ABSTRACT
In this chapter, two events symbolized in China’s Great Leap Forward and the Sino-India border war characterized for the Kennedy administration the limits of policy and initiative in office. Conditioned by a worldview decidedly political on China matters, Kennedy harbored contradictory thoughts and behaviors about how best to deal with Beijing. On the one hand, he sought to employ China policy revisionists, reopening, in effect, long-closed information channels. On the other, he promoted conservative and policy generalist advisers to his inner circle, throwing up barriers to change. The result was cautious and often confused policies. He initiated trouble with Canada for trading with the mainland even as he considered food aid for it. When the Sino-India border erupted, he uncritically judged Beijing the aggressor, despite India’s central role as provocateur. Notable during the Kennedy years were the roles played by image and crisis. Beijing was to be perceived, even more than the Soviet Union, as a danger to world peace. These images coincided for Kennedy with consecutive crises in Laos, Cuba, India, and Berlin.
