Source C is an extract of a book written by John Vick called “Modern America” written in 1986. The book was written some time after Kennedy’s administration had ended, the source contains quite a bit of detail of the political ambitions and programmes of the Kennedy administration. It says “the first important series of reforms” it describes “Medicare” which was “a system of state health insurance”. It also tells us about improvements to the education service, an attack on poverty and laws to give black people equal rights. This source tells us a lot about Kennedy’s, but says that he was blocked by conservative congress, so this source tells us nothing about Kennedy’s enactments.
Source F is an extract from a book called “One Brief Shining Moment” written by William Manchester in 1983. Manchester was a good friend of Kennedy, so therefore the book may be biased. The source tells us about the Cuban missile crisis; it describes the resolution of this as “Kennedy’s greatest triumph.” Apart from mentioning how Kennedy overcame the Cuban’s, the source has little substance. It mentions nothing about Kennedy’s aims or policies. This source is an example of hagiography, it has been written solely to make Kennedy sound good.
Source H is Kennedy’s State of the Union Address in January 1963. The speech was designed to make Kennedy look successful and therefore would most likely not highlight his bad points. The speech uses a lot of provocative language like “Good Ship Union” and “storm on the horizon”. However apart from this speech does contain some factual information, it tells us about progress in the foreign policy pertaining to Vietnam, Berlin and the deadly threat being removed from Cuba. He also tells us about domestic policy, saying that the economy is doing well and unemployment is down. This speech tells us quite a bit about Kennedy’s policies.
3) In order to find out if sources N and O are reliable I will look at several things, authorship, provenance, purpose, audience, context and corroborating evidence. Source N is a song written by Roger McGuinn, lead singer of the “The Byrds”. The song was written near the time of JFK’s death, this means that the song may be emotionally fuelled. It is most likely that the song was written to pay tribute to Kennedy, which means it would leave out the downside of JFK. The song was probably also written to make money, and therefore would probably be very light of historical evidence. The audience for this song would be people who loved JFK, also a younger audience. This means that McGuinn would be more interested in pleasing them with a representation of Kennedy that was perfect, rather than a true one. The song was written two years after Kennedy’s death, which means it would still be to soon for anyone to speak ill of him as his assassination was still fresh in the nations memory. The song has no corroborating evidence as it does not tell us about JFK apart from the fact that he was shot down.
4) In order to determine whether or not Sources A, D, F and G give a full and accurate assessment of Kennedy’s actions and abilities, I must look at such things as reliability, provenance and adequacy. Source A contains no real information on JFK’s actions or abilities. Source A pre-dates Kennedy’s election. Source A is a “Democratic Party poster during the 1960 Presidential Election campaign”, it is designed by Kennedy’s party, it has no facts only opinion, such as “He’s the one to bring the good days back”. Therefore this source is not reliable, it is not well researched it is only a slogan, it is propaganda. As Source A is a campaign poster it has little to no useful content. However it does suggest that Kennedy’s qualities were there, the people loved Kennedy while he was still alive. The Source came from Kennedy’s party, so therefore in terms of provenance the source has little use, however it does tell us how the democratics ran their campaign. The source only contains the views of the Democratic Party and not those of the American people. Overall the source does not tell us anything about Kennedy’s actions or abilities.
Source D is an extract from a book called “A Short History of the American Nation” written by Garraghty and McCaughey in 1989. The source tells us about Kennedy’s inability to “bend(ing) Congress to his will” It then gives the names of other Presidents, such as “Roosevelt” who were able to bend congress to their will. The source was written sometime after the events, so therefore the author may have had an unbiased outlook. Although it does not tell us any of Kennedy’s abilities the source does contain useful information as it tells us of some of Kennedy’s inabilities. The source originated many years after Kennedy’s presidency, so it may be well researched and have hindsight. The source only contains one or two lines of useful content and is relatively short, so it does have its limitations.
Source F is an extract of a book written by William Manchester called “One Brief Moment” written in 1983. Source F tells us about Kennedy dealing with the Cuban missile crisis. It claims that Kennedy dealt with it well, even though it “seemed beyond” his abilities. The source was written well after the Cuban Missile Crisis, however Manchester was a good friend of the Kennedy family, his books were even sent to the Kennedy’s to be approved before they were published. This means the source may not be very reliable and it may be a piece of hagiography. The source does tell us about Kennedy’s ability to cope with the missile crisis. The source was probably written in order to try and keep the Kennedy legend alive. However the source does not mention domestic policy. Overall the source does have some useful content, but the reliable of this content is questionable.
Source G is a cartoon that was taken from a newspaper. The cartoon depicts Kennedy as a bully, it implies that Kennedy bullied Cuba into the arms of the Soviets. The source is critical of Kennedy’s ability to deal with Cuba. The cartoon is probably exaggerated as it is a caricature, it was drawn to persuade readers to a certain opinion. The cartoon does contain useful information as it tells of Castro seeking help from the Soviets due to pressure from the USA. However this is only the opinion of one newspaper in one state of the USA. It may not reflect the opinion of all Americans, also it may be a newspaper with Republican sympathies. However newspapers often reflect the views of their readers, and also this paper changed its opinion after Kennedy succeeded in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
5) “JFK was an exceptional man…this man was a great success for the United States” In order to see if this statement is true I am going to investigate whether or not Sources C, E, J and P agree with this. Source C is an extract of a book written by John Vick in 1986 called “Modern America”. Source C seems to imply that Kennedy had the right idea but just couldn’t turn them into policies. The gives a list of some of Kennedy’s aims like “improvements to the education service” but says that “Congress was able to obstruct and delay nearly all of his most cherished reforms”. Source C does not go as far as to call JFK an exceptional man, but does seem to think he had the right idea. However the source does not support that Kennedy was a great success for the United States. It would seem to suggest that Kennedy had little success in his Presidency. Source C was written some time after Kennedy’s death, so Vick would have had opportunity to research Kennedy’s level of success thoroughly. Also Vick would most likely have an impartial view of these events.
Source E was written by Malcolm X, a black activist, in 1963. The source says that Kennedy is only interested in black policy because the world is watching him. It also calls Kennedy’s Civil Rights policy is a joke. The source is very critical of Kennedy, and certainly does not agree with the statement that Kennedy was an exceptional man. The source would seem to suggest the opposite, that Kennedy was a poor President; it gives an example of him not sending troops to Alabama until the black people began to defend themselves. It also suggests that Kennedy was too interested in foreign policy and not in domestic policy “complaining about the Berlin Wall, but haven’t done anything about the Alabama Wall”. Overall Source E suggests that Kennedy was a terrible President. However Source E is not completely reliable. The author, Malcolm X was a Black Muslim leader, Muslims reject the values of America, so therefore Malcolm would have always been critical of Kennedy regardless of what he had done. Also the Source is part of a speech given by Malcolm X, so the Source is most likely to be a piece of political propaganda. Also the audience for the speech was black Americans, so the language in the speech would most likely be provocative and inflammatory in order to try and persuade more black Americans to his cause.
Source J is written by Richard Pearle, Peale was a Republican, the opposition of Kennedy’s Democrat party. Pearle says that Kennedy lacks experience and describes his foreign policy as clumsy. Both these points would certainly suggest that Kennedy was not a great President, would seem to agree with the previous source. However the source may not be reliable as Pearle is a republican. It would be hard for Pearle to give a neutral view Kennedy as he would be trying to undermine him and gain support for his party. Also Pearle would have served Nixon if he had won the election, so there may still be some bitterness over Kennedy’s victory.
Source P is an extract from a book written by Seymour Hersh called “The Dark side of Camelot”. When the book was published it demolished Kennedy’s reputation. The book says “far from being the leader of constant work and constant action, Kennedy increasing devoted his working hours to sex”. This source seems to suggest the Kennedy was not a particularly good president. It suggests that while the President should have been working he was indulging in other things. This agrees with several of the previous sources that Kennedy was not a good president
