Elected in 1960 by a narrow margin, Kennedy’s popu-
larity grew quickly among most Americans. During his
relatively brief term of office, President Kennedy dealt
with a range of both domestic and international criti-
cal issues, including the Berlin airlift, the Cuban mis-
sile crisis, and the growing CIVIL RIGHTSmovement.
The U.S. space program, however, surged ahead during
the Kennedy administration, scoring dramatic gains
that benefited U.S. prestige worldwide.
Kennedy’s political career began as a representative
from Massachusetts’s 11th Congressional District. As a
representative, Kennedy had a mixed voting record. On
domestic affairs, he followed the administration’s Fair
Deal policies in most matters, fighting for slum clear-
ance and low-cost public housing. As a member of the
Education and Labor Committee, he wrote his own
temperate report concurring with the minority that
opposed the Taft-Hartley bill. On foreign affairs he
backed the Truman Doctrine, a policy of the contain-
ment of COMMUNISM, but was critical of the president
for not stemming the advance of communism in China.
In November 1952, while the Republican Dwight
D. Eisenhower carried Massachusetts, Kennedy de-
feated Henry Cabot Lodge by more than 70,000 votes
for U.S. Senate. As senator, Kennedy was an active
legislator uniting New England senators into an effec-
tive voting bloc. By 1957, he was taking mildly liberal
positions on the difficult question of CIVIL LIBERTIES.
He helped arrange a compromise between northern
and southern positions on the civil rights bill passed
in 1957. Also in 1957, Kennedy was appointed to the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His emphasis on
domestic issues shifted to military programs, foreign
aid, and underdeveloped areas.
Kennedy was inaugurated as president on January
20, 1961. Kennedy chose his cabinet to represent the
country’s main sections and INTERESTS. To reassure
business, a Republican, C. Douglas Dillon, was ap-
pointed secretary of the treasury, and another Republi-
can, Robert S. McNamara, who had been president of
the Ford Motor Company, was named secretary of
defense. Dean Rusk, who had headed the Rockefeller
Foundation, became the new secretary of STATE, and
Adlai Stevenson was appointed ambassador to the
United Nations. Robert Kennedy, the president’s
brother, became attorney general.
Although interested in domestic affairs, Kennedy’s
brief tenure as president was dominated by interna-
tional crises. Arguably, most serious among these was
the Cuban missile crisis. On October 6, 1962, the
United States took aerial reconnaissance photographs
of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba.
Just 90 miles from the U.S. coast, it was conceivable
that from these bases a nuclear attack could be
launched on much of the United States and the West-
ern Hemisphere. Addressing the nation on October
22, President Kennedy announced an embargo on all
offensive weapons bound for Cuba. This meant that
U.S. warships would halt and search Soviet ships. The
crisis was averted when Cuba-bound Soviet vessels
returned to Russian ports.
In November 1963, President Kennedy and his
wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, traveled to Texas. In Dallas
on November 22, while touring Dallas, an assassin
fired several shots, striking the president twice, in the
base of the neck and the head, and seriously wound-
ing Texas governor John Connolly, who was riding
with the Kennedys. On November 24, amid national
and worldwide mourning, the president’s body lay in
state in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. The next day,
leaders of 92 nations attended the state funeral, join-
ing millions of Americans in mourning. The president
was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, where an
eternal flame marks his grave.Further Reading
Reeves, Thomas C., ed. John F. Kennedy: The Man, the Politician,
the President.Melbourne, Fla.: Krieger Publishing Com-
pany, 1990.Keynes, John Maynard (1883–1946) British
economist and social thinker
Keynesian economics became the foundation of LIB-
ERAL DEMOCRATIC Party social policy in the United
States from the 1930s (President Franklin D. ROO-
SEVELT’S NEW DEAL) until the present. To solve the
Great Depression of the 1930s, Keynes recommended
increased government spending, public debt, and
social employment. By borrowing and spending
money on public-works projects, Keynes argued, the
depressed economy would be restimulated (“priming
the pump”), and CAPITALISMwould be saved. Social
programs by the federal government would provide
public employment and social services to get business
going again. This would be an alternative to pure
SOCIALISM (state-owned and -planned economy) or
FASCISM(total state control of the private economy).Keynes, John Maynard 171