JFK, LBJ, Vietnam
During the 1960s, Democratic leaders -- first John Fitzgerald Kennedy and then
Lyndon Baines Johnson -- attempted to apply liberal solutions to America's domestic
problems. As in the New Deal and Fair Deal era, the liberalism of the 1960s called for an
increased government role in solving problems of poverty and racial discrimination.
Kennedy and Johnson also followed an activist foreign policy. During their terms,
America took risks and made sacrifices in an attempt to stop communist expansion in
Vietnam and elsewhere. While some Americans supported these efforts at home and
abroad, others opposed them. During the 60s, therefore, America became a divided
nation.
When Kennedy took office in 1961, America's major foreign policy challenge was the
removal of Cuba's communist dictator, Fidel Castro. To accomplish this, Kennedy
approved a plan to help Cuban exiles invade Cuba and reestablish non-communist rule.
Despite U.S. training and equipment, the exile's attack on Cuba, known as the Bay of
Pigs Invasion, failed.
The failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion made people think Kennedy was weak. Future
developments would change that perception. After learning that the Soviets were
building guided-missile bases in Cuba, Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba. The
Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, claimed that the blockade was illegal and constituted
an act of war. But Kennedy refused to lift the blockade. Furthermore, he stated that an
attack on the U.S. by Cuba would be interpreted as an attack by the Soviet Union. Rather
than risk war with the U.S., the Soviet Union agreed to remove its missiles. Most
Americans hailed Kennedy as a hero for his handling of the Cuban missile crisis.
Meanwhile, Kennedy had only moderate success in his attempts to solve America's
domestic problems. One success was a Kennedy initiated tax cut which stimulated the
economy and pulled America out of a recession. But Kennedy was able to accomplish
little in the area of civil rights reform. A reluctant Congress blocked his legislative
reforms. Had Kennedy more time, he might have prevailed. An assassin's bullet ended
the Kennedy presidency in 1963.
Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson, was more effective in dealing with Congress.
In a program called the Great Society, President Johnson and the Democratic controlled
Congress created a great body of laws aimed at improving the quality of American life.
The Congress passed civil rights laws outlawing segregation and ending literacy tests for
voting. Another phase of the Great Society program, called the War on Poverty, tried to
eliminate poverty and its related problems. Programs such as the Job Corps, Head Start,
Medicaid, and Medicare were but a few of the major efforts to apply liberal solutions to
economic problems.
LBJ, as President Johnson was often called, hoped to apply his power abroad as
effectively as he was able to do at home. He asked for and received, with the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution of 1964, Congressional authority to send troops into South Vietnam.
Johnson was determined to stop the communist advances in that country. Despite a
massive escalation of combat missions and bombing raids, the communists refused to
give up. Meanwhile many Americans began to protest U.S. involvement in the war. They
became impatient with America's failure to quickly defeat the Viet Cong (South
Vietnamese communists) and their North Vietnamese allies. Many people were also
embarrassed over the failure of South Vietnamese leaders to gain the loyalty and active
support of many South Vietnamese. Rather than serve in the Vietnam war, some
American men resisted the draft. Anti-war demonstrations increased.
The once-popular LBJ became the constant target of anti-war feelings. Faced with
almost certain defeat in the 1968 presidential elections, LBJ decided not to seek
reelection. In his place, the Democratic Party nominated Hubert Humphrey. But many
voters turned away from the once-popular Humphrey because of his long support of
Johnson's war policies. Instead, the voters turned to the Republican candidate, Richard
Nixon, who promised to bring an honorable end to the war in Vietnam.