Schiff p1American CultureTrying to Find the MiddleDuring the presidencies of Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon there is a unifyingtheme that draws all of their time in office together. Aside from the fact that they all were president during the Cold War, these three presidents all utilized some sort of method inorder to win over the sentiments of their constituents. They did this through winning over their hearts and minds by enacting policies or making decisions that would harbor pleasant feelings. Further still, these presidents all tried to win over their constituentsthrough compromise and trying to find a middle of the road amidst all of the conflict and polarization that was the Cold War. One will notice that when these presidents work tofind a middle ground between America and a foreign country, a move towards equity andneutrality often times will result favorably. After the discussion of the presidents, the paper will discuss the Cold War aspects of Star Trek, Bruce Lee, and Star Wars.While Kennedy was in office he had to deal with a great deal of tension in regardsto civil rights. Kennedy sought ways in which he could win over his constituents withactions that promoted civil rights. Kennedy bolstered civil rights at home and abroad bysharing jazz musicians with the world. Jazz had been something described an art thatcould transcend all races, and what better thing to solicit about civil rights than jazz itself.Kennedy selected “Duke” Ellington as “the ideal ambassador for one of the first tests of cultural exchange […] and the new official endorsement of civil rights” (Von Eschen,122). Ellington went all over the world with his government tours, including “Africa,appeared in Eastern Europe, and toured South America and South Asia” (Von Eschen,123). Kennedy picked a worthy and suitable candidate to help proliferate civil rights and jazz around the world when he picked Ellington, because “He [Ellington] appears to have

Schiff p2American Culture been not only a patriot but sincere believer in the American Cold War mission of promoting the superiority of American democracy” (Von Eschen, 123). Ellington was achampion of the American cause. Kennedy picked an individual who would still promotethe American ideals he wanted promoted, but at the same time gave leeway and furtheredcivil rights. Ellington, however, was not just a puppet of the American government for he,“perceived the State Department jazz tours as a platform from which to promote thedignity of black people and their culture throughout the world” (Von Eschen, 126). So,while Kennedy was enacting his new policy on civil rights, Ellington still helped promotethe American cause. Through these measures, Kennedy won over the hearts and minds of his own country, because he answered their call to civil rights.After the unexpected assassination of Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson took over as president. Johnson dealt with a number of conflicts during his term as president, namely,the war on poverty and the civil rights movement. However, by far and away the mostcomplex issues Johnson had to deal with were Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin incident.When Johnson got into office the war had been raging on for 5 years already. Johnsonwas conflicted on how to handle the situation, because he wanted to make sure hemaintained the public’s trust; “America’s ideological commitment to the area prohibitedimmediate disengagement” (Suri, 152). Johnson felt that if he chose to pull out of Vietnam, which was clearly America’s top foreign issue, then the public would expecthim to similarly give up with issues domestically (Suri, 152). Johnson’s impressiveability to win over the hearts and minds of his own country as well as abroad is depictedin his Gulf of Tonkin crisis that he dealt with splendidly. An American destroyer, the

Maddox

, was claimed to be in restricted waters. After a lot of hearsay and potential

Schiff p3American Cultureattacks on either side, Johnson “refused to authorize a larger war” (Suri, 155). Johnsonwas expressing a “pattern not of alleged provocation from Washington, but of uncertaintyand groping attempts to find a safe ‘middle ground’ between passive acceptance of communist aggression and full-scale war” (Suri, 155). Surely, this attack could have beenthe start of something much larger than it needed to be, but Johnson working to satisfythe hearts and minds of his people, didn’t foolishly rush into any conflict without awarrant. Furthermore, after congress had passed a “military blank check in Vietnam,”Johnson still remained cautious about the situation and tried to elicit policies that weremore relaxed and could potentially lead to peace. Johnson “continued to avoid additionaluse of force wherever possible” (Suri, 157). He did this in an attempt to try and find acommon middle ground, so the conflict could resolve itself in time and not perpetuate thedeath and killing.Following the term of Lyndon B. Johnson was Richard Nixon. Nixon had atumultuous presidency and is harshly criticized to this day about potentially being bi- polar or schizophrenic. However, one of the incidences in which Nixon appeared to tryand win over the hearts and minds of his people was when he dealt with Mao and theChinese Government. Nixon truly “trumpeted the language of ‘convergence’ amonglongtime enemies despite deep ideological and strategic conflicts. Instead of deterrenceand containment-core concepts of the Cold War-he emphasized compromise” (Suri, 233).Here is a clear indication of how Nixon tried to find this middle ground that seemedillusory during the Cold War. Nixon understood that in the past China and America hadnot gotten along all that well, but with the help of Mao, his words that he uttered duringhis inauguration worked to win over the hearts and minds of his own people as well as