THE POLICIES OF JOHN F. KENNEDY

BRENNA RILEY

“”

EFFORTS AND COURAGE ARE NOT ENOUGH WITHOUT

PURPOSE AND DIRECTION.JOHN F. KENNEDY

BACKGROUND ON JFK• BORN IN BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS.• GRADUATED FROM HARVARD IN 1940 AND ENTERED

THE NAVY.• PT BOAT WAS RAMMED AND SUNK BY A JAPANESE

DESTROYER, HE LED SURVIVORS THROUGH THE WATERS TO SAFETY.• AFTER WAR HE BECAME DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN

FROM THE BOSTON AREA AND ADVANCED TO SENATE IN 1953.• KENNEDY ALMOST GAINED THE DEMOCRATIC

NOMINATION FOR VICE PRESIDENT, AND FOUR YEARS LATER WAS A FIRST-BALLOT NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT.

BACKGROUND CONT.• WON BY A NARROW MARGIN IN THE

POPULAR VOTE AGAINST NIXON• FIRST ROMAN CATHOLIC PRESIDENT.• AT HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS HE

OFFERED THE MEMORABLE INJUNCTION: “ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU—ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY.

BAY OF PIGS INVASION• ONE OF HIS BIGGEST FAILURES• CUBA HAD FALLEN INTO COMMUNIST HANDS AFTER FIDEL CASTRO AND A

BAND OF REBELS OVERTHREW THE GOVERNMENT OF DICTATOR FULGENCIO BATISTA. (1959)• U.S WAS CONCERNED ABOUT HAVING A COMMUNIST NEIGHBOR AND

DECIDED TO MOUNT AN ATTACK• THE PLAN USED 1400 CUBAN EXILES CALLED THE CUBAN BRIGADE.• THE CIA WAS IN CHARGE OF THE PLAN BUT THE ACTION WAS TO BE THE

WORK OF THE CUBANS.• ONCE THE CUBAN BRIGADE LANDED, THE CUBAN PEOPLE WOULD RISE UP IN

REVOLT AND SUPPORT IT.

THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION• NOT ORIGINALLY KENNEDY’S PLAN, BUT WAS

EISENHOWER'S.• KENNEDY WAS APPALLED BY THE PLAN AND MET WITH

HIS ADVISORS (ALLEN DULLES AND RICHARD BISSEL OF THE CIA, GENERAL LYMAN L. LEMNITZER, CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF, AND ADMIRAL ALEIGH BURKE, CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS) WHO ADVISED HIM TO GO AHEAD WITH THE PLAN.• NO ONE SPOKE OUT FORCEFULLY, BUT THERE WAS

SERIOUS OPPOSITION.

BAY OF PIGS INVASION• APRIL 17, 1961 INVASION BEGINS.• PLANNERS WERE NOT FAMILIAR WITH

CONDITIONS OF THE BAY OF PIGS.• SERIES OF BLUNDERS BECAUSE OF FAULTY

INFORMATION CONCERNING CASTRO’S MILITARY STRENGTH.• CASTRO’S AIR FORCE SANK TWO U.S.

FREIGHTERS CARRYING AMMUNITION, COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT, FOOD AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES.

CUBAN UNDERGROUND 2506• A SECRET GROUP IN CUBA THAT WAS

SUPPOSED TO HAVE RALLIED THE CUBAN PEOPLE TO SUPPORT INVADERS.• NEVER KNEW ABOUT THE PLAN.• NO SUPPLIES, AMMUNITION, ARMS, AIR

COVER.• FOUGHT UNTIL THEY WERE DEAD OR

CAPTURED.• EVERYTHING ENDED APRIL 19TH

ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS• THAT SAME SPRING TO SET UP STRONGER TIES BETWEEN THE U.S. AN SOUTH

AND CENTRAL AMERICA.• KENNEDY WANTED TO RELIEVE THE POVERTY OF THE PEOPLE AND TO

REFORM THE DICTATORIAL SYSTEMS. • KENNEDY OUTLINED A PLAN FOR DEMOCRATIC REFORM, ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT, AND A UNITD FROM AGINST POVERTY AND OPPRESSION.

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS• THE U.S. GOVERNMENT OBTAINED PHOTOS OF THE SOVIET UNION BUILDING MISSILE SITES IN CUBA

ON APRIL 16, 1963.• SOVIET SHIPS HAD BEEN DELIVERING MYSTERIOUS EQUIPMENT TO CUBA FOR MONTHS, BUT THE

AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES HAD SAID THAT THE SOVIETS WERE ONLY SENDING DEFENSIVE WEAPON INCASE OF AN ATTACK.• MISSILES WERE WEAPONS OF AGGRESSION, NOT DEFENSE.• A COMMITTEE WAS FORMED AND THEY WERE SHARPLY DIVIDED IN THEIR OPINIONS ABOUT WHAT TO

DO.• SOME WANTED A IMMEDIATE BOMBING OF THE MISSILE SITES AND INVASION OF CUBA, SOME

THOUGHT THAT WOULD BRING AN ALL OUT NUCLEAR WAR. (MUTUAL DESTRUCTION0N)

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS• THE PRESIDENT DECIDED ON A NAVAL BLOCKADE OF

CUBAN SHORES TO STOP THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MISSILE SITES.• KENNEDY FLEW MESSAGES BACK AND FORTH WITH

KHRUSHCHEV AND HE DEMANDED THAT THE SHIPS TURN BACK AND THE MISSILES BE REMOVED FROM CUBA. • THE SUBMARINES AND CARGO SHIPS DREW CLOSER, BUT

FINALLY TURNED AROUND. • THE U.S. AGREED TO NOT INVADE CUBA AND HALT THE

BLOCKADE IF THE MISSILES WERE REMOVED FROM CUBA.

PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENT• O: KENNEDY CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS SPEECH FROM THE

WHITE HOUSE (10/22/1962)• P: TO MAKE THE PUBLIC AWARE OF THE RECENT EVENTS

IN CUBA • V: KENNEDY WAS FAIRLY STRAIGHT FORWARD WITH THE

PUBLIC AND LET THEM KNOW WHAT WAS REALLY HAPPENING IN CUBA, EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW IT MAY ALARM SOME CIVILIANS.• L: HE STATES TOWARD THE BEGINNING, “WE HAVE

MAINTAINTED THE CLOSEST SURVEILLANCE OF THE SOVIET MILITARY BUILD UP”, HOWEVER, THE MISSILES HAD BEEN BUILDING UP FOR QUITE SOME TIME IN CUBA BECAUSE OF AN UNRELIABLE ADVISOR. (KHRUSHCHEV)

CIVIL RIGHTS• THROUGHOUT HIS PRESIDENCY, CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATES STRUGGLED TO EFFECT CHANGE IN THE RACIALLY

SEGREGATED SOUTH.• KENNEDY OPPOSED SEGREGATION AND SHOED SUPPORT FOR THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS, BUT DID NOT

MAKE CIVIL RIGHTS A MAJOR PRIORITY OF HIS PRESIDENCY UNTIL HIS LAST MONTHS.• KENNEDY RAN INTO TROUBLE IN MAY OF 1961 WHEN THE FREEDOM RIDERS BOARDED BUSES AND

ATTEMPTED TO BREAK SEGREGATION CODES BY TRAVELING TOGETHER THROUGH THE VIOLENT SOUTH.• KENNEDY ORDERED A GROUP OF U.S MARSHALS TO PROTECT THE FREEDOM RIDERS BUT DID NOT TAKE ANY

OTHER ACTION AND REFUSED TO MEET THE FREEDOM RIDERS. • THE FIRST DECISIVE ACTION THAT ALIGNED HIM WITH THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT WAS IN 1963 WHEN HE

OUTLINED A GENERAL PROPOSAL FOR A CIVIL RIGHTS BILL. “MINIMUM WE CAN ASK FOR AND THE MAXIMUM WE CAN STAND BEHIND”

PEACE CORPS• CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE AND HIGHLY

PUBLICIZED COLD WAR PROGRAMS SET UP BY THE UNITED STATES.• KENNEDY SUGGESTED THE IDE OF ANEW “ARMY” DURING THE HIS

CAMPAIGN IN 1960.• CIVILIANS WHO WOULD VOLUNTEER THEIR TIME AN SKILLS TO

TRAVEL TO UNDERDEVELOPED NATIONS AND ASSIST THEM.• TO FULFILL HIS PLAN, KENNEDY ISSUED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER ON

MAR 1, 1961, ESTABLISHING THE PEACE CORPS AS A TRIAL PROGRAM.

• THE PEOPLE OF THESE NATIONS WERE "STRUGGLING FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS." "OUR OWN FREEDOM," KENNEDY CONTINUED, "AND THE FUTURE OF FREEDOM AROUND THE WORLD, DEPEND, IN A VERY REAL SENSE, ON THEIR ABILITY TO BUILD GROWING AND INDEPENDENT NATIONS WHERE MEN CAN LIVE IN DIGNITY, LIBERATED FROM THE BONDS OF HUNGER, IGNORANCE, AND POVERTY."

WORKS CITED• ANDERSON, CATHERINE C. JOHN F. KENNEDY: YOUNG PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT. MINNEAPOLIS:

LERNER, 1991. PRINT.

• GADDIS, JOHN L. THE COLD WAR: A NEW HISTORY. NEW YORK: PENGUIN PRESS, 2005. PRINT.

• "HOW DID WE FORGET ABOUT MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION?" BBC NEWS. N.P., N.D. WEB. 5 MAY 2014.

• "JOHN F. KENNEDY - TOP 10 GREATEST SPEECHES - TIME." TIME.COM. N.P., N.D. WEB. 5 MAY 2014.

• "JOHN F. KENNEDY: CIVIL RIGHTS." SHMOOP. N.P., N.D. WEB. 5 MAY 2014.

• "KENNEDY PROPOSES ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS — HISTORY.COM THIS DAY IN HISTORY — 3/13/1961."HISTORY.COM. N.P., N.D. WEB. 5 MAY 2014.