Free Essays on Kennedy

Kennedy came to office with flair. He offered a new vision and a new frontier for America. He also inherited a secret war in Cuba, a Cold War with the Soviet Union and China, and an emerging crisis in Southeast Asia. He preferred a flexible security strategy over Eisenhower's heavy-handed nuclear threats. Flexible Response was no highly explicit theory nor written in a single authoritative source. Flexible Response was realistic in that nuclear weapons couldn't be used. It tried to provide credible means to match non-nuclear escalation. The word "flexible" stressed the value of having "multiple options" available should a crises arise. Having multiple options during a crisis appeared to be better than reference to a few preset war scenarios. Having multiple options was thought to enhance the credibility of the U.S. deterrent (reassuring allies while deterring the opponent). At the same time, however, flexibility made it also improbable that the U.S. would want or need nuclear attack. In effect Flexible Response called for the continued presence (in Europe) of sizable conventional forces. Conventional forces were to serve two functions, a deterrent function and the function to fight limited wars. The main argument of the Eisenhower administration had been that conventional forces were too costly and nuclear weapons would have "more bang for the buck." Kennedy wanted to deter all wars, general or limited, nuclear or conventional, large or small. Eisenhower and Dulles wanted to achieve similar goals but at minimal cost. Their risk was to either not act at all or respond at all levels of threat beyond the original provocation. Kennedy disregarded costs and emphasized sufficient flexibility to avoid either escalation or humiliation. In particular Kennedy wanted to increase the range of available options prior to resort to nuclear war. The threshold beyond which the President might have to decide to initiate the use of nuclear weapons had t... Free Essays on Kennedy Free Essays on Kennedy John F. Kennedy took office in 1961. With him he would bring a much more aggressive attitude than that of his predecessor former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. President Kennedy had only one down fall and it was that he worried about what others thought of the United States. Throughout his presidency President Kennedy would face many crisis. Some crisis would be very small and take very little time to resolve, while others would be on an imaginable scale and take years to end. The Cuban Crisis is one of the most noticeable that President Kennedy faced during his time as President. This conflict would also show an example of the role some nations play that may be they should not have. The Cuban Conflict would prove to be a stepping-stone for President Kennedy. Through his actions President Kennedy would show the world that the United States would do what ever it takes to stand up for what is right. President Kennedy would team up with Robert S. McNamara, Secretary of Defense and together they would launch the greatest arms role the world had ever known. This would cause the Russians to come to the aid of Cuba. President Kennedy explained to the Russians that if they got involved they would see their own fate. Though President Kennedy may have over reacted with the Cuban Conflict, by his actions being based on the fear of what the world thought, he still showed tremendous will power and fearlessness even when the odds were against him. The Cuban Crisis would also show the role that other nations would play in a certain crisis that should not have been played. The crisis in Cuba was a prime example of how during the world war countries would take a role that they should not have. The United States played a role they were not familiar with for the first time. They played the aggressor and moved in on Cuba. This action would prove not to be in the best interest, since Russia would come to the aid of Cuba. If the Uni... Free Essays on Kennedy Kennedy came to office with flair. He offered a new vision and a new frontier for America. He also inherited a secret war in Cuba, a Cold War with the Soviet Union and China, and an emerging crisis in Southeast Asia. He preferred a flexible security strategy over Eisenhower's heavy-handed nuclear threats. Flexible Response was no highly explicit theory nor written in a single authoritative source. Flexible Response was realistic in that nuclear weapons couldn't be used. It tried to provide credible means to match non-nuclear escalation. The word "flexible" stressed the value of having "multiple options" available should a crises arise. Having multiple options during a crisis appeared to be better than reference to a few preset war scenarios. Having multiple options was thought to enhance the credibility of the U.S. deterrent (reassuring allies while deterring the opponent). At the same time, however, flexibility made it also improbable that the U.S. would want or need nuclear attack. In effect Flexible Response called for the continued presence (in Europe) of sizable conventional forces. Conventional forces were to serve two functions, a deterrent function and the function to fight limited wars. The main argument of the Eisenhower administration had been that conventional forces were too costly and nuclear weapons would have "more bang for the buck." Kennedy wanted to deter all wars, general or limited, nuclear or conventional, large or small. Eisenhower and Dulles wanted to achieve similar goals but at minimal cost. Their risk was to either not act at all or respond at all levels of threat beyond the original provocation. Kennedy disregarded costs and emphasized sufficient flexibility to avoid either escalation or humiliation. In particular Kennedy wanted to increase the range of available options prior to resort to nuclear war. The threshold beyond which the President might have to decide to initiate the use of nuclear weapons had t...