aggression. Kennedy did what others did later--maintained a military presence in the belief that not doing so would makeAmerica appear weak. He notes first thatwhile there may have been no objective evidence from the CIA regardingwhether or not the Soviets had warheads in Cuba, it is clear that theadministration believed they did, for Kennedy and his associates certainlydid not believe the Soviets might fire missiles at the United Stateswithout such warheads. (1972). New York: David McKay. America did not seem to notice the change in the earlyperiod, though in fact America had been involved in Vietnam for many yearsbefore the issue came to the fore in domestic politics. Once the French had withdrawn, the U.S. INTRODUCTION John Fitzgerald Kennedy was President of the United States for lessthan three years, yet in that time he had a major impact on the country andon foreign and domestic policy lasting for a decade or more. The Bayof Pigs invasion was in April 1961. This was accomplished through the useof Cuban agents, spy planes and satellites flying over Cuban territory, andthe monitoring of ships, planes, and other outside means of travel andcommunications. The Kennedy Administration was seen as forwardlooking, though this may not have been as true as many people may havethought, though more so than had been seen before. (1988). . (1991). CONCLUSION John F. Roche recently wrote about the missile crisis and about thereassessments of that issue taking place over the last several years andfind much to argue about with those who are attempting to revise history orwho have forgotten the reality of the original event. The NationalSecurity Council ordered that everything that could be done should be doneto maintain a friendly non-communist government in South Vietnam and toprevent a communist victory in elections there. Since the time of the Monroe Doctrine, America had told European andother nations to stay away from the Central American region, and now theSoviets were placing missiles in Cuba and so endangering American soil.This occurred at the height of a period of Cold War tensions when Americansfeared nuclear attack. and achieved it, overtures from Castro have been rebuffed. Kennedy's victory over Kruschev is remembered nowas a high point for American power, which would have been otherwise forKennedy had the Bay of Pigs fiasco been all that was remembered. JFK: The Presidency of John F. Americaninvolvement actually started in 1954 when the French were the ones caughtin the Vietnamese quagmire. In spite of thepromise of a new era, it was not an era of peace, and the Bay of Pigs andthe Cuban Missile Crisis in particular brought the Communist threat closeto American shores for the first time. So ended just over a thousand days of elegance, alluring prose, chivalrous masculinity, and drama (Parmet 3).Yet, no administration simply ends as abruptly as this, for its policiescontinue to have consequences, its problems have to be addressed by itssuccessors, and its triumphs continue to serve the people long after theadministration itself is out of office. This has been true of the KennedyAdministration as of others. (March 6, 1989). CAMELOT Herbert S. Modern America: The United States from WorldWar II to the Present. America sent aid to the French prior to 1954 at atime when the French were losing the war that no one thought they couldlose. Walton, Richard J. Despite its best intentions, America had become inextricably associated with a repressive government presided over by an imperial tyrant who had little if any contact with his own people (Chafe 263). The missile crisis had its immediate origins in the Bay of Pigs fiascoand in the arms race between the superpowers. CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS The event that tested Kennedy's resolve most dramatically was theCuban Missile Crisis, a success on the heels of the failure of the Bay ofPigs invasion of Cuba. John P. The Eisenhower Administration brokeoff relations with Cuba 17 days before Kennedy assumed office (Walton 39).The invasion involved 14 Cuban exiles under the direction of the CIA.The Cuban militia crushed the invasion in a few days (Miroff 113). Winkler says that the Kennedyera at the beginning of the 196 s was unlike anything that had been seenbefore or that would follow, and the image of Camelot stood for the youngpresident and his wife and for the youthful attitude that seemed to comeinto American politics along with them. President Kennedy. In fact, though,Khrushchev knew, as did the United States, that the Soviet Union was farbehind the U.S. The image is what is remembered to this day, animage recently revived with the death of his son. Administration wasnot fully committed to a policy of winning. Cold War and Counter-Revolution. and Russia, and they boththreatened and balanced one another. help whilerefusing to alter certain other policies. Third, the missilesplaced in Cuba did not have the range to reach Washington in spite ofrhetoric to the contrary on both sides. Miroff further believes that Kennedy was not the populist he hasbeen depicted as being, and he states that Kennedy "regarded the Americanpeople more as spectators than participants in the political drama" (Miroff24). This set apattern whereby the U.S. (1993). Newhouse, John. Morgenthau, Tom.(October 26, 1992). in missiles, bombers, and deliverable nuclear warheads, andU.S. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.