One of the greatest accomplishments many attribute to Kennedy is the Cuban Missile Crises. But although many historians have tracked down the movements and thoughts of the leaders during that tense time, there haven’t been much detailing the thoughts of the American citizens that is until now. An online excerpt by Tom Smith discuses the impact of the Cuban Missile Crises on the people during the time it has occurred. It shows that many citizens didn’t fear an upcoming nuclear war as much as we thought and alsothat the importance of foreign diplomacy rose in the eyes of Americans.
When one hears of the Cuban Missile Crises, they imagine that the US citizens were leaving in constant fear of a nuclear war at the time. But is this really the case? A poll shows that in the September of 1962, 24 percent considered Cuba our top national threat. But even after Kennedy’s public national address, the concern only rose to 25%. Concern of Cuba would later peak at 31% and remain above 20% through Mach of 1963, but by September of 1963, the results would have dropped to 3%!(Smith, 266-267) So did the people really fear the threat of a nuclear war? And if they did, why were they so close to be unconcerned about the nation that nearly started it? In fact in April of 1963,” only 5% expected a world war within the next year”, the lowest number in the last two decades.(Smith,268) Another impact on Americans was their views on foreign affairs. Their view of foreign affairs as a concern to the US rose from 35% to 72% from August to November of 1962. That is only second to Pearl Harbor’s impact (81%).(Smith, 267)
Another view of the Cuban Missile Crises was that America had “won” it. (In actuality, we compromised with the removal of our missiles in Turkey.) In a survey of December 1962, 45% of the poll reported that expected to see a decrease in Soviet power the next year. Maybe it was this boost in national image that helped Kennedy’s image also. The Cuban Missile Crises pushed Kennedy’s approval rating from 61% to 74% between mid-October and November. Foreign affairs also shifted in the Cuban Missile Crises. “In the summer of 1962, few people mentioned good or bad things they had heard people saying about President Kennedy.” Only 9 percent saw him successful in foreign diplomacy while 8 percent disapproved in his actions. When the Cuban Missile Crises was going on, 59 percent of pollster mentioned Kennedy’s success in foreign actions while 14 percent disapproved.(Smith, 269-270) We can see how the Cuban Missile Crises set foreign policies as such a high standard to judge Presidents.
The Cuban Missile Crises is, according to a poll, the most remembered fact about Kennedy’s term and was thought in 1988 to be in the top 6 uses of America’s military might.(Smith, 275) This source reveals that the fear of nuclear war may have been overstated for dramatic purposes. This online article contains the results of the original polls in the appendix and polls themselves which is arguably the best way to get the public’s opinion on something.
This blog talked about the general view of the public over the course of years 1962-1963 in general this week. Next week it may go into even more detail about the weeks during the Missile crises and the daily lives of citizens then. Or, it may investigate the sources the article used to dig deeper into the subject. Either way, this source is a very valuable resource and is recommendable it for reading s of Kennedy. It closely examines a legendary event in his term and is terse with lots of cited information and statistical proof in the appendix.
Works Cited
Smith, Tom. Public Quarterly. 67. Oxford University Press, 2004. 265-275. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3521635?seq=1>.