The Foreign Policy of the Kennedy Administration

Blake Millar

Ms. Chen

APUSH

3 April 2015

13 Days

        The foreign policy of the Kennedy Administration was influenced by many people, but it rested mostly upon the ideas of five men besides the president himself- Robert Kennedy, Ken O’Donnell, Adlai Stevenson, Robert McNamara, and Curtis LeMay.  These men were very influential in the Cuban Missile Crisis, mostly in advocating peace and diplomacy over airstrikes and nuclear war.  

        Arguably the person with the biggest influence on the president, the Special Assistant to the President Ken O’Donnell had an extensive relationship with the president, both personally and professionally.  Although he wasn’t the Vice President or the Secretary of State, John F. Kennedy considered Ken O’Donnell one of his best friends.  This is shown countless times in the movie 13 Days.  Right off the bat, Mr. O’Donnell walks into the Oval Office to talk to the president.  Mid-conversation, O’Donnell takes JFK’s toast out of his hands and eats the rest of it.  Considering that it was the toast of the most important person in the country, the personal relationship is quite strong.  Another very personal event was when Kenny took John F. Kennedy aside and gave him a little pep talk before he addressed the nation about the United States’ actions for the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Ken tells him, “At least we don’t have to go down to Lyndon’s ranch again and dress up as cowboys...and shoot deer from the back of his convertible.”  The fact that the two of them had an experience like that with the vice president shows the strong relationship.  Kenny also had a considerable amount of power in JFK’s professional circle.  Throughout the movie, JFK asks, “Well what do you think, Kenny?”  His opinions had a lot of power in determining what action the president would take, especially with the question of using violence or diplomacy with the Soviets in Cuba.  Since Kenny had such a good relationship with JFK, his avocations for peace carried a lot of weight.

        The other titan in the Kennedy Administration was John’s brother, Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General.  Robert Kennedy probably had the most influence on the president since they grew up together.  His personal relationship went all the way back to Harvard, when Robert wouldn’t stop rambling about how great his brother John was to his friend, Kenny O’Donnell.  The personal relationship also is shown in the discussion between JFK, Bobby Kennedy, and Kenny O’Donnell on the porch of the White House.  His professional relationship with his brother was also giant.  He trusted Bobby so much that he sent Bobby to the Soviet Embassy to discuss an agreement in the last hours before the United States planned to bomb the missiles.  Bobby’s idea of peace also had great influence with the president, leading to him being chosen to be sent to the embassy in the first place.  

        One of the people that was on the fence about violence or diplomacy was the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara.  One of the reasons he spanned decades in Washington was because he weighed all of the options before choosing a side.  This is shown when Bobby Kennedy asks the cabinet whether there was another option besides airstrikes or plain old diplomacy to deal with the Soviet missiles in Cuba.  McNamara is the one who told him that there was the option of a naval blockade of Cuba.  His suggestion was ultimately the chosen option, securing him as one of the peace advocates.  Although he didn’t have much of a personal relationship with the president, his professional relationship spanned the years and it showed with the idea of a “quarantine” of Cuba.