John F. Kennedy

D

1

Bay of Pigs

In 1959, after several attempts, a revolution led by Fidel Castro finally overthrew the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar. During the next two years, Castro was to become increasingly hostile to the United States. The new regime’s agrarian reform laws adversely affected U.S. companies that operated sugar plantations. Companies that were not controlled by Cuban stockholders were not allowed to operate plantations, and sugar production was de-emphasized in favor of food crops. In 1960 the Castro government nationalized, or took over ownership of, an estimated $1 billion in properties owned by U.S. companies and citizens, and the Eisenhower administration imposed a trade embargo.

When Castro began to proclaim his belief in Communism, Cuba became part of the Cold War, or struggle between the United States and its allies and the nations led by the USSR that involved intense economic and diplomatic battles but not direct military conflict. Many Cubans fled to the United States. During the Eisenhower administration the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had begun to train Cuban exiles secretly for an invasion of Cuba. When Kennedy became president, he approved the invasion.

In April 1961 about 1500 Cuban exiles made an amphibious landing in Cuba at a place called Bahía de Cochinos (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 most of the survivors were taken prisoner.

Castro demanded money for their release. Kennedy refused to negotiate with Castro, but he took 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.

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D

2

Alliance for Progress

Most other Latin American countries had the same grave social, economic, and political conditions that had led to Castro’s success in Cuba. Many of these nations seemed ripe for a revolution that could easily be exploited by the Communists. Upon taking office, President Kennedy looked for a program that would accelerate change in Latin America by strengthening democratic institutions. In March 1961 he introduced the Alliance for Progress, and in August it was established by the charter of Punte del Este. The Alliance for Progress was to be a Latin American version of the Marshall Plan, the United States plan to fund a cooperative, long-term program to rebuild Europe following World War II (1939-1945). All Latin American nations except Cuba joined the Alliance for Progress, pledging “to bring our people accelerated economic progress and broader social justice within the framework of personal dignity and individual liberty.” The United States promised $20 billion for the first ten years. The Alliance for Progress and President Kennedy’s particular concern for democratic institutions brought the United States renewed popularity in Latin America. The success of the Alliance’s economic programs, however, was limited by the gravity of the problems that they confronted.

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3

Confrontations in Europe with the USSR

On June 3, 1961, in Vienna, Austria, Kennedy and Khrushchev met and reviewed relationships between the United States and the USSR, as well as other questions of interest to the two states. Two incidents contributed to hostility at the meeting. The first was 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 mismanagement of the Bay of Pigs invasion as a sign of weakness. No agreements were reached on any important issues. In fact, the Soviet premier made it clear that the Soviet Union intended to pursue an even more belligerent policy toward the United States.

Kennedy’s last words to Khrushchev in Vienna were, “It’s going to be a cold winter.” He reported to the American people that the Soviet premier was a “tough-minded” leader who did not understand the intentions of the United States. The leaders had spent a “very sober two days.”

In August 1961, in an effort to prevent East Germans from fleeing to the West, the Communists ordered a wall built on the border between East and West Berlin. West Berlin had been under the control of the United States, France, and Britain since the end of World War II, although the city lay deep inside East Germany, a state that was an ally of the USSR. Kennedy and other Western leaders protested, but the wall was built.

Kennedy had already asked for more military spending and had called up reserve troops for duty in Europe. When East German soldiers began blocking the Allied route through East Germany into Berlin, Kennedy sent a force of 1500 soldiers marching along the route into West Berlin. The troops went unchallenged. Communist interference with Allied travel to and from Berlin stopped.

D

4

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the world’s closest approach to nuclear war. In 1960 Soviet Premier Khrushchev decided to supply Cuba with nuclear missiles that would put the eastern United States within range of nuclear missile attack. Khrushchev, when asked, denied that any missiles were being supplied to Cuba, but in 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 President Kennedy consulted secretly with advisers, discussing the possible responses while in public his administration carried on as though nothing was wrong. Finally, on October 22, Kennedy told the nation about the discovery of the missiles, demanded that the Soviet Union remove the weapons, and declared the waters around Cuba a quarantine zone. Kennedy called upon Khrushchev “to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations” and warned that an attack from Cuba on any nation in the western hemisphere would be considered an attack by the USSR on the United States itself.

At the same time, United States troops were sent to Florida to prepare for invading Cuba, and air units were alerted. American vessels blockaded Cuba with orders to search all suspicious-looking Soviet ships and to turn back any that carried offensive weapons.

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 a message on October 26 in which he agreed to Kennedy’s demands to remove all missiles. The following day, before the United States had responded to the first note, Khrushchev sent another, trying to negotiate other terms. Kennedy decided to respond to the first message, and on October 28, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle and remove the weapons from Cuba and offered the United States on-site inspection. In return Kennedy secretly promised not to invade Cuba and to remove older missiles from Turkey. Kennedy called off the blockade but Cuba, angry at Soviet submission, refused to permit the promised inspection. However, U.S. spy planes revealed that the missile bases were being dismantled. Nuclear war had been avoided.

This was perhaps Kennedy’s greatest moment as president. Many felt that both World War I and World War II had begun because of weak responses to acts of aggression, and Kennedy may have prevented World War III by displaying courage and strength.

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5

Crisis in Southeast Asia

The breakup of the French colonial empire of Indochina in 1954 intensified the already chaotic conditions in Southeast Asia. As elsewhere, the United States and the USSR competed to establish governments favorable to themselves. Both Laos and South Vietnam were threatened by Communist rebellions. In July 1962 Kennedy’s roving ambassador, W. Averell Harriman, negotiated an international agreement that arranged for a neutral coalition government in Laos headed by Prince Souvanna Phouma. This reversed earlier U.S. policy, which had supported an anti-Communist military dictator. The coalition government, which consisted of both Communist and non-Communist elements, was shaky, but it survived for some time.

Kennedy was less successful in South Vietnam where U.S. military advisers had been training the South Vietnamese army since 1954. The South Vietnamese government of President Ngo Dinh Diem was threatened by a Communist-dominated guerrilla movement, called the National Liberation Front, which was supported by many of the people living in the countryside.

The Diem government, which was dominated by Roman Catholics, proved unable to defeat the Communists or to cope with growing unrest among South Vietnamese Buddhists and other religious groups. Antigovernment agitation was especially strong among the Buddhists, some of whom burned themselves to death to protest the Diem regime. The government charged that the Buddhist groups had become infiltrated by Communists, and arrested many Buddhists. Although this contention was supported by outside observers, including a fact-finding team from the United States, religious friction between the Buddhists and the Catholic-led government was at least as powerful a force as political conflict.

In 1961 Kennedy demonstrated America’s commitment to South Vietnam by increasing the number of military advisers from 700 to 15,000 and ordering them into combat. He also warned that “in the final analysis it is their (South Vietnam’s) war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send out our men as advisers, but they have to win it, the people of Vietnam.”

Kennedy soon realized that Diem was more interested in maintaining his own hold on power than in defeating the Communists and introducing democracy in South Vietnam. In 1963, when Kennedy was informed of a planned coup to overthrow Diem, he chose to leave the matter in the hands of the U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., whom he knew to be in favor of the planned coup. The coup was successful, and Diem was killed in the back of a military personnel carrier. However, the new government was unable to keep the guerrilla war from spreading, in spite of increased U.S. aid.

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