sought the enactment of programs designed to assist the "people in the huts

and villages of half the world." The Alliance for Progress, a program-

ambitious but ultimately less than successful - for the economic growth and

social improvement of Latin America, was launched in August 1961 at an

Inter American Conference at Punta del Este, Uruguay. The Peace Corps,

which offered Americans a unique opportunity to spend approximately two

years living and working with peoples in underdeveloped countries, was a

more successful attempt to aid emerging nations throughout the world.

In the realm of foreign affairs, Kennedy's record was a mixture of

notable triumphs and dangerous setbacks. He allowed the Central

Intelligence Agency to carry out plans laid before his administration for

an invasion of Cuba by anti-Communist refugees from that island. Between

1,400 and 1,500 exiles landed on April 17, 1961, at the Bay of Pigs, but

suffered defeat when an anticipated mass insurrection by the Cuban people

failed to materialize. Severely embarrassed, the administration

nevertheless successfully encouraged the creation of a private committee,

which ransomed 1,178 invasion prisoners for $62 million.

Cuban Premier Fidel Castro, after repelling the Bay of Pigs invasion,

turned to the Soviet Union for military support and allowed the Russians to

install secret missile sites in Cuba. From these locations, 90 miles from

US soil, the USSR could launch missiles capable of striking deep into the

American heartland. Reconnaissance by US observation planes uncovered the

Soviet activities. Taking a decisive stand President Kennedy, on October

22, 1962, announced that the United States would prevent the delivery of

offensive weapons to Cuba. Kennedy demanded that the USSR abandon the bases

and threatened that the United States would "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, requiring a full

retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union." After a week of intense

negotiations. Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev agreed to dismantle all

the installations in return for a US pledge not to invade Cuba.

President Kennedy gave wholehearted support to American efforts in

space exploration. During his administration the nation increased its

expenditures in that area fivefold, and the President promised that an

American would land on the moon before the end of the 1960s. (On July

20,1969, two American astronauts fulfilled the President's pledge by

becoming the first human beings to set foot on the lunar surface.)

During his presidential campaign, Kennedy had stressed the necessity of

improving the American economy, which was then suffering from a recession.

His aim was to follow a fiscally moderate course, and the achievement of a

bal_anced budget was one of his major goals. As President he managed to

stimulate the sluggish economy by accelerating federal purchasing and

construction programs, by the early release of more than $ 1 billion in

state highway funds, and by putting $ 1 billion in credit into the home

construction industry.

During his administration, however, increasing hostility developed

between the White House and the business community. Anxious to prevent

inflation, the President gave special attention to the steel industry,

whose price-wage structure affected so many other aspects of the economy.

After steel manufacturers insisted on raising their prices in April 1962,

Kennedy, by applying strong economic pressure, forced the producers to

return to the earlier lower price levels. His victory earned him the enmity

of many business people, however.

Kennedy sympathized with the aspirations of black Americans, but he

included no comprehensive civil rights legislation in his New Frontier

program, fearing that the introduction into a conservative Congress of such

measures would imperil all his other proposals. The President relied,

instead, on his executive powers and on the enforcement of existing voting

rights laws. He forbade discrimination in new federally aided housing,

appointed a large number of blacks to high offices, and supported Justice

Department efforts to secure voting rights and to end segregation in

interstate commerce. In 1962 he used regular army troops and federalized

National Guard units to force the admission of a black, James Meredith, to

the University of Mississippi, and in 1963 he used federal National

Guardsmen to watch over the integration of the University of Alabama.

Despite his broad visions of the American future, Kennedy enjoyed

limited success in translating his ideas into legislative reality. A

coalition of Republicans and conservative southern Democrats in the 87th

Congress stopped many of his plans for the introduction of social measures.

And even after the Demo_ratic Party increased its majority on Capitol Hill

in the 1962 elections. Congress was slow to cooperate, although it probably

was ready to do so just before his presidency came to an end.

John F. Kennedy presided over the execlusive branch of the United

States government for only a little more than 1,000 days. During that time

American involvement in Vietnam and other areas of Southeast Asia increased

moderately, but the beginnings of a thaw in the cold war were also

noticeable, and in 1963 the. Soviet Union and the United States signed the

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Kennedy's years in the White House were also

marked by increased social consciousness by the US government. With the

Great Society program of his successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Congress

eventually enacted a number of Kennedy's proposals, including medical care

for the elderly and greater opportunities for black Americans.

In addition to his various governmental programs, Kennedy's presidency

was also no_table for a new, vital style. John and Jacqueline Kennedy and

their two children, Caroline and John Jr., quickly captured the imagination

of the nation, and their activities were widely reported by the media.

Cer_tainly the Kennedys exuded a youthful vi-brance, and their interests

seemed unending. Jacqueline Kennedy was responsible for redecorating the

public rooms of the White House and inviting a glittering array of

cul_tural and intellectual leaders to the executive mansion.

An assassin's bullet abruptly ended the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

on Novem_ber 22,1963, as he rode in a motorcade through the streets of

Dallas, Texas. The entire nation mourned the tragic death of the Chief

Executive. Many millions watched on television as the 35th President was

buried at Arlington National Cemetery on November 25, 1963.

Every state of the United States and almost every nation in the world

has erected memorials to Kennedy. One of the monu_ments dearest to his

family is the house at 83 Seals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, where

the late President's parents lived from 1914 until 1921 and where four of

their chil_dren - including John - were bom. The house was repurchased by

the Kennedys in 1966 and was designated a National Historic Site by

Congress in 1967. On May 29, 1969, the 52nd anniversary of John F.

Kennedy's birth, the family turned over the deed of the house to the

National Park Service.

Both of President Kennedy's younger brothers, Robert F. and Edward M.

Kennedy, served in the Senate. Many of the former President's compatriots

hoped to see his goals and promise carried forward when Robert Kennedy, who

had served as his at_torney general and closest adviser, an_nounced early

in 1968 that he would seek the Democratic nomination for President. In

another tragedy that shook the nation to its roots, Robert Kennedy was shot

down by an assassin just after claiming victory in the California

presidential primary. He died in Los Angeles just over 25 hours later, on

June 6,1968.

Presidents at a Glance

|NAME |SERVED |ACHIEVEMENTS |

|1. George |1789-1797 |The first President, he determined in large |

|Washington | |measure what the job of President should be.|

| | |Held the country together during its early |

| | |days and gave it a chance to grow. Ranked by|

| | |historians as a "great" President. |

|2. John Adams |1797-1801 |Saved his country from an unnecessary war. |

| | |Ranked by historians as a "near great" |

| | |President. |

|3. Thomas |1801-1809 |Bought the Louisiana Territory and doubled |

|Jefferson | |the size of the country. Made sure the |

| | |government stayed in the hands of the |

| | |people. Ranked by historians as a "great" or|

| | |"near great" President. |

|4. James |1809-1817 |Allowed the country to get into unnecessary |

|Madison | |war, but made peace as quickly as possible. |

| | |Ranked by historians as an "average" |

| | |President. |

|5. James Monroe|1817-1825 |Took Florida from Spain. Created the Monroe |

| | |Doctrine. Signed the Missouri Compromise. |

| | |Ranked as one of the best of the "average" |

| | |President. |

|6. John Quincy |1825—1829 |Rated by some historians as a failure |

|Adams | |because little was done during his term. |

| | |Some historians rank him as "average". |

|7. Andrew |1829-1837 |Did more to show how great the powers of the|

|Jackson | |office were than any President after |

| | |Washington. Used these powers to help make |

| | |laws. Ranked by historians as a "great" or |

| | |"near great" President. |

|8. Martin Van|1837-1841 |Was caught in one of the nation's worst |

|Buren | |financial depressions. This was unfairly |

| | |blamed on him. Ranked by historians as an |

| | |"average" President. |

|9. William |1841 |Was President for only one month. |

|Henry Harrison | | |

|10. John Tyler |1841-1845 |Made clear that on the death a President the|

| | |Vice President became President with all the|

| | |powers of the office. Served as a President |

| | |without a party. Ranked by most historians |

| | |as "below average". |

|11 .James Knox |1845-1849 |Bullied a small, weak nation (Mexico) into |

|Polk | |fighting a war it did not want, but added |

| | |California and much of the South-west to the|

| | |United States. Settled the Canadian border |

| | |without war. Ranked by historians as a "near|

| | |great" President. |

|12. Zachary |1849-1850 |Knew little about the duties of a President |

|Taylor | |but faced his problems honestly though with |

| | |little political talent. Served only two |

| | |years. Ranked by many historians as "below |

| | |average." |

|13. Millard |1850-1853 |Sent the U. S. fleet to open trade with |

|Fillmore | |Japan. Helped pass the Great Compromise of |

| | |1850. Ranked by historians as "below |

| | |average." |

|14. Franklin |1853-1857 |Put through the Gadsden Purchase acquiring |

|Pierce | |what is now southern Arizona and New Mexico.|

| | |Favored the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which |

| | |opened the door to the Civil War. Ranked by |

| | |historians as "below average." |

|15. James |1857-1861 |Faced the final breakup of the nation over |

|Buchanan | |slavery. Tried hard to prevent war but made |

| | |matters worse instead of better. Ranked by |

| | |historians as "below average." |

|16. Abraham |1861-1865 |Held the nation together in its most |

|Lincoln | |difficult time. In a speech at the |

| | |Gettysburg battlefield he said it was the |

| | |people's duty to make sure "that this |

| | |nation, under God, shall have a new birth of|

| | |freedom, and that government of the people, |

| | |by the people, for the people, shall not |

| | |perish from the earth." More than any other |

| | |one man, he helped make these words come |

| | |true. Ranked by historians as a truly |

| | |"great" President. |

|17. Andrew |1865-1869 |Took office in a. time of great trouble. |

|Johnson | |Fought for what he believed was right, but |

| | |did not have the power to persuade and lead |

| | |men. Was impeached by Congress and came |

| | |within one vote of being removed from |

| | |office. Ranked by historians from "near |

| | |great" to "below average." |

|18. Ulysses |1869-1877 |Was personally honest, but many of the men |

|Simpson Grant | |around him were crooks. His administration |

| | |was one of the most dishonest in American |

| | |history. One of the three Presidents rated |

| | |as a "failure". |

|19. Ruthertord |1877-1881 |Ended the period of Reconstruction. Tried to|

|Birchard Hayes | |reform the federal government after the |

| | |Grant administration. Tried to improve the |

| | |civil service system, but met with little |

| | |success. Ranked by historians as "average." |

|20. James Abram|1881 |Was killed only a few months after taking |

|Garfield | |office. Yet his death may have done more to |

| | |improve honesty in government than he could |

| | |have done had he lived. |

|21. Chester |1881-1885 |Helped pass the first effective civil |

|Alan Arthur | |service laws and administered them honestly.|

| | |Helped develop a modern navy. Ranked by |

| | |historians as "average." |

|22 and 24. |1885-1889 |Made needed reforms in the federal |

|Grover |and |government. Helped restore the confidence of|

|Cleveland |1893-1897 |the people in their government. His |

| | |intentions were always good, but his methods|

| | |sometimes failed. Ranked by historians as a |

| | |"near great" President. |

|23. Benjamin |1889-1893 |Favored a strong foreign policy. Enlarged |

|Harrison | |the navy. Wanted a better civil service, but|

| | |Congress continually opposed him. Ranked by |

| | |historians as "average." |

|25. William |1897-1901 |Allowed the United States to be pushed into |

|McKinley | |war with Spain, but made the United States a|

| | |world power. Acquired the Philippines, |

| | |Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico as United |

| | |States possessions. Ranked by historians as |

| | |"average." |

|26. Theodore |1901-1909 |Brought tremendous energy and vitality to |

|Roosevelt | |the office of President. Used the powers of |

| | |his office to control the power of huge |

| | |business concerns. Worked to establish |

| | |national parks and forests and the Panama |

| | |Canal. Ranked by historians as one of the |

| | |"near great" President. |

|27. William |1909-1913 |Worked hard for conservation of natural |

|Howard Taft | |resources. Helped improve the Post Office |

| | |system. Fought to break the power of the |

| | |trusts. Ranked by historians as "average." |

|28. Woodrow |1913-1921 |Reformed the banking laws. Worked to improve|

|Wilson | |the antitrust laws, to help the American |

| | |worker, and to lower the tariff. Tried to |

| | |stay out of World War I, then tried hard to |

| | |make it a "war to end all wars." Worked for |

| | |a League of Nations to keep the world at |

| | |peace. Failed, but left an ideal of which |

| | |people still dream. Ranked by historians as |

| | |a "great" President. |

|29. Warren |1921-1923 |In large measure let Congress and his |

|Gamaliel | |Cabinet run the nation. Was more loyal to |

|Harding | |his friends than to his country. His was |

| | |probably the most dishonest administration |

| | |in United States history. Ranked by |

| | |historians as a "failure." |

|30. Calvin |1923-1929 |Believed the powers of the President should |

|Coolidge | |be very limited and that government should |

| | |leave business alone. Took very little |

| | |action but restored honesty and dignity to |

| | |the presidency. Ranked by historians as |

| | |"below average." |

|31. Herbert |1929-1933 |Saw the country plunged into its worst |

|Hoover | |financial depression and was unfairly blamed|

| | |for it. Tried to improve business, but his |

| | |efforts were not enough. Ranked by |

| | |historians as "average." |

|32. Franklin |1933-1945 |Saw the United States through two grave |

|Delano | |crises: the Great Depression of the 1930s |

|Roosevelt | |and World War II. Promoted laws that changed|

| | |the course of American government. Ranked by|

| | |historians as a "great" President. |

|33. Harry S. |1945-1953 |Was faced by important decisions and made |

|Truman | |most of them correctly. Established the |

| | |Truman Doctrine by which the United States |

| | |would help other nati-ons trying to stay |

| | |free of Communist control. Worked for social|

| | |welfare and civil rights laws. Ranked by |

| | |most historians as a "near great" President.|

|34. Dwight |1953-1961 |Ended the war in Korea. Tried to lessen |

|David | |troubles with the Soviet Union. Sent troops |

|Eisenhower | |to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce school |

| | |integration. Ranked by most historians as |

| | |"average." |

|35. John |1961-1963 |Worked for equal rights for all citizens. |

|Fitzgerald | |Established the Peace Corps. Forced the |

|Kennedy | |Soviet Union to withdraw its missiles from |

| | |Cuba |

|36. Lyndon |1961-1969 |Pushed more important laws through Congress |

|Baines Johnson | |than any President since Franklin Roosevelt,|

| | |including civil rights and antipoverty |

| | |measures. Tried unsuccessfully to make peace|

| | |in Vietnam |

|37. Richard |1969-1974 |Ended U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. |

|Milhous Nixon | |Opened relations with Communist China. His |

| | |administration was caught in one of the |

| | |worst political scandals in American |

| | |history. |

|38. Gerald |1974-1977 |His fair and open administration helped to |

|Rudolph Ford | |heal the wounds of Watergate. Improved |

| | |relations with China. Was the first person |

| | |to occupy the White House without having |

| | |been elected either President or Vice |

| | |President. |

|39. Jimmy |1977—1981 |Helped bring about a peace treaty between |

|(James Earl) | |Israel and Egypt. Improved relations with |

|Carter | |Latin America by giving control of the |

| | |Panama Canal to Panama. Worked to improve |

| | |human rights throughout the world. |

|40. Ronald |1981-1989 |Built up U. S. military power Worked to |

|Wilson Reagan | |reduce inflation and led the fight to reduce|

| | |taxes. The national debt increased massively|

| | |during his administration. In his second |

| | |term, he began arms-limitation talks with |

| | |Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. |

|41. George |1989-1993 |His election marked the 200th anniversary of|

|Herbert Walker | |the U. S. presidency. Presided during the |

|Bush | |breakup of the Soviet Union and the fall of |

| | |Communist rule in Eastern Europe. In the |

| | |Persian Gulf war, led a coalition of nations|

| | |in driving the Iraqi army out of Kuwait. |

|42. Bill |1993— |Won back many of the Democratic and |

|(William | |independent voter" who supported Reagan |

|Jefferson | |during the previous decade. The first |

|Biythe) Clinton| |President born after World War II, he took |

| | |office in a time of transition. The Cold War|

| | |was over, and Americans were beginning to |

| | |focus on problems at home, including the |

| | |national debt and a sluggish economy. |

Excerpts from Inaugural Addresses of American Presidents

Every four years when the new President of the United States is

introduced into his office, i. e. inaugurated, he takes the oath of office

and delivers a speech on the steps of the Capitol.

The American Dream

Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and

Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative

government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the

exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; possessing a chosen

country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and

thousandth generation; enlightened by a benign religion, professed indeed,

and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth,

temperance, gratitude and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an

overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it

delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter -

with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and

prosperous people?

Thomas Jefferson, 1801

The Unity of the Nation

One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought to be

extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not to be

extended. This is the only substantial dispute.

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole

subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. Such of you as are

now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the

sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new

administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either.

If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in

the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action.

In your hands, my dissatisfied country-fellowmen, and not in mine, is the

momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can

have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall

have the most solemn one "to preserve, protect, and defend it."

Abraham Lincoln, 1861

Good Will and World Politics

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall

pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend,

oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.

This much we pledge - and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we

pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot

do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do -

for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge

our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away

merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not

always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to

find them supporting their own freedom — and to remember that, in the past,

those who foolishly sought power by riding on the back of the tiger ended

up inside.

To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to

break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them

help themselves, for whatever period is required - not because the

Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it

is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot

save the few who are rich.

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we

offer not a pledge, but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for

peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf

all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

John F. Kennedy. 1961

The literature

1. English №17 1998 – page 12

2. English № 48, page 1

3. English №16 1996 – page 2-3

4. English №19 2000 – page 14-15

5. Павлоцкий В. М. «Знакомимся с Америкой»

6. Учебное пособие по страноведению, США-М, 1995

7. SpeakOut 2000 №6, page 2-3, 4-5

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