Current Events and U.S. Diplomacy

The Cold War Relationship between Cuba and the United States

A Presidential doctrine is any goals, stances, or attitudes that are outlined by a head of state. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) presented Kennedy Doctrine during the Cold War. The main aim of the policy was to enhance stability of the United States and containment of communism (Rabe, 2014). Additionally, President Kennedy aimed to minimize the missile gap for the welfare of the Soviet Union. Before President Kennedy rose to power, the government of the United States backed the authoritarian government of Cuba under the leadership of President Fulgencio Batista. Nevertheless, Eisenhower turned down Baptista’s request for armaments as a way to defend his regime from revolutionaries. Eventually, he was overthrown from the position of a president in 1959.

After the revolution and just before the announcement of presidential doctrine, the relationship between the United States and Cuba were limited but well maintained. For the rest of his regime, President Eisenhower avoided a meeting with Fidel Castro as one of the leaders of the revolution. However, he allowed vice president, Nixon, to accommodate Fidel during a visit to Washington, DC (Rabe, 2014). After Cuba began to negotiate with USSR in regard to purchasing of weapons, the government of the United States condemned the association with communist nations. Just before the end of Eisenhower’s presidency, he terminated all the diplomatic relationships with the government of Cuba. After President Kennedy assumed office, he issued a doctrine to facilitate the spread of communism in different parts of Latin America.

The Current relationship between the United States and Cuba

On 17^th December, 2014, Cuban president Raul Castro and Barack Obama opened a dialogue to settle the foes of the Cold War. President Obama appealed the people of Cuba to pursue for a democratic future. However, President Trump declared that he would cancel all the previous agreement and restore the travel restrictions on Cuba. The president has argues that the penalties in Cuba will remain in place until the administration recognizes the freedom of speech and stop abuses of the dissidents (Powaski, 2017). During the 2016 campaigns, President Trump had promised to reverse all the efforts of President Barack Obama to restore peace with Cuba unless the administration would meet particular demands. On June 2017, trump declared that he would suspend the “one sided deal with Cuba”. The president has an objective to impose new restrictions related to funding and travel. However, the diplomatic relationship have remained intact while the Embassies in Havana and Washington DC are open.

The Effect of Kennedy Doctrine on regional and Global affairs

The Kennedy Doctrine has resulted in a significant impact on both regional and worldwide affairs. The main purpose of the doctrine was to stop the spread of communism to the states of America. Additionally, President Kennedy had an objective to eradicate communism in different areas based in the United States. Kennedy’s policy was similar to that of the previous rulers, who attempted to stop the spread of communism. The doctrine was practiced in Cuba after a realization that Soviets were establishing Missile sites in Cuba. The president placed missiles in the country, which had offensive capabilities. 

President Kennedy declared that his administration was not willing to let Soviet Union to cause a security threat to the Western Hemisphere. The leader wanted to improve relationship with Latin America. The progress Alliance was a program based on economic aids to the countries in Latin America. It is apparent that President Kennedy aspired to improve the poor relations of America and other nations. Furthermore, he hoped that the assistance would strengthen the economic conditions of the nations based in Latin America, thus, lower chances that they would turn to communism.

Assessment of Whether the Presidential Doctrine had the Intended Purpose

According to Powaski (2017), Kennedy doctrine was not a new concept in America. It was a restatement of the idea of containment. However, the doctrine did not change the relationship between Soviet Union and the United States. Additionally, the doctrine failed to change the relationship between Cuba and the United States. The main aim of President Kennedy was to respond to spread of communism. Resulting from concerns in the United States, the Soviets claimed that they were providing weapons to the Cubans. During Kennedy’s administration, he called for military strength to prevent the spread of communism at all costs.

In the Kennedys inaugural address, the president provided a blue print, which his administration would follow in future. Additionally, the president invited the public in the fight of illness, poverty, and war (Franklin, 2016). Through the President’s speech, it is apparent that his main goals was to control the spread of communism at all costs. During the Cold War environment, Kennedy appealed for military strength together with global unity and disarmament. The leader managed to fight for attainment of freedom among the citizens. Furthermore, the president influenced the economic growth of the United States through an establishment of new business relationships with other countries However, a group of people relocated to the Western side of Europe from the Eastern Berlin. As a result, there was population growth in the Western side of Europe. Eventually, President Kennedy applied his leadership skills in a country suffering from immense conflicts of the Civil War.

References

Franklin, J. (2016). Cuba and the US empire: a chronological history. NYU Press.

Powaski, R. E. (2017). John F. Kennedy, the Hawks, the Doves, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. In American Presidential Statecraft (pp. 11-65). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Rabe, S. G. (2014). The most dangerous area in the world: John F. Kennedy confronts communist revolution in Latin America. UNC Press Books.