Interpretative Essay: |
Students of history can use the documents assembled on this website to better examine and understand the presidency of John F. Kennedy. Each document is a transcript of a speech given by the thirty-fifth president at an American institution of higher learning during his brief presidency (1961-1963). In each speech, President Kennedy took the time to articulate his views on foreign policy. The series of speeches as viewed on this website demonstrates Kennedy’s commitment to a nuanced approach to foreign policy that valued education and the use of diplomacy in addition to the demonstration of military might. In the face of nuclear arsenals capable of total destruction President Kennedy realized that the United States had to maintain its strength while at the same time it needed to find a measure of common ground with the communist world in order to preserve and foster peace. Kennedy saw universities and their graduates as being at the vanguard of American society and thus called on them to take a leading role in confronting the complicated issues that characterized United States foreign policy during the difficult Cold War years of his presidency. Taken as a whole, the documents will demonstrate to students that President Kennedy sought to strategically combine the best educated talent of American citizens with scientific and military resources in order to wage the Cold War in a way that advanced the causes of global peace and freedom. This set of speeches can help advanced high school students to better understand President’s Kennedy’s views regarding the management of Cold War conflicts as well as his understanding of the consequences of potential foreign policy blunder.
Early in his presidency, John F. Kennedy delivered a speech at George Washington University on May 3, 1961 that articulated the importance of institutions of higher learning in producing an educated and responsible citizenry. In the speech, Kennedy went on to indicate his sentiment that university graduates were needed to take charge during future Cold War conflicts and stated that, “I don't think that there has ever been a time when we have had greater need for those qualities which a university produces…” and then continued to emphasize the importance of higher education in waging the Cold War when he said later in the speech, “that it is the job of schools and colleges such as this to provide the men and women who will with their sense of discipline and purpose and understanding contribute to the maintenance of free societies here and around the world” (Kennedy, 3 May 1961). For the duration of his presidency, John F. Kennedy was consistent in expressing his great regard for higher education and its potential role in helping the United States in its Cold War efforts. Throughout the speeches he gave at various institutions of higher learning during his presidency, John F. Kennedy continued to reiterate the ideas expressed in his George Washington University commencement speech of May 3, 1961. Furthermore, Kennedy went on to refine and expand upon the initial ideas that were expressed early in the first year of his presidency. By the time President Kennedy gave a speech at the University of California at Berkeley nearly a year later he was going beyond his earlier praises for universities and their graduates and actually articulating specific and concrete actions that said institutions and their graduates could take in order to best help the United States’ Cold War efforts. In his speech at Berkeley, seven months after averting crisis in Berlin, President Kennedy articulated that he saw great possibilities for graduates to go beyond earlier bellicose methods in fighting the Cold War. In the speech, Kennedy described a vision of cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning matters of space research and exploration that he felt would ultimately foster peace between the two nations and an expansion of freedom to the communist world (Kennedy, March 23, 1962). As John F. Kennedy’s presidency continued, his own personal successes in dealing with Cold War crises began to build and he was now able to refine his message further. Kennedy had helped the world to avoid nuclear war just eight months prior to the speech he gave at the Air Force Academy in June of 1963. In his Air Force Academy speech, Kennedy articulated directly and matter-of-factly, “…military policy and power cannot and must not be separated from political and diplomatic decisions…” and went on to say before the close of his speech that, “We live in a world, in short, where the principal problems that we face are not susceptible to military solutions alone” (Kennedy, June 5, 1963). Thus it becomes clear when viewing a chronological progression of John F. Kennedy’s speeches given at institutions of higher learning that his earliest messages remained consistent: America’s universities as well as its best and brightest youth needed to rise to the occasion and utilize new methods in fighting the Cold War that would ultimately expand peace and freedom – the fate of the world depended on it. Works Cited Kennedy, John F. "Address at the University of California, Berkeley." Berkeley, CA. 23 March 1962. Speech. This speech transcript was taken from millercenter.org Kennedy, John F. "Remarks at the Air Force Academy." Colorado Springs, CO. 5 June 1963. Speech. This speech transcript was taken from millercenter.org Kennedy, John F. "Remarks at George Washington." Washington, D. C. 3 May 1961. Speech. This speech transcript was taken from millercenter.org |