WHEN JOHN KENNEDY IN 1961 SUCCEEDED GENERAL EISENHOWER,

HE ASSUMED OFFICE AS A COLD WARRIOR. 

 

JFK HAD BARELY DEFEATED RICHARD NIXON. 

ONE OF HIS MOST SUCCESSFUL THRUST’S AGAINST NIXON WAS THE “SO-CALLED” MISSILE GAP.

JFK CLAIMED THAT THE SOVIET’S SPACE PROWESS THREATENED THE BALANCE OF POWER.

IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS, JFK’S CLAIM THAT AMERICA LAGGED IN THE MISSILE CRISES WAS DISAPPROVED. 

NEVERTHELESS, JFK HAD PLACED HIS PARTY AS MORE HAWKISH THAN EVEN THE COMMUNIST HATING RICHARD NIXON.

 

LET ME QUOTE SOME OF THE PASSAGES FROM JFK’S INAUGURAL.

 

“LET EVERY NATION KNOW, WHETHER IT WISHES US WELL OR ILL, WE SHALL PAY ANY PRICE, BEAR ANY BURDEN, MEET ANY HARDSHIP, SUPPORT ANY FRIEND, OPPOSE ANY FORE TO ASSURE THE SURVIVAL OF LIBERTY.”

 

“TO OUR SISTER REPUBLICS SOUTH OF THE BORDER, WE OFFER A SPECIAL PLEDGE—TO CONVERT OUR GOOD WORDS INTO GOOD DEEDS—IN AN ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS—TO ASSIST FREE MEN AND FREE GOVERNMENT IN CASTING OFF THE CHAINS OF POVERTY. 

BUT THIS PEACEFUL REVOLUTION OF HOPE CANNOT BECOME THE PREY OF HOSTILE POWERS. 

LET ALL OUR NEIGHBORS KNOW THAT WE SHALL JOIN WITH THEM TO OPPOSE AGGRESSION OR SUBVERSION ANYWHERE IN THE AMERICAS. 

AND LET EVERY OTHER POWER KNOW THAT THIS HEMISPHERE INTENDS TO REMAIN THE MASTER OF ITS OWN HOUSE.

 

JOHN KENNEDY WAS WELL AWARE THAT THE COMMUNIST REGIME IN CUBA, 90 MILES FROM OUR SHORES POISED A DRAMATIC THREAT.

 

FOR CUBA REPRESENTED A MAJOR COMMUNIST THREAT OF OUR HISTORICAL HEGEMONY OVER NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA.

 

IN JFK’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS HE STATED 

 

“TO THOSE NEW STATES WHOM WE WELCOME TO THE RANKS OF THE FREE, WE PLEDGE OUR WORD THAN ONE FORM OF COLONIAL CONTROL SHALL NOT HAVE PASSED AWAY MERELY TO BE REPLACED BY A FAR MORE INON TYRANNY. 

 

WE SHALL ALWAYS HOPE TO FIND THEM STRONGLY SUPPORTING THEIR OWN FREEDOM—AND TO REMEMBER THAT, IN THE PAST, THOSE WHO FOOLISHLY SOUGHT POWER BY THE RIDING THE BACK OF THE TIGER ENDED UP IN INSIDE!!

JOHN KENNEDY FRETTED OVER THE STATUS OF THE CARIBBEAN. 

 

BY 1960 ONLY THREE CARIBBEAN COUNTRIES HAD ACHIEVED INDEPENDENCE—CUBA, HAITI, AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 

 

WITHIN A FEW YEARS, MOST OF THE OTHER CARIBBEAN NATIONS WOULD GAIN INDEPENDENCE.

 

UNFORTUNATELY, THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF CUBA, HAITI, AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MADE ALL THREE SUSCEPTIBLE TO COMMUNISM. THESE NATIONS HAD EMBRACED DICTATORS TO SUBJUGATE THEIR POVERTY STRICKEN, ILL-EDUCATED POPULACES. IRONICALLY, CUBA WAS THE MOST PROPEROUS CARIBBEAN ISLAND, WITH A STANDARD OF LIVING HIGHER THAN SOME EUROPEAN NATIONS

 

WHILE THE UNITED STATES HAD HISTORICALLY CHAMPIONED SELF-DETERMINATION, OUR LEADERS UNDERSTOOD THAT THE SOVIET UNION ANXIOUS SOUGHT TO CAPITALIZE ON THE EXPECTED VACUUM CREATED BY THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE EUROPEAN COLONIAL POWERS.

 

UNTIL THE 1950’S, LAWS GOVERNING THE CARIBBEAN WERE MADE BY RESPECTIVELY BY LONDON, PARIS, AND THE HAGUE.

 

AFTER ALMOST A CENTURY OF ECONOMIC DECLINE, AMERICAN CAPITAL PROVIDED THE MEANS TO REBUILD THE SUGAR, BANANAS, AND COFFE INDUSTRIES. THAT IS, AMERICAN COMPANIES HAD CREATED PLANTATIONS SOMETIMES COVERING MILLIONS OF ACRES AND USED MODERN EQUIPMENT. THE FARMS FOUND IN THE COLONIAL TERRITORIES WERE BY COMPARISON USED OBSOLETE EQUIPMENT AND WERE SMALL.