John f kennedy why is he important

On April 15, B bombers from Nicaragua began the attack on Cuba. While they succeeded in destroying some of Castro's air force, their attack warned the Cuban leader of further assaults. When the invasion began on April 17, Castro quickly ordered his military forces to the area, trapping the exiles on the beach.

By the next day, it was clear that the operation had failed. The planners had claimed that the invasion would spark an uprising in Cuba. However, the uprising failed to materialize. Kennedy, hoping to maintain American invisibility, refused to allow additional air strikes to salvage the disaster. In the end, some men died, and the Cuban forces captured almost 1, exiles. Criticism of the administration soon poured in from all political perspectives; President Kennedy had failed in the first major test of his administration.

This mixed-race group of "Freedom Riders" travelled together on busses from Washington, D. The Freedom Riders faced attacks and violence at the hands of those who supported segregation, including local police, leading to the injury and arrest of several Riders. Their efforts were successful in exposing the unlawful nature of the enforcement of segregation in bus travel and in inspiring similar efforts to rectify injustice across the United States.

On May 25, , President John F. President Kennedy was committed to an aggressive space program. The Soviet Union had surpassed the United States in the space race by launching Sputnik , an artificial satellite, in Since space technology demonstrated potential weapons, this competition became an important aspect of the Cold War.

Although Kennedy realized the importance of space exploration to the military, he remained firmly committed to a civilian-controlled program of manned space flights. With the encouragement of Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy appealed to Congress to increase spending on the space program in the hopes of surpassing the Soviets.

Both the Kennedy administration and the American people celebrated Glenn's space flight. But Kennedy did not live to see his dream come true when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in July Read an excerpt of Kennedy's speech about the goal of sending a man to the moon.

Kennedy meets with Soviet premier Nikita S. Khrushchev in Vienna. The conference fails to resolve conflict over the status of Berlin.

On August 13, , East Germany began constructing a wall between the two sections of Berlin. Refugees from East Germany and the eastern section of Berlin had been flooding into the western section of Berlin, creating an embarrassment for the Soviet and East German governments.

In June , President John Kennedy met with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna, Austria, but the conference failed to resolve the long-standing conflict over the status of Berlin. He threatened that he would disregard the Western Allies and make an unilateral treaty with East Germany if the status of Berlin was not resolved. On July 25, Kennedy addressed the American people explaining the Soviet threat to West Berlin and the commitment of the United States to protect the city.

The President appealed to Americans to make sacrifices to win this conflict and announced further increases in military spending. Despite these bellicose actions, Kennedy left open the possibility of negotiation, and he made no claims to the eastern sections of Berlin. In an impromptu protest, thousands of Berliners gathered on both sides of the new barricade. Kennedy was under pressure to act, but privately expressed an unwillingness to go to war over East Germany's right to close its own boarders.

While largely symbolic, these actions demonstrated to the Soviets that the United States was committed to supporting West Berlin. With this demonstration of American solidarity with West Berlin, Khrushchev ended his threats of a separate East German treaty. The construction of the wall provided the Cold War with a tangible incarnation of the Iron Curtain and marked the beginning of a de facto agreement between the superpowers.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union allowed the city to remain divided and limited their action to protecting their sphere of Berlin. The resolution of the Berlin crises represented the end of an important point of conflict in the Cold War. The Geneva conference, with the United States, Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom participating, adjourns without reaching an agreement on a nuclear test ban.

In a five-hour flight, Glenn orbited the Earth three times and landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean. The United States had equaled the Soviet Union in scientific accomplishment. In April , the Soviets launched the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into orbit. Both Shepard's and Grissom's flights, however, were suborbital, failing to match the Soviet accomplishment. In light of the Soviet successes, President Kennedy endorsed an aggressive space program.

While realizing the importance of space exploration to the military, Kennedy remained firmly committed to a civilian controlled program of manned space flights. Eisenhower had reluctantly approved Project Mercury and its goal of sending Americans into space. With the encouragement of Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy increased spending on the space program hoping to surpass the Soviets.

Kennedy announces the reduction of U. On September 30, , an African American college student, James Meredith, arrived at the University of Mississippi, escorted by federal marshals, to attend class.

Meredith applied for admissions to the all-white University of Mississippi in early After being rejected due to his race, Meredith sued the University in federal court. Meanwhile in Washington, D. The Kennedy administration followed a federalist doctrine that local police forces should maintain law and order in these situations.

They also believed that behind-the-scenes negotiations with Barnett could lead to a political compromise that would satisfy all parties involved. Reaching an agreement between Kennedy and Barnett proved difficult, however. The President wanted to avoid the imposition of military power that would remind southerners of Reconstruction, and the governor would only back down if he could blame the desegregation of Old Miss on the federal government.

Despite these obstacles, the Kennedys believed Barnett had committed his state to maintaining order on the campus of Old Miss. On Sunday, September 30, when Meredith arrived along with a small contingent of federal marshals, an angry crowd of students and other local whites met them.

Soon, shots were fired, killing two men. Fearing more violence, the President refused to allow the marshals to fire their weapons. Finally, at 10 p. Due to a series of errors, the Army did not arrive until am the next day. Twenty-three-thousand soldiers then restored order to the Old Miss campus and the town of Oxford.

Later that morning, James Meredith escorted by a military guard attended his first class at the University of Mississippi. By the time Meredith became the first African American to graduate from Old Miss in , he had become an important symbol of the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi and throughout the South.

For the Kennedy administration, the incident provided several important lessons. First, it brought into question their respect for federalist doctrine.

Their trust in local law enforcement had led to a deadly race riot. Second, they questioned the ability to solve these difficult issues through negotiations with politicians. Barnett demonstrated the ability of southern Democratic politicians to make certain commitments to the President, while taking a different stand with the people of his state.

He explained the U. The Cuban Missile Crisis began on October 14, , when a U-2 surveillance mission flying over Cuba photographed the construction of launch sites for medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles. These missiles, once operational, could deliver nuclear warheads to much of the United States.

Kennedy quickly called a meeting of his top military and diplomatic advisers as well as his most trusted confidants like Theodore Sorensen and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

Members of ExComm agreed that the Soviets must remove the missiles from Cuba, however, they disagreed about the best approach to ensure the missiles' removal. Over the next few days, the world waited in anxious anticipation as Soviet ships approached the American blockade. On the morning of Wednesday, October 24, conflict appeared imminent as twenty-five Soviet ships neared the quarantine. At 10 a. Despite the initial success of the quarantine, the crises continued without resolution.

Finally, on October 26, lines of communication opened with the Soviets, but the White House received confusing messages. Meanwhile, the downing an American U-2 surveillance plane over Cuba exacerbated the crisis, placing Kennedy under increasing pressure from his military advisors to order an air strike on Cuba. The President realized he must act quickly to find a diplomatic solution. Responding to the communication from Moscow, the White House drafted a letter to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev explaining that once the Soviets removed the missiles from Cuba, the United States would end its quarantine and would promise not to invade Cuba.

In a secret conversation with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, Robert Kennedy pledged that, in an addition to the terms in the letter, the United States would also remove American ballistic nuclear missiles from Turkey. He spent much of his life in hospitals, battling a variety of ills.

His ability to serve as president was itself a profile in courage. Like his father, he was obsessed with the ritual of sexual conquest—before and during his marriage, before and during his presidency.

While he was alive, the many women, the Secret Service agents, and the others who knew of his philandering kept it a secret. Still, now that the stories of his sexual activities are widely known, they have done little to tarnish his reputation.

It also reflects the historical moment in which he emerged. Schlesinger Jr. Kennedy helped give urgency to the idea of pursuing a national purpose—a great American mission. In the 15 years since World War II, ideological momentum had been slowly building in the United States, fueled by anxieties about the rivalry with the Soviet Union and by optimism about the dynamic performance of the American economy. When Kennedy won the presidency, the desire for change was still tentative, as his agonizingly thin margin over Richard Nixon suggests.

But it was growing, and Kennedy seized the moment to provide a mission—or at least he grasped the need for one—even though it was not entirely clear what the mission was. Early in his tenure, a Defense Department official wrote a policy paper that expressed a curious mix of urgent purpose and vague goals:. Those who knew him realized, however, that he was more cautious than his speeches suggested.

John F. Kennedy was a good president but not a great one, most scholars concur. A poll of historians in ranked him 13th out of the 36 presidents included in the survey. Thirteen such polls from to put him, on average, 12th. Richard Neustadt, the prominent presidential scholar, revered Kennedy during his lifetime and was revered by Kennedy in turn. His allure—the romantic, almost mystic, associations his name evokes—not only survives but flourishes.

And thus a lyric became the lasting image of his presidency. White, in his memoirs, recalled the reverence Kennedy had inspired among his friends:.

Friends were not the only ones enchanted by the Kennedy mystique. He was becoming a magnetic figure even during his presidency. By the middle of , 59 percent of Americans surveyed claimed that they had voted for him in , although only After his death, his landslide grew to 65 percent.

After the assassination, even Robert F. The US Supreme Court had ruled in that segregation in public schools would no longer be permitted. Black and white children, the decision mandated, should go to school together. This was now the law of the land.

However, there were many schools, especially in southern states, that did not obey this law. There was also racial segregation on buses, in restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places. Thousands of Americans joined together, people of all races and backgrounds, to protest peacefully this injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. The President believed that holding public protests would only anger many white people and make it even more difficult to convince the members of Congress who didn't agree with him to pass civil rights laws.

By June 11, , however, President Kennedy decided that the time had come to take stronger action to help the civil rights struggle. He proposed a new Civil Rights bill to the Congress, and he went on television asking Americans to end racism.

On November 21, , President Kennedy flew to Texas to give several political speeches. The next day, as his car drove slowly past cheering crowds in Dallas, shots rang out.

Kennedy was seriously wounded and died a short time later. Within a few hours of the shooting, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald and charged him with the murder. On November 24, another man, Jack Ruby, shot and killed Oswald, thus silencing the only person who could have offered more information about this tragic event. The Warren Commission was organized to investigate the assassination and to clarify the many questions which remained.

President Kennedy's death caused enormous sadness and grief among all Americans. Most people still remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington for the President's funeral, and millions throughout the world watched it on television. As the years have gone by and other presidents have written their chapters in history, John Kennedy's brief time in office stands out in people's memories for his leadership, personality, and accomplishments.

Many respect his coolness when faced with difficult decisions--like what to do about Soviet missiles in Cuba in Others admire his ability to inspire people with his eloquent speeches.

Still others think his compassion and his willingness to fight for new government programs to help the poor, the elderly and the ill were most important. Like all leaders, John Kennedy made mistakes, but he was always optimistic about the future. He believed that people could solve their common problems if they put their country's interests first and worked together. Skip past main navigation. Life of John F. Kennedy Fast Facts: John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy Quotations Life of Jacqueline B.

Growing Up in the Kennedy Family Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was a very disciplined and organized woman, made the following entry on a notecard, when her second child was born: John Fitzgerald Kennedy Born Brookline, Mass. Identifier Accession. Rights Access Status. Relation Is Part Of Desc. Subject Geog. Type Category. Format Medium. Format Media Type. Creator Maker.

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