John F. Kennedy's Major Accomplishments
As well all know, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president was assassinated after not even 3 years in office. Still, in those 3 years he accomplished a lot! The 35th president was the first catholic president, he raised the minimum wage to $1.25 an hour and bettered Social Security benefits. John wasn’t a president that let the small things go unnoticed, either. He often held plays or concerts at the White House in a way to reach out to “the Arts.”
A huge accomplishment John F. Kennedy had during his term as the 35th president was his work with the Peace Corps. This was actually one of his first presidential acts when he asked Congress to create the Peace Corps, where American volunteers help underdeveloped nations in areas such as farming, health care and construction. It all started when Kennedy spoke at the University of Michigan, when he challenged students there to live and work in developing countries. 1,000 students signed a petition to serve aboard that day, October 14th. Less then a month later on November 2nd, 1960, Kennedy proposed the Peace Corps.
Another accomplishment of Kennedy’s was getting a man on the moon. He felt the pressure to catch up in the “space race” because the Soviet Union was a lot closer then we were at the time. On May 25th, 1961 he told of this major goal to send an American safely to the moon in the next ten years. He obviously didn’t get to see his goal get “accomplished” since he was killed two years later. Without his challenge of landing on the man within those 10 years, though, it may have not happened like it did on July 20th, 1969.
John F. Kennedy also worked together with Khrushchev of the Soviet Union to avoid a nuclear war. After pictures emerged of missiles being made in Cuba by the Soviets, Kennedy had to make an immediate decision. He considered it as a nuclear threat and knew if we would attack it would mean a nuclear war with the USSR. If we didn’t attack there would still be a nuclear threat so it wasn’t an easy decision. War was avoided though after organizing a group of his best advisors and also a naval quarantine.
During John’s presidency he also wanted to contain communism in Latin America. Because of this goal, he established the Alliance for Progress, sending aid to trouble countries while also trying for greater human rights.
Thoughts
Even though Kennedy's time as president was cut short unexpectingly, he accomplished a lot! His accomplishments weren't just small, "whatever" things either.. they were ones that took a lot of time and his decisions had to be made up very fast!
Comments
Well done Kenzie!