Heros Are They Born Or Made

Heros. Are They Born Or Made. JFK & LBJ Essay, Research Paper

Heros, are They Born or Made.

Throughout recorded history, mankind has followed their leaders where ever they lead.

Be it with John Fitzgerald Kennedy to Camelot, or Lyndon Baines Johnson to the Gulf of

Tonkin. In their own respective manners, both of these men were great heroes and villains.

James Reston (1994) wrote that “the tragedy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy was greater than the

accomplishment, but in the end the tragedy enhances the accomplishment and revives hope. ”

(Hilty, 1994 p. 418 ) . Henry F. Graff (1994) inscribed that “the long and costly war in Vietnam

that Johnson had not avoided, could not win, and did not end will long remain the dark shadow

on his record. The domestic legislation and the generous spirit that actuated it will be his

shining monument when and if, a longer perspective reduces at last the size of that shadow”

(Morton, 1994 p. 393). Of these two very different men, one was molded into a hero and one

was destined to become a hero from birth. Are our greatest heroes born or are they made. I feel

strongly that heros are made, not born.

In domestic matters, Kennedy accomplished little during his thousand days in office. He

gave little attention to domestic affairs. His inaugural address contained not one word about

race relations or the civil rights movement. Robert Kennedy, John’s brother, admitted that they

had “…lost no sleep over the Negroes” (Hilty, 1994 p.422). The Kennedys first urged leaders

such as Martin Luther King Jr. to be patient and avoid the incidents harmful to America’s image

abroad. Escalating crisis sucked the Kennedys into the vortex of the movement (Hilty, 1994

p.422). Kennedy did seek and obtained a minor increase in the minimum wage and Social

Security coverage, plus money for public housing, and forced a temporary rollback in steel

prices ( Sellen, 1987 p.1297). By November of 1963, he had substantially increased American

military commitment to South Vietnam and created the necessary conditions for further

American involvement which occurred under President Johnson (Morton, 1994 p.421). On the

positive side, Kennedy endorsed the Peace Corp, Food for Peace, and Agency for International

Development. These programs improved America’s image in emerging nations of Africa and

Asia. Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress gave hope for Latin America (Morton, 1994 p.422).

Kennedy also sought a tax cut to stimulate the economy, federal aid to education and Medicare,

but since he lacked reliable majorities in Congress, these programs remained tied up in Congress

until after Kennedy’s death (Patterson, 1995).

One must also take into consideration that John Kennedy also had his share of military

catastrophes. Least we ever forget the badly fumbled attempt to envade Cuba to overthrow

Castro. Many Cuban exiles were either killed or captured at the Bay of Pigs. Kennedy’s greatest

crisis in foreign policy was the situation which arose when Khrushchev tried to establish nuclear

missiles in Cuba in 1962. Kennedy choose to blockade Cuba and threaten Khrushchev by

maintaining in reserve an air attack on the missile sites. At first, armed conflict seemed likely

and the world lingered on the verge of nuclear war for nearly two, extremely tense, weeks

(Hilty, 1994 p. 421).

During his two years as vice president, Johnson greatly expanded upon the duties

assigned to that position. With Kennedy’s blessings, the stalwart vice president became a roving

ambassador making numerous trips abroad to confer with foreign heads of state. His most

notable trip took place in mid-1961 when Johnson officially visited Southeast Asia. His brief

stay in Vietnam deepened his conviction that the South Vietnam government must be supported

almost at all costs (Morton, 1994 p.396).

There were two other positions in which the vice president played meaningful roles in the

Kennedy administration. Since Johnson had long been interested in space exploration, Kennedy

appropriately gave Johnson the position of monitoring the space program by appointing him

chairman of the Space Council. Johnson’s second area of prime concern was civil rights. As

chairman of the newly created President’s Committee on Equal Employment, Johnson headed

the federal government program to secure job opportunities especially for blacks. The Civil

Rights efforts of the Kennedy years, led by Vice President Johnson, were quite possibly a

necessary prelude to the passage of historic Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 under President

Johnson. Despite measurable achievements in the areas of space exploration and civil rights,

Johnson’s tenure as vice president was one of frustration. Serving as he did in the shadow of the

popular, youthful JFK, there was apparently little chance for him to become president of the

United States (Morton. 1994 p. 396).

On November 22, 1963, while on a trip to Dallas to try to heal

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