Essay - The Charismatic Leadership of John F. Kennedy Abstract: This Paper...

The Charismatic Leadership of John F. Kennedy

Abstract: This paper discusses the Presidency of John *****itzgerald Kennedy from the perspective of charismatic leadership. Specifically, it addresses the four characteristics that social scientists have agreed lead to such leadership and their relation to the 1961-1963 Kennedy Presidency: a crisis situation, potential followers in distress, an aspiring leader, *****d a doctrine promising deliverance. This paper shows ***** all ***** of these characteristics apply to Kennedy, and demonstrates ***** causality of his ***** ***** persona, which endured long past (and perhaps in part because of) his assassination in 1963.

Main body: The United States was in a st*****te of controlled turmoil. Unknown dangers were threatened ***** enemies abroad, while moral concerns further eroded confidence at home. The n*****ion ***** emerging from a decade ***** paranoia and fear stirred up by certain high-ranking members of the federal government. In this election year, a Democratic Sena*****r would become one of the youngest men ever elected to ***** office of President ***** the ***** States of America in a historic*****y barrier-breaking election. No, the ***** is not 2008, and the President is not Barack Obama. Instead, turning ***** calendars back to 1960 brings us the year that John Fitzgerald Kennedy was ***** the thirty-fifth President ***** the United States of America, the youngest man ever elected to the *****fice, as well ***** being the only Ro***** Catholic to ever hold the highest position in the nation.

Social ***** have largely ***** on four basic character*****tics comm***** ***** the situations of all charismatic *****s. First and foremost, there m*****t be a crisis situ*****tion, which leads to the second require*****t, a ***** group ***** followers who are ***** distress, presumably due to ***** crisis situation at hand. Third, the leader ***** steps in***** this situation must be aspiring, or on the ascent, and lastly he must carry with him a doctrine which promises deliver*****nce. ***** assumed the ***** during a time of gre*****t inter*****al stress, and handled several crises related to the Cold War. This created a large internati*****al population of people in distress, ***** allowed for Kennedy's charismatic rise through the levels of government. Finally, his doctrine of containment of Communism abroad, but its active reversal in ***** Western Hemisphere, as well as his general message of egalitarianism and government responsibility, gave the distressed citizens ***** the United States hope that *****re w***** *****deed a light *****t the end of the tunnel, and ***** John Fitzgerald Kennedy might be *****ing ***** torch. In short, though John F. ***** policies as President might not have *****en as successful or as open-h*****ed ***** his public face implied, the view of his *****ship and personality as charismatic above all else is a direct result of the *****, distress, *****piration, and doctrine of deliverance.

***** 1950s was ***** ***** ***** most—if ***** the most—paranoid ********** of ***** Cold War. Backyard bomb shelters were for sale, and actually bought by many reasonable consumers who believed the advertising and ***** government warnings about