John Kennedy was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and, although he was a supporter of President Truman’s domestic policies, he was critical of the administration’s weak stance against the communists in China.  Kennedy remained in the house until he was elected to the Senate in 1952 in the middle of McCarthy’s “witch hunt” for Communists in American Society.  Just two years after Kennedy’s election to the Senate, McCarthy launched his 55-day investigation of the US Army.  Coincidentally, this was the same year that the Geneva Peace Accords were signed ending the French Indo-Chinese war.  This agreement divided Vietnam into the Communist controlled North and the “free” South. Quite obviously the country’s political stance was strongly anti-Communist.

    Kennedy continued his career in the tradition of the new left, placing a great emphasis on the value of being anticommunist.  When Kennedy took over the Presidency from Dwight Eisenhower in 1961, he inherited several situations, forcing Kennedy to deal with communist aggressions immediately.  One in particular left an early scar on this young administration.  In 1960, President Eisenhower began planning an attack on the successful revolutionary force in Cuba.  Plans were made, but the operation did not occur until after Kennedy took office.  On April 14, 1961 a small group of Cuban counterrevolutionaries landed on the Cuban mainland with the intent to spawn a nation wide revolution overthrowing Communist Castro.  This revolution failed to materialize, however, and the Bay of Pigs became an embarrassment for the newly elected Kennedy administration.

           In stark contrast to, or perhaps because of, the Kennedy administration‘s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis was organized and controlled.  Fearing a second US attack after the Bay of Pigs, Castro agreed to allow Soviet missile installations to be built on Cuban land.  The US discovered this after U-2 reconnaissance photographs were taken on October 15, 1962.  Kennedy called together twelve of his most trusted advisors, including his brother Bobby.  The group discussed plans for the intervention for seven days before a decision was reached to quarantine Cuban waters.  On October 22, Kennedy announced (to the American public) the presence of Soviet missals on Cuban soil and the quarantine strategy.  Through the next few days, correspondences between Kennedy and Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev went between Moscow and Washington.  Khrushchev wanted the withdrawal of US missals in Turkey and a promise that the United States would not invade Cuba for withdrawal of Soviet missals from Cuba’s mainland.  These concessions were made, and the Soviets withdrew from Cuba.  These negotiations were kept private at the time, however, so the Kennedy administration could bolster public support for the administration that had just “fought communism” and won. 

In the final analysis, Kennedy was a cold warrior.  He truly believed in the inherent evil nature of communism and the Soviets in particular.  He was willing to spout communist rhetoric for popularity (among the US public).  He believed, at least publicly, (in) the truth of the Domino Theory, and acted when communist aggression appeared even when, like the Bay of Pigs, it was perhaps more advisable not to.  Kennedy also truly believed that, if given the choice between democracy and communism, people would choose communism.  It became his mission to give people that choice, thus paving the way for US intervention in Vietnam.

Senator Joseph R. McCarthy

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FFidel Castro

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