Kennedy Was Popular Throughout America Which Was the Reason of His Assassination
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy was often referred to by his middle name of JFK. He was the 35th President of the United States of America serving his country from 1961 until 1963, belonging to the Democratic Party. I disagree with the statement “The main reason why Americans were so shocked by the assassination of President Kennedy was that he was so popular across the whole country”.
The shock of Kennedys assassination was not due to his popularity, but because the US President had been assassinated there was a sense of shock and confusion in regards to how one of the most powerful countries would operate without a president. By saying this it also reinforces the fact that Kennedy was not universally popular, and there were intricate factions who opposed his presidency as well as the continuous supporters of his Presidency on the other hand.
Kennedy was supported by pockets of society throughout America who saw him as a charismatic young leader who had a vision for America. President Kennedy aimed to deliver a “New Frontier” which aimed to put an end to discrimination and improve general wellbeing for all Americans by introducing things such as funding for education, Medicare for the elderly, government intervention to halt recessions etc. It is evident that President Kennedy did have significant numbers of importance due to the fact that there are large numbers of crowds attending to his address before the 1960 election campaign, but this image alone does not account for the perception of a entire nation.
It is evident that Kennedy was not popular across the whole country due to the results in regards to the 1960 presidential election. As we can in Source B it is evident that Kennedy only succeeded, by a fractional margin. Groups that opposed Kennedy would have been factions such as Ultra right wing societies such as the John Birch Society, who opposed Civil Rights, Communism, Liberalism, the UN and JFKs presidency. The main reason as to why Kennedy was opposed was because of his relation and relation with communist countries which made many Americans confused as to his stance on the issue of communism.
In an attempt to offset President Kennedys political success, there were a number of handouts and posters release to create the general perception of Kennedy as a criminal who has betrayed his own country. These allegations were published by Anti-Kennedy groups in Dallas such as the Citizens Council of Dallas dominated by businessmen involved in the oil industry who believed the US Democracy should serve its interests in exploitable resources to ensure Americas prosperity. By publishing these alleged crimes it was an attempt to make the general public of America resent JFKs presidency in the upcoming election.
As a result of the widespread conflicting opinion on JFKs presidency, Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald which reinforces how Kennedy