President John Kennedy Was a Great President
"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been” (Henry). This quote from Henry Kissinger is a representation of the Kennedy term in office. President Kennedy took the world to a whole new level; he succeeded in many tasks in his short time as president. John F. Kennedy was great president because of his involvements in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Peace Corps.
On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy “informed the world” that the Soviets were building secretive missile bases in Cuba, very close to Florida. President Kennedy decided to take the peaceful route in handling is major crisis. As
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Premier Nikita Khrushchev described it as, “The two most powerful nations had been squared off against each other, each with its finger on the button.” (Nuclear). If this other World War or massive nuclear war would have occurred, just think of where we would be today.
“The founding of the Peace Corps is one of President John F. Kennedy’s most enduring legacies.” (Founding). As soon as President Kennedy became the President, he vowed to help Americans be “active citizens.” One of his first moves in office was to create the Peace Corps. The way he came up with this idea of the Peace Corps was when he spoke to students at the University of Michigan during a campaign speech and challenged them to live and work in other countries to dedicate “themselves to the cause of peace and development.” (Peace). The main purpose for this was so “Americans can volunteer to work anywhere in the world where assistance is needed.” (John F. Kennedy, the 35th). This answers President Kennedy’s call to “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” (Founding).
President John Kennedy was very involved in the Peace Corps. He got to know all of the volunteers very well. Peace Corps volunteers became known as “Kennedy’s Kids” because if the special bond President Kennedy felt with them. Volunteers in the Peace
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, served as an important figure to the United States of America during 1961-1963. Although assassinated on November 22, 1963, Kennedy’s leadership of the U.S. instilled confidence in the American people. John F. Kennedy was a great president because of his domestic policy, foreign policy, and lifestyle.
Introduced by John F. Kennedy in 1961, the Peace Corps is an association dedicated to placing volunteers into developing nations. These volunteer educators, health workers, engineers, and farming workers help to improve the skills and quality of life for the native folks while living among them. The main goal of the Peace Corps is to encourage world peace and to increase common understanding between Americans and the people of other nations. The Peace Corp was, and still is a successful organization that
Kennedy gave many speeches about peace, world hunger etc. all causing some sort of ripple effect, all of them were “ Make not only America but the world great again speeches” One particular speech that really stood out was his first inaugural speech given in 1961. Kennedy states, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country”. He genuinely reflects this throughout his life. He also states, “Ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you”, holding himself and America to the standards of patriotism. He gave these quotes in his speech to emphasize what citizens should be doing, and what standards citizens and the government should be held at. By doing this he intensifies the meaning of “actions speak louder than
He said like the Americans experienced hardships on the frontier in the 1900’s we had to face new challenges to achieve goals in space, science, and education. Kennedy also created the peace corps in 1961, which was a program where Americans volunteered to perform service in other nations. Kennedy promised a lot of things during his presidency but was sadly unable to complete them because of his assassination on November 22, 1963. Dwight D. Eisenhower, president from 1953 to 1961, also made an impact on the US during his presidency. During his presidency, he strengthened social security, created a huge highway interstate system but failed to protect African American rights.
Despite the warnings from the current president Eisenhower citizens were captured by the Camelot like society. In his inaugural address, Kennedy urged Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” These words moved a generation of Americans to embrace selflessness and
John F. Kennedy may me most memorable for with eloquent speeches. He was a good spokesperson, proving himself right off the bat with his inaugural address in 1961. These speeches instilled support and confidence in the hearts of those who listened. One can see how these feelings might come about in this quote by the President in 1963. "What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not a peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope to build a better life for their children-not merely peace for Americans, but peace for all men and women: not merely peace in our time, but peace for all time."
Cobbs-Hoffman opens the first chapter of her book by introducing John F. Kennedy giving speech to the students of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, a speech that would bring about change to the world starting in the 1960’s. Kennedy challenged the students “to undertake the adventure of a lifetime” in order to bring freedom to places like Africa, Latin America, and Asia on behalf of the United States, to work in foreign service and to help the United States compete as a free country . The vision of the Peace Corps is one to help the lesser developed countries while educating the American youth of the struggles of the people from these areas; while moving to become like the “ugly American”, who understands the people of the world and tries to help them achieve a better way of life but also learns from the people of the world in order to come a better Americans .
John F Kennedy was a man that led this country and government with integrity he was a man that was for the people and he thought of the people in a very
In response, Martin Luther King wrote a letter hoping that he and all of the other African Americans would be treated with racial equality. King simply wanted the unjust laws reversed. According to text “He was near exhaustion from stress, and his speeches increasingly alluded to his possible death, as in the speech at the Mason Temple Church in Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, the night before he died: “I’ve been to the mountain top and seen the promised land” (Funk & Wagnalls,2014). The next item we found was the assassination of JFK newspaper. John Fitzgerald Kennedy also known as Jack Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States of America. Some of the remarkable events that happened while John F Kennedy was holding office in the 60’s was the space race, the Cuban missile crisis, and the establishment of the Peace Corps. John F Kennedy had served in the navy as a secretary before being elected as president and also served as senator. JFK had two brothers who died in action in the WWII. John F Kennedy when elected as president one of his first steps was creating the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps and with this program volunteers would help the weak nations with things such as farming, education, and
President Kennedy accomplished many things while in office including, establishing the peace corps, emphasized public service, set a goal to put man on the moon, prevented nuclear war, etc. Kennedy depicted a “get-it-done optimism” which was so powerful for America to witness. Jackie Kennedy referred to her husband 's presidency as "Camelot," a wistful nod to the legend and idealism of King Arthur and his round table of heroic knights” (Walsh). During JFK’s presidency, Americans believed that they lived in an enchanted country where people could strive to better their lives (Walsh). Subsequently, JFK was fixing to run for president again to ensure that America stayed in a place of peace.
Kennedy came from a line of businessmen and politicians, so it only fit that he would follow. His father, Joseph Sr. Kennedy, had very high expectations for his family of 7 children. John was not always the best student in school, but he was clever and enjoyed history and English. He entered into Harvard University in 1936 and played football. Kennedy’s father was appointed United States Ambassador to England in 1937, and because of this, John became very interested in politics and world affairs.1 After graduating from Harvard, JFK entered the military and became a Lieutenant. He even received a Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his leadership and courage. He then decided to become a politician, and he served 3 terms in the House of Representatives then was elected to the U.S. senate in 1952. Kennedy became quite popular as a politician, so it was no surprise when he was nearly picked to run for Vice President in the 1956 election. Therefore, he decided to run for president in
Kennedy is remembered for following through on promises made during his campaign. One of Kennedy’s memorable feats in domestic affairs was the advancement of our space program (Armstrong, Lovell, Cernan). In a 1961 address to Congress he said,
In John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address, he says, “if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” He also states the importance of helping others around the world who do not have freedom. John F. Kennedy wanted to create peace with all nations before everything would be destroyed by a nuclear war. Lastly, he tells the citizens of the United States and other people from different nations that they have the ability to determine their own success or failure.
Kennedy’s speech was one of inspiration and hope. He wanted to win the confidence of his citizens by delivering a short speech filled with noble ideals (Matheson 11). President Kennedy starts his inaugural address by exclaiming his understanding that America was very different from that of the nation’s predecessors. The President also wanted to send out a warning to all other nations by letting them know that with him as commander-in-chief, America would “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend or oppose any foe in order to assure the survival and success of liberty”(Kennedy 609). Basically he was stating that he would not think twice about using all possible forces in order to preserve peace and prosperity for the United States. He further goes on to offer his support to developing countries by pledging to help them help themselves but with a special stipulation. He warned these nations to not lean on America’s success but to form their own freedom when he stated, “remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought to find power by riding on the tiger’s back inevitably ended up inside” (Kennedy 609). Of all the very remarkable things that this president stated the thing that resonated with me was his backing of the United Nations which would have ultimately dissolved had we not given our support. As stated earlier, our nation was in an atomic war with the Soviet Union and the citizens of the United States were
On one of the following days, Kennedy asked if the Air Force could take out all of the missiles in Cuba. The Air Force then told the President that with that process there would be 10-20,000 civilian casualties. Kennedy then decided to set up a blockade around Cuba. US ships prepared for a quarantine. The press then learned about the nuclear missles and questioned them about it, the President asked the reporters not to reveal the news so he could announce it to the American people on TV. The Soviets had instrustion to launch the missiles within minutes of Kennedy’s speech. After Castro listened to the President’s speech he moblized all of Cuba’s military forces.