JFK

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I. Kennedy’s International Vision

1. An Ideological Cold War (Peace Corps and new conception of American world mission; US and neutrals; Peace Corps and new conception of American world mission; Africa and search for allies—Ghana, Guinea, South Africa, Portuguese colonies; Rostow and theories of development)

2. Alliance Politics (Gaddis and flexible response; legacy of Suez; Britain and Skybolt crisis; France, De Gaulle, and independent nuclear force; Taylor and conventional arms; Europe and nuclear weapons: Vienna, Berlin, De Gaulle, non-proliferation issue)

II. Crisis Diplomacy

1. Latin America (Cuban revolt and 1960 politics; JFK and Bay of Pigs; JFK and Alliance for Politics; tension between military aid and democracy—Argentina, Peru, Brazl)

2. Cuban Missile Crisis (background; USSR/PRC rivalry; Turkey: Jupiters and the Eisenhower legacy; Kennedy and reconsideration; Turkish resistance; JFK and Khrushchev; 62 elections and Keating; discovery of missiles; structure of response—ExComm; membership and prejudices; options: lessons of part, problems of air strikes, limits of deterrence, Italian and Turkish missiles; resolution)

3. Effects (transformation Kennedy; reassessment arms race—American University speech; SANE and grassroots groups; significance of Limited Test-Ban Treaty; fate of Khrushchev; intensification USSR/PRC rivalry; decline of Castro)

III. Kennedy and Asia

1. The Turn toward Israel (difficulties with Iran; DDE legacy: security guarantee, arms procurement, Johnston Plan and water diplomacy, improving relations late 1950s?; JFK: Israel as model?—Kennedy and developmentalism; politics—Democratic coalition; Nasser and Cold War concerns—significance of Yemen intervention and Jordan crisis; decision to sell Hawk missiles; limitations: question of refugees; nonproliferation and tensions over Dimona; Ben Gurion, Eshkol, and inspection)

2. Counterinsurgency (Bay of Pigs and vestiges from DDE years; Southeast Asia as testing ground; intellectual foundations—Taylor, Uncertain Trumpet; Laos and flexibility; Vietnam and wars for hearts and minds; role of Lansdale; why focus on SVN?; McNamara as defense secretary; appointment of Lodge; Diem coup and after-effects)

Abraham Ben-Zvi, John Kennedy and the Politics of Arms Sales to Israel

John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment

David Kaiser, American Tragedy

Fredrik Logevall, Choosing War

Ernest May and Philip Zelikow, eds., The Kennedy Tapes

John Newman, JFK and Vietnam

Stephen Rabe, “The Most Dangerous Area in the World”