Politics at Home

John_F_Kennedy_Official_Portrait.jpg

The official presidential portrait of John F. Kennedy, painted in 1970 by Aaron Shikler

President of the United States - a job called the most difficult in the world. Each president from Eisenhower to Ford left his unique impact on the war and the country he lead. Kennedy navigated the Cuban Missile Crisis and ramped up the number of military advisers in Vietnam. Johnson kept to Kennedy's military strategy while pursuing his Great Society reforms. Nixon escalated even more, thanks to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Ford would oversee the end of American involvement in the war. Americans would walk on the moon during this time; they would also be assassinated in Texas, massacred at Kent State, and died by the thousands in Vietnam.