Summary John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States of America. He supported the South Vietnamese in the Vietnam War by giving them military troops and money. He had believed you should not back down on an international conflict, it will only lead to more trouble. This belief carried him to his future political career and his decisions about Vietnam.
John was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. He grew up in a wealthy and politically heavy family with his mother's father being a mayor and John's father being the ambassador to England. He was a very good student and was very active in sports, which later on caused him problems with his back. John went to Harvard University after graduating high school. He majored in science, but he was interested in political philosophy. After graduating college, he decided to enter the army. But, they would not let him due to his back problems, so he entered the navy. He became a lieutenant after Pearl Harbor was bombed, but, the boat they patrolled on had gotten split in half by a Japanese destroyer. Many of his men were killed. Few crew from the boat made it to the shore. Kennedy had gotten them to land from his experience with therapy on his back, in which he swam in a pool. But due to this, his back problems had gotten worse and had multiple operations on his back. He got a U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Metal for saving his men. After his brother was killed in war, he decided to carry the family legacy by running for Congress in Massachusetts as a Democrat. He won and went three terms as a congressman. He, later, ran for Senate and won. During this time is when he met Jacqueline Bouvier, who would become his wife and the birth giver of his two children. In 1960, he started his campaign for president and chose Lyndon B. Johnson as his vice president. People believed they could not trust John with presidency because of his Roman Catholicism, but he convinced the country that he would put the needs of his nation first. When the time came to have debates, John and Richard Nixon (former vice president and the opponent of John) had it televised. It was the first debate to be on television. Richard did very great success from his opinions, but they were not great enough. The election was the closest of the twentieth century, with John having 49.7% of the votes and Richard having 49.5%. John officially became the thirty-fifth president on January 20, 1961. He was the youngest person ever to become president. One of his first acts as president was propose the Civil Rights Act. This act did not allow segregation in public places. He created the Peace Corps, a group that sends U.S. Citizens that volunteered to help the developing countries. He faced the issue of the Soviet Union gaining power by getting more control over Eastern and Central Europe. It had gotten so out of control, that it dominated half of the continent. John tried to overthrow them by sending American-trained Cubans to get into the Communist government, but ended in complete disaster. This made the Soviet Union even more furious and they planned to get their payback by putting nuclear missiles in Cuba. When John heard, he made sure any attempt to blow up Cuba would by blocked by the U.S. Navy. But, in the end, John and Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader made an agreement. Before John was president, the U.S. gave a great amount of money to France, who have been fighting the North Vietnamese. But, the Geneva Accords was signed, which made France leave and Vietnam split into two countries. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam was led by Ngo Dinh Diem. John was warned by past president, President Eisenhower, to not let Southeast Asia to become all Communist. That influenced him to make his decision about helping South Vietnam. John had sent more military aid and "advisers" to South Vietnam, but he refused totally trust South Vietnam with the equipment he sent them, and that would end up being a reoccurring problem. John had felt pressured by the Americans to make sure Vietnam does not become full on Communist. The no commitment caused the Vietcong, a group from North Vietnam who believed in Communism, to gain more area in South Vietnam. As Ngo's leadership slowly went away, the Vietnamese began to believe in John less and John realized the Vietcong were far more stronger than the South. When John died, Lyndon B. Johnson, his vice president, took over. John died at the age of 46 by being shot. He was killed while riding in a motorcade on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. He did not live to see his promise fulfilled, to have man walk on the moon. When he was assassinated, people believed that a man named Lee Harvey Ozwald was the killer. But, Lee was killed by Jack Ruby, a bartender in Dallas, before he could do his time.
|