Central to John F. Kennedy’s election and his less than three years term as President of the United States was the Cold War between the American government and that of the Soviet Union. In Eric Foner’s words, Kennedy was much like his predecessors as he also “viewed the entire world through the lens of the Cold War”; hence, matters within and outside the country’s borders stemmed from the need to contain communism (773).
In other words, the conspiracy theory that suggested Kennedy’s assassination was the outcome of white supremacists keen to uphold the ideologies of African-American inferiority. If Kennedy were to meet the demands of the Civil Rights activists, he would have destroyed the foundations on which slavery and the segregation laws, which ensued upon the abolition of the institution, thrived. Evidently, any antics abroad were acceptable as long as they favored the interests of the country. However, domestic issues remained confined within the limits of what the Caucasians desired, not what was right for the entire population in the States.
Thus said, and in conclusion, John F. Kennedy became a target the minute he focused his attention on the plight of black people. After all, as Foner reckons, it was not until after two years as president that the “civil rights eclipsed other concerns” in Kennedy’s perceptions and a few month later, his assassinator struck.
Works Cited
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. 4th. Vol. II. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.
