One of his best accomplishments was preventing a nuclear war between the U.S., the Soviet Union, and Cuba. After the U.S. failed to overthrow Fidel Castro, the Soviet Union made an agreement with Cuba. The Soviets placed their nuclear weapons in Cuba to prevent the U.S. from invading again. On October 22, 1962, many days after debating what to do, Kennedy decided to create a naval block around Cuba, this was to stop the Soviet Union from bringing in nuclear weapons and other military supplies. At this point, they were on a brink of a nuclear war. However, with Kennedy’s leadership and firmness, peace was reached. Kennedy proved to be a great leader in a time of crisis. Another great achievement was when Kennedy established the Peace Corps in March 1961. This program sent volunteers to other countries to promote world peace. This program promoted the spirit of service and getting the younger generation involved in doing good for the world. Since it’s creation, the Peace Corps now has over 210,000 volunteers in 138 countries. The volunteers have been working on important issues such as AIDs, education, and economic growth. Another one of Kennedy’s great accomplishments was putting man on the Moon. After setting his goal with Congress, Kennedy said, “No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long-range …show more content…
Kennedy was a democrat and even considered liberal which to he said, “If by a liberal they mean someone who look ahead not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, their civil liberties… if that’s what they mean by a liberal then I am proud to be a liberal.”. He took office in the middle of a recession. He proposed his ideas to Congress which included, tax cuts, a minimum wage raise, and an improvement of education, healthcare, and mass transit. Congress only approved tax cuts and a raise of minimum wage. The biggest issue of his presidency was civil rights. African-Americans were fighting for their rights and activism against racism was growing. Kennedy focused more on enforcing already existing laws instead of creating new ones. It seemed as though the African-Americans were against him at the time because he wouldn’t create a new bill for civil rights. The southern Democrats were opposed to his civil rights act as well. Because of his assassination, Kennedy had only 34 months in office and was unable to achieve all of his