John F Kennedy's Domestic Policy Essay

There were many major crises and policy initiatives during the Kennedy presidency. John F. Kennedy's administration is known as a time of high hopes and U.S. world leadership. However, in his three years as president, he accomplished very little in domestic affairs. In his 1961 inaugural address, Kennedy that the new generation of Americans would take the punch, whatever it may be, in order to assure the survival and success of American liberty. To many, it seemed as if he was asking Americans to leave 1950's consumerism behind and sacrifice for the greater good. However, Kennedy procrastinated the growing civil rights movement and gave all of his attention to fighting the Cold War. Kennedy made an effort to increase U.S. influence and keep an eye on communist power in the world with many programs.One being the Peace Corps, which sent out young Americans to aid education and economic work in developing nations. Another being a space program that would send Americans to the moon. He also established a new Latin America policy, the Alliance for Progress. It was a smaller Marshall Plan for the region that would challenge communism and fight poverty. However, local elites and military groups controlled and took most Alliance funds, and few of the lower class Latin America’s were able to take the benefit. Kennedy was facing many hardships,

and the USSR grew worse. In August of 1961, to prevent emigrants fleeing from East to West Berlin, the Soviets constructed a wall that separated the two parts of the city. Until it was demolished in 1989, the Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War and the division within Europe. However, a far more threatening crisis started up in Cuba in October 1962. U.S. spy planes uncovered that the Soviets were creating missiles that were capable of delivering nuclear warheads to the U.S. The Russians’ motivations are unclear, however, the Kennedy administration refused to accept the presence of