John F. Kennedy was arguably one of the most influential leaders during his shortened timespan as president of the United States. During the presidential election of 1960, John F. Kennedy ran against Richard Nixon with a desire to stimulate the nation. Although proven an obstacle at certain points, John F. Kennedy’s young age, catholic faith, television presence, and aspiration to bring the United States out of the cold war were influential to his overall success. Kennedy’s Catholic background was one of the highest determining factors during his campaign. Those of strict religious backgrounds did not necessarily feel that they should cast their vote for a man with such sincere Catholic beliefs. “One bulging file after another preserves the collection of articles, pamphlets, letters, and resolutions attacking Kennedy because of his religion” (Kenney 38). A prime example of this was …show more content…
“As a senator, he gave important speeches questioning the binary logic of the Cold War in remote theaters like Vietnam and Algeria” (Widmer 1). Bringing the nation out of the war was one of his most influential promises, and the people seemed to provide him with their full support. With the Soviets recent launch of Sputnik, the US was in a critical state and in need of a more influential leader. “A Gallup poll during the campaign revealed that by a 47 percent to 33 percent margin Americans believed that the Soviets were ahead of the United States in the development of long-range missiles and rockets” (Kenney 46). Kennedy attempted to respond to this by stating that he would take the necessary steps during his presidency to bring an official end to the Cold War. Approaching the year 1960 there were multiple technologies that were not only created to aid the United States in the Cold War, but also ended up giving Kennedy an edge during his