Why I Chose JFK
John Fitzgerald Kennedy had a short but eventful life. The legacy he left as a President and as a person spans decades after his untimely death. At only twenty-six, Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for leading his crew to safety after a Japanese destroyer attacked them (Hogan, 2017). He showcased the same dedication and heroism as President when he pulled the country’s economy from a recession. He introduced tax reforms that caused the GDP to increase by 5.5% annually as opposed to the 2.2% growth under Eisenhower’s administration (Hogan, 2017). Unemployment rates and inflation reduced significantly while industrial production rose by 15%.
Despite his reign being plagued by the Cold War, Kennedy retained his calm and calculative strategy. This strategy spared the United States from a deadly nuclear war with the Soviet Union. A series of negotiations between Kennedy and the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Further, these negotiations bred the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which helped slow down the nuclear arms race by mandating all nuclear testing to be driven underground.
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Historical Background
JFK was born on May 29, 1917, and assassinated forty-six years later in his third year as President. He came from a wealthy family, one of the factors that smoothed his way into politics. He graduated from Harvard at twenty-three, then joined the U.S. Naval Reserve, where he was nothing less of a hero. Kennedy served during World War II by commanding a series of PT boats (Hogan, 2017). He briefly ventured into journalism before joining the House of Representatives. He was then elected into the U.S Senate as the junior senator of Massachusetts. While in Senate, he published a collection of biographies of eight Senators, himself included. The book, Profiles in Courage earned him the Pulitzer Prize, making him the only President to have ever received the award. Although the book is largely credited to him, it was ghostwritten by Ted Sorensen. Kennedy was a man of many firsts.
At 43, he became the youngest elected President and the first Catholic President. Riding on the democrat ticket, he defeated Richard Nixon, the incumbent Vice President, and became the 35th President in America. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was also shot two days later by a nightclub owner (Hogan, 2017). Kennedy was the last United States President to be assassinated.
JFK’s Peace Corp Initiative
On March 1, 1961, Kennedy issued Executive Order 10924, which sought to establish the Peace Corp. A year later, Congress authorized the program and passed the Peace Corps Act. The volunteer program is one of Kennedy’s greatest legacies as it aims to provide social and economic assistance to less privileged countries (Henderson et al., 2020). American citizens volunteer for a three-month training session before working in these countries for two more years or more if they request an extension.
As of 2020, the program had recruited up to 235,000volunteers who have served in 141 countries. It has helped eradicate Malaria in Africa and helped countries through crises such as the Rwanda Genocide in 1994 (Henderson et al., 2020). It also offers various environmental programs depending on the country in question. These programs range from farming to developing alternative fuel sources. Further, it creates awareness and education on how to take care of the environment through forestry and recycling.
References
Henderson, S. J., Belemvire, A., Nelson, R., Linn, A., Moriarty, L. F., Brofsky, E., ... &
Gittelman, D. (2020). Advancing Malaria Prevention and Control in Africa Through the Peace Corps-US President’s Malaria Initiative Partnership. Global Advances in Health and Medicine , 9 , 2164956120976107.
Hogan, M. J. (2017). The Afterlife of John Fitzgerald Kennedy: A Biography . Cambridge
University Press.
