The Kennedys
For the policy assignment, I watched the eight hour mini-series “The Kennedys”. Some of the policy issues addressed in the series included the Cuban missile crisis, the organized crime crackdown, the Bay of Pigs, and the issue of civil rights.
The series starts with the election of 1960. Shortly after John is elected president, he encounters his first major challenge of his presidency: the Bay of Pigs invasion. Prior to the invasion, John had been told by his military advisors that the invasion was certain to succeed and the goal of removing Castro from power would be fulfilled. However, the rebels landing in Cuba quickly ran into trouble and John’s military advisors went to him asking for military intervention to help them. John denied the request. Although the incident was an embarrassment for John, he quickly took an unconventional approach and apologized for his mistake. This event served to help John develop a healthy skepticism of military advisors for the rest of his presidency.
Another policy issue that John Kennedy addressed during his presidency was that of civil rights. In Mississippi, a black student was trying to attend school at a university for the first time and the dean was doing everything he could to deny him entry. In fact, there were many white protesters outside the gates of the school trying to prevent the admittance of the black student. To enforce his policy of civil rights, John called the National Guard to quell the riots and escort the student onto campus. The decision to call the National Guard was a challenging one for John. Despite his strong stance on civil rights, John knew that his stance was very unpopular amongst many people in the country, particularly in the South.
These are just a couple of examples of policy issues that John Kennedy addressed during his time in office. Overall, the series was quite good and introduces people to things that they may not have known, such as the ties to organized crime, John’s philandering ways, and his near constant pain from a back injury he incurred during his time in the military. It’s hard to say how much editorializing was done in addressing these issues, but it’s not inconceivable to think that things happened this way. I would recommend this series to anyone as I thought it was a good historical perspective on the period.
This is a good summary. I still have yet to see the series - although I am taking all the episodes with me to Mexico. Based on other's reviews I think this is mostly a positive summary of JFKs career. Civil rights for example was really completed by the master of legislative deal making (LBJ) and the Bay of Pigs disaster had mixed reviews - some think the President went in with Macho and then lost his nerve others accept the description you say is in the series. I am not sure where reality is. JFK, I think, will become increasingly enigmatic as a president because of his short term in the presidency. I am pretty sure he would have been re-elected. But I am not sure how he would have handled the middle and late 1960s. It is interesting to speculate.
ReplyDeleteOne other comment. Ike's farewell address - advised his successor(s) and the American people to be cautious about the military - had his advice been taken I think we might have done some very different things in Vietnam.