Kennedy and the Cuban Crisis vs Johnson and Vietnam

            
            
             Throughout United States' history people have witnessed wars, depression, and famine. But what most of us do not realize is what the United States government has done to other countries, for better or worse. Two Presidents who served their terms in arguably the most controversial times in United States history, with civil rights and escalating conflicts, suddenly became revered for their foreign policies. These Presidents are John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Banes Johnson. Each of these two Presidents were involved in a conflict in Southeast Asia and fought to end the ongoing threat of Communism. This essay will examine the differences in policies each of these two presidents took in their selected course of actions. It will also show that the two president's policies were very similar in many ways. .
             Foreign Policies of John Kennedy .
             "Kennedy's foreign policy was based on two major premises. The first was a belief in "monolithic communism- "the idea that all communist movements were orchestrated from Moscow."" The second was the Domino Theory "that should a single strategic country go communist, surrounding countries were sure to follow. Among the countries Kennedy was concerned about were Cuba, Germany (specifically Berlin), Vietnam, and Laos. .
             Cuba 1962:.
             In January of 1959, after warring for 3 years, a movement led by Fidel Castro forced the resignation of the corrupt Batiste government, which was backed by the United States. The United States immediately recognized Castro. Castro was popular in the Unites States media. When Castro took over he talked about democracy, but then he started to tell the media he was a socialist, or even a communist. This made Washington furious. In the following August of 1959 the US said Cuba was the source of Caribbean tension. In 1960 the US government began to become angry and confused, and also critical of Castro's regime. The US government broke relations with Havana over who should own the US-British run oil fields in Cuba and also the US stopped their quota of Cuban sugar that was to be imported into the US.