John F Kennedy Flexible Response Essay
“We will seek peace- but we will never surrender,” (Kennedy 3). John F. Kennedy spoke those words in his University of Washington speech. During the Cold War, President Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy all fought against communism during the war, but Truman and Eisenhower used containment to fight the war, while Kennedy used flexible response. Containment was created by George Kennan which was used to resist the Soviet Union from spreading communism to other countries (Ayers 819). President John F. Kennedy used flexible response as opposed to containment. Flexible response is reinforcing the United States so we would not need to resort solely nuclear’s if things went wrong (Ayers 886). All three presidents used economic aid, military aid, and
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Kennedy was the third president to combat the Cold War, but used flexible response, unlike his precedents. One way President Kennedy helped economically was with the Peace Corps, who were volunteers who went to poor countries and helped as they were needed for two years (Ayers 886). “We send arms to other peoples- just as we send them the ideals of democracy in which we believe- but we cannot send them the will to use those arms or abide by those ideals,” said by Kennedy (Kennedy 1). The United States provided other countries help, but they could not force them to use it, so they helped combat communism by giving it to them. John F. Kennedy differed from the ideas of containment that Truman and Eisenhower used and instead used flexible response, having more options rather than just nuclear’s in a time of crisis (Ayers 886). The idea was that if we have a variety of options instead of one, we can prevent a nuclear war and total destruction. With flexible response, we can keep the world away from nuclear war. “Nor can ultimate weapons rightfully be employed, or the ultimate sacrifice rightfully demanded of our citizens, until every reasonable solution has been explored,” Kennedy explained (Kennedy 3). Kennedy is stating that with flexible response, we do not have to use nuclear weapons, but instead wait until we find a better solution unless we want the death of many innocent
Kennedy was the third president to combat the Cold War, but used flexible response, unlike his precedents. One way President Kennedy helped economically was with the Peace Corps, who were volunteers who went to poor countries and helped as they were needed for two years (Ayers 886). “We send arms to other peoples- just as we send them the ideals of democracy in which we believe- but we cannot send them the will to use those arms or abide by those ideals,” said by Kennedy (Kennedy 1). The United States provided other countries help, but they could not force them to use it, so they helped combat communism by giving it to them. John F. Kennedy differed from the ideas of containment that Truman and Eisenhower used and instead used flexible response, having more options rather than just nuclear’s in a time of crisis (Ayers 886). The idea was that if we have a variety of options instead of one, we can prevent a nuclear war and total destruction. With flexible response, we can keep the world away from nuclear war. “Nor can ultimate weapons rightfully be employed, or the ultimate sacrifice rightfully demanded of our citizens, until every reasonable solution has been explored,” Kennedy explained (Kennedy 3). Kennedy is stating that with flexible response, we do not have to use nuclear weapons, but instead wait until we find a better solution unless we want the death of many innocent