John F. Kennedy & Vietnam: His Greatest Legacy was not his Stylish Clothes or his Eloquent Speeches, but his Restraint & Wise Judgment in Foreign Affairs
Galbraith & Kennedy: A chance encounter that almost changed the course of history? Photo Credit: CBC-TV
President John F. Kennedy has been dead for nearly 50 years. Yet his memory still shines brightly for many people. This is in large part because he was an attractive, charismatic leader in his day and because he did not grow old with us. Despite numerous attempts by revisionist historians to disparage his reputation, there are huge numbers of people around the world who still hold him in high esteem. Although tarnished slightly, for the general public, JFK’s place among the pantheon of American heroes is secure.
In my view, John F. Kennedy was in some ways a mediocre President. His pursuit of lascivious pleasures and his opinion of the opposite sex would have risked huge embarrassment in today’s politically correct culture. His legislative record of passing laws was dismal. His domestic policies were often not as brilliant and as progressive as our faulty memories would suggest. In the private arena of the White House, he was not always the calm, well-mannered individual his spin doctors made him out to be.
There is a strong temptation to endorse President Harry Truman’s opinion of him: Kennedy would not have amounted to anything if it were not for his father’s wealth and power; his father, Joseph Kennedy, basically purchased the Presidency for him. However, before we render this harsh verdict, it is important to sit back a moment and consider some of the lessons of history. The world is a complex and unpredictable place and sometimes a cruel place. “Life is not fair” is a famous statement President Kennedy made at a press conference. In a world that is not black and white, there is a danger in placing too much faith in so-called experts, since most plans do not go quite the way we anticipate. From his study of history and from his own personal experiences, Kennedy knew this. A person who is skeptical of easy solutions and is aware of the need for emotional and military restraint is well suited for high office.
Probably the most controversial issue of the Kennedy Presidency is his role in Vietnam: would he have pulled out? In terms of foreign affairs, academic researchers are now beginning to show that Kennedy displayed excellent judgment. In their brilliant treatise, “Vietnam, If Kennedy Had Lived” James Bright and Janet Lang conduct a unique counterfactual history (or more precisely a virtual history) of Kennedy’s plans concerning Vietnam. They held a conference involving the interaction of former JFK and LBJ government officials, declassified documents and audiotapes, and leading scholars. The scholars and former officials held widely divergent opinions on Kennedy and Vietnam, but they presented arguments for their interpretation of the documents which were then cross-questioned by others. This new technique allows scholars to better gauge the accuracy and value of historical arguments.
What comes across from reading the transcripts of the conference is the strong impression that Kennedy was a confident but not dogmatic leader. He was interested in hearing opposing views in order to develop better policy decisions. At the same time, he was skeptical of some of the advice he received and refused to allow himself to be browbeaten by some of the more belligerent military officials. Although John Kennedy was pressed by most of his advisors to escalate the war in Vietnam, there is a very strong evidentiary thread running throughout the conference transcripts suggesting that he resisted this pressure and probably would have pulled out of Vietnam.
One of the few advisors recommending withdrawal from Vietnam was the great Canadian economist John Kenneth Galbraith. By chance, he was John Kennedy’s tutor when Kennedy was studying at Harvard University. Biographies of Galbraith have suggested that the President had relied very heavily on the economist’s advice, even though he was the Ambassador to India and not strictly speaking an advisor. James Galbraith, his son, who was invited to the Vietnam conference, mentioned that his father was the advisor Kennedy had known the longest and the one he trusted the most. Several recent Galbraith biographies have argued that this intense influence would have turned the tide in Vietnam. It is tempting to go further and argue that the tutor-student relationship at Harvard was a chance encounter that almost changed the course of history. As a Canadian, I would like to believe that there was a Canadian hero in this narrative. Maybe we’re a little biased. Kennedy did have a few other advisors who also recommended withdrawal, and Kennedy was already predisposed to be skeptical of experts like the military brass, especially after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Whether or not it was Galbraith who convinced Kennedy to withdrawal from Vietnam, it was likely fortuitous that Kennedy had Galbraith’s wise counsel to lean on.
Ironically, the authors of “Vietnam, If Kennedy Had Lived” do not explicitly state (although it is implied) that JFK used a technique somewhat similar to their own virtual history. Just before assuming office, Kennedy was told that he has inherited a plan by the CIA to overthrow Castro. Despite the optimistic predictions of the military, the Bay of Pigs operation proved to be a disaster. In his memoirs, Richard Nixon recalls visiting a bitter President who had been poorly served by his advisors. Clearly, the angry President had vowed never again to rely entirely on one set of experts. He rejected Nixon’s hard-line position of challenging communism everywhere, and he would later consult many other divergent views when developing policy or contemplating action. In subsequent crises – the Laos Crisis, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam Issue – Kennedy resisted the call for military action (that sometimes shockingly included nuclear strikes) and relied more on the few advisors who stressed caution and compromise. In an interesting development, the President’s brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, also used a similar technique when both he and his son were confronted with cancer diagnoses. He contacted a large number of medical experts with different approaches, had them examine the medical records, and then cross-examined them about their opinions. Perhaps the lesson here is not simply to get a second opinion but seek numerous other opinions and cross-examine them.
As mentioned earlier, the world is not black and white. Nor are individuals. As a legislator, Kennedy was just average. But there was more to Kennedy than just political charm. His greatest legacy was not his stylish clothing or his transcendent speeches, but his willingness to learn from mistakes, his restraint and his wise judgment in foreign affairs and his use of multiple sets of advisors. One must be careful when speaking of historical certainties, but had Kennedy lived, the debacle known as Vietnam, probably would not have occurred.
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Tags: bay of pigs, kenneth galbraith, military, president John F. Kennedy, vietnam
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