John F. Kennedy's presidency

Kennedy was formally sworn in as the 35th President of the United States on June 5438+096 1. 1.20, and he paid great attention to international affairs in his inaugural speech. He called on the American people to undertake more obligations and make greater sacrifices. Kennedy's inaugural address and franklin delano roosevelt's first inaugural address are called the two most memorable inaugural addresses of American presidents in the 20th century. 1355 has become an inspiring language and a model calling for civic duty.

After Kennedy was elected, he began to consider the inaugural address. He didn't want to criticize current events excessively in his speech, and he didn't like to repeat the cliches of the Cold War and discuss some issues about the threat of capitalism that might aggravate the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. He hoped that these words would arouse the hope of peace and set an optimistic tone for the new era.

Although there were suggestions from all walks of life, drafts and countless materials provided by many journalists, friends, writers and strangers, the final speech was written by Kennedy himself. He wanted his speech to express his intention smoothly, and obviously he achieved this goal.

"I hope that every country, whether they are friendly or hostile to us, will pay all the costs, bear all the responsibilities, face all the difficulties, support all the friends and confront all the enemies to ensure the survival and success of freedom. ..... In the long history of the world, only a few generations have the honor to shoulder the mission of defending freedom at the most critical moment. I am not afraid of such a responsibility, and I will do my part. I don't believe any of us would like to exchange our present position with other countries or generations. Our energy, faith and loyalty will illuminate our country and the people who serve it, and the light it emits can really illuminate the whole world. "

In his speech, he called on all mankind to unite against tyranny, poverty, disease and war. He mentioned in his speech: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. ) has become one of the most popular statements in the inaugural address of the American president. After his inaugural speech, about 75% of Americans recognized the new president. This shows that Kennedy successfully passed the transfer of power. Because the starting point of Kennedy's thinking is not organization and structure, but people, his cabinet composition has several remarkable characteristics:

1. Young cabinet members. The average age of important members of Kennedy's cabinet is less than 50.

2. Pay attention to selecting talents. Every important member of the cabinet is highly educated and has a strong working ability.

3. No strong partisanship. In Kennedy's cabinet, clarence douglas dillon and robert mcnamara held two important positions as finance minister and defense minister. They were members of * * * and the Party.

4. Boldly appoint relatives to important cabinet posts. Kennedy appointed his younger brother, Robert Kennedy, as Attorney General, despite opposition to his nepotism. Kennedy nominated the following judges to the United States Supreme Court:

Byron Raymond White)-1962

Arthur Goldberg-1962 Kennedy put forward many plans in domestic policy, such as improving urban housing conditions, developing education, reforming the tax system, modifying agricultural plans, protecting and developing natural resources, providing good medical services for the elderly, opposing racial discrimination, and giving black people fair rights. However, most of these plans have encountered many obstacles from all sides, especially the Congress.

In July of 1963, when commenting on the implementation of Kennedy's internal affairs plan, the American media pointed out that the government expenditure had reached $94 billion, the fiscal deficit would reach $7 billion, and the gold reserve fell to the lowest point since 1939. Large-scale tax cuts and fair rights for blacks were delayed until Kennedy was assassinated in 1964. Bills such as amending agricultural plans and subsidizing public schools have also run aground or been forced to give up.

economic policy

During his tenure, Kennedy abolished some strict fiscal policies and relaxed monetary policy to keep interest rates low, thus encouraging economic growth. This move was later criticized as an integral part of the economic problems in the 1970s, because huge government expenditures contributed to inflation. 1962, Kennedy proposed an annual budget of 1000 billion dollars. 196 1 the first annual budget during Kennedy's term of office led to the first financial deficit caused by non-war and non-economic recession in American history.

Federal and military death penalty

As president, Kennedy reviewed previous federal and military resolutions on the death penalty policy. Harold Hughes, governor of Iowa, is an opponent of the death penalty. He personally contacted Kennedy and asked him to show mercy to Victor feigl, a criminal sentenced to death by the Iowa court, but Kennedy finally refused this request. Finally, Figur was executed on March 1963+05. On February 1962, 12, Kennedy commuted the death sentence of marine Jimmy Henderson to life imprisonment.

personal rights

In the United States, the unrest caused by racial discrimination acquiesced by the state was one of the biggest domestic problems in the Kennedy era. In the case of 1954 Brown v. Topeka Education Bureau, the Supreme Court of the United States stipulated that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. However, many schools, especially those in the southern United States, did not comply with the relevant provisions of the Supreme Court. In buses, restaurants, cinemas, toilets and other public places, apartheid continues.

Kennedy supported racial integration and civil rights. At an activity on 1960, he called Koritta Scott king, the wife of Martin Luther king Jr., a priest who was sentenced to prison. Kennedy thought Martin Luther King could bring him some extra support from black people. The intervention of Kennedy and his younger brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, laid the foundation for Martin Luther King's early release.

From 65438 to 0962, james murray meredith tried to attend classes at the University of Mississippi, but white college students blocked him in every way. Kennedy then sent 400 bailiffs and 3,000 soldiers to ensure that Morides could attend his first class smoothly. Kennedy also sent some bailiffs to protect freedom advocates.

As president, Kennedy initially thought that the grass-roots civil rights movement would only anger the white people in the south, thus making it more difficult for the civil rights bill to be passed in the Congress mainly occupied by southern Democrats, so Kennedy himself kept a distance from them. As a result, many civil rights leaders thought Kennedy did not support them and their efforts.

In June 1963, 1 1, Alabama Governor george wallace blocked the classroom door of the University of Alabama and prevented two African-American students Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood from attending classes. President Kennedy intervened. When the bailiff, Deputy Attorney General nicholas katzenbach and Alabama National Guard arrived, George Wallace stood by. That night, Kennedy made a famous speech on national television and radio. Kennedy's advocacy eventually became the civil rights bill of 1964.

196 1 year, Kennedy signed an executive order to establish the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. Statistics from the Committee show that women are still discriminated against. The Committee's final report on pointing out the legal and cultural obstacles was published in June 65438 +0963+10/October 65438, one month before Kennedy's assassination.

civil liberty

Facing the accusation against Martin Luther King, an industrialist, the Kennedy administration agreed to let the FBI eavesdrop on some people, including Martin Luther King. No one made the original accusation except J Edgar Hoover. He hates Kim very much because he thinks Kim is a "nouveau riche who often makes trouble". Although Robert Kennedy, as the attorney general, only allowed a limited amount of eavesdropping in writing, the FBI under Hoover's control expanded its power to monitor anything related to Kim's life, and they thought it necessary to do so. Lyndon johnson used "voyeurism" and "eavesdropping" to describe the Kennedy administration in his State of the Union address speech at 1967, but in fact Johnson himself continued to acquiesce in eavesdropping on Kim and others.

Kennedy also used the power of federal agencies to stop the rise of steel prices in the United States. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the government used "naked power, threats and national security police" to control steel prices. Charles Reich, a law professor at Yale University, wrote in New Harmony magazine: "The government used the grand jury to control American steel very quickly, which has violated civil liberties."

Immigration problem

John F. Kennedy initially put forward a comprehensive American immigration policy, which later became the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, initiated by Senator Edward Kennedy, Kennedy's brother. This policy dramatically points out that the origin of immigrants has shifted from northern and western European countries to Latin American and Asian countries, and the conditions for choosing immigrants have also shifted to "promoting family reunion." Kennedy hoped to break through the original selection conditions focusing on the country of residence of immigrants, and he also regarded this policy as an extension of the civil rights policy. President Kennedy's foreign policy mainly revolves around the following aspects: "Do not support and help the armed forces of countries that may harm the United States, do not provide weapons to industrialized countries, and do not provide nuclear weapons to countries in the Middle East."

Cuba and the Bay of Pigs incident

Before Kennedy was elected president, dwight eisenhower's cabinet made a plan to overthrow Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba. The plan, drafted by the Central Intelligence Agency and a few government officials, aims to provide weapons to Cuba's counter-revolutionary resisters against Castro, and then let these American-trained resisters invade Cuba and incite the Cuban people, thus weakening Fidel Castro's power in Cuba.

196 17 April 200717, Kennedy ordered these previously trained resisters to start invading Cuba. In this invasion of Cuba, known as the "Bay of Pigs Incident", with the support of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1500 Cuban reactionary forces "2506 Assault Brigade" from American training camp returned to that land with the dream of overthrowing Fidel Castro. However, when Kennedy gave the order, he asked the "2506 Assault Brigade" to attack Cuba without air support from the US military. 19619 April 200919, the Cuban government arrested or killed these rebels, and Kennedy was forced to negotiate the release of the captured 1 189 survivors.

The failure of this plan is attributed to the lack of communication between the top military officials, and the most serious problem is that the reactionary troops did not get any support at sea when they landed, so that they were already fleeing when they landed. Twenty months later, Cuba released the arrested reactionaries in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine. More seriously, this action made Fidel Castro wary of the United States and firmly believed that similar attacks would happen again.

Cuban missile crisis

The Cuban missile crisis began on 10/0, 1962, 10 and 14. The U-2 spy plane of the U.S. military photographed the Soviet-made medium-range missile silo under construction in Cuba. This photo was submitted to Kennedy on June 1962 10 16. The photo indicates that the United States will soon fall into a serious nuclear bomb threat, so Kennedy is in a dilemma: if the United States attacks this missile silo, it may directly lead to a nuclear war with the Soviet Socialist Alliance; But if the United States does not take any action, it will always endure the threat of nuclear bombs at close range. Because the distance is too close, if the other side launches a nuclear bomb without warning, the United States is likely to be defeated before the counterattack. Another consideration is that the United States will become a weak country in its western hemisphere.

Many military experts and cabinet members wanted to carry out air strikes on the nuclear bomb silo, but Kennedy sent the navy to monitor all the ships that arrived in Cuba and prepare for the port closure. He began negotiations with the Soviet Union, demanding that the Soviet side withdraw all defensive weapons and equipment in Cuba. If this is not done, the people of the Soviet Union and Cuba will face port closure.

A week later, he reached a basic understanding-a long-term agreement with Khrushchev, chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers. Khrushchev agreed to withdraw missiles under the supervision of the United Nations as long as the United States promised never to attack Cuba and quietly dismantled the American missile silo in Turkey. The crisis that brought the whole world closer to nuclear war was unprecedented, but fortunately it was stopped by the humanity of the two leaders.

Latin America and capitalism

With the argument that "those who make peaceful revolution impossible will eventually make violent revolution inevitable", Kennedy decided to adopt the way of "progressive alliance" to deal with Latin American capitalism, including diplomatic assistance to the regions where difficult countries are located and the establishment of a stronger human rights system in the region.

He and Puerto Rican official Luis Monoz Marin (Luis Mu & amp； Ntilde; Oz Marín) is one of the important projects to develop the "Progressive Alliance" and support the development of the Puerto Rican autonomous region.

Peace corps

As one of Kennedy's early actions, he asked Congress to establish a Peace Corps. In this plan, American volunteers will help underdeveloped countries in education, agriculture, medical care and construction.

Viet Nam

Kennedy's contents in Vietnam have always been classified as confidential documents, and it was not decrypted until the 197 1 Pentagon document was made public. In Southeast Asia, influenced by President Dwight Eisenhower as early as 196 1, Kennedy began to use limited force against the local * * * production party forces headed by Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam. After declaring that he would fight against the spreading capitalism, Kennedy formulated a series of policies. Give political, economic and military support to the unstable South Vietnamese government, including sending16,000 military advisers and US special forces to the region. Kennedy also acquiesced in using napalm, dead leaves and jets to attack all areas. The United States continued to intervene in this region until it directly participated in the Vietnam War.

1in July, 963, Kennedy faced a crisis in Vietnam. At that time, the decision of the executive branch was to help overthrow the Wu Tingyan regime of the Catholic Church in South Vietnam. 1963, South Vietnamese officers overthrew the Wu Tingyan regime, arrested and finally killed Wu Tingyan (the exact cause of his death is still unknown). Kennedy supported the overthrow of the Wu Tingyan regime. One reason is that he is worried that Wu Tingyan may negotiate with a neutral government (including capitalists). A similar thing happened in Laos 1962. Secretary of State Rusk Dean once said, "Compromise on neutrality ... equals surrender."

Kennedy increased the number of American troops in Vietnam from 800 to 16300. However, some historians believe that Kennedy was by no means an active supporter of the Vietnam War. Robert mcnamara, Kennedy's defense minister and later President lyndon johnson's defense minister, said that Kennedy once wanted to leave Vietnam after the 1964 election. In the film Fog of War, not only robert mcnamara mentioned this point, but also a tape recorded by lyndon johnson confirmed that Kennedy did plan to withdraw troops from Vietnam-a plan that Johnson did not approve of.

Another evidence is that Kennedy National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) No.263 (196310.00.0010.00) issued the order to withdraw/kloc-0 before the end of1963. However, due to the need to overthrow the Wu Tingyan regime, the opposite may actually happen. However, since Kennedy gave a speech on world peace at American University (65438+ 10 in June, 0963), he did take a weak hawkish cold war route as a whole.

After Kennedy's assassination, lyndon johnson, the new president, overturned Kennedy's previous decision to withdraw troops before the end of 1963 1000 with his own NASM 273 document on October 26th.

West Berlin speech

After World War II, under the pressure of the Soviet Union and allied forces, Germany was divided into two parts-the Berlin Wall divided Germany into East Germany and West Germany, while the former was under the control of the Soviet Union. 1On June 26th, 963, Kennedy visited West Berlin and delivered a speech publicly criticizing capitalism. Kennedy cited the completion of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failure of capitalism: "Freedom is not easy and democracy is not perfect, but we have never surrounded our people." This speech is widely known because it uses a very famous phrase "ich bin ein Berlin" ("I'm from Berlin"). When Kennedy said this, nearly 5/6 of the citizens in West Berlin stood on the street and listened. He added: "We will never have that day again."

Nuclear test ban treaty

Because of the long-term threat of radioactive pollution and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Kennedy promoted a "partial nuclear test ban treaty." The treaty prohibits nuclear tests on the ground, in the atmosphere and underwater, but it does not prohibit underground tests. The United States, Britain and the Soviet Union were the original signatories. Kennedy put the treaty into law in 1963.

1963, the Kennedy administration supported a coup against the Iraqi government led by General Abd al-Karim Qasim, who overthrew the monarchy in Iraq in 1958. The CIA helped the new government of Aref Baath Party in Abdulsalam to eradicate leftists and industrialists. During the Baath Party massacre under Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi government systematically assassinated countless intellectuals, including hundreds of doctors, teachers, technicians, lawyers and other professionals, using the list of leftist and industrialists provided by the CIA. American and British oil companies, including Mobil, Berkeley and BP, began to grow and develop in Iraq after that. Kennedy is eager for the United States to stay ahead in the space race. Sergei Khrushchev recalled that Kennedy discussed the joint venture with his father Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchov in June 196 1 and June 1963 respectively. Earlier, the Soviet Union was far ahead of the United States in space exploration. Kennedy delivered a speech in Parliament on May 25th 196 1;

"First of all, I firmly believe that our country will achieve a goal before the end of this decade, that is, let astronauts land on the moon and return safely. No space project can excite mankind more than this, and no project is more important than long-distance space exploration. There is no more expensive and challenging plan than landing on the moon. "

Later, Kennedy gave a speech at Rice University on September 1962: "No country that wants to be the leader of other countries will want to fall behind in the space race." "We choose to go to the moon or do anything else now, not because they are easy, but because they are full of challenges."

In his second meeting with Nikita Khrushchev, he persuaded the Soviets that it was beneficial to share the cost, and the Americans made steady progress in the space project. The United States launched a geosynchronous satellite and passed an Apollo program budget of more than $25 billion in Congress.

Nikita Khrushchev agreed to cooperate at the end of 1963, but Kennedy was assassinated before the agreement was put into practice. 1On July 20th, 969, nearly six years after Kennedy's assassination, Americans finally landed on the moon.