Kennedy and Brinkley
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is an important figure in American history and was instrumental in shaping the American identity in the second half of the twentieth century. His personality and optimism, as well as his heroism in the Second World War helped the country to formulate a hope that the 1960s could be a time of renewal and rebirth in the United States of America. In recent years, the more scandalous aspects of his life have overtaken his historical significance, something that should be remedied and his importance restored. Most importantly, his actions during the Cold War between the United States and the U.S.S.R. are credited with saving the world from descending into nuclear war. In Alan Brinkley's 2012 book John F. Kenney, the author attempts to explain the man in terms of his place in history and how his personal abilities and charisma were able to put him into his position of power, as well as how such talents made him a threat.
The Kennedy presidency was perhaps one of the most important of the latter half of the twentieth century. There were many issues which the president gave attention to including the rights of Native Americans, the space program, as well as the Civil Rights Movement which he progressed through with the help of his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. However, despite the importance of these issues, there was one which served to dominate his presidency. The key event that marked his administration was the Cold War between democratic countries in the western world and the Communist USSR. To strengthen their position and prove a greater threat to the United States, the Soviet Union allied itself with Cuba, another Communist nation. Fidel Castro of Cuba and Nikita Khrushchev of the U.S.S.R. made an alliance in 1962 which would allow the Cubans to place nuclear weapons on that island nation, dangerously close to the United States. The United States came very close to all-out nuclear war with the Soviets. It was believed that a period of thirteen days of diplomacy and discussion between the leaders of the...
"We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed. But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course. Both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter
Great nations of Europe have fought their bloodiest wars." However, he implies that it is uncertain whether this new epoch is benevolent or malicious, asking Americans "Are we nearing the light -- a day of freedom and of peace for all mankind? Or are the shadows of another night closing in upon us?" In explaining his plan, Eisenhower employed a conspicuously organized, almost military style containing nine strategic objectives, or
He also wanted a special session of Congress to address the ideas he had for getting the country on its' feet again. He also said that if the separation of powers could not ensure a speedy end to the problems facing the country, that he would ask for broad executive powers to ensure the policies went into effect as quickly as possible to help heal the country and put
He disapproved the religion intolerance that largely shaped the past of humanity, stressing the fact that it had been very important for people to get actively engaged in supporting freedom through any means available. Jefferson's discourse is somewhat philosophical in nature, given that it deals with concepts of morality and to the fact that people should refrain from putting across a biased behavior. He deals with problems that were contemporary
Washington and Obama's Inaugural Addresses When comparing George Washington's first inaugural address upon becoming President of the United States in 1789 with Barack Obama's inaugural address from 2009, a number of similarities and differences become apparent which help to inform the reader about the particular context of either speech, and to see how the country's expectations of the President and the President's expectations of his audience have changed over time. In
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: KENNEDY'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS Presidential Speech: Kennedy Presidential Speech: Kennedy's Inaugural Address On January 20, 1961 newly elected president John F. Kennedy delivered his inaugural address to a nation in the midst of an ongoing "Cold War" with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In order to put this speech in context one must understand that the previous decades may be characterized as politically tense as the associated conflicts between the
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