John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a Massachusetts senator and naval veteran, became president in 1961. He combined military readiness with development assistance and diplomacy in the Cold War. He established the Peace Corps and promoted the Alliance for Progress in Latin America while committing the United States to a landing on the Moon. ^{1, 2}

The failed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961 damaged American prestige and intensified conflict with Fidel Castro’s government. East Germany built the Berlin Wall with Soviet approval later that year, hardening Europe’s division. The discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba in October 1962 produced a crisis in which Kennedy imposed a naval quarantine while pursuing negotiations. The settlement removed Soviet missiles from Cuba, included an American assurance against invasion, and involved a private understanding on American missiles in Turkey. ²

After the crisis, Kennedy sought ways to reduce the risk of nuclear war. The United States, Soviet Union, and Britain signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963, prohibiting tests in the atmosphere, outer space, and underwater. Kennedy also expanded military assistance and the American advisory presence in South Vietnam, deepening a commitment his successor would escalate into a major war. ²

Kennedy’s domestic program included economic stimulus, proposed tax reductions, and social legislation that often faced congressional resistance. The civil rights movement pushed his administration toward stronger federal action, culminating in a major civil rights bill in 1963. His assassination in November left much of that agenda unfinished. Lyndon B. Johnson secured passage of several central measures while also inheriting the unresolved conflicts of Kennedy’s foreign policy. ^{3, 1}