John F. Kennedy - Foreign policies Flashcards
The Vienna Summit 1961
Kennedy and Khrushchev met for the first time at the Vienna Summit in June 1961. Kennedy stood firm on all three issues: the ongoing Berlin Refugee Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, US support of a right wing gov in Laos keeping out communist organisations.
In July alone, 30000 Germans had escaped from East to West Berlin, so in August, a barbed wire fence, followed by a wall was set up - movement was strictly controlled and anybody without a permit would face imprisonment
JFK was relatively calm about the construction of the wall, as it showed Khrushchev wasn’t trying to seize the whole of Berlin, and ‘a wall was better than a war’. JFK instructed Dean Rusk to exploit the wall as propaganda.
Khrushchev saw Kennedy’s lack of a belligerence as a coward, and could be pushed around in international issues. and in June 1963, Kennedy gave his ‘Ich Bin Ein Berliner’ speech, show US commitment to freedom.
The Wall brought stability to Germany as lines of demarcation drew, but nuclear testing began after.
The Bay of Pigs Fiasco
Kennedy received warning about his invasion of Cuba by Trumans Secretary of State Dean Acheson & the British.He still went ahead with his invasion because…
*JFK saw third world countries like Cuba were the new Cold War arena.
*The plan had been endorsed by a military-hero president and the CIA.
*Using Cuban exiles was a cheap / easy way to get rid of Castro
In April 1961, 1600 Cuban guerrillas landed at the Bay of Pigs. The invasion was a disaster because Cuban exile & US newspaper warned Castro. Castro was also very popular in Cuba, especially in the Bay of PIgs. Also, the guerrillas had landed miles away from the mountains they would flee to if anything went wrong.
Consequences of the Bay of Pigs Fiasco
4000 Cuban Exiles were killed or captured and JFK worldwide humiliation, but received an 82% approval rating from American people.
Castro moved closer to the soviets and announced he was a communist
Cuban Missile Crisis
In September 1962, there were rumours the soviets had put offensive missiles in Cuba. On October 14th, a U-2 spy plane photographed missile sites in Cuba.
Kennedy established the Execute Committee of the National Security Council (EX Comm), choosing to perform a blockade, but referred to as a ‘quarantine’.
On the 22nd October, Kennedy set up an 800 mile naval blockade around Cuba - no ships could pass w/o US permission.
On the 24th October, two soviet ships and a submarine reached the blockade and turned around.
On the 26th October, Khrushchev sent JFK a telegram agreeing to remove missiles from Cuba if US agreed to not invade - Khrushchev sent another telegram to remove missiles from Turkey , but JFK ignored this.
On the 28th October, Khrushchev sent his agreement to finalise the telegram.
Positive consequences of the cuban missile crisis.
Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed to establish a hotline in between the Whitehouse and Kremlin in August 1963 to lessen the chance of nuclear disaster.
June 1963, US, GB & USSR agreed to the ‘test ban treaty’ to limit nuclear testing in atmosphere, space and water.
- however, underground testing continued.
At a speech at an American Univesity, Kennedy reassessed Cold War assumptions, and said ‘our most common link is we all inhabit this small planet’.
Negative consequences of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Most of the 42000 soviet scientists and technicians stayed in Cuba - the Soviets resumed their military buildup by installing offensive fighter bombers and construction of a submarine base.
Kennedy refused to put his no invasion policy into place.
In June 1963, Kennedy’ administration revived Operation Mongoose to trigger anti-astro uprisings in Cuba by acts of sabotage and improving intelligence collection by the CIA. But failed due to fears of Cuban military retaliation.
How did Cuba and Laos lead to Vietnam?
The failure of Bay of Pigs and ‘draw’ consequent between the Vietminh and Vietcong in Laos meant outright victories were to be won elsewhere. Kennedy told a friend “We just can’t have another defeat in Vietnam”.
Vietnam was more suitable for US intervention in several ways:
*It’s long coastline favoured US naval supremacy that could be brought to bear.
*Diem seemed to have South Vietnam under control, so democracy had a good chance of working there.
*Rusk and McNamara said a US departure would ‘undermine the credibility of US commitments everywhere’.
Kennedy did not want to be accused of ‘losing’ Vietnam the way Truman ‘lost’ China.
JFK’s increased military involvement
The number of American military advisors rose from 3000 in December 1961 to 12000 by 1962 - over 2000 military advisors were in Vietnam, such as WW2 hero General Maxwell Taylor.
The US transported troops, undertook renaissance missions and provided fire support to ARVN units. Kennedys administration set up the Military Assistant Command, Vietnam (MACV) in February 1962 to coordinate US military involvement.
However, ARVN weaknesses were exposed in the Battle of Ap Bac.
The Battle of Ap Bac
In January 1963, a Vietcong force was located in Ap Bac, not too far from Saigon - 2000 ARVN troops surrounded Ap Bac, along with 113 carriers, helicopters & bombers.
But, didn’t realise there were 350 guerrillas who were keen to show they could counter American firepower.
- Five US helicopters and three pilots were lost.
The ARVN failed as General Cao was unwilling to fight, and Diem didn’t listen to American advice over the deployment of his troops, as he feared losing too many men and used CIA trained soldiers to stay in power.
It showed Diem was military incapable of winning the war against the communist despite US aid - American officials showed that 49% of pop. was controlled by Saigon, 9% Vietcong, and the rest was in dispute.
The reform option and Diems assassination
In may 1961, Kennedy sent Vice President Johnson to persuade Diem that the best way to defeat communism was to introduce greater political, economic & social reform in South Vietnam - Diem rejected this.
By Spring of 1963, relations were tense.
The CIA discovered Diem’s General, Van Minh, was planning to assassinate Diem in November 1963. Instead of protecting Diem, JFK and the CIA let this happen and were complicit in the assassination.
A General in Vietnam said America was now ‘morally locked into Vietnam’.
Kennedy’s role in the space race
May 1961, JFK wanted to do something about American humiliations in space - After Sputnik in 1957, Soviets boasted about their lead achievements in Space. in November, a failed US satellite launch caused worldwide embarrassment. ‘oh, what a Flopnik’.
He told congress he wanted to land a man on the moon by 1970 to demonstrate valuable international prestige.
- he spent ages justifying the $40 billion cost.
In a 1962 speech, he echoed his new frontier speech about ‘space and science’, saying difficult goals measured a nations greatness. Privately he told Nasa’s Chief Webb he was only interested in beating the soviets
By 1965, 58% of Americans favoured ‘the moon project’ and in 1969 the US landed the first man on the moon.
