John F. Kennedy: A Short Biography of the 35th President of the United States Part 2
After his election, one of President Kennedy's first important actions was creating the Peace Corps. Americans who join the Peace Corps go as volunteers to countries requesting assistance. They serve as teachers and provide help in areas such as farming, health care, and construction.
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Kennedy also wanted Americans to travel to a more distant destination. In May 1961, after Alan Shepard became the first American astronaut to fly into space, Kennedy asked Congress to spend more money on space exploration, with the goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
During his time as President, JFK had to make difficult decisions. Many of the hardest choices concerned the relationship between our nation and the Soviet Union. Since World War II, there had been a lot of anger and suspicion between the two countries but never any shooting between Russian and American troops. This "Cold War" was a struggle between the Soviet Union's communist system of government and America's democratic system. Because they distrusted each other, both nations spent enormous sums of money building nuclear weapons to use if war began.
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Hoping to build some trust between their countries, President Kennedy and the Soviet Premier, Nikita Khrushchev met in June 1961. One topic they discussed was the German city of Berlin. After World War II, Germany had been divided into two countries: West and East Germany. West Germany, like the United States, was a democratic country where people elected their leaders. In East Germany, a communist country, like the Soviet Union, the government owned all the farms and factories and made many decisions without the approval of the people. The city of Berlin was also divided. Though surrounded by East Germany, half of Berlin was part of West Germany. Many East Germans who did not want to live in a communist country had moved to West Berlin. During their meeting Kennedy and Khrushchev strongly disagreed about the future of Berlin. Later that summer the Soviets built a huge wall dividing the two parts of Berlin. For many Americans and the western Europeans, the Berlin Wall became a symbol of communism. In the summer of 1963, JFK visited West Berlin and spoke to a large crowd near the wall . He said that America would support democracy in Berlin and that he looked forward to the wall coming down one day.
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The Cold War heated up in October 1962, when an American spy plane secretly flew over Cuba and took photos of several military construction sites. The photos showed that the Soviets were building nuclear missile launchers in Cuba. Cuba's communist government, led by Fidel Castro, was very friendly with the Soviet Union. President Kennedy faced a very difficult decision. Should he ignore the missiles even though they were very close to the United States? Should he use force to remove the missiles--even at the risk of starting a nuclear war? What other actions could he take?
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Because he did not want to let Cuba and the Soviet Union know that he knew about the missiles, Kennedy met in secret with his advisers for several days to discuss the problem. After many long and difficult meetings, he decided to place a naval blockade, or ring of ships, around Cuba to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. Several days later, Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, agreed to remove the missiles and bring them back to the Soviet Union. In exchange, the United States promised not to invade Cuba. The Cuban missile crisis had nearly caused a nuclear war. Many people around the world were impressed with John Kennedy's leadership during these tense thirteen days.
During the next year, Kennedy and Khrushchev set up a "Hot Line," a special telephone connection between the President's office in the White House and the Soviet leader's office at the Kremlin in Moscow. They hoped this Hot Line would prevent a war from beginning by mistake. In August 1963, the United States and the Soviet Union signed a treaty that outlawed nuclear bomb tests in the air, under water, and in outer space. The treaty did not prevent the two countries from building more weapons, but it did protect the world from the harmful effects of nuclear tests. Kennedy also asked the American people to think more about making peace with the Soviet Union. "We all inhabit this small planet," he said. "We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future, and we are all mortal."