Facing the Cold War: The Foreign Affairs of John F. Kennedy

A Story by Stein

A research paper I wrote in 2005 for one of my classes.

For one thousand days, President John F. Kennedy held the highest office in the world. As president of the United States, Kennedy inherited a nation that was involved in a Cold War and for the past several years had adopted a policy of isolationism. Kennedy realized he was coming in at a crucial time in the Cold War and focused most of his efforts towards world peace. Even though John F. Kennedy was involved in foreign affairs, Kennedy pushed America forward in foreign policy because of rising Cold War tensions after years of isolationism.

After World War II, the United States felt that it would be in their best interest to adopt isolationism, this coming after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the thought that more focus needed to be put on protecting American soil. It wasn't until Kennedy came into office that America started to change its theory on foreign policy. Kennedy was going to be forced to face issues dealing with nuclear warheads, Cuba, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam. The first of these major issues that Kennedy would deal with would be Fidel Castro.

America didn't enter a period of isolationism until the 1950’s. Prior to that happening, America was in the midst of World War II. While the war was in progress, Franklin Roosevelt died and that left Harry Truman as the next President. Truman was very involved in foreign policy during the early years of his presidency and as the presidency continued he was more focused on domestic affairs. Truman also involved America in the Korean War. Truman became very unpopular after he removed General Douglas McArthur and the Korean War was becoming a stalemate. Truman then withdrew his name for reelection in the 1952 Presidential election.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the next president elected. Eisenhower promised to withdraw from Korea during his presidency and did so in 1953. Eisenhower also developed the United States into a nuclear power. Near the end of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s term as president, the Eisenhower Administration began working on a plan to invade Cuba and overthrow communist leader Fidel Castro. Eisenhower had cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba because of friction between Castro and his leftist regime. On April 17, 1961 an estimated 1300 Cuban exiles landed at the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) which was located on the southern coast of Cuba. The plan was for the exiles to move north to Havana, Cuba. The exiles never had a chance. Castro’s army met the exiles and after the fighting had ended on April 19, 1961 almost 90 exiles had been killed and most of the rest were taken prisoners by Castro and his army (Pious, 2001).

The failure of this mission embarrassed the Kennedy Administration badly and Americans began questioning why it had ever happened. To make matters worse, Castro was now keeping an eye on America for fear they would try to take over the island again. Kennedy would have to prepare, for his greatest challenge as President of the United States and a world leader would soon be tested (A&E Television, 2003).

The fear of nuclear war nearly became a reality in October of 1962. The United States took pictures of Cuba only to find that they had Soviet missiles on their island. Cuba had gained missiles from the Soviet Union, which posed a threat to the United States since Cuba was only 90 miles from Florida. Although the Soviets were denying any missiles in Cuba, it was clear that there were missiles in Cuba and that they had come from the Soviets. The Soviets viewed Kennedy as weak and irresolute, but Kennedy understood the Soviets and how to manipulate them in his desired direction. (Pious, 2001). On October 22, President Kennedy announced the findings of the missiles to the public as well as his decision to quarantine the island. Kennedy also made it clear that any missile launched from Cuba would be considered an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union and demanded that the Soviets remove the missiles. On October 28 the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba, ending the crisis. During the crisis Kennedy became wary of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Shortly after the Bay of Pigs debacle, when the Joint Chiefs urged Kennedy to authorize the use of air and land forces in Laos to avert a communist takeover. Kennedy wanted to know from the Joint Chiefs what they intended to do if the plan failed. The Joint Chiefs answered by saying that you should start using atomic weapons. (Dallek, 2003) Kennedy now realized he couldn't rely on the Joint Chiefs for any logical advice, since they seemed to think that nuclear war would solve everything. Kennedy saw the use of nuclear weapons in a conflict as a responsibility that belonged to him and not the Joint Chiefs. (Dallek, 2003)

Berlin was also a hot issue that Kennedy was forced to deal with. Berlin was divided into and eastern sector and a western sector. The eastern sector was under communist rule and in 1961 a wall had been built to divide the two parts of the city. Kennedy realized that Berlin was an important part of the fight against communism and to show support for the people of West Berlin, he decided to take a trip to Europe in the summer of 1963. Kennedy planned on spending four days each in Germany and Ireland and also would spend two days in Italy. This deepened impressions of Kennedy as an exceptional world leader. (Dallek, 2003) Kennedy toured Germany and on June 26, 1963 he visited West Berlin. It was on this day that Kennedy finally carried the United States out of isolationism. “Two thousand years ago” Kennedy stated “the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is Ich bin ein Berliner.” Kennedy was being cheered wildly. It is speculated that nearly 300,000 West Berliners greeted Kennedy in the town square during his speech. (Handelman, 2003) Kennedy ended his speech saying “All free men, wherever they may live are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich bin ein Berliner.” It was an emotional day and as President Kennedy boarded Air Force One, he stated “We shall never see another day like this as long as we live.” (A&E Television, 2003)

Upon returning to the United States, Kennedy saw almost immediate results based on his trip to Europe. Kennedy was able to increase his freedom to have a test ban treaty negotiated. (Dallek, 2003) It wasn’t much longer before a test ban treaty would be accepted by congress. On September 24, 1963 the house accepted the test ban treaty overwhelmingly 80 to 19 (Dallek, 2003).

Kennedy still had to deal with the issue of Vietnam. Originally he had 500 troops stationed in Vietnam but increased the number of troops to around 16,000. Although the South Vietnamese were relying on American help, Kennedy and his aides had begun to rethink foreign policy on Vietnam in November of 1963 a coup de tat took place in Vietnam and Ngo Dinh Diem was killed. Kennedy regretted encouraging an action that he now believed would rather deepen than reduce United States involvement in Vietnam. This appears to be right. After John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, just 13 days after Diem was killed, Lyndon B. Johnson took office. Johnson was faced with the same decision Kennedy would have been faced with. Even though Johnson decided to increase involvement in Vietnam, several of Kennedy’s aides say that Kennedy was thinking of withdrawing from Vietnam. From the summer of 1962 to the fall of 1963, Kennedy had his defense secretary Robert McNamara chart plans for a systematic withdrawal from Vietnam by 1965. It is very evident that Kennedy would have been reelected in 1964 and that this was going to be his plan. McNamara did draw up a five year plan to withdraw troops from Vietnam but he didn’t expect a full departure until 1968. (Dallek, 2003) The United States eventually did withdraw from Vietnam completely almost a decade after Kennedy was assassinated.

One thing that we can conclude from is that through the Kennedy years, America refocused its attention from isolationism, as it had been in isolationism for several years following World War II, to moving forward in foreign policy. John F. Kennedy had a strong rhetoric on foreign policy. Kennedy’s senior thesis was published into a book entitled Why England Slept, which focused on foreign policy and was tough on the Cold War and was the perfect president for the times. Kennedy didn't just give Americans hope; he gave Europe and the rest of the world hope. Many can argue that Kennedy didn't do much in the 1000 days that he was in office, but through his foreign policy, John F. Kennedy was certainly one of the top world leaders of his time and at least for a few years he gave America and the world the hope of peace.

My effective response to the paper showed me that this is something that I could use in the future. By allowing myself to be more open and to be less judgmental a person can take valuable skills from this paper, such as learning to deal with people, how to be a leader and other things as well. I know that I can take things from this paper and I feel that other people can too.

Thesis Statement: Even though John F. Kennedy was too involved in foreign affairs, Kennedy pushed America forward in foreign policy because of Cold War tensions after years of isolationism.

Planning Notes

Bay of Pigs

1-explain briefly what the Bay of Pigs was

2-examine the view of Fidel Castro

Cuban Missile Crisis

1-Soviets view of Kennedy and U.S.

2-how the crisis was resolved

Berlin Trip

1-Berlin speech

2-impact of speech

Vietnam

1-coup