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The Camelot Era of the Kennedy Years

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was President of the United States for less than three years, yet in that time he had a major impact on the country and on foreign and domestic policy lasting for a decade or more. Some of his actions produced effects that were beneficial, and others can be seen now as less effective, notably his enmeshing the country in the Vietnam War. Kennedy's presidency began in a spirit of glamour and change and ended in the assassination of an American president. The country shifted from a period of hope to a period of tension, paranoia, conspiracy theories, and a growing distrust of government. The United States became involved in the situation in Vietnam during the Eisenhower Administration, but it was during the Kennedy Administration that U.S. involvement increased and American troops were committed to the support of South Vietnam.

Herbert S. Parmet describes the Kennedy years as follow:

"Camelot" began with smoke from a defective rostrum and closed with a burst of gunfire in the street of an American city. So ended just over a thousand days of elegance, alluring prose, chivalrous masculinity, and drama (Parmet 3).

Yet, no administration simply ends as abruptly as this, for its policies continue to have consequences, its problems have to be addressed by its successors, and its triumphs continue to serve the people long after the administration itself is out of office. This has been true of the Kennedy Administration as of others.

The image that prevailed for the Kennedy years was derived from the Broadway show Camelot. Historian Allan M. Winkler says that the Kennedy era at the beginning of the 1960s was unlike anything that had been seen before or that would follow, and the image of Camelot stood for the young president and his wife and for the youthful attitude that seemed to come into American politics along with them. The Kennedy presidency was a major change from the more staid era of Eisen...

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The Camelot Era of the Kennedy Years. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 00:50, March 19, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1691565.html