Foreign Policy Flashcards
inaugural address - 1961
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any
hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
foreign policy priorities
Continue the strategy of ‘Containment’
Increase the size of conventional US forces.
Enlarge America’s nuclear arsenal.
Economic and political aid particularly to ‘Third World
Countries’ through the peace corps.
More covert operations
Negotiations with the USSR
A physical presence
crisis over Berlin
K was struggling to stay in power, between 1949 to 1958, over 2M east germans fled to west berlin. The East German government wanted K to halt this public and persistent reminder of its unpopularity, while K worried that West Berlin was a western centre of propaganda, it sent the message that capitalism was better, K needed a foreign policy triumph and berlin seemed the best place
dates
Vienna summit - 1961
Berlin Wall - Aug 1961
where did K and JFK meet
Vienna Summit June 1961
Vienna Summit June 1961
Kennedy and Khrushchev met- aimed to decrease tension
Khrushchev told Kennedy that something had to do done about Berlin
Threatened to block off access to West Berlin
Increased tensions and both increased defence expenditure
13th August 1961- E. Germany sealed off hundred mile frontier with West Berlin and created a wall between east and west.
what was done by K after the vienna summit
He built the berlin wall on 13 August 1961
why was the Berlin Wall significant
It stopped East Germans escaping East Germany
It increased West German antagonism and anxiety with regard to the Soviet Bloc. JFK visited west berlin to assure its citizens of his support. He gave a speech
It increased Cold War tensions soon after both the USSR and the USA resumed nuclear testing
Western writers interpreted it as a triumph, because it demonstrated how East Germany needed to wall its people in, but Soviet bloc writers also claimed a victory because the West had been unable to stop its construction
Getting away with constructing the Wall may have encouraged K’s adventurism in Cuba
kennedy’s reaction to the wall
JFK remained relatively calm about construction of the wall - saying that it showed that K did not intend to seize the whole of Berlin and that a wall was better than a war. He was not criticised by either the media or the Republican party, indeed the crisis was only seen as a crisis in Germany, Kennedy instructed Dean Rusk to exploit the situation for propaganda as far as possible. K saw JFK’s lack of action as proof of the impression that JFK was a coward when it came to international issues and could be pushed aru=ound to the advantage of the SU
I am a donut speech
In June 1962, JFK travelled to west berlin to reiterate the US commitment to the city and gave one of his most famous speeches, stressing the US commitment to freedom across the world. However Berlin remained divided for the next 36 years. But the building of the Wall reduced tensions in Europe by creating a status quo acceptable to both sides - not due to kennedy’s actions.
impact of the wall
It did settle the situation in the east and west Berlin
for a time because there were clear dividing lines
Remained stable for 36 years because it created a
status quo
Kennedy was not criticised by the media or the
Republicans
Khrushchev saw Kennedy as a coward because he
didn’t do anything- led to Cuban Missile Crisis
To Kennedy it was the USSR accepting that west
Berlin was in the west
THE BACKGROUND TO THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS…..
In January 1959 Fidel Castro deposed Batista, the US backed dictator of Cuba
This meant that a socialist country was 100 miles from Florida
Castro nationalised a number of American businesses and threatened their popularity in Cuba
He had made a trip to New York and met with Malcolm X and then heavily criticised race relations and poverty in America, embarrassing Eisenhower
Eisenhower had failed to solve the Cuban issue but had instructed the CIA to work on a plot to overthrow Castro
relations with cuba
bay of pigs
cuban missile crisis
date of bay of pigs
1961
why did JFK go ahead with the bay of pigs
He believed that Third World Countries like Cuba were the great new cold war arena
he was at the height of his prestige
he was a prisoner to his own militant anti-communist rhetoric in 1960 he promised that if elected he would not allow Cuba to become a soviet base in the carribean
he wanted to get rid of castro
was the bay of pigs invasion successful
no
why was the bay of pigs invasion a disaster
The Cuban Exiles and US newspapers had forewarned Castro
The invaders landed miles away from the mountains to which they were supposed to flee if anything went wrong
Castro was very popular in Cuba, especially in the Bay of Pigs area where he frequently holidayed
Kennedy always insisted that US aid be minimal
aftermath of the bay of pigs fiasco
The exiles were killed or captured. Kennedy suffered worldwide humiliation but he received an 82% approval rating at home. Castro moved closer to the soviets and announced that he was a communist. K concluded that JFK was a soft touch and proceeded to bully and bluster at the Vienna summit, erect the Berlin wall and install missiles in Cuba in the belief that JFK would either not react or mess up again if he did
date of the Cuban Missile Crisis
1962
what was the cuban missile crisis
Soviet nuclear missiles arrived in Cuba
what has the CMC been described as
It has often been described as the closet the world has come to nuclear war - the closest the USSR and the USA had been to a war since the start of the cold war
why did the CMC happen
K claimed that his aim was to protect Cuba, but his main concern was the SU and his own position. The Soviets had 50 Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles, the Americans had 304. The Soviets had 150 intercontinental bombers, the Americans 1200. These stats worried K. A massive Soviet build-up would be expensive so it made sense to put their nuclear weapons in CUBA, 90 miles from the US coast
K resented American missiles being based in Turkey
K wanted to impress his critics at home and in China
K had gotten away with building the Berlin Wall, he hoped he could get away with the CMC
Kennedy’s response to the CMC
Kennedy then established the Executive Committee of the National Security Council to consider what to do. In 1962, a U2 spy plane photographed missile sites in CUBA
options considered by the Commission
Do nothing - it was not an option because JFK feared it would endanger US national security if the nation looked weak in the face of Soviet Missiles 90 miles off the coast of Florida and because he did not want K to have another triumph
Using diplomatic channels such as the UN would be too slow
Withdraw American missiles from Turkey in exchange - didnt want to be seen as backing down
Surgical air strike - trigger a third world war
a naval blockage would prevent soviet vessels getting more men and materials to cuba
what option did JFK choose
Naval blockade
blockade
- Kennedy kept the missile crisis secret for a week but gave a speech on 22nd October to tell the American people about the missiles-
- The blockade line was 500 miles away from Cuba
- On 24th October two Soviet ships and a submarine neared the line and Khrushchev halted the ships.
- On 26th October, Kennedy prepared to invade Cuba and Khrushchev wanted to make a deal with him to remove the blockade if he removed the missiles from Cuba
- Kennedy accepted the first and said that if the Soviets failed to remove the missiles they would invade the island by the 29th October
Privately he agreed to remove the missiles from Turkey in four or five months time
evaluating the blockade
The advantage of the blockade was that it would give K time to think again, the disadvantage was that it would give him time to complete the installation of the missiles and would lead to a war
In the end, K backed down. Although Kennedy had publicly promised not to invade Cuba, he had secretly promised to withdraw American missiles from Turkey. It made K realize that the US had nuclear and naval superiority and was prepared for war.
significance of the CMC
Khrushchev fell from power in 1964 which may have been a result of his failure to show Russian strength during the crisis
It led to a Cold War thaw because of the fear by both sides on how close they had come to war
A hotline was installed between the Kremlin and the White House
They signed the partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in August 1963- Along with Britain they agreed to cease atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons
The ousting of Castro was still an unofficial aim and covert operations such as coastal raids and acts of economic sabotage on Cuba still took place
The West considered it a triumph, both the USSR and the USA were frightened by the crisis which led to a cold war thaw
was was the naval blockade an example of
brinkmanship
why did he continue involvement in Vietnam
1956 speech- American Friends of Vietnam Felt Vietnam was very important to the USA and they were responsible for it
Believed in containment policy and the domino theory- Third World
Did not want to be accused of losing Vietnam
Sensitive about youth and experience-felt he had much to prove
Rusk and McNamara (Cold Warriors) encouraged him to continue involvement- it would undermine America
Bay of Pigs Fiasco- time to get tough on communism
growth of advisers
When Kennedy became in 1961, there were under 1000 American advisers in Vietnam, at his death in Nov 1963 there were 17000
why did JFK escalate the US involvement in Vietnam
Because Diem seemed incapable of defeating the communists in South Vietnam and because his administration felt that more advisers might stabilise the situation. Communists grew stronger in Vietnam
what options did JFK have to use to deal with communists in vietnam
The reform option
The American ground troops option
The replacement of Diem option
the reform option
JFK urged Diem to introduce social, economic and political reforms that would make his regime more popular, Diem rejected this option
American ground troops
rejected this option
replacement of diem
Had American support but was hated by the people of South Vietnam
Poor treatment of Buddhists because he was a catholic
Refused to introduce social, economic and political reform
The North were encouraging rebellion in the South
Vietminh were a tough ‘gorilla force’ and difficult to beat, despite sending advisers
Kennedy decided to build up advisors in
Vietnam as well provision to aid him.
Buddist monks set themselves on fire in protest
1960- 800
1963-23,000
They didn’t fight but trained the SV forces to fight
how many soldiers did the Vietcong have
12,000 but they still proved difficult in the face of 23k advisers and 250k NV army, because they knew the jungle and operated on gueriila warfare
what brought international criticism to Kennedy’s support of diem
Diems persecution of the Buddist Majority resulted in self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk in 1963
diems assasination
CIA plot allowed the overthrow of Diem by SV generals- assassinated three weeks before Kennedy
This increased US involvement in Vietnam- commanded by General William Westmoreland - who stressed that the US complicity in Diems assassination obliged them to stay in Vietnam to sort out the mess they had created
Kennedy worried about ‘losing Vietnam’- needed to stick up for other SA countries
