John F. Kennedy

===Foreign policy===
{{main|Foreign policy of the John F. Kennedy administration}}
[[File:US President John Kennedy Presidential Trips.PNG|thumb|upright=1.5|Foreign trips of Kennedy during his presidency]]
====Cold War and flexible response====
Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American confrontations with the Soviet Union, manifested by proxy contests in the global state of tension known as the [[Cold War]]. Like his predecessors, Kennedy adopted the policy of [[containment]] to stop the spread of communism.{{Sfn|Herring|2008|pp=704–705}} Fearful of the possibility of [[nuclear war]], Kennedy implemented a defense strategy known as [[flexible response]]. This strategy relied on multiple options for responding to the Soviet Union, discouraged [[massive retaliation]], and encouraged [[mutual deterrence]].{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=76–77}}<ref>{{cite web |title=1961–1968: The Presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/foreword |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=February 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240216105026/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/foreword |url-status=live }}</ref> In contrast to Eisenhower's warning about the perils of the [[military-industrial complex]], Kennedy focused on rearmament. From 1961 to 1964 the number of [[nuclear weapons]] increased by 50 percent, as did the number of [[B-52]] bombers to deliver them.<ref>Stephen G Rabe, "John F. Kennedy" in Timothy J Lynch, ed., "The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History" (2013) 1:610–615.</ref> 

In January 1961, [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Soviet Premier]] [[Nikita Khrushchev]] declared his support for [[wars of national liberation]]. Kennedy interpreted this step as a direct threat to the "free world."<ref>{{cite book | last = Larres| first = Klaus|author2=Ann Lane|title =The Cold War: the essential readings| publisher = Wiley-Blackwell|year = 2001| page = 103| isbn = 978-0-631-20706-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Schlight |first1=John |title=A War Too Long: The USAF in Southeast Asia 1961-1975 |url=https://media.defense.gov/2010/May/25/2001330271/-1/-1/0/a_war_too_long.pdf |website=U.S. Department of Defense |access-date=27 January 2024 |archive-date=January 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127154428/https://media.defense.gov/2010/May/25/2001330271/-1/-1/0/a_war_too_long.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Decolonization and the Congo Crisis====
[[File:President John F. Kennedy Greets Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula of the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|President Kennedy with Congolese Prime Minister [[Cyrille Adoula]] in 1962]]
Between 1960 and 1963, [[List of sovereign states by date of formation|twenty-four countries]] gained independence as the process of [[decolonization]] continued. Kennedy set out to woo the leaders and people of the "[[Third World]]," expanding economic aid and appointing knowledgeable ambassadors.{{Sfn|Herring|2008|pp=711–712}} His administration established the [[Food for Peace]] program and the [[Peace Corps]] to provide aid to [[developing countries]]. The Food for Peace program became a central element in American foreign policy, and eventually helped many countries to develop their economies and become commercial import customers.<ref>Robert G. Lewis, "What Food Crisis?: Global Hunger and Farmers' Woes." ''World Policy Journal'' 25.1 (2008): 29–35. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40210191 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109103541/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40210191 |date=January 9, 2020 }}</ref>

During the election campaign, Kennedy attacked the Eisenhower administration for losing ground on the African continent,<ref>Michael O'Brien, ''John F. Kennedy: A biography'' (2005) pp. 867–68.</ref> and stressed that the U.S. should be on the side of anti-colonialism and self-determination.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |title=John F. Kennedy and African Independence |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/john-f-kennedy-and-african-independence |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112061214/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/john-f-kennedy-and-african-independence |url-status=live }}{{PD-notice}}</ref> Kennedy considered the [[Congo Crisis]] to be among the most important foreign policy issues facing his presidency, and he supported a [[United Nations Operation in the Congo|UN operation]] that prevented the secession of [[State of Katanga|Katanga]].{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=239–242}} [[Moïse Tshombe]], leader of Katanga, declared its independence from the Congo and the Soviet Union responded by sending weapons and technicians to underwrite their struggle.<ref name="auto1"/> On October 2, 1962, Kennedy signed United Nations bond issue bill to ensure U.S. assistance in financing UN peacekeeping operations in the Congo and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remarks on signing U.N. Loan Bill, 2 October 1962 |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/040/JFKPOF-040-031 |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119222114/https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/040/JFKPOF-040-031 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Kennedy greeting Peace Corps volunteers, 1961.jpg|thumb| Kennedy greets [[Peace Corps]] volunteers on August 28, 1961]]
====Peace Corps====
{{main|Peace Corps}}
In one of his first presidential acts, Kennedy signed [[Executive Order]] 10924 that officially started the [[Peace Corps]]. He named his brother-in-law, [[Sargent Shriver]], as its first director.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=338–339}} Through this program, Americans volunteered to help developing countries in fields like education, farming, health care, and construction.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Peace Corps: Traveling The World To Live, Work, And Learn |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/curricular-resources/the-peace-corps-traveling-the-world-to-live-work-and-learn |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=31 January 2024 |archive-date=January 31, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240131223635/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/curricular-resources/the-peace-corps-traveling-the-world-to-live-work-and-learn |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy believed that countries that received Peace Corps volunteers were less likely to succumb to a communist revolution.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kennedy's Global Challenges |url=https://www.ushistory.org/us/56c.asp |website=U.S. History: From Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium. |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119222120/https://www.ushistory.org/us/56c.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Tanganyika (1961–1964)|Tanganyika]] (present-day [[Tanzania]]) and [[Ghana]] were the first countries to participate.<ref>{{cite web |title=Peace Corps |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/peace-corps |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=January 27, 2024 |archive-date=December 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202085121/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/peace-corps |url-status=live }}</ref> The organization grew to 5,000 members by March 1963 and 10,000 the year after.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=606–607}} Since 1961, over 200,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps, representing 139 countries.<ref>{{cite book| last1 = Meisler | first1 = Stanley | title = When the World Calls: The Inside Story of the Peace Corps and Its First Fifty Years | publisher = Beacon Press | year = 2011 | isbn = 978-0-8070-5049-1 | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780807050491 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/fast-facts/| title = Peace Corps, Fast Facts | access-date = August 2, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802133017/https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/fast-facts/ | archive-date=August 2, 2016}}</ref>

====Vienna Summit and the Berlin Wall====
{{see also|Vienna summit|Berlin Crisis of 1961}}
Kennedy anxiously anticipated a summit with Nikita Khrushchev. The proceedings for the summit got off to a problematic start when Kennedy reacted aggressively to a routine Khrushchev speech on Cold War confrontation in early 1961. The speech was intended for domestic audiences in the Soviet Union, but Kennedy interpreted it as a personal challenge. His mistake helped raise tensions going into the [[Vienna summit]].{{sfn|Kempe|2011|pp=76–78}} The summit would cover several topics, but both leaders knew that the most contentious issue would be [[Berlin]], which had been divided in two with the start of the Cold War. The enclave of [[West Berlin]] lay within Soviet-allied [[East Germany]], but was supported by the U.S. and other Western powers. The Soviets wanted to reunify Berlin under the control of East Germany, partly due to the large number of East Germans who had fled to West Berlin.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=74, 77–78}}
[[File:John Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev 1961.jpg|thumb|left|Kennedy meeting with [[Soviet Premier]] [[Nikita Khrushchev]] in [[Vienna]] in June 1961]]

On June 4, 1961, Kennedy met with Khrushchev in Vienna and left the meeting angry and disappointed that he had allowed the premier to bully him, despite the warnings he had received. Khrushchev, for his part, was impressed with the president's intelligence but thought him weak. Kennedy did succeed in conveying the bottom line to Khrushchev on the most sensitive issue before them, a proposed treaty between Moscow and [[East Berlin]]. He made it clear that any treaty interfering with U.S. access rights in West Berlin would be regarded as an act of war.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=161–171}} Shortly after Kennedy returned home, the Soviet Union announced its plan to sign a treaty with East Berlin, abrogating any third-party occupation rights in either sector of the city. Kennedy assumed that his only option was to prepare the country for nuclear war, which he thought had a one-in-five chance of occurring.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=175}}

In the weeks immediately following the summit, more than 20,000 people [[Republikflucht|fled from East Berlin]] to the western sector, reacting to statements from the Soviet Union. Kennedy began intensive meetings on the Berlin issue, where [[Dean Acheson]] took the lead in recommending a military buildup alongside NATO allies.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=185}} In a July 1961 speech, Kennedy announced his decision to add $3.25&nbsp;billion (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|3.25|1961|r=2}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation-year|US}}) to the defense budget, along with over 200,000 additional troops, stating that an attack on West Berlin would be taken as an attack on the U.S. The speech received an 85% approval rating.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=201}}

A month later, both the Soviet Union and East Berlin began blocking any further passage of East Germans into West Berlin and erected [[barbed-wire]] fences, which were quickly upgraded to the [[Berlin Wall]]. Kennedy acquiesced to the wall, though he sent Vice President Johnson to West Berlin to reaffirm U.S. commitment to the enclave's defense. In the following months, in a sign of rising Cold War tensions, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union ended a moratorium on nuclear weapon testing.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=85–86}} A brief stand-off between U.S. and Soviet tanks occurred at [[Checkpoint Charlie]] in October following a dispute over free movement of Allied personnel. The [[Berlin Crisis of 1961|crisis]] was defused largely through a backchannel communication the Kennedy administration had set up with Soviet spy [[Georgi Bolshakov]].{{sfn|Kempe|2011|pp=[https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/478 478–479]}} In remarks to his aides on the Berlin Wall, Kennedy noted that "it's not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Updegrove |first1=Mark K. |title=Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency |date=2022 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |page=118}}</ref>

====Bay of Pigs Invasion====
{{main|Bay of Pigs Invasion}}
[[File:JFK Brigade 2506 meeting.jpg|thumb|President Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy greet members of the [[Brigade 2506|2506 Cuban Invasion Brigade]] at Miami's [[Miami Orange Bowl|Orange Bowl]]; {{ca|December 29, 1962}}.]]
The Eisenhower administration had created a plan to overthrow [[Fidel Castro]]'s regime though an invasion of Cuba by a counter-revolutionary insurgency composed of U.S.-trained, anti-Castro [[Cuban exile]]s{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=233, 238}}{{sfn|Gleijeses|1995}} led by [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] paramilitary officers.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=69–73}} Kennedy had campaigned on a hardline stance against Castro, and when presented with the plan that had been developed under the Eisenhower administration, he enthusiastically adopted it regardless of the risk of inflaming tensions with the Soviet Union.<ref name="fiftyyearslater">{{cite news|title=50 Years Later: Learning From The Bay Of Pigs|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/04/17/135444482/50-years-later-learning-from-the-bay-of-pigs|access-date=September 1, 2016|publisher=NPR|date=April 17, 2011|archive-date=November 1, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101111423/https://www.npr.org/2011/04/17/135444482/50-years-later-learning-from-the-bay-of-pigs|url-status=live}}</ref> Kennedy approved the final invasion plan on April 4, 1961.<ref>Quesada, Alejandro de (2009). ''The Bay of Pigs: Cuba 1961''. Elite series #166. Illustrated by Stephen Walsh. Osprey Publishing. p. 17.</ref>

On April 15, 1961, eight CIA-supplied [[Douglas A-26 Invader|B-26]] bombers left Nicaragua to bomb Cuban airfields. The bombers missed many of their targets, leaving most of Castro's air force intact.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bay of Pigs |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-bay-of-pigs |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=February 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210223162426/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-bay-of-pigs |url-status=live }} {{PD-notice}}</ref> On April 17, the 1,500 U.S.-trained Cuban exile invasion force, known as [[Brigade 2506]], landed at beaches along the [[Bay of Pigs]] and immediately came under heavy fire.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=71, 673}} The goal was to spark a widespread popular uprising against Castro, but no such uprising occurred.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=68–69}} No U.S. air support was provided.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Voss |first1=Michael |title=Bay of Pigs: The 'perfect failure' of Cuba invasion |work=BBC News |date=April 14, 2011 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-13066561 |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=December 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218143923/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-13066561 |url-status=live }}</ref> The invading force was defeated within two days by the [[Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces]];<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961–October 1962 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/bay-of-pigs#:~:text=Launched%20from%20Guatemala%2C%20the%20attack,the%20direct%20command%20of%20Castro. |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=August 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823123217/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/bay-of-pigs#:~:text=Launched%20from%20Guatemala%2C%20the%20attack,the%20direct%20command%20of%20Castro. |url-status=live }}</ref> 114 were killed and Kennedy was forced to negotiate for the release of the 1,189 survivors.<ref>{{cite web |title=In Echo Park Many Local Cubans Celebrate Death Of Former President Fidel Castro |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/in-echo-park-many-local-cubans-celebrate-death-of-former-president-fidel-castro/ |website=CBS News |date=November 26, 2016 |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126173920/https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/in-echo-park-many-local-cubans-celebrate-death-of-former-president-fidel-castro/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After twenty months, Cuba released the captured exiles in exchange for a ransom of $53&nbsp;million worth of food and medicine.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=268–294, 838–839}} The incident made Castro wary of the U.S. and led him to believe that another invasion would take place.<ref>[[Jean Edward Smith]], "Bay of Pigs: The Unanswered Questions", ''The Nation'', April 13, 1964.</ref>

Biographer [[Richard Reeves (American writer)|Richard Reeves]] said that Kennedy focused primarily on the political repercussions of the plan rather than military considerations. When it proved unsuccessful, he was convinced that the plan was a setup to make him look bad.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=95–97}} He took responsibility for the failure, saying, "We got a big kick in the leg and we deserved it. But maybe we'll learn something from it."{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=290, 295}} Kennedy's approval ratings climbed afterwards, helped in part by the vocal support given to him by Nixon and Eisenhower.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|pp=370–371}} He appointed Robert Kennedy to help lead a committee to examine the causes of the failure.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hayes|first=Matthew A.|date=2019|title=Robert Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis: A Reassertion of Robert Kennedy's Role as the President's 'Indispensable Partner' in the Successful Resolution of the Crisis|journal=History|language=en|volume=104|issue=361|pages=473–503|doi=10.1111/1468-229X.12815|s2cid=164907501|issn=1468-229X|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10075581/1/Hayes_%20Robert%20Kennedy%20and%20the%20Cuban%20Missile%20Crisis%20Final%20Accepted%20Manuscript.pdf|access-date=March 31, 2024|archive-date=December 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227173632/https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10075581/1/Hayes_%20Robert%20Kennedy%20and%20the%20Cuban%20Missile%20Crisis%20Final%20Accepted%20Manuscript.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The Kennedy administration [[United States embargo against Cuba|banned all Cuban imports]] and convinced the [[Organization of American States]] (OAS) to expel Cuba.{{Sfn|Herring|2008|pp=707–708}}

====Operation Mongoose====
In late 1961, the White House formed the Special Group (Augmented), headed by Robert Kennedy and including [[Edward Lansdale]], Secretary [[Robert McNamara]], and others. The group's objective—to overthrow Castro via espionage, sabotage, and other covert tactics—was never pursued.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=264}} In November 1961, he authorized [[Operation Mongoose]].<ref name="eu.usatoday.com">{{cite web |url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/30/u-s-planned-261-000-troop-invasion-force-cuba-newly-released-documents-show/813376001/ |title=U.S. planned massive Cuba invasion force, the kidnapping of Cuban officials |work=USA Today |date=October 30, 2017 |access-date=April 15, 2019 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412004346/https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/10/30/u-s-planned-261-000-troop-invasion-force-cuba-newly-released-documents-show/813376001/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 1962, Kennedy rejected [[Operation Northwoods]], proposals for [[false flag]] attacks against American military and civilian targets,<ref name="1962USJCOS">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/1962USJointChiefsOfStaffOperationNorthwoodsUnclassifiedDocument/page/n11|title=1962 US Joint Chiefs Of Staff Operation Northwoods Unclassified Document Bolsheviks NWO|date=1962|website=Internet Archive}}</ref> and blaming them on the Cuban government to gain approval for a war against Cuba. However, the administration continued to plan for an invasion of Cuba in the summer of 1962.<ref name="eu.usatoday.com"/>

====Cuban Missile Crisis====
{{main|Cuban Missile Crisis}}
[[File:President Kennedy - signing Cuba Quarantine Proclamation.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|Kennedy signs the [[Cuban Missile Crisis|Proclamation for Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba]] in the Oval Office; {{ca|October 23, 1962}}.]]

In the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs invasion, Khrushchev increased economic and military assistance to Cuba.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=203–205}} The Soviet Union planned to allocate in Cuba 49 [[medium-range ballistic missile]]s, 32 [[intermediate-range ballistic missile]]s, 49 light [[Ilyushin Il-28|Il-28]] bombers and about 100 [[Tactical nuclear weapon|tactical nuclear weapons]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Giglio| first =James|author2=Stephen G. Rabe|title =Debating the Kennedy presidency| url = https://archive.org/details/debatingkennedyp00gigl_480| url-access = limited| publisher = Rowman & Littlefield|year = 2003| page = [https://archive.org/details/debatingkennedyp00gigl_480/page/n45 39]| isbn = 978-0-7425-0834-7}}</ref> The Kennedy administration viewed the growing [[Cuba–Soviet Union relations|Cuba-Soviet alliance]] with alarm, fearing that it could eventually pose a threat to the U.S.{{sfn|Brinkley|2012|pp=113–114}} On October 14, 1962, CIA [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] spy planes [[Aerial reconnaissance#Cold War|took photographs]] of the Soviets' construction of intermediate-range ballistic missile sites in Cuba. The photos were shown to Kennedy on October 16; a consensus was reached that the missiles were offensive in nature and posed an immediate nuclear threat.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=345}}

Kennedy faced a dilemma: if the U.S. attacked the sites, it might lead to nuclear war with the Soviet Union, but if the U.S. did nothing, it would be faced with the increased threat from close-range nuclear weapons (positioned approximately 90 mi (140 km) away from the Florida coast).<ref>{{cite web |title=President John F. Kennedy - Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=26#:~:text=On%20October%2016%2C%201962%2C%20President,come%20on%20very%20short%20notice. |website=National Archives |access-date=30 January 2024 |archive-date=September 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928100637/https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/eyewitness/html.php?section=26#:~:text=On%20October%2016%2C%201962%2C%20President,come%20on%20very%20short%20notice. |url-status=live }}</ref> The U.S. would also appear to the world as less committed to the defense of the Western Hemisphere. On a personal level, Kennedy needed to show resolve in reaction to Khrushchev, especially after the Vienna summit.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=245}} To deal with the crisis, he formed an ad-hoc body of key advisers, later known as [[EXCOMM]], that met secretly between October 16 and 28.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=207–208}}

More than a third of [[U.S. National Security Council]] (NSC) members favored an unannounced air assault on the missile sites, but some saw this as "[[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]] in reverse."{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=387}} There was some concern from the international community (asked in confidence) that the assault plan was an overreaction given that Eisenhower had placed [[PGM-19 Jupiter]] missiles in Italy and Turkey in 1958. It also could not be assured that the assault would be 100% effective.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=388}} In concurrence with a majority vote of the NSC, Kennedy decided on a [[naval blockade]] (or "quarantine"). On October 22, after privately informing the cabinet and leading members of Congress about the situation, Kennedy announced the naval blockade on national television and warned that U.S. forces would seize "offensive weapons and associated materiel" that Soviet vessels might attempt to deliver to Cuba.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=389}}

[[File:President confers with Attorney General. Attorney General Kennedy, President Kennedy. White House, West Wing Collonade. - NARA - 194239.jpg|thumb|Kennedy confers with Attorney General [[Robert Kennedy]]; {{ca|October 1962}}.]]
The U.S. Navy would stop and inspect all Soviet ships arriving off Cuba, beginning October 24. Several Soviet ships approached the blockade line, but they stopped or reversed course.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|p=220}} The OAS gave unanimous support to the removal of the missiles. Kennedy exchanged two sets of letters with Khrushchev, to no avail.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=390}} UN Secretary General [[U Thant]] requested both parties to reverse their decisions and enter a cooling-off period. Khrushchev agreed, but Kennedy did not.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=403}} Kennedy managed to preserve restraint when a Soviet missile unauthorizedly downed a U.S. Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft over Cuba, killing pilot [[Rudolf Anderson]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The World on the Brink: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis |url=https://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct27/ |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=November 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124154618/https://microsites.jfklibrary.org/cmc/oct27/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

At the president's direction, Robert Kennedy privately informed Soviet Ambassador [[Anatoly Dobrynin]] that the U.S. would remove the Jupiter missiles from Turkey "within a short time after this crisis was over."{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=225–226}} On October 28, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missile sites, subject to UN inspections.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=426}} The U.S. publicly promised never to invade Cuba and privately agreed to remove its Jupiter missiles from Italy and Turkey, which were by then obsolete and had been supplanted by submarines equipped with [[UGM-27 Polaris]] missiles.{{sfn|Kenney|2000|pp=184–186}}

In the aftermath, a [[Moscow–Washington hotline]] was established to ensure clear communications between the leaders of the two countries.{{Sfn|Herring|2008|p=723}} This crisis brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point before or after, but "the humanity" of Khrushchev and Kennedy prevailed.{{sfn|Kenney|2000|p=189}} The crisis improved the image of American willpower and the president's credibility. Kennedy's approval rating increased from 66% to 77% immediately thereafter.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=425}}

====Latin America and communism====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Latin America}}
{{see also|Alliance for Progress}}
[[File:Alliance for Progress in Venezuela 1961.jpg|thumb|Kennedy in December 1961 promoting the [[Alliance for Progress]] with Venezuelan President [[Rómulo Betancourt]]]]

Believing that "those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable,"<ref>JFK's "Address on the First Anniversary of the Alliance for Progress", White House reception for diplomatic cors of the Latin American republics, March 13, 1962. ''Public Papers of the Presidents''&nbsp;– John F. Kennedy (1962), p. 223.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/4730892.1962.001|title=John F. Kennedy: 1962 : containing the public messages, speeches, and statements of the president, January 20 to December 31, 1962.|last=Kennedy|first=John F. (John Fitzgerald)|date=2005|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=March 31, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240331040145/https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ppotpus;idno=4730892.1962.001|url-status=live}}</ref> Kennedy sought to contain the perceived threat of communism in Latin America by establishing the [[Alliance for Progress]], which sent aid to some countries and sought greater [[human rights]] standards in the region.{{sfn|Schlesinger|2002|pp=788, 789}} In response to Kennedy's plea, Congress voted for an initial grant of $500 million in May 1961.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Glass |first1=Andrew |title=JFK proposes an Alliance for Progress for Latin America, March 13, 1961 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/13/jfk-proposes-an-alliance-for-progress-for-latin-america-march-13-1961-1214880 |website=Politico |date=March 13, 2019 |access-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-date=November 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126175004/https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/13/jfk-proposes-an-alliance-for-progress-for-latin-america-march-13-1961-1214880 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Alliance for Progress supported the construction of housing, schools, airports, hospitals, clinics and water-purification projects as well as the distribution of free textbooks to students.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=Alliance for Progress |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/alliance-for-progress |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112173320/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/alliance-for-progress |url-status=live }}{{PD-notice}}</ref> However, the program did not meet many of its goals. Massive land reform was not achieved; populations more than kept pace with gains in health and welfare; and according to one study, only 2 percent of economic growth in 1960s Latin America directly benefited the poor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alliance for Progress |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Alliance-for-Progress |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118175215/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Alliance-for-Progress |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Alliance for Progress and Peace Corps, 1961–1969 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/alliance-for-progress |website=United States Department of State |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=November 18, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231118180616/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/alliance-for-progress |url-status=live }}</ref> U.S. presidents after Kennedy were less supportive of the program and by 1973, the permanent committee established to implement the Alliance was disbanded by the OAS.<ref name="auto"/>

The Eisenhower administration, through the CIA, had begun formulating plans to assassinate Castro in Cuba and [[Rafael Trujillo]] in the [[Dominican Republic]]. When Kennedy took office, he privately instructed the CIA that any plan must include [[plausible deniability]] by the U.S. His public position was in opposition.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|pp=140–142}} In June 1961, the Dominican Republic's leader was assassinated; in the days following, Undersecretary of State [[Chester Bowles]] led a cautious reaction by the nation. Robert Kennedy, who saw an opportunity for the U.S., called Bowles "a gutless bastard" to his face.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=152}}

====Laos====
{{see also|Laotian Civil War}}

After the election, Eisenhower emphasized to Kennedy that the communist threat in Southeast Asia required priority; Eisenhower considered [[Laos]] to be "the cork in the bottle" in regards to the regional threat.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=75}} In March 1961, Kennedy voiced a change in policy from supporting a "free" Laos to a "neutral" Laos, indicating privately that [[Vietnam]] should be deemed America's tripwire for communism's spread in the area.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=75}} Though he was unwilling to commit U.S. forces to a major military intervention in Laos, Kennedy did approve [[CIA activities in Laos|CIA activities]] designed to defeat Communist insurgents through bombing raids and the recruitment of the [[Hmong people]].{{sfn|Patterson|1996|p=498}}

====Vietnam====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Vietnam}}
{{see also|Vietnam War}}
[[File:Press Conference, State Department Auditorium, JFKWHP-ST-C100-1-61.jpg|thumb|Kennedy speaking in a televised press conference on the situation in Southeast Asia, {{ca|March 23, 1961}}]]

During his presidency, Kennedy continued policies that provided political, economic, and military support to the [[South Vietnam]]ese government.{{sfn|Dunnigan|Nofi|1999|p=257}} Vietnam had been divided into a communist North Vietnam and a non-communist South Vietnam after the [[1954 Geneva Conference]], but Kennedy escalated American involvement in Vietnam in 1961 by financing the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam|South Vietnam army]], increasing the number of U.S. [[military advisors]] above the levels of the Eisenhower administration, and authorizing U.S. helicopter units to provide support to South Vietnamese forces.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=256–261}} On January 18, 1962, Kennedy formally authorized escalated involvement when he signed the National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) – "Subversive Insurgency (War of Liberation)."{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=281}} [[Operation Ranch Hand]], a large-scale aerial defoliation effort using the herbicide [[Agent Orange]], began on the roadsides of South Vietnam to combat [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla defendants]].{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=259}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/agent-orange-cambodia-laos-vietnam/591412/ | title=The U.S.'s Toxic Agent Orange Legacy | publisher=The Atlantic | date=July 20, 2019 | access-date=May 13, 2023 | first=Charles | last=Dunst | archive-date=October 14, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014202833/https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/07/agent-orange-cambodia-laos-vietnam/591412/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

Though Kennedy provided support for South Vietnam throughout his tenure, Vietnam remained a secondary issue for the Kennedy administration until 1963.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=256–257}} On September 2, Kennedy declared in an interview with [[Walter Cronkite]] of [[CBS News|CBS]]:

<blockquote>In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it, the people of Vietnam, against the Communists... But I don't agree with those who say we should withdraw. That would be a great mistake... [The United States] made this effort to defend Europe. Now Europe is quite secure. We also have to participate—we may not like it—in the defense of Asia.<ref>{{cite web |title=50. Interview With the President |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d50 |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-date=November 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231112050354/https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v04/d50 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

Kennedy increasingly soured on the president of South Vietnam, [[Ngo Dinh Diem]], whose violent [[Buddhist crisis|crackdown on Buddhist practices]] galvanized opposition to his leadership. In August 1963, [[Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.]] replaced [[Frederick Nolting]] as the U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam. Days after his arrival in South Vietnam, Lodge reported that several South Vietnamese generals sought the assent of the U.S. government to their plan of removing Diem from power. The Kennedy administration was split regarding not just the removal of Diem, but also their assessment of the military situation and the proper U.S. role in the country. Without the full support of the U.S., General [[Dương Văn Minh]] ("Big Minh") called off the potential coup. On November 1, 1963, a junta of senior military officers [[1963 South Vietnamese coup|executed Diem]] and his influential brother, [[Ngô Đình Nhu]].{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=262–268}}

By November 1963, there were 16,000 American military personnel in South Vietnam, up from Eisenhower's 900 advisors;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/conscientiousobjection/OverviewVietnamWar.htm |title=Vietnam War |publisher=Swarthmore College Peace Collection |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803124531/http://www.swarthmore.edu/library/peace/conscientiousobjection/OverviewVietnamWar.htm |archive-date=August 3, 2016 }}</ref> more than one hundred Americans had been killed in action.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics|title=Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics|date=August 15, 2016|website=National Archives|access-date=January 30, 2024|archive-date=May 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200526173917/https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Track the rapid escalation of the Vietnam War under Pres. John F. Kennedy's administration |url=https://www.britannica.com/video/78017/John-F-Kennedy-number-Vietnam-Perspective-military |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=30 January 2024 |archive-date=January 30, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240130021951/https://www.britannica.com/video/78017/John-F-Kennedy-number-Vietnam-Perspective-military |url-status=live }}</ref> In the aftermath of the aborted coup in September 1963, the Kennedy administration reevaluated its policies in South Vietnam. Kennedy rejected the full-scale deployment of ground soldiers but also the total withdrawal of U.S. forces.{{sfn|Giglio|2006|pp=265–266}} Historians disagree on whether the U.S. military presence in Vietnam would have escalated had Kennedy survived and been re-elected in 1964.<ref>{{cite journal | first = Joseph J. | last = Ellis | title = Making Vietnam History | journal = Reviews in American History | volume = 28 | issue = 4 | year = 2000 | pages = 625–629 | doi = 10.1353/rah.2000.0068 | s2cid = 144881388 }}</ref> Fueling the debate are statements made by Secretary of Defense McNamara in the 2003 documentary film ''[[The Fog of War]]'' that Kennedy was strongly considering pulling out of Vietnam after the 1964 election.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1635958_1635999_1634954-5,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628213900/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1635958_1635999_1634954-5,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 28, 2007 | work=Time Magazine | title=Warrior For Peace | date=June 21, 2007 | access-date=March 1, 2012 | first1=David | last1=Talbot}}</ref> Kennedy had signed NSAM 263, dated October 11, which ordered the withdrawal of 1,000 military personnel by the end of the year.<ref name="NSAM 263">{{cite web |url = http://www.jfklancer.com/NSAM263.html |work = JFK Lancer |last = Bundy |first = McGeorge| author-link=McGeorge Bundy |title = National Security Action Memorandum # 263 |date = October 11, 1963 |access-date =February 19, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803124810/http://www.jfklancer.com/NSAM263.html | archive-date=August 3, 2016}}</ref>{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=680}} Such an action would have been a policy reversal, but Kennedy was moving in a less hawkish direction since his acclaimed speech about world peace at [[American University]] on June 10, 1963.<ref name="AmUniv">{{cite web | url=http://www.american.edu/alumni/news/JFK-50th-Anniversary.cfm | title=Marking the 50th Anniversary of JFK's Speech on Campus | publisher=American University | access-date=August 2, 2016 | archive-date=August 19, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819231710/http://www.american.edu/alumni/news/JFK-50th-Anniversary.cfm | url-status=live }}</ref>

====West Berlin speech====
[[File:JFKBerlinSpeech.jpg|thumb|Kennedy delivering his speech in [[West Berlin]]]]

In 1963, Germany was enduring a time of particular vulnerability due to Soviet aggression to the east as well as the impending retirement of West German Chancellor [[Adenauer]].{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=534}} At the same time, French President Charles de Gaulle was trying to build a Franco-West German counterweight to the American and Soviet spheres of influence.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skWRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA96&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Band%2Bgermany%2Beuropean%2Bcounterweight|title=Christian Democracy in Europe Since 19455|isbn=978-1-135-75385-6|last1=Gehler|first1=Michael|last2=Kaiser|first2=Professor of European Studies Wolfram|last3=Kaiser|first3=Wolfram|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|access-date=July 24, 2023|archive-date=July 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724232650/https://books.google.com/books?id=skWRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA96&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Band%2Bgermany%2Beuropean%2Bcounterweight|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4U6yAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA204&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Band%2Bgermany%2Beuropean%2Bcounterweight|title=The Militant Face of Democracy|isbn=978-1-107-03740-3|last1=Geis|first1=Anna|last2=Müller|first2=Harald|last3=Schörnig|first3=Niklas|year=2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|access-date=July 24, 2023|archive-date=July 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724232653/https://books.google.com/books?id=4U6yAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA204&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Band%2Bgermany%2Beuropean%2Bcounterweight|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/degaulleworld00kuls|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/degaulleworld00kuls/page/29 29]|quote=de gaulle and germany european counterweight.|title=De Gaulle and the World|publisher=Syracuse University Press|last1=Kulski|first1=W. W|year=1966}}</ref> To Kennedy's eyes, this Franco-German cooperation seemed directed against [[NATO]]'s influence in Europe.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IY3EAo4Tz1wC&pg=PA264&q=de%2Bgaulle%2Bgermany%2Bcounterweight%2Bkennedy|title=Modernity and Power|isbn=978-0-226-58650-2|last1=Ninkovich|first1=Frank|year=1994|publisher=University of Chicago Press|access-date=July 24, 2023|archive-date=July 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724232651/https://books.google.com/books?id=IY3EAo4Tz1wC&pg=PA264&q=de+gaulle+germany+counterweight+kennedy|url-status=live}}</ref>

To reinforce the U.S. alliance with West Germany, Kennedy travelled to West Germany and West Berlin in June 1963. On June 26, Kennedy toured West Berlin, culminating in a public speech at the city hall in front of hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic Berliners.{{sfn|Daum|2008|pages=125–63}} He reiterated the American commitment to Germany and criticized communism and was met with an ecstatic response from the massive audience.{{sfn|Dallek|2003|p=624}} Kennedy used the construction of the Berlin Wall as an example of the failures of communism: "Freedom has many difficulties, and democracy is not perfect. But we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us." The speech is known for its famous phrase ''"[[Ich bin ein Berliner]]"'' ("I am a Berliner").{{sfn|Daum|2008|pages=147–56}}

====Middle East====
{{further|Presidency of John F. Kennedy#Middle East}}
[[File:Kennedy with Shah of Iran, 1961.jpg|thumb|left|Shah [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] of Iran, Kennedy, and U.S. Defense Secretary [[Robert McNamara]] in the [[Cabinet Room (White House)|White House Cabinet Room]] on April 13, 1962]]

Kennedy ended the arms embargo that the Truman and Eisenhower administrations had enforced on [[Israel]] in favor of increased security ties, becoming the founder of the [[Israel–United States military relations|U.S.-Israeli military alliance]]. Describing the protection of Israel as a moral and national commitment, he was the first to introduce the concept of a 'special relationship' between the U.S. and Israel.<ref>{{cite book | title=Balancing Act: US Foreign Policy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict | publisher=Ashgate Publishing | author=Shannon, Vaughn P. | year=2003 | location=Aldershot | page=55 | isbn=0754635910}}</ref> In 1962, the Kennedy administration sold Israel a major weapon system, the [[MIM-23 Hawk|Hawk antiaircraft missile]]. Historians differ as to whether Kennedy pursued security ties with Israel primarily to shore up support with Jewish-American voters, or because of his admiration of the Jewish state.<ref>Zachary K. Goldman, "Ties that bind: John F. Kennedy and the foundations of the American–Israeli alliance: The Cold War and Israel." ''Cold War History'' 9.1 (2009): 23–58, quoting Ben-Zvi on p 25.</ref>

In December 1961, [[Abd al-Karim Qasim]]'s Iraqi government passed Public Law 80, which restricted the partially American-controlled [[Iraq Petroleum Company]] (IPC)'s [[concessionary holding]] to those areas in which oil was actually being produced (namely, the fields at [[Az Zubair]] and [[Kirkuk]]), effectively expropriating 99.5% of the IPC concession. British and U.S. officials demanded that the Kennedy administration place pressure on the Qasim regime.<ref>{{cite book|last=Little|first=Douglas|title=American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East Since 1945|publisher=The [[University of North Carolina Press]]|pages=62}}</ref> In April 1962, the State Department issued new guidelines on Iraq that were intended to increase American influence. Meanwhile, Kennedy instructed the CIA—under the direction of [[Archibald Bulloch Roosevelt Jr.]]—to begin making preparations for a military coup against Qasim.{{sfn|Gibson|2015|pp=43–45}}

The anti-imperialist and anti-communist [[Iraqi Ba'ath Party]] overthrew and executed Qasim in [[Ramadan Revolution|a violent coup]] on February 8, 1963. Despite persistent rumors that the CIA orchestrated the coup, declassified documents and the testimony of former CIA officers indicate that there was no direct American involvement.{{sfn|Gibson|2015|pp=45, 57–58}} The Kennedy administration was pleased with the outcome and ultimately approved a $55-million arms deal for Iraq.{{sfn|Gibson|2015|pp=60–61, 80}}

====Ireland====
[[File:President's Trip to Europe- Motorcade in Dublin. President Kennedy, motorcade, spectators. Dublin, Ireland - NARA - 194227.jpg|thumb|Kennedy's motorcade through [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Ireland on June 28, 1963]]

During his four-day visit to his ancestral home of Ireland beginning on June 26, 1963,<ref>{{cite web |title=President John F. Kennedy on His Historic Trip to Ireland |url=http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?kennedy-ireland-trip |work=Shapell Manuscript Collection |publisher=Shapell Manuscript Foundation |access-date=November 13, 2013 |archive-date=May 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200517120227/https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/kennedy-ireland-trip/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Kennedy accepted a grant of [[Achievement (heraldry)|armorial bearings]] from the [[Chief Herald of Ireland]], received honorary degrees from the [[National University of Ireland]] and [[Trinity College Dublin]], attended a State Dinner in Dublin, and was conferred with the freedom of the towns and cities of Wexford, Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Limerick.{{sfn|Sorensen|1966|p=656}}<ref name="homecoming">{{cite web |url=http://jfkhomecoming.com/timeline/introduction/ |title=Timeline |website=JFKhomecoming |date=2013 |access-date=March 31, 2024 |archive-date=November 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111192717/http://jfkhomecoming.com/timeline/introduction/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He visited the cottage at Dunganstown, near [[New Ross]], County Wexford, where his ancestors had lived before emigrating to America.<ref name="BBC 1963">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/27/newsid_4461000/4461115.stm |title=1963: Warm welcome for JFK in Ireland |access-date=February 23, 2012 |work=[[BBC News]] | date=June 27, 1963 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803125829/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/27/newsid_4461000/4461115.stm  |archive-date=August 3, 2016}}</ref>

Kennedy was the first foreign leader to address the [[Oireachtas|Houses of the Oireachtas]], the Irish parliament.<ref name="homecoming" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/lPAi7jx2s0i7kePPdJnUXA.aspx |title=Address Before the Irish Parliament in Dublin, June 28, 1963 (Text and audio) |website=[[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum]] |date=June 28, 1963 |access-date=July 3, 2013 |archive-date=August 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828040037/https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/lPAi7jx2s0i7kePPdJnUXA.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1722-john-f-kennedy/ |title=President Kennedy in Ireland (Text and video) |work=[[RTÉ]] Archives |access-date=July 3, 2013 |archive-date=September 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230920094442/https://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1722-john-f-kennedy/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Kennedy later told aides that the trip was the best four days of his life.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20234703.html |title=The best four days of JFK's life |first=Ray |last=Ryan |date=June 21, 2013 |newspaper=[[Irish Examiner]] |issn=1393-9564 |location=Cork |language=en-ie |access-date=February 6, 2022 |archive-date=January 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127230759/https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-20234703.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====American University speech====
{{Listen
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On June 10, 1963, Kennedy, at the high point of his rhetorical powers,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Mufson|first1=Steve|title=Obama will echo Kennedy's American University nuclear speech from 1963|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-will-echo-kennedys-american-university-nuclear-speech-from-1963/2015/08/04/b037d0fe-3ab8-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html|access-date=August 6, 2015|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 4, 2015|archive-date=August 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150805040413/http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obama-will-echo-kennedys-american-university-nuclear-speech-from-1963/2015/08/04/b037d0fe-3ab8-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> delivered the [[American University speech|commencement address at American University]]. Also known as "A Strategy of Peace", not only did Kennedy outline a plan to curb nuclear arms, but he also "laid out a hopeful, yet realistic route for world peace at a time when the U.S. and Soviet Union faced the potential for an escalating [[nuclear arms race]]."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wang|first1=Joy Y.|title=Obama to follow in John F. Kennedy's historic footsteps|url=https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-follow-john-f-kennedy-historic-footsteps|agency=MSNBC|access-date=August 6, 2015|date=August 4, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803125334/http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-follow-john-f-kennedy-historic-footsteps | archive-date=August 3, 2016}}</ref> Kennedy also announced that the Soviets had expressed a desire to negotiate a nuclear test ban treaty, and that the U.S. had postponed planned atmospheric tests.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=514}}

====Nuclear Test Ban Treaty====
{{main|Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty}}
[[File:President Kennedy signs Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 07 October 1963.jpg|thumb|left|Kennedy signs the [[Partial Test Ban Treaty]], a major milestone in early [[nuclear disarmament]], on October 7, 1963.]]

Troubled by the long-term dangers of [[radioactive contamination]] and [[nuclear proliferation]], Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed to negotiate a nuclear test ban treaty, originally conceived in Adlai Stevenson's 1956 presidential campaign.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=552}} In their Vienna summit meeting in June 1961, Khrushchev and Kennedy reached an informal understanding against nuclear testing, but the Soviet Union began testing nuclear weapons that September. In response, the United States conducted tests five days later.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=227}} Shortly afterwards, new U.S. satellites began delivering images that made it clear that the Soviets were substantially behind the U.S. in the arms race.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=229}} Nevertheless, the greater nuclear strength of the U.S. was of little value as long as the Soviet Union perceived itself to be at parity.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=243}}

In July 1963, Kennedy sent [[W. Averell Harriman]] to Moscow to negotiate a treaty with the Soviets.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=542}} The introductory sessions included Khrushchev, who later delegated Soviet representation to [[Andrei Gromyko]]. It quickly became clear that a comprehensive test ban would not be implemented, due largely to the reluctance of the Soviets to allow inspections to verify compliance.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=548}}

Ultimately, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union were the initial signatories to a limited treaty, which prohibited atomic testing on the ground, in the atmosphere, or underwater, but not underground. The U.S. Senate approved the treaty on September 23, 1963, and Kennedy signed it on October 7, 1963.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nuclear Test Ban Treaty |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/nuclear-test-ban-treaty |website=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum |access-date=November 19, 2023 |archive-date=July 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719110611/https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/nuclear-test-ban-treaty |url-status=live }} {{PD-notice}}</ref> France was quick to declare that it was free to continue developing and testing its nuclear defenses.{{sfn|Reeves|1993|p=550}}