Patriot's History: JFK, Cuba, Space 1959-63 (Chap 19)
Misty, Nat King ColeI Want To Be Loved By You, Marilyn Monroe
I Remember You, Frank Ifield
Sleepwalk, Santo & Johnny
Telstar, The Tornados
Abraham Martin and John, by Dion
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Summary He had charisma, but in office JFK had both success and failure in the interplay with Soviets and Cuba. The economy was also up and down: an early policy of tax cuts built a businesslike environment until the space race led to bigger government. Chapter He had charisma and the press adored him: JFK, a hero in the war, on PT-109, with his display of courage (he would wisecrack) "growing better all the time." Against the more established Nixon, he approached his prime on television, winning a disputed victory, which Nixon gracefully accepted. But adversity came quickly. Castro was oppressive, dictatorial, an agent of the Russian communists' imperial designs. The CIA was planning to assassinate the Cuban. JFK approved, but they would demonstrate ineptness at the Bay of Pigs. So Khrushchev went ahead and built a wall to split Berlin. And then arrived the dread of all Americans, the threat of war just miles away, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Khrushchev taunting JFK and Castro seeking all-out war. But Kennedy's blockade made Russia leave, provided our intentions to invade were scrapped. So JFK got credit for a victory, but Castro stayed in power, Cubans lived in poverty, and communism spread to peoples in El Salvador and neighborlands, and even Africa. Domestic 'war' was brewing, too -- big government, from Ike to Kennedy, a 'research' craze. So JFK responded properly, with Mellon-like incentives: lower taxes, let the rich invest and hire. It worked. With business at a fever pitch, the GNP grew quickly. Yet when Russia went to space, big government was back. We should have let the marketplace determine practicality. Instead the nation soon immersed itself in spending -- beating Russia to the moon was all the rage. And truth be told, our great technology and know-how pulled it off. The nation joined in ecstasy as Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins took a giant step for us. But NASA floundered soon -- without free enterprise, the fuss had no direction. Sadly, JFK would never see his moment of accomplishment. November, '63: Lee Harvey Oswald -- anticommunist? or could he be a spy? pro-Castro? Many theories of conspiracy. |