John Kennedy Assassination

John Fitzgerald Kennedy had a very short presidency. During his three years in office, he faced issues such as civil rights, nuclear war, and the Vietnam War. One aspect that made Kennedy a successful and memorable leader was his distinct and unique foreign policy. Kennedy marked an era of the Cold war where instead of instantly militarizing, he looked to diplomacy first. Kennedy was still more than capable of militarizing when necessary, but compared to his predecessors, such as Dwight D. Eisenhower, Kennedy stands out as a leader who could make the negotiations necessary to reduce tension. Kennedy’s assassination was a miserable event in the timeline of the United States. One aspect of the assassination was the major impact it had on Vietnam. Through the events of Kennedy’s presidency and the influence of the presidential cabinet during the 1960-1964 term, it is clear that Kennedy would have handled the situation in Vietnam differently. The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy did affect the course of action in Vietnam because Kennedy would have been able to make more diplomatic decisions than Johnson, which would not have been as largely affected by the cabinet, and would have led to a calmer and less drastic war.
The start of the Cold war is dated in 1947, two years after Hitler’s death and the freedom of Europe. This post-World War II era was one of much conflict and disagreement. The opposing forces were the United States and the USSR. The United States representing democracy, and the Soviets representing communism. The tension and conflict between the two world powers had been steadily escalating. During the early years of the Cold War, military action was the only conceivable response to a threat. Triggered by the Ghos...

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...nd the approach taken ultimately failed. The turning point of the US involvement was the assassination of JFK. Foreign policy in the United States had been extremely straight forward following WWII. There was no question that the standards for foreign policy would have dictated the massive involvement in Vietnam had two other people been in office during Kennedy and Johnson’s era. The Uniqueness of Kennedy’s foreign policy, and his approach which made him so loved would have dominated over the opinions of McNamara in 1964. But because Kennedy was killed, and the country was in turmoil, and Johnson’s less strict foreign policy, the advice of McNamara was taken more seriously and the US went to very violent conflict in Vietnam. John F. Kennedy would have been more focused on diplomacy and the result would have been a more steady resolution to the communism in Vietnam.