Kennedy also was more interested in foreign policy than domestic his aims in the foreign policy consisted of “the freedom of man” and to wipe out communism forever. Kennedy’s foreign aim was Vietnam this shows how Kennedy’s dream shattered. President Kennedy wanted to help South Vietnam in their war to not have the communist North government rule over them. Although
some historians have made the notion that Kennedy attempted to withdraw his support, but couldn’t as he would be seen as a “coward” so secretly Kennedy may have wanted to leave this cause halfway this shows Vietnam wasn’t part of Kennedy’s dream and it didn’t shatter Kennedy’s dream.
The Cuban missile crisis and Berlin crisis show that Kennedy’s dream was kept alive, as these were successful events and fulfilled parts of Kennedy’s dream. The event of the Cuban missile crisis was that president Kennedy negotiated with the Soviet Union leader Khrushchev and persuaded him to remove their missiles from Cuba.
Many historians regard Kennedy having no “dreams” due to him having an image that was always presented rather than his ambitions. Although towards the end of his presidency his image wasn’t looking good and it was also shattered through the years.
Towards the last year of Kennedy’s presidency the civil rights were well on their way and were protesting and chanting with banners. Martin Luther King was the leader of the civil rights movement his protest always remained non violent. Protests were carried out in Alabama, Birmingham etc.although one of the non-violent protest led to an incident in which a police officer started to attack the protestors with dogs, teargas, etc. This incident led to TV channels broadcasting this and many outraged Americans realised the angered at the police officers action. This incident showed how a president ruled a country with the policy of treating the black Americans as second-class citizens. This event didn’t do justice to his image or his inaugural address “Success of Liberty” “what we can do for the freedom of man”. This event also led to the shattering of the dream.
The economy was an aspect of Kennedy’s dream. Kennedy addressed the economy problem by urging the congress to have a massive tax cut this would lead to increase consumer spending, create new jobs and generate economic growth. Although congress did not pass this the proposal wasn’t passed. This shows that Kennedy’s dream was shattered yet again as he wasn’t able to fulfil his dream.
Kennedy intended to help the civil rights cause by endorsing a civil rights bill but due to the fact that the minority was democrats in congress and the Southerners was a majority they opposed this and the proposal wasn’t passed. This also shows how Kennedy’s dream shattered.
In conclusion I thinks its possible to say that Kennedy’s dream shattered from 1960 and 1968.
Although Johnson continued the idea of a dream it’s correct to say that Johnson’s dream shattered in the 1960s.
Johnson wasn’t really very interested in the Vietnam cause but didn’t want to call back the American army due to it accepting defeat. The war effort from 1965 to 1968 deepened which resulted in many deaths for the American army although Johnson didn’t want the attention on the Vietnam War because he was scared that the Great society programme wouldn’t be recognised.
Johnson great society programme was successful but by 1966 his supporters were turning against him as they thought he untrustworthy. This shows that his dream was shattered because Americans had lost faith in him and also Johnson was unable to achieve any of his goals. By 1966 Johnson tried to persuade congress to pass only 1 act, which was the model cities act .The great society didn’t achieve to its full potential, as Johnson wanted it too. Therefore his dream was shattered and unfulfilled.
Overall I conclude that both the presidents failed to achieve their dreams and that their dreams shattered in the years 1960 to 1968.
Bibliography
America divided
