The domino theory which presumed that the fall of a nation such as Vietnam would cause an entire region to topple to communist influence would underscore Cold War foreign policy for generations, with presidents culturally required to affirm a commitment to the goals of protecting American interests and opposing Russian aims that appeared to be contrary to these interests. Regarding Kennedy, "from his Vienna interview with Khrushchev, through the Berlin crisis during 1961, to the Cuban missile crisis and therafter -- this commitment evidently deepened with experience as Kennedy responded to events." (Neustadt, 170) This is to note that regardless of the perspective which he took into office with him, his increased exposure to the insights and knowledge of the presidency would drive him to view Cold War policy refinement as the highest of priorities.
Accordingly, this mounting knowledge that would show Kennedy to be as much shaped by the role of the presidency as vice versa, would ultimately become a template passed from one president to the next until the resolution of the Reagan administration. That this would mark the end of the Cold War, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tumbling of the Berlin Wall symbolizing the end of a long struggle for ideological supremacy. And though it may be said that certain...
There is little question that Jimmy Carter, Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy, the Democrats who occupied office during this time, might be viewed as promoting more socially conscious or less militaristic dispositions, their tenures were no less occupied or categorically defined by the parameters of this geopolitical framework than were notable Cold War hawks such as Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
And yet, Neustadt does concede that the effectiveness of the president in pursuing his own philosophical vision on the Cold War would be impacted by his resonance with the public. Kennedy's popularity allows us to reflect on him as a positive Cold War figure, and likewise for Reagan. In this way, we find that Neustadt recognizes the distinctions in terms of charisma and persona which help to distinguish the president, even as the office and its attendant demands remain constant.
