Surveying John F. Kennedy's Foreign Policy Record

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John F. Kennedy: Served as President from 1961-1963

Personal Characteristics: Youthful, Timid, Inspirational

Youthful Exuberance: At the time of his election, John F. Kennedy (JFK) was the youngest president to grace the oval office. With that came a sort of youthful wonder and an injection of modernity into the presidency. Herbert Parmet described JFK as one who “was best communicated through his lofty, inspiring rhetoric, his youth and personal elegance, and his glamorous wife. He also appealed to the aspirations of ordinary people through such programs as the Peace Corps.” 

A Model of the Presidency: While JFK was known for his inspiring speeches and patriotic attitude, he was more reserved to the American political institution than people would have expected for the youngest president. “Those who had expected a more activist presidency found him too timid about pressuring the still-powerful congressional conservatives. Fear of political retribution inhibited requests for additional civil rights legislation until violent resistance to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s desegregation efforts removed his options.” 

A Martyr: While JFK was supported during his presidency, this was increased greatly following his assassination. “By then, Kennedy’s reputation, together with the opening of a more hopeful dialogue with the Soviets, had made him an international hero. A transitional presidency became better remembered as a model for future White House leadership and for its reaffirmation of American humanitarian values. There had been other assassinations, but only Kennedy’s resembled Lincoln’s in helping create a new legend.” 

The International Context:

Cuban Reforms: While at first Fidel Castro was supported by the United States, this would soon change as his actions became increasingly hostile to U.S. interests. Castro’s regime nationalized agricultural land, executed political opponents following phony trials, and fell in line with the Soviets through communism. This would strengthen as Cuba became effectively a forward operating base for the Soviets in the Western Hemisphere following the implementation of Soviet warheads in Cuba, officially making it an American issue going forward. 

Growing Marxism: Although containment was in full-effect by the time JFK took office, he still had to consider what to do with a multitude of leaders around the world who were drifting farther to the left. Stephen Rabe expanded upon this by stating that “The political and intellectual problem for Kennedy was how to respond to figures like Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Cheddi Jagan of British Guiana, Joao Goulart of Brazil, or Salvador Allende of Chile. These nationalist leaders fought against imperialism, racism, and economic injustice, but they held left-wing political and economic views and gave credence to Marxist critiques of capitalist societies.” 

The Berlin Wall: Although the creation of the Berlin Wall was a direct measure against the United States, it was still a move that impacted many people living not only in East and West Berlin, but East and West Germany. The Berlin Wall was hastily built by the Soviets and thousands of East Germans made sure to flee to the West before it was finalized. The culmination of this would lead to yet another Berlin crisis. 

Key Foreign Policies:

Containment in Disguise: As stated before, JFK was an effective speaker who could arouse great patriotism within the American populace. During his inaugural speech, Kennedy said: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge–and more.” While this could be spun as JFK ensuring the preservation of Liberty, it clearly was a projection of his Cold War aims: contain the USSR and preserve America’s version of liberty for all. 

A Call to Action: During his inaugural address, JFK also discussed the Latin American region, and his policies toward it. As many of his predecessors, JFK had a deep interest in Latin America based on its proximity to the United States. He promised the Latin American countries that the U.S. would act in a good-natured manner towards them, and desired to form an alliance to squash poverty. Furthermore, he extended his proclamation of containment, stating that he would join any Latin American countries against any aggressive foreign intervention,  which basically became a newfound extension of the Monroe Doctrine or the Roosevelt Corollary. And, during his presidency, JFK would make-do on this statement. According to Rabe, “Kennedy was a racial egalitarian who had a genuine concern for the poor. Although his $20 billion Alliance for Progress program for Latin America had strong communist undertones, it also underscored Kennedy’s belief that wealthy nations had a duty and responsibility to help their neighbors.” 

A Hardline Stance: As was previously stated, JFK had to deal with a myriad of nationalist leaders around the globe during his presidency. To counter this, he took a hardline approach toward any leader who even smelled of communism. Rabe stated that “winning the Cold War proved to be Kennedy’s paramount concern. He inevitably chose an anticommunist dictator over a popularly elected leader who was not a zealous anticommunist. Under Kennedy, the United States ignored Mandela, destabilized Goulart’s government, secretly spent millions of dollars to influence Chilean elections, and bluntly told the British to preserve colonialism in British Guiana in order to prevent Jagan from legitimately gaining power.” 

Basically, if a leader was not a strict anticommunist, there was a chance Kennedy and his Administration would attempt to either subvert or topple them. 

Victory by any Means Necessary: While Kennedy’s ultimate goal was to subvert the will of the Soviet Union, he planned to carry it out in a multitude of ways. For Kennedy, he sought the defense of America’s “interests in contested areas of the world, such as West Berlin. Furthermore, the United States needed to curb Soviet expansionism by embarking on a robust buildup of its nuclear and conventional forces.” (Ibid., 14) Kennedy would deal closely with Congress from the beginning of his presidency to rearm the military and greatly increase military spending, starting the military industrial complex thinking that Eisenhower warned of.  

Positive Achievements: 

The Berlin Crisis: Based on the rhetoric of Kennedy regarding the Soviet Union during his Administration, one would think he would have gone into Berlin guns blazing against the Soviets following the construction of the Berlin Wall. However, JFK was much more moderate in this setting, understanding the fragility of not only the situation, but relations with Kruschev and the Soviets. While the issue seemed to cool down after a time, the crisis came to a boiling point when American and Soviet forces faced each other down as the border crossover point. They stood eye-to-eye, and the Soviets blinked. Furthermore, it would not be the last time the Soviets would flinch while staring into the eyes of the United States. According to Rabe, “the Berlin Wall proved politically disastrous for the Soviet system.”  While this may not have been an example of Kennedy playing chess while Kruschev was playing checkers, it was clearly a case of JFK’s hardline stance when pressure was at its peak. 

The Cuban Missile Crisis: One of the major events of the Cold War, and the most notable of JFK’s presidency, was the Cuban Missile Crisis. According to John Lewis Gaddis, “The Cuban missile crisis arose, it now appears, because Kruschev understood more clearly than Kennedy that the West was winning the Cold War.” In 1962, the Soviets planted nukes within their newfound ally of Cuba. Once confronted by the Kennedy Administration, they argued that they were only defensive missiles. Following this, the Executive Committee, or “Ex Comm,” was formed by the Kennedy Administration. Its purpose was to formulate policy on how to respond to the Soviet Union. A blockade by the administration was agreed upon, which calmed the nerves momentarily. 

According to Dean Acheson, “I found that the tension had temporarily relaxed with the President’s decision to impose the blockade was mounting again as realization grew that this was only another road to military confrontation with the Russians.” Acheson, surprisingly enough, was incorrect about the military confrontation. While the blockade increased tensions greatly, creating another eye-to-eye moment, this genius move by Kennedy caused the Soviets to effectively stand-down. An agreement was made between the two sides to remove nukes from Cuba, and for the U.S. to secretly remove its nukes from Turkey shortly after. This event saw Kruschev not only gain respect for JFK, but lose legitimacy within the Kremlin, and eventually saw a fissure in relations between the Soviets and Japanese. All-in-all, a clear victory for Kennedy. 

Boisterous, yet Reserved: Possibly the most underrated aspect of Kennedy’s time in office was his moderation over many tense issues. During the Berlin Crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis, situation in Vietnam, etc., Kennedy exemplified a more diplomatic approach while staying true to his hardline policies. What I mean by that is although Kennedy won victories against Kruschev in Berlin and Cuba, he did not have to sacrifice much, coming out on top to the public and politically. Maybe that is more of a negative to Kruschev’s personality than JFK’s, but he deserves credit for sticking to his metaphorical guns and winning victories while still having failures such as the Bay of Pigs invasion in the back of his mind.

Negative Drawbacks:

Undermined U.S. National Security: In JFK’s endeavors to bolster America’s military and defenses, he created an air of tension with the Soviet Union because of this build-up. “In retrospect, the Kennedy Administration had undermined U.S. national security with its rhetoric and the reality of its massive military buildup. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara had conceded that he and his boss had unnecessarily threatened the Soviet Union. The administration had publicly exposed the military weakness of the Soviet Union.” Not only did this increase Cold War tensions with the Soviets by exposing their military weakness, but this indirectly encouraged the Soviets to counter with its own buildup, creating an ill-advised arms race between the two sides. 

The Bay of Pigs Invasion: Following Eisenhower’s trend of covert operations, JFK managed to fall in lock-step with Eisenhower’s Administration on the utilization of them. The most infamous operation of all during Kennedy’s Administration was the Bay of Pigs invasion. This event was not only Kennedy’s greatest failure, but may be the biggest covert operations blunder in American history. The first mistake JFK made was to make this the largest cover operation in American history, making it much less “covert” than many other CIA operations. The intention of the operation was to train Cuban rebels to topple Fidel Castro internally. The revolutionaries were supposed to land on the Beaches of Havana, then gain local support to uprise against the Castro regime. 

All of this, however, failed miserably. The revolutionaries could not gain popular support, could not fight well, and were absolutely routed by Cuba’s military. Finally, American planes were disguised as Cuban planes to provide camouflaged air support, but failed because the planes looked too much like Cuban planes, and were shot down. The endeavor was an all systems failure, and almost buried Kennedy’s reputation. 

Vietnam: While this was mostly not on JFK when it was all said and done, the pretext for conflict in Vietnam, however, fell in Kennedy’s hands. Following a commission sent by Kennedy to inspect the situation in South Vietnam, he was advised to increase American economic and technical aid, send more military advisors and air support, and bring in roughly 10,000 American troops. JFK agreed to the first two measures, but abstained from the latter to avoid greater tension. In terms of the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Stephen Rabe argued that “John Kennedy did not cause this death and destruction. 

The Johnson and Nixon administrations bear primary responsibility for the U.S. war in Vietnam. But most historians believe that the decisions Kennedy and his advisors made between 1961 and 1963 made it more likely that Johnson would seek military solutions in Vietnam. Johnson and Nixon’s Vietnam policies followed logically, albeit not inevitably, from Kennedy’s actions.” Basically, Kennedy is not to blame for the continued blunders regarding Vietnam made by Johnson and Nixon, but is to blame for setting up the stage for them to create a disaster. 

Relations with Dictators: Similar to many presidents of the Cold War era, Kennedy aligned himself with brutal dictators over communist or even left-leaning regimes. The policy of containment at the time dictated this, making it understandable in the moment. However, in hindsight, it was a major oversight to try to overthrow leaders like Mossadegh in Iran solely for the reason that he challenged a Western sympathizer in the Shah. Considering how far Kennedy went to maintain a foothold over communism during his tenure, he did not obtain the gains one would expect for the severity of his endeavors. 

Final Grade: B-/ John F. Kennedy’s presidency, from an international perspective, is hard to pin down. While the number of his accomplishments are outweighed by his negative drawbacks, I find myself seeing his presidency in a more favorable light in spite of that fact. Although the Bay of Pigs invasion was one of the greatest American military debacles in history, it was also surpassed by his victory during the Cuban Missile Crisis. His semi-failure in Vietnam, along with somewhat sabotaging American national security, were partially offset by his victory in the Berlin crisis. In the end, his reputation will always be marred for a multitude of reasons, but he was able to salvage his grade, for the most part, by being strong and smart enough to win key victories in the Cold War, which would eventually propel the United States over the Soviet Union once it was all said and done. 

References:

1. “John F. Kennedy,” in Herbert Parmet, The Reader’s Companion to American History, eds., Eric Foner and John Garraty (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1991), 612-13.
2. John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961,” in Commager and Cantor, eds., Documents of American History, vol. II, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall), 654-56)
3. Dean Acheson, “Homage to Plain Dumb Luck,” The Cuban Missile Crisis, ed. Robert Divine (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1971), 196-207.
4. Serhii Plokhy, “Apprentice,” Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis (New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 2021), 5-7.
5. Stephen Rabe, “John F. Kennedy and the World,” Debating the Kennedy Presidency, James Giglio and Stephen Rabe, eds., (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 3-29, 65-69.
6. John Lewis Gaddis, “The Cuban Missile Crisis,” We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, (Oxford University Press), 260-80.
7. Stephen Rabe, “Vietnam,” Debating the Kennedy Presidency James Giglio and Stephen Rabe, eds., (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield), 54-65.