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15 days agoYou’re not going to like this answer but he didn’t say Soviet Union because he didn’t need to. Everybody understood that ‘communism’ was ‘THE Global Conspiracy’ ever since McCarthyism took of.
Check out A conspiracy so immense : the world of Joe McCarthy by David Oshinsky to learn a little of what the attitude of the time was like.
Also sorry for the previously snippy response.
Nah man sorry. You’re just wrong in this case. You’re missing the forest for the trees.
Communism was the conspiracy. China. Vietnam. Laos. Cuba. Yemen. Somalia. Congo. Mozambique. Afghanistan. These were the countries succumbing to the worldwide conspiracy he was talking about.
Not to forget that Kennedy increased US involvement in Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism. He sent more troops and military advisers to South Vietnam to fight Ho Chi Minh’s forces. His brother also served under McCarthy as his father was a major ally and raging anti-communist.
Also regarding religion, Kennedy was a devout Catholic, which was a massive issue for him during the election, giving him good reason to try and dissuade people from considering it as an issue for him. Back then Catholics were often questioned on their loyalty, with people concerned that the president would be answerable to the pope. Crazy I know.