Jfk

In order to describe the things that John F. Kennedy contributed to the Vietnam War, it is crucial to give a slight background to his character. First of all, he was the youngest president, the first Catholic president, and the youngest to be assassinated while in office. JFK served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, commanding the patrol boat PT-109 and leading his crew to rescue after the boat was sunk by the Japanese in the Solomon Islands. He was also a Democrat and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts' 11th district in 1946. In 1952 he moved up to the U.S. Senate, defeating Henry Cabot Lodge. He went on to marry Jackie Bouvier on 12 September 1953; they had two children, Caroline and John Jr. (A third child, Patrick, was born on August 7th, 1963 and died two days later) (http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK+Library+and+Museum/News+and+Press/Vietnam+and+the+Presidency.htm).

JFK was elected to replace President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 (narrowly defeating Eisenhower's vice-president, Richard Nixon); he swept into office with a reputation for youthful charm, impatience, wit and vigor. Kennedy's term was sometimes called the New Frontier, a phrase he coined in his acceptance speech at the 1960 Democratic convention (Answers.com).

President Kennedy came into office with a belief that America could and should shape the destiny of the world's developing countries. (Imperialism) Vietnam, however, was not largely what he had in mind. President Kennedy believed that the unsteadiness of developing countries demanded new approaches. Kennedy was taken aback when Walt W. Rostow, who believed that all nations followed the same general path of economic and social development, argued that nations became unstable as the reached the phase he called "modernization." The Kennedy administration was guided in part by this modernization model as it considered a way to protect South Vietnam while help it throughout the stages of economic growth. Most of Kennedy's advisers believed that South Vietnam was not in danger. As Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense said once, "North Vietnam will never beat us. They can't even make ice cubes." (http://www.vietnamwar.com/johnkennedyrole.htm)

Basically, the U.S. entered the Vietnam War in order to hold the line against the spread of world Communism. America paid for the war the French fought against Communist Vietnam as a part of the Truman Doctrine (1947) "to protect free peoples..." and then by the 1950's became involved when the war flared up again. By the late 1950's the Americans developed the "Domino Theory" as a justification for the involvement. This theory stated, "If South Vietnam falls to the Communist, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, India and Pakistan would also fall like dominos. The Pacific Islands and even Australia could be at risk". After the French were defeated in 1954, Vietnam was split in two - the north was Communist, led by Ho Chi Minh, and the south was Capitalist under Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem's regime received billions of dollars from the US but remained deeply unpopular with most Vietnamese people. The US prevented the elections that were promised under the Geneva conference because it knew that the Communists would win. Vietnamese Buddhist monks protested against American involvement by self-immolation. Operation Phoenix was organized by the CIA. This led to the arrest and murder of thousands of Communists in the south. First the US sent in military advisers, and then President Johnson sent in troops in huge numbers (http://www.learnhistory.org.uk/vietnam/reasons.htm).

Fearing a communist takeover of the regions of Vietnam, the United States grew mistrustful of the improvement of Ho Chi Minh and the Vietcong. Communism had become the evil threat in the United States and with expansion of Soviet rule into Eastern Europe, Korea and Cuba; the Americans were bent on stopping communism from spreading any further (http://www.vietnampix.com/intro.htm).

However, while a U.S. Senator, Kennedy argues for caution and restraint in sending advisory troops to Vietnam. In this speech given to the U.S. Senate in 1954, Kennedy says, "The time has come for the American people to be told the blunt truth about Indochina. I am reluctant to make any statement which may be misinterpreted as unappreciative to the gallant French struggle at Dien Bien Phu and elsewhere; or as partisan criticism of our Secretary of State just prior to his participation in the delicate deliberations in Geneva. Nor, as one who is not a member of those committees in Congress, which have been briefed-