FREE ESSAY ON JFK

JFK

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States, the youngest person
ever to be elected President, the first Roman Catholic and the first to be born in the
20th century. Kennedy was assassinated before he completed his third year as President,
therefore his achievements were limited. Nevertheless, his influence was worldwide, and
his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis may have prevented the United States from
entering into another world war. Kennedy was especially admired by the younger people and
he was perhaps the most popular president in history. Kennedy expressed the values of
20th century America and his presidency had an importance beyond its political
achievements. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts where he was
one of nine children. The Kennedy family was very wealthy and provided means for the
Kennedy children to pursue whatever they chose and John F. Kennedy chose politics.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1942 and as a new member Kennedy supported
legislation that would serve the interests of his elements. Kennedy usually backed bills
sponsored by his party but would sometimes show independence by voting with the
Republicans. He also joined with the Republicans in criticizing the Truman
administration's handling of China. In China, the Nationalist government of Chiang
Kai-shek, which had been supported by the United States, was unable to withstand the
advance of Communist forces under Mao Zedong. By the end of 1949 government troops had
been overwhelmingly defeated, and Chiang led his forces into exile on Taiwan. The
triumphant Mao formed the People's Republic of China. Truman's critics, including
Kennedy, charged that the administration had failed to support Chiang Kai-shek against
the Communists. 
Despite Kennedy's wavering within his own party platform, John F. Kennedy easily won
reelection to Congress in 1948 and 1950. In 1952 he decided to run against functioning
Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Kennedy was little known outside his
congressional district therefore he began his campaign two years before the election,
meeting with hundreds of thousands of people in Massachusetts. Kennedy defeated Lodge by
70,0001 votes despite the fact that Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Presidential
candidate, carried the state by just over 200,000 votes.
As a candidate for the Senate, Kennedy promised the voters that he would do more for
Massachusetts than Lodge had ever done. During his first two years as senator he backed
legislation beneficial to the Massachusetts textile, fishing, watch, and transportation
industries. In 1953, however, he defied regional interests and supported the Saint
Lawrence Seaway project and later in 1955 he was the only New England senator to support
renewal of the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act that gave the President the power to lower
U. S. tariffs, or taxes on import goods, in exchange for similar concessions from other
countries.
In 1957 Kennedy became a member of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and
he later won a place on the Senate Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor
Management Field. In 1958 he spent many of his weekends campaigning for reelection in
Massachusetts senatorial contest. Kennedy wanted the 1960 Democratic presidential
nomination, and almost as soon as the 1956 election was over, he began working toward it.

Kennedy announced his candidacy early in 1960 and by the time the Democratic National
Convention opened in July, he had won seven primary victories. When the convention
opened, it appeared that Kennedy's only serious challenge for the nomination would come
from the Senate majority leader, Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. However, Johnson was strong
only among Southern delegates and Kennedy won the nomination on the first ballot and then
persuaded Johnson to become his running mate.
Two weeks later the Republicans nominated Vice President Richard Nixon for president and
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., for vice president. In the fast-paced campaign that followed,
Kennedy made stops in 46 states and 273 cities and towns, while Nixon visited every state
and 170 urban areas. The two candidates faced each other in four nationally televised
debates. Kennedy's manner, especially in the first debate, seemed to eliminate the charge
that he was too young and inexperienced to serve as president, and many believe these
debates gave Kennedy the edge he needed for victory. 
The election drew a record 69 million voters to the polls, but Kennedy won by only
113,000 votes which made it the closest popular vote in 72 years. Because Kennedy won
most of the larger states in the Northeastern United States, he received 303 electoral
votes to Nixon's 219. Kennedy was inaugurated on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural
address he emphasized America's revolutionary heritage, The same beliefs for which our
forebears fought are still at issue around the globe,2 Kennedy said. Let the word go
forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to
a new generations of Americans.3 Kennedy called for a new world of law, where the strong
are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.4
Kennedy's first year in office brought him considerable success in enacting new
legislation. Congress passed a major housing bill, a law increasing minimum wage, and a
bill granting federal aid to economically depressed areas of the United States. Kennedy
put legislation through Congress which was a bill creating the Peace Corps, an agency
that trained American volunteers to perform social and humanitarian service oversees and
promote world peace, which was important at the time because of unsettling foreign
affairs.
In 1959, after several attempts, a revolution led by Fidel Castro finally overthrew the
Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar. During the next two years, Castro would
become increasingly hostile to the United States. When Castro began to proclaim his
belief in Communism, Cuba became part of the Cold War, or struggle between the U. S. and
its allies and the nations led by the USSR that involved intense economic and diplomatic
battles. 
Many Cubans began to flee to the United States and during the Eisenhower administration
the CIA had begun to train Cuban exiles secretly for an invasion of Cuba. In April 1961
more than 1000 Cuban exiles made an amphibious landing5 in Cuba at a place called the Bay
of Pigs. Their plan was to move inland and join with anti-Castro forces to stage a revolt
simultaneously, but instead Castro's forces were there to meet the invaders. The revolt
in the interior did not materialize, and air support, promised by the CIA, never came.
The exiles were defeated and the survivors were taken prisoner. Castro began to demand
money for their release but Kennedy refused to negotiate with Castro. Kennedy did take
steps to encourage both businesses and private citizens to reach an agreement with Castro
and to contribute to the ransom. On December 25, 1962, 1113 prisoners were released in
exchange for food and medical supplies valued at a total of approximately $53 million.6
On June 3, 1961, in Vienna, Austria, Kennedy and USSR leader Nikata Khrushchev met and
reviewed relationships between the U. S. and the USSR, as well as other questions of
interest to the two states. Two incidents contributed to hostility at the meeting, first
being the shooting down of a U. S. spy plane in Soviet air space, and the second was the
failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in early 1961. The results of the conference made it
clear that Khrushchev had construed Kennedy's failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion as a
sign of weakness. No agreements were reached on any important issues and the Soviet
premier made it clear that the Soviet Union untended to pursue an even more aggressive
policy toward the United States.
Amongst other problems President Kennedy faced, none was more serious than the Cuban
Missile Crisis. In 1960 Soviet Premier Khrushchev supplied Cuba with nuclear missiles
that would put the eastern United States within range of nuclear missile attack. During
the summer of 1962 U. S. spy planes flying over Cuba photographed Soviet-managed
construction work and spotted the first missile on October 14. For seven days Kennedy
consulted with advisors, discussing the possible responses. On October 22, Kennedy told
the nation about the discovery of the missiles, demanded that the Soviet Union remove the
missiles, and declared the waters around Cuba a quarantine zone. 
For several tense days Soviet vessels en route to Cuba avoided the quarantine zone, while
Khrushchev and Kennedy discussed the issue through diplomatic channels. Khrushchev,
realizing his weak military position, sent one of two messages to Kennedy in which he
agreed to remove the missiles. The following day, before the United States could respond
to the first note a second was sent by Khrushchev to try and negotiate terms. Kennedy
responded to the first message and an agreement was met for the Soviet missiles to be
dismantled and removed from Cuba. In return Kennedy secretly promised not to invade Cuba
and to remove older missiles from Turkey. This was perhaps Kennedy's greatest moment as
president. Many feel that because of Kennedy's aggression that perhaps WWIII was
avoided.
On November 22, 1963, President and Mrs. Kennedy were in Dallas, Texas, trying to win
support in a state that Kennedy had barely carried in 1960. On his way to a luncheon in
Dallas, Kennedy and his wife sat in an open convertible at the head of a motorcade.
Lyndon Johnson was two cars behind the president, and Texas Governor John B. Connally and
his wife were sitting with the Kennedy's. As the motorcade approached an underpass, two
shots were fired, one bullet passed through the president's neck and struck Governor
Connally in the back, with the other bullet striking the president in the head. The car
sped to nearby Parkland Hospital where at 1:00 PM Kennedy was pronounced dead.
Less than two hours after the shooting, aboard the presidential plane at the Dallas
airport, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States. The
bullets that killed Kennedy were fired from a sixth-story window of a nearby warehouse.
That afternoon, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested in a Dallas movie theater and charged
with murder. Two days later, as the suspect was being transferred from one jail to
another, Jack Ruby sprang out from a group of reporters and as millions watched on
television, fired a revolver into Oswald's left side. Oswald died in the same hospital to
which the President had been taken.
On November 24, the body of President Kennedy was carried on a horse-drawn carriage from
the White House to the Rotunda of the Capitol. Hundreds of thousands of people filed past
the coffin of the slain president. A state funeral was held the next day where
representatives of 92 nations attended.7 It has been estimated that as many as 1 million
people8 lined the streets of Washington as the funeral procession made its way slowly to
Arlington National Cemetery. The grave was marked by an eternal flame lighted by his wife
and brothers. Five days after the funeral, President Johnson appointed Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court Earl Warren chairman of a committee to investigate Kennedy's death. The
findings of the commission were announced on September 27, 1964, which stated that
investigators had found no evidence of conspiracy in the assassination.9 Their report
concluded that the shots which killed President Kennedy were fired by Lee Harvey
Oswald.10