John F. Kennedy

[Cutlass]

He is highly overrated, but not as bad as FDR.

That's kind of an odd statement considering FDR is one of the very best.....

 

[Winner]

hate to say this, but the moon landings were worthless and a huge waste of money. There's a reason the Soviets never landed on the moon (besides technical inferiority), there was no reason to. It's a lifeless piece of rock.

Wrong on all counts. Apollo project is the sole reason you are now able to write falsehoods on the internet using a computer that is smaller than a building - because it was the Apollo project that started the whole "miniaturization of electronic parts" deal (they had to fit into the spacecraft, you know). And this is just one of a zillion benefits of it.

Also, the Soviets were about to land on the Moon themselves. Had the Americans delayed for a few years, they would have done it, even with their inferior technology and 8-times smaller economy.

 

[History_Buff]

Also, the Soviets were about to land on the Moon themselves. Had the Americans delayed for a few years, they would have done it, even with their inferior technology and 8-times smaller economy.

They really wouldn't have. They simply weren't technically ready to do it, at least successfully.

 

[Winner]

They really wouldn't have. They simply weren't technically ready to do it, at least successfully.

BS. Their attempt would have been far more dangerous, but it was essentially doable. It collapsed mainly because a) the Americans won the race, b) the N1 rocket kept blowing up.

Anyway, whatever the reason Kennedy had for choosing to go to the Moon, he made his country an enormous service. Apollo was a huge boost to the US technology, expertise, and prestige. Johnson of course deserves a lot of credit as well.

 

[History_Buff]

The N1 wasn't about to get any better. And even if they could launch the thing, the whole thing would have been insanely dangerous. Like, guaranteed fatalities dangerous. Even for the Soviets, that's a heavy price to pay in a PR battle.

Which is not to say the Apollo program was bad idea; it was a great idea. But by the end, the Americans were way ahead in the 'race'.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Kennedy made a number of colossal blunders as president which could have ended up being catastrophic. But as Downtown pointed out, he was a driving force behind the Civil Rights era even though it split the Democratic Party in half. But looking back I think that was also a positive thing in the long run, although it was largely responsible for creating the Nixon and Reagan eras. I used to idolize Kennedy in my youth, but now I think he was just a bit better than average.

 

[Antilogic]

Ha. If anything, I have an antirecentism bias.

 

[Tani Coyote]

That's 95% a triumph for espionage and 5% for having a president who was so much under the influence of drugs, that had the side-effect of taking extreme risks (can't remember their name).

I seem to recall him cutting a secret deal with the Soviets to pull back our missiles from their region in exchange for them pulling back theirs from ours.

Sounds like a pretty savvy deal - both sides get something out of it and since the American compromise was secret, he made it look like an American victory.

Clearly, his administration at least had some capable people.

 

[Core Imposter]

Please add socialist option. K, txs.

 

[GhostWriter16]

That's kind of an odd statement considering FDR is one of the very best.....

Its interesting that most moderates (Even moderate conservatives) and liberals seem to think that, but the far right tends to think he's actually one of the worst. I happen to agree, but don't really have enough time to expound now. Short version: Internment camps.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I seem to recall him cutting a secret deal with the Soviets to pull back our missiles from their region in exchange for them pulling back theirs from ours.

Sounds like a pretty savvy deal - both sides get something out of it and since the American compromise was secret, he made it look like an American victory.

Clearly, his administration at least had some capable people.

Only it was the introduction of those IRBMs into Turkey which caused the Cuban missile crisis in the first place. The Soviets were merely reminding us of our hypocrisy without embarrassing us internationally.

There is no "victory" in nearly inciting the destruction of civilization as we know it.

 

[shortguy]

He was a pretty good president I guess. One of our best civil rights presidents, up there with Grant and LBJ. And considering that's by far the biggest domestic policy issue in the nation, he'd have to have messed up seriously in foreign policy to rate below average--and to be fair, he tried.

 

[Traitorfish]

Please add socialist option. K, txs.

 

[Quackers]

I think thats a rating below "poor", the "devil"?!

Anyway from my cursory knowledge of the man, I think his actions in the Cuban Missle Crisis were spot on (we didn't have a nuclear war, thats pretty much the ideal result of such a conflict). Other then that i cannot think of any achievements, his indecisiveness at the Bay of Pigs invasion meant Cuba fell to a totalitarian Communism to this very day, his escalation of an unwinnable war in Vietnam led to many, many american and Veitmanese deaths. His speeches were excellent though, however I do struggle to understand "Ask not, what your country can do for you. Ask what, you can do for your country" - what exactly is he trying to convey in that?! It sounds like a national call to arms, like a Mussolini speech I agree with Winner his ambitious project go to the moon means he will be remembered by our space faring ancestors thousands of years into the future.

Watching the Kennedy's though, as a man he was quite the misorgynist, just the way he treated his wife was

 

[jtb1127]

He had a very successful sex life.

 

[Takhisis]

He made the Moon landings possible, ergo he was the best president the US has ever had.

A $1bn (in 1960s money) me first contest. I'm sure at the time it seems more important then, than it seems now.

It's only a billion dollars because the yanks didn't figure out the pencil option!

Please add socialist option. K, txs.

I know, Kennedy wasn't a good enough President to qualify for Socialism.

I think thats a rating below "poor", the "devil"?!

Anyway from my cursory knowledge of the man, I think his actions in the Cuban Missle Crisis were spot on (we didn't have a nuclear war, thats pretty much the ideal result of such a conflict). Other then that i cannot think of any achievements, his indecisiveness at the Bay of Pigs invasion meant Cuba fell to a totalitarian Communism to this very day, his escalation of an unwinnable war in Vietnam led to many, many american and Veitmanese deaths. His speeches were excellent though, however I do struggle to understand "Ask not, what your country can do for you. Ask what, you can do for your country" - what exactly is he trying to convey in that?! It sounds like a national call to arms, like a Mussolini speech I agree with Winner his ambitious project go to the moon means he will be remembered by our space faring ancestors thousands of years into the future.

You surely mean our descendants…

Watching the Kennedy's though, as a man he was quite the misorgynist, just the way he treated his wife was

Bolded… WTH did you expect? It was Marilyn monroe, did you expect there'd be no orgies? Sheesh.

 

[Quackers]

Ofc I meant descendents ;p

There were more then Marilyn and thats no excuse to cheat on your wife

 

[Racsoviale]

You surely mean our descendants…

I like to think he means ancestors and that Kennedy invented spacetravel, but mostly because it would make perfect sense if you watch a certain episode of a certain tv-show

 

[Leoreth]

His speeches were excellent though, however I do struggle to understand "Ask not, what your country can do for you. Ask what, you can do for your country" - what exactly is he trying to convey in that?! It sounds like a national call to arms, like a Mussolini speech

I'm not completely familiar with the context of that speech, but I've always interpreted it as a reminder not always to expect the government to solve all problems, that it's ultimately its citizens that define what a nation achieves and that the government is only a tool for those who actually commit themselves to its betterment.

 

[ParkCungHee]

That would be nice to have.
"He's a president, therefor he's awful."