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THE MAKING OF A NATION -September 19, 2002: John Kennedy, Part 2
By Jeri Watson
VOICE 1:
This is Rich Kleinfeldt.
VOICE 2:
And this is Stan Busby with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history
of the United States.
(Theme)
Today, we continue the story of President John Kennedy.
VOICE 1:
John Kennedy began his administration in nineteen-sixty-one with great energy to do good
things. After just three months in office, however, he had to take responsibility for a big
failure.
On April seventeenth, Cuban exiles, trained by America's Central Intelligence Agency,
invaded Cuba. Their goal was to overthrow Cuba's communist leader, Fidel Castro. Most of White House
the exiles were killed or captured. painting
The last administration had planned the invasion. But Kennedy had approved it. After the incident, some
Americans wondered if he had enough experience to lead the nation. Some asked themselves if the forty-threeyear-old Kennedy was too young to be president, after all.
VOICE 2:
Kennedy soon regained some public approval when he visited French leader general
Charles de Gaulle. The French were very interested in the new American president. They
were even more interested in his beautiful wife. The president said with a laugh that he
was the man who had come to Paris with Jacqueline Kennedy.
VOICE 1:
In Vienna, Kennedy met with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Their relations would
always be difficult.
Khrushchev did not want to compromise on any issue. He threatened to have the East
Germans block all movement into and out of the western part of the city of Berlin.
Not long after, the East Germans, with Soviet support, built a wall to separate the eastern and western parts of the
city. President Kennedy quickly announced a large increase in the number of American military forces in
Germany. He said the United States would not permit freedom to end in Berlin.
VOICE 2:
About a year later, in October, nineteen-sixty-two, President Kennedy said the United States had discovered that
the Soviets were putting nuclear missiles in Cuba. He took several actions to protest the deployment.
One was to send American ships to the area. They were to prevent Soviet ships from taking missile parts and
related supplies to the Cuban government. In a speech broadcast on television, Kennedy spoke about the
seriousness of the situation.
KENNEDY: "It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any
nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States."
VOICE 1:
No fighting broke out between the United States and the Soviet Union because of the Cuban missile crisis. The
Soviet ships carrying missile parts to Cuba turned back. And President Kennedy promised that the United States
would not invade Cuba if the Soviet Union removed its missiles and stopped building new ones there.
The two sides did, however, continue their cold war of words and influence.
In Asia, the Soviet Union continued to provide military, economic, and technical aid to communist governments.
The Kennedy administration fought communism in Vietnam by increasing the number of American military
advisers there.
VOICE 2:
The United States and the Soviet Union did make some progress on arms control, however. In nineteen-sixtythree, the two countries reached a major agreement to ban tests of nuclear weapons above ground, under water,
and in space. The treaty did not ban nuclear tests under the ground.
On national issues, President Kennedy supported efforts to guarantee a better life for
African Americans. One man who pushed for changes was his younger brother,
Robert. Robert Kennedy was attorney general and head of the Justice Department at
that time.
VOICE 1:
The Justice Department took legal action against Southern states that violated the
voting rights acts of nineteen-fifty-seven and nineteen-sixty. The administration also
supported a voter registration campaign among African Americans. The campaign
helped them to record their names with election officials so they could vote.
As attorney general, Robert Kennedy repeatedly called on National Guard troops to protect black citizens from
crowds of angry white citizens. Incidents took place when blacks tried to register to vote and when they tried to
attend white schools.
VOICE 2:
President Kennedy said the situation was causing a moral crisis in America. He decided it was time to propose a
new civil rights law. The measure would guarantee equal treatment for blacks in public places and in jobs. It
would speed the work of ending racial separation in schools.
Kennedy wanted the new legislation badly. But Congress delayed action. It did not pass a broad civil rights bill
until nineteen-sixty-four. After his presidency.
VOICE 1:
In November, nineteen-sixty-three, Kennedy left Washington for the state of Texas. He hoped to help settle a
local dispute in his Democratic Party. The dispute might have affected chances for his re-election in nineteen-
sixty-four.
He arrived in the city of Dallas in the late morning of November twenty-second. Dallas was known to be a center
of opposition to Kennedy. Yet many people waited to see him.
VOICE 2:
A parade of cars travelled through the streets of Dallas. Kennedy and his wife were in the back seat of one. Their
car had no top, so everyone could see them easily. Another car filled with Secret Service security agents was next
to the president's.
Suddenly, there were gunshots. Then, many Americans heard this emergency report from television newsman
Walter Cronkite:
CRONKITE: "Here is a bulletin from C-B-S news. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President
Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously
wounded by this shooting.
"
VOICE 1:
The cars raced to Parkland Memorial Hospital. But doctors there could do little. Thirty minutes later reporters,
including Walter Cronkite, broadcast this announcement:
CRONKITE: "From Dallas, Texas -- the flash apparently official -- President Kennedy died at one p-m, Central
Standard Time.
"
((MUSIC)
)
VOICE 2:
As the nation mourned, police searched for the person who had killed John Kennedy. They arrested a man named
Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald worked in a building near the place where Kennedy had been shot. People had seen
him leave the building after the shooting. He had a gun.
VOICE 1:
Lee Harvey Oswald was a man with a strange past. He was a former United States Marine. He was also
a
communist. He had lived for a while in the Soviet Union and had tried to become a Soviet citizen. He worked for
a committee that supported the communist government in Cuba.
Police questioned Oswald about the death of president Kennedy. He said he did not do it. After two days,
officials decided to move him to a different jail.
VOICE 2:
As they did, television cameras recorded the death of Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald
Graphic Image
was being led by two police officials. Suddenly, a man stepped in front of them.
There was a shot, and Oswald fell to the floor.
The gunman was Jack Ruby. He owned an eating and drinking place in Dallas. He
said he killed Oswald to prevent the Kennedy family from having to live through a
trial.
((MUSIC))
VOICE 1:
President Kennedy's body had been returned to Washington. After a state funeral, he was buried in Arlington
National Cemetery, across the Potomac River. A gas flame burns at his burial place, day and night.
An official committee was formed to investigate his death. It was headed by the chief justice of the United States,
earl Warren, and was known as the Warren commission. In its report, the Warren commission said that Lee
Harvey Oswald acted alone. It said there was no plot to kill the president.
VOICE 2:
Many Americans did not accept the report. They believed there was a plot. Some blamed Cuban leader Fidel
Castro. Some blamed extremists in America's Central Intelligence Agency. Others blamed organized crime.
The truth of what happened to John Kennedy may be what was stated in the Warren Commission report: that Lee
Harvey Oswald acted alone. Or, perhaps, the complete truth may never be known.
(Theme)
VOICE 1:
This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson.
This is Rich Kleinfeldt.
VOICE 2:
And this Stan Busby. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the
United States.
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