In the people’s eyes around him he was a hero and what he believed are submerged by the demands of those who now mourned him.
Kennedy’s name became famous as a president in 1962 with the solution for the Cuban Missile Crisis. The problem that arose was that all the missile bases were being built on Cuba.
On October 16th Kennedy was informed of the missile build up. He then realised that without boarding a naval blockade of Cuba to try to stop the soviets to withdrawn their missiles could hit all the cities of the US. On the 23rd of October Kennedy received a letter from Khrushchev basically saying that soviet ship would not observe the blockade. He denied that there is any existence of nuclear weapons on Cuba.
Many ships got stopped at the blockade and Kennedy received a letter saying that Khrushchev would dismantle the ships if the blockade is removed, no reply came from Kennedy.
There was a worrying time though when there could have been a war between the US and USSR due to non- removal from the blockade.
Another letter was received and Kennedy simply wrote back saying that he would lift the blockade and agree not to invade as long as Khrushchev would dismantle the ships.
Kennedy was a very successful president and thanks to him ignoring the 1st letter was the best thing that anyone to save the US and USSR has done to avoid the factor of war.
The crisis ended after Khrushchev agreed to Kennedy on the 28th October 1962. Kennedy lifted the blockade and the bombing planes left Cuba.
Kennedy was a young president and believed that the security of the US was threatened. He can be seen to be unsuccessful over Cuba because he was weak and inexperienced, he played into soviets hands. Russia’s aim as to stop the Americans from invading them also getting rid of the Castro and the communists, Russia saw it as a victory as they achieved their aims.
Some historians accused Kennedy as over-reacting they claim that he needlessly raised the stakes dramatising matters. He has raised the stakes for his own political gain.
Kennedy’s handling of Cuba has attracted severe criticism some historians have actually blamed Kennedy for the missile crisis. This made him very unsuccessful.
In Kennedy’s time he had a lot of secrets which only few knew. The reason that no-one knew about his negative parts was because of he had the power though the media who were stopping negative information being released, for example he had bedded a stream of famous women. One of them being Marilyn Monroe, amongst her and others like prostitutes and strippers don’t forget about his wife. He was addicted to sex and could not release himself from it.
Also he looked certain leadership skills his boat, the PT 109 was hit by the Japanese boat due to his band commandment because his crew were not alert. (So much for being a “hero”). His negative image leads to him being a bad president his cover up of secrets gave him respect and therefore become untrustworthy.
In February 1963 Kennedy sent a civil rights package to congress, which included legislation to secure black voting rights. The resident did little to promise the bill’s passage, and it quickly expired.
Kennedy’s approach to civil rights was viewed by the civil rights leaders, as non-committal. But the violence in Birmingham on May 3rd 1963 left him no choice but to alter his course. He is not fully heartily towards the civil rights, due to the violence of in Birmingham (Alabama).
Source C4 states that black people where treated badly there is less population, more unemployment, less average family income etc. This shows that the black people are very discriminated towards civil rights. The passage of the time after legislation was passed black people still worse off. They were discriminated against which is wrong.
In 1963 Kennedy had even more of a respective image. He said a speech which touched the hearts of the Americans about equal rights. It was about coloured people and how he wants equality. He basically says that he thinks it is unfair that black people are treated differently just because they are differently coloured. Why should people sit in different places at the back of a bus, and away from the white people?
June that year a bill to congress was put In, he appointed his brother Robert as Attorney General which made him head of the justice department. He used his law courts as a way of enforcing legislation, 57 lawsuits later they as in the African- Americans wished to register the vote. Officials from Louisiana were threatened with prison when they refused to hand over money to the newly desegregated schools. This changed his image as he was doing what he shouldn’t have been doing.
Kennedy had three chooses to make about the war. He could either strike again a deal or air strike but the one he choose was the most sensible on that created a good image which was the “blockade”. He has a restraint to not want to strike. Kennedy stood up to the soviets and he was appalled by the observers. He earned widespread support because the soviet missiles were to be dismantled thanks to Kennedy. This showed that he is a strong leader and many people knew it. The result of this was that he thankfully avoided the end of the world from a nuclear war. This was done by the full scale nuclear weapons exchange between the USSR and the USA.
In source B2- Kennedy was described as a successful president. In 1982 he was most popular amongst the people. He had this due to his image and how good it was. This was because of the family man photogenic image. He then went on then to be called a “hero” due to his bravery from rescuing many survivors from the PT 109. He controlled the media from this incident and also from all his appalling television broadcasts to the nation about things like the war. Though the image was always of him being good, happy and the newspaper never wrote anything negative about him. When he dies it was much the same people’s views most probably changed over time due to his death all the truth about him came out. There was lot o coverage about him and the way he dies. There was a lot of impact on the public and so they all now have different views.
There were a lot of Hollywood portrayals which ked to media cover and changed his image and how he only has three choose and he made the right one.
In my opinion Kennedy was a balance between being unsuccessful and successful. He was a success in the way that he made good and life changing decisions to avoid war for example he decided to use a blockade against Cuba missiles which resulted in him avoiding the war . He had a successful image over the civil rights also and this gave him a wonderful reputation and a good image. He also have a vibe about him having this picture perfect family image with a smile that could rule the media which it did.
This is a very controlling person. He owned the media and made sure that nothing negative about him was revealed. He hid things from his wife she had found a piece of underwear which did not fit her she said “would you please shop around and see who these belong to? They’re not my size”. He had bedded a stream of famous actresses one of which is Marilyn Monroe. He was addicted to sex and he thought that with his high morals standards he shouldn’t let the world no his secret.
Secondly the public were kept information to suggest that Kennedy was a bad president, I know this as in source C2, it was said that on the boat which he was claimed a “hero” he was actually a person of no consideration as on the PT109 boast there was people who said that he didn’t actually keep the crew alive and alert the destroyers. Therefore I believe that Kennedy has many bad points and only few good ones, I feel that Kennedy was an unsuccessful president and a poor commander and a bad elected president.