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Content

Introduction. 3

Constitution
USA.. 3

Nation
Grows. Washington Through Jackson. Jefferson. 5

Presidents
of the United States. 7

Thomas Jefferson. 8

Jefferson's
Reason. 8

The
“American Creed" and Mankind's Spiritual History. 9

Jacksonian
Democracy. 11

Jonh F. Kennedy. 12

Presidents
at a Glance. 18

Excerpts
from Inaugural Addresses of American Presidents. 22

The
literature. 24

The US is a federal
Union of 50 states each of them has its own government. The seat of the central
(federal) government is Washington, D.C.

The population of
the USA is about 250 million people; most of the population lives in towns and
cities.

The United States
is rich in natural and mineral resources. It produces copper, oil, iron ore and
coal. It's a highly developed industrial and agricultural country. There are
many big cities in the USA, such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles,
Philadelphia and others. The national capital is Washington, D.C. Its
population is about 3.4 million. It was built in the late eighteenth century as
the centre of government. It was named after George Washington, the first
president of USA and general of war.

The USA are the fourth largest
country in the World (after Russia, Canada, and China). It occupies the
southern part of North America and stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic
Ocean. It also includes Alaska in the North and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.
The total area of the country is about nine and half million square kilometers.
The USA borders on Canada in the North and on Mexico in the South. It also has
a sea border with Russia.

The USA is a presidential republic.
The legislative branch of the US Government, or the Congress, represents all of
the American states. It consists of two parts: the House of Representatives and
the Senate. Each state has two senators, who are elected every 6 years. A
senator must be at least 30 years old, a citizen of the US for 9 years and live
the state she or he will represent. A representative must be at least 25 years
old, a citizen for 7 years and live in the state.

USA - the very first state accepted
the constitution. It is one of the first countries which have established
democracy by the basic form of board. In this report we shall tell about the
reasons of occurrence of the constitution and about its influence on
development of the state on an example of president's institute.

With independence came many
problems. The U. S. were joined together under one government by the Articles
of Confederation. The articles listed the powers of the central government and
the powers of the states. There was a national Congress made up of
representatives from each state. But Congress had almost no power at all. The
13 states acted like 13 separate little nations. There were many times when
states would not cooperate with the central government. They were too busy
quarrelling with each other. The U. S. was in danger of falling.

In May 1787 a meeting began in
Philadelphia to change the Articles of Confederation. Representatives from all
the states except Rhode Island were present. It was soon decided that whole new
constitution had to be written. A constitution is set of laws by which a
country is governed.

This meeting became known as
the Constitutional Convention. Washington was chosen president of the
convention. A 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin took part in its work. A new group of first-rate leaders were at this meeting. Among
these leaders were  James Madison and Gouverneur Morris. The people who
attended the convention did their work very well. The Constitution has lasted
to the present.

What kind of
government would be the best for the USA?

The delegates all agreed that
the new government should continue to be a republic. This means that the people
would elect representatives to manage their country.

The delegates knew that they
wanted a federal government. In such a government the power is divided between
the national and the state governments. The national government would collect
taxes and borrow money. It would control trade with foreign countries and
between states. The national government would print or coin money. It alone
could declare war. All other powers were left to the states. Matters within a
state would be settled by that state.

The members of the
Constitutional Convention wanted a government that would protect the people's
rights, not take them away. So they divided the government's power into three
parts, or branches. This is called separation of powers.

The legislative branch was the
Congress. Its major job was to make laws. The executive branch was the
President and his helpers. It was their job to carry out the laws the Congress
passed. The judicial branch was the courts. They had to decide the meaning of
the laws.

Each branch had some power over
the other two. No one branch would be allowed more power than the others.

A big debate at the convention
was over the matter of who would control Congress. Large states wanted
representatives to Congress based on the number of people in the state. Small
states wanted an equal vote with the larger states. This problem was solved by
giving Congress two parts. Regardless of size each state would send two
representatives to the Senate, one part of Congress. States with more people
would send more delegates to the House of Representatives, the other part of
Congress. In order for a law to be passed, it had to go through both parts of
Congress.

The new Constitution included a
way to make changes, called amendments. If things didn't work out, or if the
USA grew о changes, the Constitution could be amended without
being entirely changed. This was to prove helpful very soon.

Nine state governments had to
approve the Constitution be fore it could become the law of the land. Many
states refused to do so unless the Constitution listed people's rights as well
as the rights of the government. They argued that important freedoms must be
written down. Once the states were promised that this would happen, the
Constitution would become law.

James Madison saw to it that
these freedoms were written down. Madison had been very active at the
Constitutional Convention. After the Convention he worked hard to explain the
Constitution to the people. Once the new government was started, Madison wrote
many amendments that would make rights like freedom the press, speech and
worship part of the Constitution. Ten of these amendments were passed by the
states. These first ten amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of
Rights.

April 30, 1789 was Inauguration
Day for the young nation's first President. An inauguration is the ceremony
that puts someone office. Washington did not want to be President. He wanted to
live at his beautiful home Mount Vernon. But he put his love for his country
ahead of his own wishes. Washington traveled from Mount Vernon to New York
City. New York City was the nation's first capital. Washington took the oath of
office on the Bible. He promised to do his best to keep, protect and defend the
Constitution. The Constitution listed the powers and duties of the President.

The new government was started
with a Constitution, a Congress, a President and little else. Both Washington
and the Congress knew that the new government would have to show its strength
very quickly.

The job of President was too
big for one person alone. Congress formed three departments to help Washington.
These departments went to work on three of the biggest problems facing the new
nation.

The State Department would work
on relations with other nations. The War Department would build a national navy
and army. It is now called the Department of Defense. The Treasury Department
would handle the nation's money problems.

Washington chose able leaders
for each of these departments. Each leader would be called a secretary. Thomas
Jefferson became secretary of state; Henry Knox, secretary of war and Alexander
Hamilton secretary of treasury.

Each of these men advised the
President. Final decisions were made by the President, however.

The group of advisors became
known as the Cabinet. Future Presidents would all have a Cabinet.

The Constitution called for a
third branch of government - a Supreme Court. All questions about the
Constitution and federal laws would be settled by this court. Washington
appointed John Jay as head of the Supreme Court. He was called the Chief
Justice.

In 1791 Congress passed a tax
law in order to raise money for the new government. Some people thought they
would rather fight than pay these taxes. Washington formed an army to stop
them. He showed future Presidents how to be a strong leader.

The nation also grew and
expanded while Washington was President. The new states - Vermont, Kentucky and
Tennessee - entered the Union.

   Washington could have been
President for life. But he didn't feel this was right. He had devoted most of
his life to helping his country. Now, he was 65 years old and had served two
terms, or four-year periods as President. With the exception of Franklin
Roosevelt, every President has followed Washington's two-term tradition. In
1797 Washington retired. He went back to the life he loved at Mount Vernon.

  Не
did not enjoy it for long time. On December 12, 1799 he was caught in a
snowstorm while riding around his farm and became sick. Two days later he died.
The second president be-came John Adams. He was a true patriot as well as a
brave and stubborn man. Near the end of Adam's term as President, the
government moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D. C. The most important of
Adam's deeds was that he took responsibility of the peace with France in 1800.

The third president of the USA
was a very remarkable man, Thomas Jefferson. He was a man of many talents: He
was a lawyer. He wrote the Declaration of Independence. He was the
representative of the United States at the court of the king of France A person
who does this kind of work is called a diplomat. He was the first secretary of
state, second vice-president and third President of the USA. While he was
President the size of the country doubled.

He came from Virginia. He
served that state as governor and Congressman. As an architect he drew the
plans for many building in Virginia. At the same time he was also a fine
violinist and composer. He studied Native American languages. He knew Greek,
Latin and Hebrew. He could speak French and Italian.

His work as scientist and
inventor shouldn't be forgotten. He did practical things such as improving
farming methods by in venting a new type of plow. He experimented with
different seeds. He worked much in education.

Jefferson's greatest
accomplishment as President was the Louisiana Purchase. At this time Louisiana
included just above all the land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky
Mountains. The Mississippi River was a highway for those Americans who lived
west of the Appalachian Mountains. They took their goods downriver to the port
of New Orleans. New Orleans was not part of the U. S. It belonged to France
which had received the city and the rest of what is called the Louisiana
Territory from Spain in 1800.

Americans living in the West
were afraid that France would not allow them to use the port of New Orleans for
trade. This was because Napoleon wanted to start another French empire in
America. The Americans were to try to buy New Orleans from the French for ten
million dollars.

Haiti was a French colony in
the Caribbean Sea. Napoleon needed a strong naval base in Haiti if he wanted a
French empire in America. But a former slave Toussaint L'Ouverture led the
people of Haiti in successful fight for freedom at this time. With out Haiti,
Louisiana lost some of its appeal for Napoleon. It also looked as though France
would soon be fighting Great Britain. If so, France would be unable to defend
Louisiana. The soldiers would be needed in Europe. Napoleon decided to sell the
entire Louisiana territory to the USA. It was bought for 15 million dollars. By
this act the USA doubled its size.

Jefferson wanted to know more
about Louisiana. He wished to find out about the Native Americans, the animals,
the minerals, the climate and the type of land. To make such an exploration
Jefferson chose Merewether Lewis, his personal secretary, and William dark,
Lewis's close friend. They were to try to find a route all the way to the
Pacific Ocean. They built a fort and spent the winter on the shores of the
Pacific. In the spring they started the trip home, finally reaching St Louis in
September 1806. Their diary was a document of great importance. Jefferson
received an excellent report of their journey. He learned a great deal about
the geography of the new territory. He learned about the animals, trees and
plants there. The work of Lewis and dark gave the USA a claim to the Oregon
Country. In 1846 this area became part of the USA.

Who can be President? Any natural-born citizen of the United
States who is over the age of thirty-five and has lived in the United States
for fourteen years or more.

What does a President do? The President is the chief executive of
the United States. According to the Constitution, he "shall take care that
the laws be faithfully executed." From time to time, he informs Congress
in his State of the Union message what has been done and what needs to be done.

Although he cannot force
Congress to act, he can suggest a program for them to consider. And as leader
of his political party, he can often see that program is carried out, when his
party has a majority of seats. He can also prevent Congress from acting by
using the presidential veto.

The President plays the chief
part in shaping foreign policy. With the Senate's approval, he makes treaties
with other nations and appoint ambassadors. But he can also make executive
agreements with other nations without approval of the Senate.

He nominates Cabinet members,
Supreme Court justices, and many other high officials. These nominations must
be approved by the Senate However, he can fill thousands of other important
posts under his own power.

The President is Commander in
Chief of the Armed Forces and commissions officers in all branches of the
service.

How is the President
elected? The voters of
each state choose a number of electors equal to the number of senators and
representatives they have in Congress. The electoral college, made up of the
electors from every vote for the candidate supported by the voters of their
state When there are more than two presidential candidates and none gets a
clear majority, Congress selects the President from the three candidates who
received the most votes.

How long is the President in
office? The President is
elected to a term of four years. Since Article XXII of the Constitution became
effective, in 1951, no President may be elected to more than two terms

When does the President take
office? The new President
takes office at noon of January 20 of the year following his election, on
taking this oath of office: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I
will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will,
to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of
the United States."

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson's Reason

Jefferson's words are written
and spoken in the USA many times everyday; most often as if the words, phrases
and ideas, by themselves alone, constituted some sort of complete statements,
some sort of ultimate and final truths about man, world and society. This is a
deep, though very popular mistake; one this piece shall try somewhat to amend.
The phrases and ideas are admittedly grand, noble and inspiring; most Americans
- at least those native born - do not read these words without emotion (due of
course to intellectual and emotional culture and education). They are an
essential part of what it is to be an "American". Even persons in the
USA who may only be educated in the most meager way (and there are unfortunately
tens of millions in the USA who are labeled
"functionally-illiterate"), often still can at least repeat portions
of these famous words quoted above. (This author has observed some of the very
poorest, least educated, most socially- and economically - disadvantaged people
in America- whose daily lives are surrounded by chronic poverty; drugs,
uncontrolled crime and random violence; joblessness; hopelessness;

broken families, etc. - repeat
small parts of Jefferson's words, in trying to explain their lives. Jefferson could
never have pictured this.)

Jefferson had been raised as a
child in the moderate beliefs, doctrines and services of the Anglican Church;
it had its original lineage from the Roman Catholic Church, and generally in
America became the Episcopal Church. It was the established church of the
Virginia colony where Jefferson lived. (Later Jefferson would be influential in
disestablishing this church. In other words, he was raised as a boy in the
traditions and beliefs of the Christian cosmos with its ancient elements. But
this would soon be profoundly challenged. When he, beginning at the age of 16,
attended the College of William and Mary, he began a rapid transition from a
mild, uncritical world of theological beliefs the Anglican Church is not one of
emotional fervor in religion) into the modem critical ideas of the so-called
Enlightenment, into the "Age of Reason". And in fact it is necessary
to understand not only what Jefferson believed when he wrote Declaration of
Independence at the age of 33, but what he did not believe, in order to clearly
recognize the meaning of the "American Creed".

From his personal notebooks -
where he wrote ideas which were of real importance to him (they also constitute
one of the few sources of insight we have as to the young Jefferson's mind) -
we are able to see into his new ideas of the world. Jefferson, while young, was
deeply affected by his educational experiences at the College of William and
Mary, both by his personal contacts (for example, he came to dine and converse
regularly with the Governor of Virginia, whose father had worked for Sir Isaac
Newton), as well as by his readings. While only one of the seven faculty
members at the College was not an Anglican clergyman: Dr. William Small of
Scotland; it was he who the young Jefferson was most influenced by. Of him
Jefferson later wrote that he was "a man profound in most of the useful
branches of science...from his conversations I got my first views of the
expansion of science and of the system of things in which we are placed."
(This is a clear, if later-written, indication of Jefferson's transition from a
theological-religious to a natural scientific world-view.)

We know from his notebooks that
be was deeply impacted by the writings concerning religious and philosophical
themes and history of Lord Boling broke (1678-1751), whose works are a rather
tedious, rationalist, empiricist critique of all of the religious and
philosophical systems then known of in the world. Jefferson seems, from his
note-taking, to have read all of the several volumes at this early period as a
student. (Jefferson would eventually come to assemble one of the greatest
personal libraries of his time in America; it became the core of the current
Library of Congress, for, after the British burnt the first one in 1814,
Jefferson sold his personal library of about 6,500 books to the US Congress to
rebuild its library. Even with this comparatively small reading in Boling
broke, Jefferson received a broader and more solid intellectual education than
today most Americans do after many years of schooling.)

If Jefferson lived uncritically
in the Christian cosmos as a child, Boling broke's critical works (and not only
this author) would have deeply affected the Jefferson's young understanding -
and this effect in his ideas and philosophy lasted for the rest of his life. So
that when we look to see what Jefferson did mean of man and cosmos when he
wrote the words still famous around the world today, we find that he did not
hold a religious or spiritual view of man and cosmos, as had the early settlers
(and still many of Jefferson's contemporaries) of the "age of faith"
in American history. Indeed, Jefferson had rejected most of their ideas and
beliefs, believing rather in a material, physical, natural scientific view of
man and world. (He held a Deist view of God, as the original creator, who had
ordered nature and life through the "laws of nature", but otherwise
was detached from earthly life. And in general he tended to reduce all religion
to morality.) Closer to Darwin in spirit and time (of whose later writings he
could know nothing of course), Jefferson would later symptomatically place
busts of Bacon, Locke and Newton in his self- designed home of Monticello -
which is now become a place of American pilgrimage. This is an indication of
his lifelong adherence - beginning as a student - to a natural-scientific view
of man and world. Jefferson rejected most religions and metaphysical
philosophies and their ideas as myths. (He especially disliked for example
Plato, St. Paul, Athanasius and Calvin.) Sometimes he viewed them as the
deliberate fabrications of priests and kings to manipulate and control their
people. Jefferson thought that man's "reason" should rule man.

The “American Creed" and Mankind's Spiritual
History

Jefferson's words came to be
repeated on e. g. "Fourth of July Celebrations" throughout America
over the years and came to be a sort of creedal statement as to what it means
to be "American" - as we saw also in the President's address in
November of 1995 But in fact very few Americans are clear about either the
original context or meaning of the "American Creed" - the
"cosmos" of these words - or of Jefferson’s rejection of most of the
spiritual beliefs which many of these Americans personally hold, commonly
blended together with Jefferson's contrasting, antithetically-conceived grand
expressions! In other words, these ideas from 1776, still alive today, are in
fact only truly to be understood within a scientific-natural view of man,
nature, society. God and world. And this is so even though the religious,
spiritual and philosophical beliefs of the vast majority of the US people - who
often use them in close association with Jefferson's phrases, when they explain
and understand America and life - were in fact rejected by Jefferson before
(and after) he wrote them. His human and social ideals were conceived within a
natural cosmos of man; they are ideals of man in this world. He had rejected a
spiritual cosmos and anthropology to man.

Jefferson would, symptomatically,
at the end of his great life (devoted largely to serving America) attempt
(unsuccessfully) to exclude the teaching of religion from the University of
Virginia which he had brought into being. Contrariwise, most Americans - in
their (generally) extremely limited knowledge of even their own nation's
history-place together views which Jefferson himself considered to be
fundamentally antithetical. The beliefs of a greater spiritual cosmos, e.g.
Dante's world's, the spiritual-metaphysical beliefs of man and world, cannot
properly be fit inside of Jefferson's world and his ideals - at least not
realistically intellectually. The cosmos of the "American Creed" has
its own reality and dignity - but it is not such that all of the ideas which Americans
have come to place inside of its famous phrases, can, truthfully and
unproblematically, be placed.

In my view - and no one who
reads this great man's biography can doubt his devotion and service to America,
Jefferson was true to the history, reality and life of mankind in his time. One
of his biographers called him "one of the most devoted disciples of the
Age of Reason". (Nostalgia and longing for the "age of faith" -
like the time before the "Fall of Man" - is understandable; but the
"age of reason" was, if not an inevitability or necessity of history,
still nevertheless a new more realistic relationship of man to nature. So that
no mere easy return to the past is true or realistic.) He was a realistic man
of science; he could not and would not rest in the "age of faith".
And, as was characteristic of this and later time, once the Bible and religion
were subjected to the "age of reason", the beliefs of the "age
of faith" could never be immediately accepted unquestioned again.

While he was close to Darwin in
his scientific attitude, he would have deeply lamented Darwin's eventual
rejection both of a creator God (chance and natural selection rather than
divine design) and the view of man's reason and conscience as special
"gifts" (Jefferson) of God to man.

In fact, Darwin and Jefferson
(as well as many of their contemporaries of course), were offended by many of
the same "unbelievable" aspects of Christianity and in relationship
to Jefferson's phrases as well!

Here is an aspect - perhaps
even more fundamental and definitive in some ways than the problem of the
popular and noble "American Dream" - of how Americans are unaware and
unconscious of the lineage of their own spiritual and intellectual origin and
history. Very, very few even college-graduate Americans could even begin to
give a serious account of the relation-ship between their own personal
spiritual beliefs, the cosmos of their "American Creed" and the
intellectual and spiritual history of mankind (e.g. Indo-European sources,
Dionysus the Areopagite's cosmography, Dante's Comedy, even Newton, Laplace, et
al). They are simply unaware and uninformed of how America's "ideas"
acutally stand inside of not only European, but Occidental and world
intellectual and spiritual history. Indeed, I am certain that even the current
President of the USA himself- himself an active Christian Southern Baptist
believer - would find it difficult to give such an account of the relationship
of his Baptist religious beliefs, to the natural ideas of man and cosmos in the
"American Creed" which he had cited in his November 1995 speech, in
which he defined America to the world. But American ideals - the cosmos of the
American Creed-do stand within the entire spiritual and intellectual history of
Mankind - however little this may be clearly conceived and worried by Americans
themselves.

The cosmos of the
"American Creed" is a natural, not a spiritual one. The failure to
recognize and understand this clearly cannot be of spiritual and intellectual
hope, health and help to Mankind. If America is now in many ways leading the
world, it should, presumably, know and understand more deeply and clearly what
America and her ideals are actually about.

Jacksonian Democracy

Andrew Jackson became the U. S.
President in 1828. For weeks thousands of people had been coming to Washington,
D. C. to see his inauguration. Jackson was the hero of common people. He was
truly a President of the people.

Jackson was a fighter. He took
part in the Revolutionary War. His soldiers called him "Old Hickory"
because hickory wood was the toughest thing they knew. When he had moved to
Tennessee he served its people as a lawyer, judge, Congressman and senator. But
he won his greatest fame as a soldier. Because of his activities in Florida,
the U. S. was able to take control of that area from Spain.

Jackson believed in people who
loved him. He felt that common people could run the government. This idea has
come to be called Jacksonian democracy. These people elected him as their
President. He gave them their first chance to really have a part in government.

Not everyone benefited while
Jackson was President- Women, black and Native Americans were not able to take
part in gov_ernment. In fact, in some cases, the government worked against
them.

The Cherokee nation serves as
an example of what happened to many Native American tribes and people in
Jackson's times. The Cherokees had a great deal of land in Georgia and Alabama.
They were farmers. They had roads and lived in houses. They had a written
language and a weekly newspaper. Their government was democratic. But white
settlers wanted their land.

The land was promised to the
Cherokee nation by treaty. Missionaries, Congressman Henry Clay, and the
Supreme Court all said that the Cherokees had rights to their claims. Even so,
the Cherokees were thrown off their land. They were told to go to Oklahoma.
With soldiers watching them, they had little choice but to obey.

This journey lasted several
months. Disease, hunger and cold brought death to many. Over 4,000 Cherokees
Were buried along the Trial of Tears which stretched from Georgia to Oklahoma.

Jackson said that their removal
was necessary. Without it, he said, the Cherokees all would have been killed by
white settlers looking for more land. Jackson did agreat deal to make people
feel a part of government. But he was not ready to give equality to Native
Americans. A slave holder, all his life Jackson did not believe in equality for
blacks either.

Yet in Jackson's time, some
people were starting to oppose slavery. These people were called abolitionists.

Jonh F. Kennedy

For many Americans the election
of John Fitzgerald Kennedy as the 35th President of the United States in 1960
marked the beginning of a new era in this country's political history. Kennedy
was the first Roman Catholic and the youngest man ever chosen Chief Executive.
He was also the first person bom in the 20th century to hold the nation's
highest office.

Born in Brookline,
Massachusetts, on May 29. 1917, Kennedy was descended from two politically
conscious, Irish-American families that had emigrated from Ireland to Boston
shortly after potato blight and economic upheavals had struck their homeland in
the 1840s. Kennedy's grandfathers, Patrick J. Kennedy and John F. ("Honey
Fitz") Fitzgerald, became closely associated with the local Democratic
Party; Kennedy served in the Massachusetts legislature, and Fitzgerald won
election as mayor of Boston. In 1914 the marriage of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose
Fitzgerald united the two families. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the second eldest
of Joseph and Rose Kennedy's four sons and five daughters.

Joseph P. Kennedy was an
extraordinarily successful businessman. Despite the relatively modest means of
his family, Kennedy attended Harvard College, and upon graduation in 1912 began
a career in banking. During the 1920s he amassed a substantial fortune from his
investments in motion pictures, real estate, and other enterprises, and unlike
many magnates of his era he escaped unscathed from the stock market crash of
1929. Joseph Kennedy himself was never a candidate for elective office, but he
was deeply interested in the Democratic Party. He made large contributions to
the presidential campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932; in return,
Roosevelt appointed him chairman of the recently established Securities and
Exchange Commission, where his business expertise proved especially helpful in
drafting legislation designed to regulate the stock market. In 1937 Roosevelt
named Kennedy US ambassador to Great Britain.

Despite his wealth and
political influence, the Democratic Irish-Catholic Joseph Kennedy never won the
acceptance of Boston's Protestant elite. He deeply resented this, and
determined that his sons' achievements would equal, if not excel, those of
their Brahmin counter-parts. Toward this end he modeled their lives and
education after those enjoyed by the Yankee upper class.

John Kennedy, like his brothers
and sisters, grew up in comfortable homes and attended some of the nation's
most prestigious preparatory schools and colleges. He was enrolled at the age
of 13 at Canterbury, a Catholic preparatory school staffed by laymen, but
transferred after a year to the nonsectarian Choate School, where he completed
his secondary education before entering Princeton University. Illness forced
him to leave the college before the end of Ins freshman year. but the
following'. autumn he resumed his studies, at Hanard.

Kennedy's college years
coincided with a time of world crisis 'The future President had unusual
opportunities to combine know ledge gained in the classroom with his own
firsthand observations. As a government major at Harvard he benefited from the
teachings of some of the nation's most prominent political scientists and
historians. men who in the late 1930s were acutely aware of the growing menace
of Nazism. Moreover, in 1938 Kennedy spent six months in London assisting his
father. who was then serving as US ambassador. "This slay in England gave
the young student an excellent opportunity to witness for himself the British
response to the Nazi aggression of the 1930s, and he used the insight gained
from the experience in writing his senior thesis. This thesis, in which Kennedy
attempted to explain England's hesitant reaction to German rearmament, was
extremely perceptive. and in 1940 it was published in expanded form in the
United States and 6reat Britain under the title Why England Slept.

After receiving his B.S. degree
cum laude from Harvard in 1940, Kennedy briefly attended ihe Stanford
University Graduate School ot Business, and then spent several months traveling
through South America. Late in 1941, when the United States' entry into World
War II seemed imminent. Kennedy joined the US Navy. As an officer he served in
the South Pacific Theater, where he commanded one of the small PT or torpedo boats
that patrolled off the Solomon Islands.

On April 25. 1943, Kennedy
assumed command of P 1 -109, the vessel on which, only a little more than four
months later, his courage and strength were put to their first serious test. On
the night of August 2, 1943, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri rammed PT-109. The
force of the destroyer sliced the American craft in half and plunged its 11
-man crew into the waters of Ferguson Passage. Burning gasoline spewed forth
from the wrecked torpedo boat, setting the waters of the passage aflame: but
Lieutenant Kennedy retained his composure, directed the rescue of his crew, and
personally saved the lives of three of the men. Kennedy and the other survivors
found refuge on a small unoccupied island, and during the days that followed he
swam long distances to obtain food and aid for his men. Finally, on the sixth
day of the ordeal the crew was rescued.

Kennedy's bravery did not go
unnoticed. For his deeds in August 1943 he subsequently received the Purple
Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. Injuries sustained during his
courageous exploits and an attack of malaria ended Kennedy's active military
service, however. Later in 1943 he returned to the United States, and in 1945
he was honorably discharged from the navy.

After leaving the navy,
Kennedy, like many other young men who had served their country during World
War II. had to make a decision about his literature career. At Harvard he had
become increasingly interested in government. but he did hot originally plan to
seek public office. Members of the Kennedy family had expected that the eldest
son. navy pilot Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., would enter politics - a hope cut short
when he was killed in a plane crash during the war Deeply affected by his older
brother's death. Jonh Kennedy in 1945 compiled a memorial volume. As We
Remember Joe. which was privately printed. Shortly afterwards he determined to
pursue the career that had been the choice of his late brother

Appropriately. Kennedy sought
his first elective office in Easl Boston, the low-income area with a large
immigrant  population that several decades before had been the scene of both
his grandfathers political activities. Announcing his candidacy for the
Democratic nomination for the US House of Representatives in the 11th
Congressional District early in 1946, Kennedy, with the assistance of his
family and friends, campaigned hard and long against several of the party's
veterans and won the primary. Since the district was overwhelmingly Democratic,
Kennedy's victory in the primary virtually guaranteed his election in the
November contest. As expected, on November 5, 1946, he easily defeated his
Republican rival and at the age of 29 began his political career as a member of
the House of Representatives.

East Boston voters returned
Kennedy to Congress in 1948 and 1950, and for the six years he represented the
11th District he continuously worked to expand federal programs, such as public
housing, social security, and minimum wage laws. that benefited his
constituents. However, in 1952 the young politician decided against running for
another term In the House. Instead he sought the Senate seat held by the
Republican Henry Cabot Lodge.

The incumbent Lodge was well
known and popular throughout Massachusetts; in contrast, Kennedy had almost no
following outside of Boston. But from the moment he announced his candidacy for
the Senate, Kennedy, assisted by his family, friends, and thousands of
volunteers, conducted a massive and intense grassroots campaign. This hard work
brought results: on November 4, 1952, when the landslide presidential victory
of Dwight D. Eisenhower carried hundreds of other Republican candidates into
local, state, and federal offices throughout the nation, the Democratic Kennedy
defeated Lodge by a narrow margin to become the junior senator from
Massachusetts.

On September 12,1953, Kennedy
married the beautiful and socially prominent Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, who was 12
years his junior. Shortly after their marriage, Kennedy became increasingly
disabled by an old spinal injury, and in October 1954 and again in February
1955 he underwent serious surgery. A product of the months of convalescence
that followed was his Profiles in Courage, a study of American statesmen who
had risked their political careers for what they believed to be the needs of
their nation. Published in 1956, Profiles in Courage immediately became a
bestseller, and in May 1957 it won for its author the Pulitzer Prize for
biography.

During his years in the House
and for the first half of his Senate term, Kennedy concerned himself primarily
with the issues that particularly interested or affected his Massachusetts
constituents. However, when he resumed his congressional duties alter Ins
prolonged convalescence, national rather than local or state affairs primarily
attracted his attention.

His determination to run for
higher office became evident at the Democratic National Convention in 1956.
Adam Stevenson, the party's presidential nominee, declined to name a running
male. and instead left the choice of a vice presidential candidate to a vote of
the delegates. Seizing this opportunity. Kennedy mounted a strong, if
last-minute, campaign lorshe nomination   in which he was narrowly defeated by
Senator Lstes Kefauver of Tennessee Kennedy's efforts were no entirely
unrewarded however. He proved himself to be a formidable contender and. perhaps
more important, lie came to the attention of the millions of television viewers
across the nation who watched; the eonvention proceeding. He was redeemed to
the US Senate in 1958.

Shortly after defeat of
Stevenson in 1956. Kennedy launched a nationwide campaign to gain the 1960
Democratic presidential nomination. During the tour intervening years, ihe
Massachusetts senator developed the organisation that would help him win his
goal. Through his personal appearances, ami writings, he also made himself
known to the voters ol the United Stales. Kennedy's tactics were successful He
won all the state primaries he entered in 1960   including a critical contest
in West Virginia, where an overwhelmingly Protestant electorate dispelled the
notion that a Catholic candidate could not be victorious - and he also earned
the endorsement of a number of state party conventions.

The Democratic National
Convention of 1960 selected Kennedy as its presidential candidate on the first
ballot. Then, to the surprise of many, Kennedy asked Senator Lyndon B. Johnson
of Texas, who had himself aspired to the first place on the ticket, to be his
running mate. Johnson agreed, and the Demoeralic slate was complete. For its
ticket, the Republican National Convention in I960 chose Vice President Richard
Millions Nixon and Kennedy's earlier political rival. Henry Cabot Lodge.

Throughout the fall of 1960,
Kennedy and Nixon waged tireless campaigns to win popular support. Kennedy drew
strength from the organization he had put together and from the fact that
registered Democratic voters outnumbered their Republican counterparts. Nixon's
strength stemmed from his close association with the popular President
Eisenhower and from his own experience as Vice President, which suggested an
ability to hold his own with. representatives of the Soviet Union in foreign
affairs. The turning point of the 1960 presidential race, however, may have
been the series of four televised debates between the candidates, which gave
voters an opportunity to assess their positions on important issues, and
unintentionally also tested each man's television "presence." Kennedy
excelled in the latter area and political experts have since claimed that his
ability to exploit the mass media may have been a significant factor in the
outcome of the election.

On November 8, I960, the voters
of the United States cast a record 68.8 million ballots, and selected Kcnnedy
over Nixon by the narrow margin of fewer than 120,000 votes in the closest
popular vote in the nation's history. In the Electoral College the tally was
303 votes to 21 John Fitzgerald Kennedy took the oath of office as the 35th
President of the United States on January 20, 1961. A number of notable
Americans participated in the ceremonies:  Richard Cardinal Gushing of Boston
offered the invocation, Marian Anderson sang the national anthem, and Robert
Frost read one of his poems. Kennedy's inaugural address, urging Americans to "ask
not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your
country," was memorable. The new Chief Executive also asserted, "Now
the trumpet summons us again ... to bear the burden of a long twilight
struggle... against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and
war itself."

Both challenges were in keeping
with what observers would later mark as Kennedy's greatest contribution: a
quality of leadership that extracted from others their best efforts toward
specific goals. Many felt themselves influenced by his later reminder to a
group of young people visiting the White House - that "the Greeks defined
happiness as the full use of your powers along the lines of excellence."

Whether because of
his-leadership, the climate of the times, or the conjunction of the two,
Kennedy's term as President coincided with a marked transformation in the mood
of the nation. Before that, complacent in their peace-time prosperity, most
Americans were preoccupied with individual concerns. Now came a widespread awareness
of needs not previously recognized. No longer could Americans ignore pressing
problems that confronted them both at home and abroad, and increasingly, they
showed a willingness to try to effect meaningful changes. The new mood was one
of challenge, but also one of hope.

As he had promised in his
inaugural address, Kennedy successfully sought the enactment of programs
designed to assist the "people in the huts and villages of half the
world." The Alliance for Progress, a program- ambitious but ultimately
less than successful - for the economic growth and social improvement of Latin
America, was launched in August 1961 at an Inter American Conference at Punta
del Este, Uruguay. The Peace Corps,

which offered Americans a
unique opportunity to spend approximately two years living and working with
peoples in underdeveloped countries, was a more successful attempt to aid
emerging nations throughout the world.

In the realm of foreign
affairs, Kennedy's record was a mixture of notable triumphs and dangerous setbacks.
He allowed the Central Intelligence Agency to carry out plans laid before his
administration for an invasion of Cuba by anti-Communist refugees from that
island. Between 1,400 and 1,500 exiles landed on April 17, 1961, at the Bay of
Pigs, but suffered defeat when an anticipated mass insurrection by the Cuban
people failed to materialize. Severely embarrassed, the administration
nevertheless successfully encouraged the creation of a private committee, which
ransomed 1,178 invasion prisoners for $62 million.

Cuban Premier Fidel Castro,
after repelling the Bay of Pigs invasion, turned to the Soviet Union for
military support and allowed the Russians to install secret missile sites in
Cuba. From these locations, 90 miles from US soil, the USSR could launch
missiles capable of striking deep into the American heartland. Reconnaissance
by US observation planes uncovered the Soviet activities. Taking a decisive
stand President Kennedy, on October 22, 1962, announced that the United States
would prevent the delivery of offensive weapons to Cuba. Kennedy demanded that
the USSR abandon the bases and threatened that the United States would
"regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the
Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States,
requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union." After a week
of intense negotiations. Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev agreed to
dismantle all the installations in return for a US pledge not to invade Cuba.

President Kennedy gave wholehearted support to American efforts in space
exploration. During his administration the nation increased its expenditures in
that area fivefold, and the President promised that an American would land on
the moon before the end of the 1960s. (On July 20,1969, two American astronauts
fulfilled the President's pledge by becoming the first human beings to set foot
on the lunar surface.)

During his presidential campaign, Kennedy had stressed the necessity of
improving the American economy, which was then suffering from a recession. His
aim was to follow a fiscally moderate course, and the achievement of a
bal_anced budget was one of his major goals. As President he managed to
stimulate the sluggish economy by accelerating federal purchasing and
construction programs, by the early release of more than $ 1 billion in state
highway funds, and by putting $ 1 billion in credit into the home construction
industry.

During his administration, however, increasing hostility developed
between the White House and the business community. Anxious to prevent
inflation, the President gave special attention to the steel industry, whose
price-wage structure affected so many other aspects of the economy. After steel
manufacturers insisted on raising their prices in April 1962, Kennedy, by
applying strong economic pressure, forced the producers to return to the
earlier lower price levels. His victory earned him the enmity of many business
people, however.

Kennedy sympathized with the aspirations of black Americans, but he
included no comprehensive civil rights legislation in his New Frontier program,
fearing that the introduction into a conservative Congress of such measures
would imperil all his other proposals. The President relied, instead, on his
executive powers and on the enforcement of existing voting rights laws. He
forbade discrimination in new federally aided housing, appointed a large number
of blacks to high offices, and supported Justice Department efforts to secure
voting rights and to end segregation in interstate commerce. In 1962 he used
regular army troops and federalized National Guard units to force the admission
of a black, James Meredith, to the University of Mississippi, and in 1963 he
used federal National Guardsmen to watch over the integration of the University
of Alabama.

Despite his broad visions of the American future, Kennedy enjoyed limited
success in translating his ideas into legislative reality. A  coalition of
Republicans and conservative southern Democrats in the 87th Congress stopped many
of his plans for the introduction of social measures. And even after the
Demo_ratic Party increased its majority on Capitol Hill in the 1962 elections.
Congress was slow to cooperate, although it probably was ready to do so just
before his presidency came to an end.

John F. Kennedy presided over the execlusive branch of the United States
government for only a little more than 1,000 days. During that time American
involvement in Vietnam and other areas of Southeast Asia increased moderately,
but the beginnings of a thaw in the cold war were also noticeable, and in 1963
the. Soviet Union and the United States signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Kennedy's years in the White House were also marked by increased social
consciousness by the US government. With the Great Society program of his
successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Congress eventually enacted a number of
Kennedy's proposals, including medical care for the elderly and greater
opportunities for black Americans.

In addition to his various governmental programs, Kennedy's presidency
was also no_table for a new, vital style. John and Jacqueline Kennedy and their
two children, Caroline and John Jr., quickly captured the imagination of the
nation, and their activities were widely reported by the media. Cer_tainly the
Kennedys exuded a youthful vi-brance, and their interests seemed unending.
Jacqueline Kennedy was responsible for redecorating the public rooms of the
White House and inviting a glittering array of cul_tural and intellectual
leaders to the executive mansion.

An assassin's bullet abruptly ended the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
on Novem_ber 22,1963, as he rode in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas,
Texas. The entire nation mourned the tragic death of the Chief Executive. Many
millions watched on television as the 35th President was buried at Arlington
National Cemetery on November 25, 1963.

Every state of the United States and almost every nation in the world has
erected memorials to Kennedy. One of the monu_ments dearest to his family is the
house at 83 Seals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, where the late
President's parents lived from 1914 until 1921 and where four of their
chil_dren - including John - were bom. The house was repurchased by the
Kennedys in 1966 and was designated a National Historic Site by Congress in
1967. On May 29, 1969, the 52nd anniversary of John F. Kennedy's birth, the
family turned over the deed of the house to the National Park Service.

Both of President Kennedy's
younger brothers, Robert F. and Edward M. Kennedy, served in the Senate. Many
of the former President's compatriots hoped to see his goals and promise
carried forward when Robert Kennedy, who had served as his at_torney general
and closest adviser, an_nounced early in 1968 that he would seek the Democratic
nomination for President. In another tragedy that shook the nation to its
roots, Robert Kennedy was shot down by an assassin just after claiming victory
in the California presidential primary. He died in Los Angeles just over 25
hours later, on June 6,1968.

Every four
years when the new President of the United States is introduced into his
office, i. e. inaugurated, he takes the oath of office and delivers a speech on
the steps of the Capitol.

The American Dream

Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and
Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government.
Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one
quarter of the globe; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our
descendants to the thousandth and  thousandth generation; enlightened by a
benign religion, professed indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of
them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude and the love of man;
acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its
dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his
greater happiness hereafter - with all these blessings, what more is necessary
to make us a happy and prosperous people?

Thomas
Jefferson, 1801

The Unity of the
Nation

One section of our country
believes slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other believes it
is wrong and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute.

My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole
subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. Such of you as are now
dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive
point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will
have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted
that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still
is no single good reason for precipitate action.

In your hands, my dissatisfied country-fellowmen, and not in mine, is the
momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have
no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the
most solemn one "to preserve, protect, and defend it."

Abraham Lincoln, 1861

Good Will and
World Politics

Let every nation know, whether
it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet
any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and
success of liberty.

This much we pledge - and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we
pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in
a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do - for we
dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge
our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to
be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not

always expect
to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them
supporting their own freedom — and to remember that, in the past, those who
foolishly sought power by riding on the back of the tiger ended up inside.

To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to
break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help
themselves, for whatever period is required - not because the Communists may be
doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free
society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we
offer not a pledge, but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for
peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all
humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

John F.
Kennedy. 1961

1.  
English №17 1998 – page
12

2.  
English № 48, page
1

3.  
English №16 1996 – page
2-3

4.  
English №19 2000 – page
14-15

5.  
Павлоцкий В. М. «Знакомимся с
Америкой»

6.  
Учебное пособие по страноведению,
США-М, 1995

7. SpeakOut 2000 №6, page 2-3, 4-5