JFK/Presidency
 JFK's "Peace Speech", 10 June 1963 | |
| Date | January 20, 1961 - November 22, 1963 |
|---|---|
| Description | The JFK administration |
John F. Kennedy's tenure as the 35th president of the United States, began with his inauguration on January 20, 1961, and ended with his assassination on November 22, 1963. A Democrat from Massachusetts, he took office following the 1960 presidential election, in which he narrowly defeated Richard Nixon, the then-incumbent vice president. He was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Towards the end of his presidency, Kennedy increasingly bravely challenged a number of entrenched interests in the US establishment.
Contents
Bay of Pigs
- Full article: Bay of Pigs Invasion
- Full article: Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an invasion of Cuba designed to fail by the US deep state, and in so doing to induce the US President, JFK, to approve full scale military action against Cuba. This part of the plot failed, as JFK refused to approve an invasion of the island.
Attempts to eliminate De Gaulle
- Full article: Charles de Gaulle
- Full article: Charles de Gaulle
The attempts to get rid of French president Charles de Gaulle continued, including CIA support for several assassination attempts. De Gaulle did not resign until 1968.
In this connection, the administration also decided to dump German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who by now was seen as too friendly with France. The signal was given to "friends of the US" in the German governing parties, who duly replaced him with Ludwig Erhard in October 1963.
Congo crisis
The Congo crisis was perhaps the most serious of the many problems JFK inherited from his predecessor President Eisenhower. On 7 August 2016, James DiEugenio of Citizens for Truth about the Kennedy Assassination (CTKA) wrote:
Richard Mahoney's landmark volume JFK: Ordeal in Africa was a trailblazing effort in the field of excavating what Kennedy's foreign policy really was, and where its intellectual provenance came from. It was published in 1983. Even though it bore the Oxford University Press imprimatur, it had little influence. And although Mahoney's book dealt with three African trouble spots, the majority of the book was focused on the colossal Congo crisis. Which, like other problems, Kennedy inherited from President Eisenhower:
As we learn more about the Congo conflagration, we begin to see how large and complex that struggle was. Large in the sense that, in addition to the UN, several nations were directly involved. Complex in the sense that there were subterranean agendas at work. For instance, although the UK and France ostensibly and officially supported the United Nations effort there, they were actually subverting it on the ground through third party agents. In fact, when one studies the seething cauldron that was the Congo crisis, there are quite a few villains involved.
There are only three heroes I can name: Patrice Lumumba, Dag Hammarskjöld and John F. Kennedy. All three were murdered while the struggle was in process. Their deaths allowed the democratic experiment in Congo to fail spectacularly. Ultimately, it allowed one form of blatant exploitation, colonialism, to be replaced by another, imperialism.[1]
South Vietnam
There is dispute over whether Kennedy intended to escalate the war in Vietnam or not. The United States government gave secret assurances to the South Vietnamese generals that it would not interfere in the 1963 coup against puppet leader Ngo Dinh Diem.
Cold War
The Cold War began soon after WW2. In the blue corner, the US led NATO, in the red corner, the USSR led Warsaw Pact. Both of these so-called "superpowers" (and their allies) were locked in an arms race, needing to outdo each other by creating ever more and deadlier weapons of war and/or effective defences against the other superpower's new weapons.
Cuban Missile Crisis
- Full article: Cuban Missile Crisis
- Full article: Cuban Missile Crisis
After learning that the Soviet Union had begun shipping missiles to Cuba, Kennedy announced a strategic blockade of Cuba and warned the Soviet Union that the US would seize any more deliveries. Kennedy did not get much credit for resolving his from his hawkish Pentagon advisors, who considered that he has missed an opportunity for a preemptive all out attack on the USSR.
JFK's "Peace Speech"
| President Kennedy: "What kind of peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war." |
On 10 June 1963, speaking at American University in Washington, JFK controversially sought peace with the Soviet Union and an end to the Cold War:
- “Above all, while defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy — or of a collective death-wish for the world.[2]
- “What kind of peace do I mean? What kind of peace do we seek?
- "Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave. I am talking about genuine peace, the kind of peace that makes life on earth worth living, the kind that enables men and nations to grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children–not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women–not merely peace in our time but peace for all time.”[3]
Ich bin ein Berliner!
On 26 June 1963, JFK addressed a huge crowd in West Berlin in a speech that is considered one of Kennedy’s best, both a notable moment of the Cold War and a high point of the New Frontier.
| Ich bin ein Berliner! |
It was a great morale boost for West Berliners, who lived in an enclave deep inside East Germany and feared a possible East German occupation. Speaking from a platform erected on the steps of Rathaus Schöneberg, Kennedy said:
- “There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin…
- “Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was ‘Civis Romanus Sum’. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’ … All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!'”
LTBT
On 26 July 1963, Kennedy addressed the nation from the White House. Negotiations on a Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) had been successfully concluded in Moscow the day before.
The LTBT prohibited all nuclear testing in the atmosphere, space, and underwater (but not underground). "Yesterday", Kennedy declared, "a shaft of light cut into the darkness."
The pact was signed by American, British, and Soviet representatives on 5 August 1963. The US Senate ratified it on 23 September 1963, and Kennedy signed it on 7 October 1963. Less than two months later he would be assassinated.[4]
Canada regime change
- Full article: 1963 Canadian regime change
- Full article: 1963 Canadian regime change
The 1963 coup against Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, who had too many ideas of independent economic development, was planned and executed under JFK.
Other
The 1960 Turkish coup by the stay behind network happened on Kennedy's watch. The hostile plans towards Brazilian president João Goulart, that culminated in the 1964 Brother Sam coup, started under Kennedy.
Employee on Wikispooks
| Employee | Job | Appointed | End |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carmine Bellino | Special Assistant | 1961 | 1963 |
