Since the Reagan topic turned out to be a nice debate I thought I would do another one. This time the president is JFK. I will give my opinions later.

He was just an average president. The media made him look like a hero after his death.

I am not from USA but for me he was the best they had.

@h4ppy: assinatura -> eu percebo, claro :)

Kennedy could have gone either way in quality. Since he was assasinated early in his term, we may never know.

Bay of Pigs was a disaster. Staring down the Russians during the Cuban missle crisis was handled brilliantly. He put America on the path towards going to the moon. He started the Peace Corps, which in the past, generated alot of good will for America in the 3rd world. On a personal level, he appears to have been a creep, professionally, his presidency was a mixed bag, with more great accomplishments than failures. He managed to get alot done in just 3 years, he would have done alot more if he'd had more time, which is probably why it was decided to assasinate him.

nevermind

Bad.

Bad cabinet. Stevenson in the State Department, McNamara in the Defense Department.

Bad foreign policy. Failed to invade Cuba, got us stuck in Vietnam after he appointed the worst leader possible in the South.

Forgot to mention how he got us more heavily involved in Vietnam. That was an even bigger disaster than the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

I agree with the sentiments that he's a mixed bag.

I saw the JFK documentary on the History Channel recently. The guy had a lot of pressure from hawkish advisors, but he definitely did the right thing.

I couldn't help but wonder... what if, hypothetically, Bush was president during that predicament? :eek:

Kennedy had his points. He was the original supply side thinker. In his case the tax structure was designed to strangle the economy, because of WW II. On a war footing it made sense, but 15 years later it did not.

He was also a visionary. This is a good thing, because it moves people without appealing to their self interest. His initiatives in race relations and space exploration dominated the decade, along with his other initiative: Vietnam.

The rest is mixed. While he started a lot of balls rolling, he was not as good at keeping them moving. The Cuban crisis makes 9/11 look insignificant. He bungled the initial steps badly, and then let MacNamara bring us within hours of nuclear war.

On the whole, his legacy was largely forged by two things, Lyndon Johnson and the press. Johnson made his initiative into law, for good or bad--usually some of both--and the press still idolizes him, and his first lady. Consider the name that they gave it: Camelot. A bright shining ficticious moment.

J

Moved to History...

I say he was horrible, because of his failure in liberating Cuba and getting the US trapped in the Vietnam conflict. He was a disgrace to the presidency, but he wasn't the worst.

Poor strategy and training led to the Bay of Pigs disaster. But in such a position, it seems unlikely that actual American soldiers could have been used. So, trained guerillas might just have been the best way to go.

It's good he did win out in the missile crisis. Positive.

He did get more involved in Vietnam. Negative. Johnson really escalated the whole thing, so I can't pin it on Kennedy. The initial committments, yes. Negative.

Domestically, he pushed to lower the top tax rate. Positive.
Space exploration committment. Positive.
Improved race relations. Positive.

On balance, I would say he's okay. Got to judge him on more than failed policy in Cuba and starting Vietnam. Vietnam could have been stopped, with forced yanking of Americans out of there, yes, but could have been stopped nonetheless.

And I won't get into whatever womanizing he did or how many pills he had to take for back conditions. Really none of my business. It didn't seem to get in the way of what he was doing in office.

Originally posted by The Yankee

And I won't get into whatever womanizing he did or how many pills he had to take for back conditions. Really none of my business. It didn't seem to get in the way of what he was doing in office.

I agree with you about the womanizing; not about the drugs/
heath. I don't think the President's health is a private matter.
People should have been told about that (also about FDR's health
in 1944; the man was pretty much starting to die).

Overall, I'd rate JFK as OK. He had some of Carter's inablility
to work with Congress, which meant a lot of his programs
didn't get implemented while he was alive. Given some of the
revelations of the last 10 years, he was better on the foreign
front than I previously thought, but his relationship to Vietnam
looks worse now that it did. And don't forget that he helped
bring about the Cuban Missile Crisis by being so unprepared for
his meeting with Kruschev in 1961 (maybe he was looking too much forward to meeting Yuri Gagarin, and not about the main
business of the summit...)

His staunch support of the space program was his biggest
plus.

In my opinion, JFK is dead.

Mind you, I'm not a doctor, so don't take my word for it.

i don't feel he's that interesting since he's only been in politics for a short time, he was ok. Theodore Roosevelt, now there's a more interesting fellow to talk about since he had a long political life.

Originally posted by Dumb pothead
Forgot to mention how he got us more heavily involved in Vietnam. That was an even bigger disaster than the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Many people don't remember that. Good point!

Apparently he was good at stopping bullets with his noggin.

Originally posted by rilnator
Apparently he was good at stopping bullets with his noggin.

Really, I could have sworn that bullet went threw his head and hit the governer of Texas in the foot.

Originally posted by h4ppy


Really, I could have sworn that bullet went threw his head and hit the governer of Texas in the foot.

Well, I think that's something we'll never know the full truth about I suspect.

JFK Meh, think Lincoln is the best ever and Bush the worst ever.

who knows he was assainatated to soon to see

JFK, that piece of history is far far away from now, thus I have no opinion on him. But I do like the half dollar design, though. :D

He is only really popular because he was assaninated. Although he handled the cuban missle crissis nicely.

I think he proved himself as a strong leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis, however i remember his presidency for the way in which he campaigned. He knew that the electorate would vote for a personality, so revolutionised the way in which parties and leaders try and win votes. Also lets not forget his promiscuity, how many times did he cheat on his wife?

Good and bad, I think this idea that he represented a new hope or era is a little naieve though, sooner or later people would have seen through that cult of personality (to use a modern term) and realised he had more than a few faults. Then they might have actually disliked him.

JFK was one of the best presidents weve ever had. He had lots of influence and integrity.

"Kennedy was a great man. I met him once, and I was astonished of his will to learn from anything - it doesn't surprise me that he was able to handle the Cuban missle crisis as well as he did. I have also met Kennedy's follower, mr Johnson, and I'm quite convinced that he would have gotten this globe destroyed had he been USA's president during the missle crisis. The whole world mourns, and for a good reason. I, personally, am very afraid now."

Urho Kekkonen, president of Finland back in 1963, wrote something like that on his personal diary (not the one which he allowed to be published). I don't remember if he used these exact words, but this was basically the meaning of his words anyway. Kekkonen is, by the way, generally recognized as the best president of Finland (at least he is easily the most famous), and if he respects Kennedy as much as he seems to, then I have no problem respecting him either.

Kennedy is some kind of national hero in West Germany... :ack:

Particularily in West Berlin. My parents actually recorded his famous speech (though I don't know what happened to the tape).

Would not have a clue. Haven't done any research, and don't really care to either

Originally posted by CaptainCivFreak
JFK was one of the best presidents weve ever had. He had lots of influence and integrity.

He also cheated on his wife, had marilyn monroe killed, but other than that he was a nice guy.......:rolleyes: