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John Kennedy: Evaluation
In his abbreviated career as president, virtually every action Kennedy took was to counter the perceived threat of Soviet expansion. Looking back on the Cold War, it is clear that Kennedy’s success or failure would mean little in the long run, considering the long years of hostilities ahead for the two nations. Kennedy’s first real venture into the war on communism was a complete failure. Kennedy ordered the Bay of Pigs invasion with the hope of overthrowing Castro’s regime, but hamstrung the mission when he insisted on hiding US involvement. As a result of Kennedy’s decision to make it a covert operation, American involvement was so minimal that the Cuban exiles placed on the island to destroy Castro never had a prayer. In fact, the administration’s involvement in the invasion was already documented in newspapers around the country while the operation was still in the planning phase. Therefore, either the invasion or the administration’s weak attempts at secrecy should have been abandoned. In this situation, Kennedy’s zealotry proved a hindrance. By reacting so negatively to Castro, first with economic sanctions and then with the invasion, he ensured total hostility between the US and Cuba and succeeded only in driving Castro to the Soviet Union. Many supporters of Kennedy argue that the failure with the Bay of Pigs prepared him for his greatest triumph: the Cuban missile crisis. This is a moot point because the presence of the Soviet missiles came as a direct result of the attempt to overthrow Castro. Therefore, had Kennedy called off the planned invasion, Castro never would have requested Soviet protection and the world would never have been pushed to the brink of war. Second, Kennedy reacted too violently to the situation. While it is impossible to reconstruct what went on in Moscow, it is likely that Khrushchev genuinely believed he had a right to place missiles in Cuba. After all, the US had missiles placed close to the Soviet Union in Turkey and Italy. Kennedy’s threats of nuclear war should any missile be launched from Cuba, along with his military blockade, put Khrushchev in the difficult position of risking US aggression or backing down in front of the entire world. The administration, while ultimately successful in having the missiles removed, could have accomplished the same goal in a much more prudent manner by following a more diplomatic path rather than immediately treating the situation as a purely military threat. Since Kennedy’s policies took place so early in the Cold War, it is difficult to assess his long range significance in the conflict. It is possible that Kennedy’s very hawkish stance towards the Soviets pushed them to increase their nuclear arsenal to avoid the situation that Khruschev found himself in, and thereby increased the dangers of the Cold War. |
Evaluation
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