A doctrine is a declared law of the government strategy in dealing with military or foreign affairs. Foreign policy is the arranged plans that the government employs to transact with other states. John Monroe was the first president to declare a leading presidential doctrine on foreign policy back in 1823. This foreign policy was amended by other doctrines. Even though other presidents established encompassing foreign strategies, the phrase presidential doctrine refers to the constantly used foreign policy creed (Paul, 2008). Presidential doctrine in the United States is consist of attitudes, key objectives, and positions declared by the president for the United States foreign affairs. Most of the doctrines that were established by the United States president have had a great impact on the United States foreign affairs and politics. Among such doctrines is President John Fitzgerald Kennedy doctrine flexible response doctrine which is also referred to as Kennedy doctrine.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) who was the thirty-fifth president of the United States declared his foreign policy drive in relation to Latin America while he was still in office ( Brinkley, 2012). That was in the year 1961-1963. Kennedy articulated his approval for the regulation of communism and western division communist progress annulment. While President Kennedy was in office, he was likely to face various challenges that could originate from any international state. Some of the challenges that threatened to blow-up were Berlin flare-ups that were recurring, south-east Asia vexing condition and regular catastrophe with communists from China. This was the reason that made Kennedy declare his presidential doctrine for foreign countries while he was still in the office.
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The flexible response doctrine established by Kennedy acted as a political effort due to various reasons. During Kennedy's reign, the cold war tensions increased amidst other situations in Europe, South-East Asia, and Latin America that required tactical efforts and actions. Before his short-term presidency, Kennedy had interest in the war and peace issues. Robert McNamara who was the secretary for the defense was responsible for the management of Kennedy Doctrine. The main objective of this doctrine was to curtail the war occurrence that was caused by mistakes in both military and political initiatives. President Kennedy's administration used the strategies used by United States to deal with Cuban Missile catastrophe to establish his policy for foreign affairs. The policy allowed the military to keep on fighting like they had been doing. That is, using established strategic fight and were allowed to use nuclear weapons only when it was the last option.
The Kennedy doctrine was first applied in 1962 during the Cuban missile catastrophe. During this time, the Soviets seemed to be more successful than the United States in terms of possessing mass destruction weapons. But their weapons were inaccurate in reality and they knew about it. For the Soviets to take advantage of their weak point they had to collaborate with another state that was close to the United States so they would get their weapons to reach their expected standard. They collaborated with Castrol since they had earlier requested the Soviets communist secretary for protection against the invasion by the United States. Since the Central Intelligence Agency was based in Cuba, the president was informed of the impending happening. The United States confirmed that the Soviets were building mass destruction weapons in Cuba through use of planes with u-2 cameras. The president and his advisors needed to lay a strategy to defend the United States from Soviets threat. However, the options were limited and Kennedy resolved to have quarantine which is a naval blockade. This was the most efficient way out since it minimized the threats of war. For this reason, the Cuba missile catastrophe required a flexible response.
Flexible response doctrine was also used was the Berlin situation. Berlin's future in the divided west and East Germany hanged in a balance during the Second World War end. This division became a separation for a period of twenty-eight years since Khrushchev had contended to have a united Berlin under the leadership of East Berlin. At this time, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops were expected to be removed from Berlin within a period of six months by Berlin ( Wenger, 2013). Soviets wanted the NATO troops out of Berlin because they were assisting the aliens to run away to West Germany. Kennedy's management together with Llewellyn Thompson who was an American ambassador in Soviet was persuaded by Khrushchev that he was launching an attack to reclaim Berlin and German as a whole. JFK used flexible response doctrine to instill strength in the military. Kennedy kept his plan to mobilize and train military troops away from Soviets so that he keeps the American public from worrying. He successfully trained more than two hundred thousand troops. Kennedy's readiness to meet Berlin was later known to the Soviet Union. This gave the Union calmness. Other events where Kennedy doctrine was applied include the 1962 Vietnam War, the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, the 1963 Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
The cold war issues were dominant in the United States at the time when John F. Kennedy became the president. He pledged to deal with the situation when he was a senator. Kennedy doctrine strengthened the American army. He also dealt with communism in both the Soviet Union and other international states. JFK also warned against the storage of mass destruction weapons by Soviets and made a promise to refresh the American army. He allowed for pro-soviet administration to be established in Cuba so as to castigate the Eisenhower government ( Stern, Zelizer, Sorensen, & Katz, 2007). The Soviet Union possession of missiles and cold war were most crucial issues internationally all through Kennedy's political profession. In his address during his Inauguration, Kennedy emphasized on his plans to ensure a fair, free and communist world for the United States people. He promised that the Americans would go to any extent, deal with any sort of problem, overcome any barrier, give each other support, and fight any common opponent to ensure liberation of United States.
Before JFK was inaugurated, he was presented with a strategy that had been formulated during Eisenhower governance. The plan was for Cuban exiles to be trained for an attack on Cuba. The objective of this strategy was to have Cuban military empowered so they would help in overthrowing Castro and also to create a free administration that would be beneficial to the Americans. He supported this strategy and had one thousand four hundred exiles touch down at Bay of Pigs at Cuba ( Hakes, 2015). This operation failed since the whole troop was either abducted or murdered. Kennedy then took the blame for the failed operation.
Kennedy doctrine policy has had a great impact on both United States and other nations through giving global nations the opportunity to build strong coalitions. Rather than the tactic that was used during the Eisenhower reign of acting before asking questions, Kennedy changed the tactic so as to keep United State powerful. He realized what needed to be done to achieve this. His plans were to empower the military troops by training and investing in nuclear weapons so as give them the ability to strike. Nations that were friendly to the United States depended on them since they were sure United States military would defend them during the period of uncertainty. Kennedy was faced with various worldwide challenges during his reign. According to the history of United States, he tackled some of the challenges successfully and failed in some.
Through Kennedy doctrine, Kennedy centralized on refreshing the United States Political arena. He dealt with corruption in his administration as well as poverty. He supported Latin Americans and also suggested the “Coalition for Progress” seeking to acquire partnership with Latin American administration ( Rabe, 2014). Increase in communism threatened the unstable states and therefore focusing on these issues was crucial. Khrushchev was a source of embarrassment for Kennedy since he kept on monitoring the operations of the friendly nation so as to establish Americans weak point and stop Kennedy ( Beschloss, 2016). Khrushchev believed that he would establish Americans weak point and major on it to beat America. Kennedy doctrine stopped the Soviets plans.
The flexible response policy had significant effects on both regional and global affairs. The main objective of this doctrine was to end the escalation of communism to states and attempt to abolish it from the states that it was already dominating. This policy was an expansion of doctrines established by other United States presidents such as Eisenhower, Truman, among others. The efficiency of the flexible Response doctrine was clearly depicted in Cuba. When Kennedy realized that the mass destruction weapons were being kept in Cuba, he applied the Kennedy doctrine and proclaimed the blockade that made the Soviet Union’s operations impossible. Kennedy used this tactic because he could not allow the Western division security to be threatened by the Soviet Union.
Kennedy’s point of view in dealing with the Cuba issue gave the implication of how determined he was to make the United States and other states a free globe for easy administration of Kennedy doctrine on Cuba and the Soviet Union. This made the United States to be viewed as a strong nation that is not weighed down while applying military and political policies that are made to free its people. President Kennedy wanted to help in improving the relationship between United States and Latin America. He used the coalition of progress as a platform to partner and assist the Latin American states. Kennedy’s objective was to enhance the poor relationship that the United States had with unstable nations such as Latin America. In his policy, Kennedy was determined to empower the Latin American economies and fight communism. He succeeded in most of his operations using Kennedy doctrine.
Application of Kennedy doctrine has both advantages and shortcomings. Responding quickly to nations that attempted to bring about war is one of the advantages of this doctrine. This doctrine helped in preventing the possible eruption of nuclear war. The Kennedy doctrine's political and military approaches helped the United States government to tackle the Cuba missile tactfully and successfully. The training given to the United States troops empowered them and made them undefeatable. However, some of Kennedy's events failed. The fact that he took the responsibility for the failure of the invasion of Bay of Pigs indicates that Kennedy had the welfare of United States Citizens at heart and was willing to rise up and take any challenge that came his way during his short-term reign.
Conclusively, Kennedy doctrine, which is also known as flexible response policy is the strategy that President Kennedy made in order to deal with foreign affairs. Through this doctrine, President Kennedy established a good relationship between Latin America and the United States. He also used this doctrine to stabilize unstable nations, eradicate poverty and also stabilize the economy of most states. Kennedy also brought cold war to an end. Although he failed in some of his operations, President Kennedy was successful in achieving his political goals in the short time that he was in office. He changed the realm of politics.
References
Beschloss, M. (2016). The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960–1963 . Open Road Media.
Brinkley, A. (2012). John F. Kennedy: The American Presidents Series: The 35th President, 1961-1963 (Vol. 35). Macmillan.
Hakes, A. (2015). The Deterioration of US-Cuban Relations: Eisenhower, Batista, Castro, and JFK.
Paul, C. (2008). Information operations: doctrine and practice: a reference handbook . Praeger Security International Reference.
Rabe, S. G. (2014). The most dangerous area in the world: John F. Kennedy confronts communist revolution in Latin America . UNC Press Books.
Stern, S. M., Zelizer, J. E., Sorensen, T. C., & Katz, S. N. (2007). The Cuban Missile Crisis in Retrospect.
Wenger, A. (2013). The politics of military planning: evolution of NATO’s strategy. In War Plans and Alliances in the Cold War (pp. 171-198). Routledge.
