John F. Kennedy and His Effect on America's Political Sphere

Abstract

This paper explores the life and policies of late President John F. Kennedy and analyzes them in terms of their legacy in American politics and society. One word unequivocally characterizes Kennedy’s presidential term: incomplete. In its less than three years, he faced trouble passing all the needed legislation for his New Frontier program due to a reluctant Congress and foreign entanglements. And when he was finally starting to figure it out, he was assassinated in 1963, dramatically cutting his life short. Although he wasn’t in office for a complete term, Kennedy’s effect on American politics was profound and many of its effects are noted today. This article explores Kennedy’s immediate political legacy regarding how he played a role in shaping his successor’s policies and his lasting impact on the role of image in political debate and campaigning. In further analysis, in which many of the ideas present were gathered posthumously by scholars, it examines the Camelot myth as well as the Warren Commission and how they impacted and still affect the expectations and sentiments of the American public. It then dissects the 1960 Democratic Party’s platform position, the one Kennedy ran under, and discusses how that and Kennedy’s politics influenced democratic leaders and presidents after the assassination. In short, this paper aims to convince the reader that although cut short, John F. Kennedy’s political career profoundly affected Americans at the time, in the decades that followed his murder, and even through the 21st century.