Chapters 5-6 Summary and Analysis

In spite of all the excitement and anticipation of the new administration, 1961 was not a good year for the Kennedy team. Kennedy won the election by a very narrow margin of one hundred thousand votes. This was not the mandate that they had hoped for. There were the issues of missiles, China policy and civil rights. There were also many problems in 1961 including the Bay of Pigs, the escalation of problems in Laos, the arms race and problems in the Congo and Viet Nam. The Bay of Pigs was the situation that had the greatest effect on the balance of the Kennedy administration.

Dean Rusk was not in favor of the invasion that most of the team supported. Bowles opposed the invasion and this brought him into conflict with the administration. The fact was that the United States did...