John F. Kennedy: Young President in Crisis | 5 Minute Videos

With John F. Kennedy at the helm, everything seemed possible—economic prosperity, progress toward racial equality, and even putting a man on the moon. But it all came crashing down in an instant. Larry Elder details the incredible career and legacy of JFK.

Script:
Everything about John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was appealing: his good looks, his glamorous wife Jackie, their picture book children, Caroline and John Jr.

JFK personified how America wanted to see itself: youthful, forward-looking, confident.

But Kennedy had his doubters.

Did he have the maturity and experience to lead the most powerful nation on earth?

Early on, it seemed the answer was no. Within three months of taking office, he botched his first major foreign policy test, a poorly planned attempt to overthrow the communist government in Cuba. The failure, now known as the Bay of Pigs fiasco, was an international embarrassment.

His meeting in Vienna in June 1961 with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev didn’t help matters. Khrushchev pushed Kennedy around like a playground bully.

These early failures might have broken a lesser man, but Kennedy, a World War II Navy combat veteran turned out to be made of very stern stuff. The next confrontation with the Communists would be different.

That confrontation happened in October 1962. Khrushchev, thinking he could intimidate Kennedy again, ordered the secret installation of nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from the Florida coast.

Kennedy ordered a blockade of the island, insisting that the missiles be immediately removed. What ensued was a high-stakes standoff—the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy’s advisors estimated 80 million Americans would die if war broke out. The Soviets could expect even worse losses.

The world held its breath.

This time, it was the Soviet dictator who blinked. The missiles were removed.

The world breathed a huge sigh of relief, and America could get on with its seemingly limitless future because there would actually be a future.