Jfk And The Cold War

The Cold War (1945-1991) was basically an ideological standoff between the ideas of Communism supported by the Russians and Democracy/Capitalism supported by the Americans. Communism is a political ideology which has the central principle of ÐŽ§communal or communist ownershipЎЁ of all property and therefore the abolition of private property. Democracy is a form of government in which the people vote, have a representative government and via these representatives ÐŽ§govern themselvesЎЁ. During the period between 1961 to 1963, Nikita S. Khrushchev represented Communism and ruled Russia, while John F. Kennedy embodied democracy and lead America. The two leaders differed in their foreign policies as is evident by the Berlin Wall incident and the Cuban missile crisis, but both were somewhat radical in their domestic policies.

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was first secretary of the Soviet Communist party from 1953 to 1964 and effective leader of the USSR from 1956 (premier from 1958) to 1964. He was born on April 17th, 1894, in the village of Kalinovka, Kursk province. As a young boy, Khrushchev worked long hours in the coal mines. Khrushchev seemed to be a revolutionist from a young age as he organized several strikes and in 1918 he joined the Bolshevik party and fought in the Civil War. Afterward, he was sent by the party to a technical institute to learn more about Marxism.

Khrushchev rose steadily up the party ladder, always combining his talents as an administrator with his technical training. After assignments in the Ukraine, he became head of the Moscow regional party committee, and in 1934 he became a member of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist party. In these positions he directed the construction of the Moscow subway. Although increasingly influential, Khrushchev was never an intimate associate of Joseph Stalin; he concentrated on technical rather than political accomplishment. After World War II he was brought back to Moscow, where he became ЎҐone of stalinÐŽ¦s top advisersÐŽ¦. When Stalin died in 1953, Khrushchev used his wit to thrust all his opponents for leadership, including Malenkov. He became both Party Secretary and controlled the government through his associate Marshal Bulganin, who he named Premier. He ruled from 1956 to 1964.

John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, On May 29, 1917. He graduated from Harvard in 1940 and ЎҐturned his senior thesis into a best selling book, Why England SleptÐŽ¦. He then became a War hero in World War II, when he led the survivors of his boat, (which had been hit be a Japanese torpedo), through ЎҐperilous waters to safetyÐŽ¦. Back from War he wrote Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize in history. ЎҐBypassing the regular Democratic party machinery, he relied instead on his friends and family to help him,ÐŽ¦ and by 1961 won the election and became president of America.

Nikita S. Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy differed in there foreign policies because Khrushchev wanted other countries to adopt a communist system of government, while John F. Kennedy wanted nations to implement democracy as their primary system of government. Although both leaders believed in ЎҐpeaceful co-existenceÐŽ¦, they really meant ЎҐpeaceful competitionÐŽ¦ to see which system of government the world would favour more.

During Nikita S. KhrushchevÐŽ¦s rule of Russia he wanted to maintain strong soviet control over the communist nations of Eastern Europe. This fact was emphasized by his brutal suppression in 1956 of the Hungarian revolution and with the creation of the Warsaw treaty Organization, which binds the eastern bloc militarily to Moscow. Kennedy sought to contain communism in Latin America, by establishing the Alliance for Progress, which sent aid to troubled countries and sought greater human rights standards in the region. Kennedy also created the Peace Corps, where American volunteers help underdeveloped nations in areas such as education, farming, health care and construction.

Khrushchev and KennedyÐŽ¦s policies conflicted first when Khrushchev threatened to sign a treaty with East Germany that would cut off the city of Berlin from the United States and then built a massive wall separating West Berlin from East Berlin, which increased tensions between America and Russia. Tensions further increased in what is known as the Cuban