Key notes and statistics for the JFK presidency in relation to the A Level History Paper- American Dream: reality or illusion .
(includes notes on all potential question areas regarding Kennedy)
Key
dates
People/country/organisations
Stats and figures
JFK: 1960-1963
Foreign Policy
Relations with Khrushchev
First meet June 1961 at the Vienna Summit to discuss Berlin, Cuba and Laos
Kennedy stood firm but privately confided that Khrushchev had ‘savaged him’
- Led Khrushchev to believe JFK was likeable but naive, not taking him seriously
- This allowed encourage Khrushchev in Berlin
Berlin
13 August 1961 Khrushchev built a barbed wire barrier around Berlin
- 30 000 more East Germans had escaped to the West in just July alone
- JFK relatively calm as it showed Khrushchev did not want to seize the whole of Berlin
JFK instructed Dean Rusk to exploit this as propaganda in Germany (faced no opposition from media
or Republicans)
- Khrushchev thought JFK was a coward and could be pushed around
26 June 1963 JFK visits West Berlin and delivers “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech showing
commitment to freedom, Berlin was divided for another 36 years
- Effectively created a status-quo both sides could accept
August 1963 in Yugoslavia, Khrushchev declared “Berlin is the testicle of the West. When I want
the West to scream, I squeeze on Berlin”
Bay of Pigs (1961)
1 January 1959 Fidel Castro comes into power in Cuba after disposing Fulgencio Batista, the US
backed dictator
- Castro humiliated Eisenhower at NYC UN meeting with Khrushchev, Nassar, Indian Premier
Nehru and Malcolm X and he only had 3 months left
17 April 1961 JFK authorises Bay of Pigs as a sign of strength
- CIA to train 1500 anti-Castro cuban exiles for the invasion
- Castro’s army quickly repelled, all but 100 invaders killed or captured
- Just 3 months in, JFK humiliated for financing and backing the scheme
- To Khrushchev, JFK naive and could be pushed further with trade links with Castro and Oct
1962 putting missiles in Cuba
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Described as ‘the closest the world has come to nuclear warfare’
Lasting 13 days- rated DEFCON 2 (highest state of military readiness) with the doomsday clock set
7 minutes to midnight
15 October 1962 U2 spy plane discovers the missiles in Cuba
16 October 1962 Ex Comm (Executive committee of National security council) created
22 October 1962 JFK tells the US public of the crisis and announce a ‘quarantine’
24 October 1962 Khrushchev refused to remove the missiles
25 October 1962 JFK orders 2 flights a day over Cuba
, Key
dates
People/country/organisations
Stats and figures
CMC greatly improved JFK’s reputation as he made Khrushchev back down
- Still had to accept Castro as communist
- Removed missiles in Turkey
- Was criticised by British newspaper as they thought it hypocritical of Kennedy to
object to missiles in Cuba when he had some in Turkey
5 August 1963 Limited Nuclear Test Ban (both still tested)
30 August 1963 hotline installed between White House and Kremlin
General Curtis Le May told Kennedy he considered Cuba to be ‘the greatest defeat in our history’ as
the public weren't made aware about the missiles in Turkey
Vietnam
Bobby Kennedy (Attorney General) to journalist Stanley Karnow when asked about Vietnam 1961
“Vietnam, vietnam, vietnam…we have thirty vietnams a day here”
- JFK saw Vietnam as more military than diplomatic so increased advisors and provisional aid
to Diem
- At the start of his administration there was 800 advisors in South Vietnam, by the end there
was 23 000 alongside 250 000 South Vietnamese army under Diem
- Advisors aimed to bolster and train South Vietnamese army against Vietcong
- Combined forces defeared by 12 000 Vietcong using guerilla forces
March 1962 strategic hamlets began, moving peasants from villages under protection of South
Vietnamese military
- This was resembled and ineffective as the Vietcong still retained influence
Diem’s persecution of Buddhist majority resulted in self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc,
buddhist monk in 1963
- CIA discovered plot to kill him and did not intervene
January 1964 Westmoreland took over as Commander in Vietnam
- Felt obliged to sort the mess created
By getting involved in Vietnam, JFK ignored the advice of Britain’s prime minister Harold
Macmillan and French leader Charles de Gauelle
- JFK needed to show himself as a strong leader, stand up to Sino-Soviet aggression and
follow the advice of technocrats like McNamara
- However this committed US to a long fight, effectively poisoning LBJ’s chalice
Civil Rights
Sit-ins (1960)
By 1960 promise of desegregation that followed Brown had evaporated
- Jim Crow Laws in the South prevented African Americans from accessing, eduction,
transport and restaurants on equal basis
In response to the lack of progress, young people inspired by Brown, began to react.
- they lacked the financial commitments of supporting a family that affected their elders and
were often willing to put themselves in danger for their beliefs
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