jfk's legacy

The legacy of John F. Kennedy's (JFK) short presidency is one of hope, rather than lasting accomplishment. His short 1,000 days in an often turbulent, but always vibrant, presidency began in a particularly dangerous time in our history. The cold war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. was becoming more confrontational and belligerent, with both sides possessing enough nuclear weapons to destroy each other many times over.
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At home, American cities were seething with racial tensions, as growing numbers of black Americans lost patience with generations of discrimination, while white segregationists vowed that those rights would be denied, through violence if necessary.

JFK was a dazzling public figure. His beautiful wife Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy was the most famous woman in the world. The country's first family with their two adorable children were the nearest thing to royalty that America had ever experienced, and America and the world were absolutely in love with them.

JFK may also have been the last U.S. President that the American press treated well. His press conferences were typically loaded with "softball" questions. One example:

Q. Mr. President: What is your favorite music?
A. (Grinning shyly) I think "Hail to the Chief" has a nice ring to it.
(Laughter)

JFK was an idealist. From the first day of his presidency his inspirational charge to his nation and to the world at large was: "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." Americans and the rest of the world were impressed with this young president, who seem to radiate confidence and a joyful sense that a new generation had taken charge and would fulfill America's promise.

During his administration, America would dispatch its young people overseas on cultural and rural work projects sponsored by the new Peace Corps. It was John Kennedy's continually stated goal to have an American land on the moon by 1970 that revitalized the U.S. space program. In the Civil Rights arena, however, he was slow in taking direct federal action until the southerners like Governor George Wallace actively flouted U.S. law and forced Kennedy to act.

JFK's legacy in the cold war had a dark side, though. It all had to do with Communist Cuba. Fidel Castro had fooled the United States and staged an embarrassing "coming out" party in which he bragged that he was "first, last, and always" a Marxist. Two botched CIA efforts to overthrow Castro -one assassination attempt, the other the failed Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban rebels- both succeeded only in strengthening Castro's hold on the island as well as his seeking closer ties with the Soviets.

When the Soviets began installing nuclear missiles in Cuba, JFK had to act.
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The Cuban missile crisis of 1962 threatened to escalate into a military confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviets as the U.S. Navy blockaded Cuba and harassed and boarded Soviet shipping in the Caribbean. The crisis was resolved when, as we stared the Soviets down, "the other guy blinked." The missiles were removed and our nation heaved a sigh of relief.

The result of Kennedy's dealings with Cuba was an implied agreement with the Soviets that, in return for their removing the missiles, the U.S. would stop actively undermining Castro. That agreement has held, and 45 years later, Castro is still Cuba's leader.

An assassin's bullet in Dallas on November 22, 1963, brought JFK's presidency to a sudden and bloody end. The memory of Jackie Kennedy in her bloodstained pink jacket, still in shock while witnessing the swearing in of Vice President Johnson on Air Force One, is forever etched in the psyche of Americans who witnessed it. Perhaps that sudden end to his life was an actual coronation of a martyred American icon, whose reputation, later tarnished by tales of sexual promiscuity, might not have fared so well.

The real inheritor of much of JFK's unfinished legacy was Lyndon Johnson, who acted resolutely and honorably by passing aggressive civil rights legislation. Unfortunately, the new president acted less wisely when he allowed the United States to get bogged down in a jungle guerrilla war in South Vietnam, a decision that ultimately cost 50,000 American lives, and deny him his own legacy.

In the end, though, JFK's legacy was emotional. It is a nostalgic remembrance of the 1,000 days when a new generation was in charge and America had truly glamorous and internationally popular leader. It was a sort of hopeful modern American version of Camelot. It may have not been real, but it was all we had to hold on to before the ugliness and divisiveness set in.

The legacy of John Kennedy is fantastic...and bittersweet at the same time. Relations with Cuba remain badly strained-and almost at a state of war since the Kennedy administration. The US maintains a well-fortified military installation at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba-a legacy of the Kennedy administration. During that administration, there was the fiasco of the landing of Cuban expatriates in the notorious 'Bay of Pigs' as that administration tried desperately to bring down Castro.
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Huge trade sanctions and travel restrictions are maintained to this day as the result of the legacy of JFK.

But, ironically, Cuba became JFK's finest hour, as he stood down the Soviet Union over the placement of nuclear missiles on Cuban territory. The 'Cuban missile crisis' brought the world dangerously close to a nuclear exchange that could have had ramifications in this new century and beyond. By standing up to the Soviet Union over such a blatantly belligerent move, nuclear war was avoided-although it came close. For the continuing presence of such missiles so close to the American frontier would have led to thermonuclear war. The resulting standdown of Soviet forces also helped shape the Cold War, eventually leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Another legacy of JFK.

His commitment to put a man on the moon within the decade of the 1960's was a great legacy of his. For such a commitment by an American president of manpower, resources and money not only put a human on the moon but also advanced the space program-which led to huge advances in technology-something we all enjoy today. Computers, telecommunications, medicines and countless other things all advanced significantly because of one president's legacy.

Also, JFK helped advance civil rights with Dr. Martin Luther King, effectively setting the stage for freedom and rights for all, not only for people of color-but women, people with physical and mental disabilities, and homosexuals. Another fine legacy befitting a man whose administration was called 'Camelot'.