November 22 marks the 60th death anniversary of America’s youngest ever 35th President, John F. Kennedy prominently known as JFK who was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. This article is an attempt to gauge the various nuances of the legacy that JFK and his presidency left on the world.
When historians look back centuries from now concerning the legacy of JFK, they will remember three singular achievements: his deft handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, his successful advocacy of putting a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, and his commitment to civil rights for African Americans during the fight to integrate the University of Alabama in 1963.
John F. Kennedy represents an era in American history when politicians still trusted their government. Americans look back to Kennedy and his presidency longing for the confidence that the nation once expressed toward its political leaders. To many Americans, he was Camelot — a sharp contrast to the memory of corruption and scandal that have surrounded so many presidents since 1963. In the post-Watergate era, no politician has been able to reclaim the kind of trust and excitement that so many citizens felt toward Kennedy.
JFK had promised much but never had the opportunity to see his program through. It was, we can say, “an unfinished life.” For that reason, assessments of the Kennedy presidency remain mixed.
Kennedy played a role in revolutionizing American politics. Television began to have a real impact on voters and long, drawn-out election campaigns became the norm. Style became an essential complement to substance. “And so, my fellow Americans — ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world — ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man,” Kennedy said in his inaugural address. Dazzled by his poise, moved by his eloquence, Americans proudly embraced the vigor and vision of their youngest elected president.
The Presidency
The Kennedy Era was a time when all seemed possible. John F. Kennedy assumed the Presidency as a representative of a new generation, one that was subsequently to be given the soubriquet, “the Greatest Generation”. They were the generation that had carried the burden of fighting in World War II. Kennedy was the first member of that generation to reach the Oval Office.
Kennedy’s hard-line international diplomacy helped preserve Western democracy and may have prevented a catastrophic nuclear war, but it also heightened the tension between the superpowers
Kennedy entered office at the height of the Cold War. This was a period during which there was a fear that the Soviet Union would overtake the US in the race for world leadership. It was a period when Americans had a very real fear of nuclear war, so much so that children in schools would have bomb shelter drills, in addition to the usual fire drills. The American people elected a young, vigorous President to confront those fears. And he came to the Office of the Presidency with the experience of having been a naval officer, having served six years in the House of Representatives and having served eight years in Senate.
Major Accomplishments
- JFK’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. At that pivotal moment, America came closest to going to war with the Soviet Union. Kennedy handled the crisis almost flawlessly. He skilfully navigated the difficult middle course. Kennedy was strong enough to force the Soviets to back down, while being careful to avoid any situation where a miscalculation could lead to war.
- The economy was the second area in which JFK deserves a great deal of credit. Kennedy recognized that tax rates were too high in the US, (with the highest marginal rates being 92% at the time.) He realized that the rich did not have any incentives to take risks and invest their resources to grow the economy. He was always concerned about creating a deficit and would never agree to revenue cuts that could not be offset by additional sources of revenue. Despite calling for a tax cut, he made it clear that he was not an unconditional friend of big business. His confrontation with ‘Big Steel’ over their attempted price increase demonstrated to average-income Americans that he was on their side.
- The major area of accomplishment was in the area of Civil Rights. On June 11, 1963, Kennedy called for the passage of a Civil Rights bill that would outlaw discrimination in public accommodations, strengthen voting rights, and enforce equal employment for all. Sadly, it was left to his successor President Lyndon B. Johnson to shepherd the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the subsequent Voting Rights Act in 1965. However, it was JFK who had proposed these Acts and helped pave the way for their passage.
Vietnam
For the JFK administration, the legacy of Vietnam, is much more complicated. The Kennedy legacy there carries with it mixed consequences and varied lessons. One cannot look at this period in the hindsight of history without assigning some of the blame for the morass that became Vietnam to President Kennedy. Yes, he was reluctant to commit forces to Vietnam. True, JFK was very sceptical that America could achieve its goals. Ultimately, however, he supported a policy that led to the US becoming mired in Vietnam for nearly a decade more.
India and the Kennedy years
India achieved independence in the midst of the Cold War and in an era of bloc politics. As an independent nation, it was a difficult choice to side with a particular superpower in a world divided into power blocs. Long before independence, India ‘s freedom movement had rejected the then prevailing norms of military alliances and use of force in international relations. After independence, the best way out of that was to stay Non-aligned and organise other developing countries as a voice of freedom and development in international relations under the banner of the Non-aligned Movement (NAM).
When Kennedy became President in January 1961, the US and India were estranged democracies. His predecessor Dwight Eisenhower had tilted his administration’s subcontinent diplomacy towards Pakistan’s military dictatorship away from India.
The Sino-Indian war also poised a crisis for JFK, who had entered office determined of having good relations with India. Nehru’s handling of the crisis and panic reactions were in marked contrast to the cool and confident Kennedy. The generous and prompt response by JFK made him an icon in India. But the US State Department, under pressure from Pakistan and with British support, scuttled the chances of a more lasting India-US alliance.
The Sino-Indian border conflict coincided IN 1962 with the Cuban Missile Crisis and was largely ignored in the world media. Yet today, in retrospect, this remains a major issue in the politics of Asia while the Cuban Missile Crisis is of academic value after the demise of the Soviet Union. Aside from his obvious personal charisma, the influence Kennedy wielded in India had much to do with the policies his administration followed vis a vis India. It was one period in the history of otherwise difficult India-US relations, when the Indians regarded the US as their friend. The prompt and generous American response to Indian needs at the time of military reverses against the Chinese in October/November 1962, had a deep impact on the Indian psyche.
Foreign Policy
Kennedy’s hard-line international diplomacy helped preserve Western democracy and may have prevented a catastrophic nuclear war, but it also heightened the tension between the superpowers. When Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev threatened to take West Berlin in 1961, Kennedy promised a military response, and the Russians backed down. When the Soviets began to install missiles in Cuba in late 1962, Kennedy demanded their removal, then skilfully transacted a diplomatic settlement which kept the two enemies at peace. Later, he negotiated a treaty to end atmospheric nuclear testing, the first nuclear weapons treaty in history.
Just months before his death, Kennedy secured an agreement, with Britain and the Soviet Union, to limit the testing of nuclear weapons in space, underwater, and in the earth’s atmosphere. Not only did it seek to reduce hazardous nuclear “fallout,” it also signalled the success of Kennedy’s efforts to engage the Soviet Union in constructive negotiations and reduce Cold War tensions, a goal captured most famously in his June 1963 remarks at American University. In the wake of the close call over Cuba, Kennedy considered this agreement his greatest accomplishment as president.
Criticisms of JFK’s policies and administration
President Kennedy spent less than three years in the White House. His first year was a disaster, as he himself acknowledged. The Bay of Pigs invasion of Communist Cuba was only the first in a series of failed efforts to undo Fidel Castro’s regime. His 1961 summit meeting in Vienna with the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was a humiliating experience. Most of his legislative proposals died on Capitol Hill.
Looming over it all is the American descent into Vietnam. The assassination of Vietnam’s President Diem on Kennedy’s watch may have been one of the two biggest mistakes of the war there. (The other was the decision to wage a war of attrition on the unexamined assumption that Hanoi would buckle under the pain.)
There is a great deal of evidence that Kennedy was considering a withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam. With the evolving world view that he exhibited his American University speech, it seems clear that his stance on Vietnam was undergoing a transformative change. On the other hand, Kennedy had not been willing to take any significant action on Vietnam until after he was re-elected in 1964. He was not willing to pay the political price for taking the actions that would support his changing convictions. However, fate was had some other plans and Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. As a result, we will never know what Kennedy MIGHT have done after his re-election in 1964. We only know that over 50,000 young Americans died in a war which America ultimately lost.
The Role
John F. Kennedy represents an era in American history when politicians still trusted their government. Americans look back to Kennedy and his presidency longing for the confidence that the nation once expressed toward its political leaders. To many Americans, he was Camelot — a sharp contrast to the memory of corruption and scandal that have surrounded so many presidents since 1963. In the post-Watergate era, no politician has been able to reclaim the kind of trust and excitement that so many citizens felt toward Kennedy.
Kennedy also symbolizes a period when liberalism was strong in America. In the current conservative climate, it is difficult to fully understand the powerful place that liberal ideas held in the political imagination. While Kennedy fell short on many goals, including civil rights, he championed a vision that built on the New Deal, one where the federal government would be used to resolve some of the biggest domestic challenges in the country. On foreign policy, Kennedy was a kind of liberal hawk who is usually absent from American politics today. This was an era when many Democrats championed a strong national security state and called on the U.S. to be extremely tough against its adversaries.
Finally, one of Kennedy’s most important legacies is to contribute to the increasing importance of image in American politics. In nation’s popular memory, Kennedy still commands fascination as a compelling, charismatic leader during a period of immense challenge to the American body politic. Kennedy succeeded in large part because of how he looked and how he sounded. Since the famous Nixon-Kennedy televised debates in 1960, American politics has become more and more concerned with appearance and style. Whether one appreciates or dislikes this aspect of elections, Kennedy will certainly be remembered as one of the presidents who elevated the importance of this aspect of government through his career.
JFK’s legacy is a vision of political action and public service based on courage, service, inclusion, and innovation.
References:
1. John F. Kennedy: An Unfinished life- Robert Dallek.
2. Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba and the Garrison Case- James DiEgueno.
3. One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the brink of Nuclear War- Michael Dobbs.
4. To Move the World: JFK’s Quest for Peace- Jeffrey D. Sachs.
5. The Politics of Deception: JFK’s secret decisions on Vietnam- Patrick J. Sloyan.
6. JFK and the Unspeakable. Why he died and why it matters- James Douglass.
7. India and the Cold War- Manu Bhagavan.
8. JFK’s Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA and the Sino- Indian War by Bruce Riedel
9. JFK- Fredrik Logevall.
10. JFK’s last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a great President- Thurston Clarke.
11. Profiles in Courage- John F. Kennedy.
12. Kennedys Impact Still Felt Today in American Media, Politics, Policy and Culture | The University of Southern Mississippi (usm.edu)
13. How JFK’s assassination led to a constitutional amendment | Constitution Center
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