Cold Way Essay

INTRODUCTION
At the beginning of the Kennedy/Johnson era the makeup of the world had changed considerably. Whereas President Truman followed by Eisenhower had concerned themselves primarily with preventing the spread of communism in Europe and Korea, those areas were no longer the main concern. Instead President Kennedy’s efforts to contain communism was focused on three main areas. First, how best to deal with the Soviets should they threaten to or invade other nations. Second, how to restore U.S. prestige after the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957. Third, how to ensure communists did not take over South Vietnam. And, fourth, how to ensure the communism that had infected Cuba did not affect other Latin American Countries.

During the Truman/Eisenhower years the main deterrent they used to prevent Soviet and Chinese aggression was the threat of nuclear weapons. In fact, Truman upped the ante when he ordered development of the hydrogen bomb in 1950. Then, when Eisenhower was elected in order to cut federal spending he decreased the defense budget and relied more heavily on nuclear weapons as a deterrent than had Truman. In fact, he employed what was called ‘brinksmanship’ the policy of massive nuclear retaliation. However, risking the possibility of nuclear war was not a risk that President Kennedy wished to take. Instead, he developed a policy he called ‘flexible response’. Basically, in addition to maintaining a strong nuclear deterrent, Kennedy took action to increase the strength of the conventional armed forces which included creation of the Special Forces. His reasoning was that he needed the flexibility to fight small and regional conflicts. He thought using the threat of nuclear weapons in these cases was unrealistic and that using conventional forces would be more of a deterrent.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into space called “sputnik.” During the election campaign Kennedy criticized President Eisenhower for allowing the Soviet Union to beat the United States into space. After becoming President, Kennedy thought it was important for America to restore the prestige it had lost due to the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik. Accordingly, he decided to go to the moon by the end of the decade. In a speech on September 12, 1962, he said, “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” The U.S. did land a man on the moon before the end of the decade and the program was a tremendous success.

Unlike President Eisenhower who had restrained U.S. involvement in South Vietnam because, having commanded troops in battle, he doubted the U.S. could fight and win a land war in Southeast Asia. President Kennedy like Eisenhower and Truman before him ascribed to the ‘domino theory.” He believed that if South Vietnam fell to communism adjoining countries would soon do the same. Therefore, he secretly sent 400 Special Operations Forces (Green Berets) soldiers to South Vietnam. Their purpose was to teach the South Vietnamese soldiers how to fight counterinsurgency warfare against the communists from the North. By the time President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, there were more than 16,000 military advisers in South Vietnam and more than 100 Americans had been killed. When President Johnson came to office he had hoped to focus on domestic programs to improve the quality of life in America. In his State of the Union address in 1964 he said, “Unfortunately many Americans live on the outskirts of hope--some because of their poverty, and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair and opportunity.“ (ex-Doc 3) He was successful in the passing 200 domestic programs but he soon became embroiled in the Vietnam war. After several years, the U.S. was no closer to winning the war and civil unrest

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