John F. Kennedy won the 1960’s presidential election against the republican vice president Richard M. Nixon. During this election, the first ever television debate was held. This opened the world to television-influenced campaigns. Kennedy’s appearance and great public speaking abilities won over the hearts of the television viewers, but Nixon’s expertise in foreign policy won over the radio audience. Ultimately Kennedy charisma won him the election in one of the closest votes since 1884.
Kennedy surrounded himself with the best and smartest administration, as well as some of the youngest minds ever to join the White House team. This inspired younger generations to become more proactive in the political era. He hired Robert McNamara, president of the Ford Motor Company, to be his secretary of defense and McGeorge Bundy, a Harvard University dean, as his national security advisor. Although Kennedy hired many successful men for his team, his most trusted advisor was his brother Robert Kennedy, whom he appointed his attorney general.
Family played a crucial role in his administration. His family life made it to the public and won over the people. Jacqueline Kennedy influenced women as a fashion and mother icon. His children Caroline and John shed light on the fact that the president was a father to two young children.
Kennedy believed in a flexible response policy in order to avoid a major conflict with nuclear equipped countries. He boosted military spending to form the Special Forces (the Green Berets) to strengthen non-nuclear artillery.
The most important set of changes came in the New Frontier, bringing his goal to explore the uncharted areas in science and space. He began the Space Race in order to get an American to the moon, by boosting research with NASA. He addressed economic issues with poverty and reached out to foreign countries founding the Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress.
Unfortunately, before many of his plans could be fully carried out, he was assassinated. On November 22, 1963, while traveling through Dallas, TX, John F. Kennedy was shot in the head. This ended his reign in the White House, leaving many Americans devastated and in desperate need of a new leader.
By: Noel and Liz
This is pretty detailed. I like how you wrote about all the aspects of his campaign in a brief summary.
ReplyDeleteThis posting does a good job of summarizing some of Kennedy's achievements and showing some of the important aspects of his presidency. The details about his family life and its affect on the public's perception of Kennedy was interesting as well. Nice work!
ReplyDeletegood job well writen and vary informative
ReplyDeleteYou two seemed to have captured all the noteworthy details of Kennedy's presidency very well. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good summary of Kennedy's presidency and you managed to put in a lot of details that weren't just the political side of his presidency.
ReplyDeleteGood summary and picture. You really touched upn his faults as well as his accomplishments well
ReplyDeleteGood article and this picture capture the essence of an active young president. Nice details of Kennedy's public and private aspects of his presidency.
ReplyDeletegood posting. the summary was good and well rounded and the picture added a lot to it as well!
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job summarizing the aspects of Kennedy's time in office. The picture that you included was great because it showed the mood of his presidency.
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