Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

John F. Kennedy's overriding interest had always been foreign policy. Most of his inaugural address was devoted to it, and he frequently justified his domestic policies in terms of America's ongoing competition with the Soviet Union. Kennedy's foreign policy suffered from a basic contradiction, however. He and his advisers insisted that they were out to make the world safe for diversity and that under their leadership the United States would abandon the status quo policies of the past and support change, especially in the developing world. At the same time, the administration was staunchly anti-communist. Like his two Cold War predecessors in the White House, Kennedy frequently found himself propping up, in the name of freedom and democracy, regimes that ranged from authoritarian to dictatorial, and combating political movements committed to social justice because they were in league, or alleged to be, with the forces of international communism. Unlike the foreign policy of Dwight D. Eisenhower, which was determined in part by a fear that global activism and higher defense spending would bankrupt the nation, Kennedy's policy operated under no such constraints. The Kennedy administration was guided by economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who viewed the economy as one in the midst of indefinite expansion. Judicious government spending would only enhance the process. As far as defense ... log in or subscribe to read full text