Bearing Burdens

This chapter assesses the various obstacles impeding the expansion of the American Century from early 1961 through 1964. Numerous problems, including Laos, Berlin, the Cuban missile crisis, and Vietnam brought into question John F. Kennedy’s leadership. His response too often minimized consultation with allies and, across the Third World, increasingly focused on security and stability through civic action programs, overseen by the Office of Public Safety in the Agency for International Development—to the great detriment, for example, of experiments like the Alliance for Progress. Meanwhile, the rise of multinational corporations and deficit-induced flight of gold thwarted Kennedy’s and Lyndon Johnson’s economic policies, while weakening America’s hegemony and credibility.