page_title: Presidency of John F. Kennedy
section_title: Latin America
hierarchical_section_title: Presidency of John F. Kennedy / Foreign affairs / Latin America
caption_attribution_description: Sin fecha. El presidente Jorge Alessandri, en discurso,junto a el John F. Kennedy.
context_page_description: The presidency of John F. Kennedy began at noon EST on January 20, 1961, when Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States, and ended on November 22, 1963, upon his assassination, a span of 1,036 days. A Democrat from Massachusetts, he took office following the 1960 presidential election, in which he narrowly defeated Richard Nixon, the then–incumbent Vice President. He was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.
  Kennedy's time in office was marked by Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union and Cuba. In Cuba, a failed attempt was made in April 1961 at the Bay of Pigs to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. In October 1962, the Kennedy administration learned that Soviet ballistic missiles had been deployed in Cuba; the resulting Cuban Missile Crisis nearly resulted in nuclear war, but ended when the Soviets withdrew the missiles. To contain Communist expansion in Asia, Kennedy increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam by a factor of 18; a further escalation of the American role in the Vietnam War would take place after Kennedy's death.
context_section_description: Kennedy sought to contain the threat of communism in Latin America by establishing the Alliance for Progress, which sent aid to some countries and sought greater human rights standards in the region. The Alliance for Progress drew from the Good Neighbor Policy in its peaceful engagement with Latin America, and from the Marshall Plan in its expansion of aid and economic relationships. Kennedy also emphasized close personal relations with Latin American leaders, frequently hosting them in the White House. The U.S. Information Agency was given an important role of reaching out to Latin Americans in Spanish, Portuguese, and French media. The goals of the Alliance for Progress included long-term permanent improvement in living conditions through the advancement of industrialization, the improvement of communications systems, the reduction of trade barriers, and an increase in the number and diversity of exports from Latin America. At a theoretical level, Kennedy’s planners hoped to reverse the under-development of the region and its dependency on North America. Part of the administration's motivation was the fear that Castro’s Cuba would introduce anti-American political and economic changes if development did not take place.
  The U.S. also continued to use covert means in order to reduce Soviet influence. When Kennedy took office, the CIA had begun formulating plans for the assassination of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. Kennedy privately instructed the CIA that any such planning must include plausible deniability by the U.S. The administration had no role in Trujillo's assassination in 1961, but supported the government of Trujillo's successor, Juan Bosch. The United States launched a covert intervention in British Guiana to deny the left-wing leader Cheddi Jagan power in an independent Guyana, and forced a reluctant Britain to participate. The CIA also engaged in operations in Brazil and Chile against left-wing leaders.
caption: Kennedy with Chilean President Jorge Alessandri
exif: {"Image WhitePoint": "[31269/100000, 32899/100000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[63999/100000, 33001/100000, 3/10, 3/5, 3/20, 5999/100000]", "Image Tag 0x0301": "50000/22727", "Image Tag 0x5110": "1", "Image Tag 0x5111": "11810", "Image Tag 0x5112": "11810"}