Yesterday marked 55 years since the assassination of President John Kennedy. There were a bunch of reports and shows about the anniversary and the life and work of JFK. It was essentially all a praise of the men who actually didn't accomplish much as president. If you think about it, you find that what Kennedy did basically boils down to just a few things:
1. The key was international affairs. Kennedy came into office and green-lighted the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by rebels seeking to overthrow the Castro regime. The landing could not have happened without Kennedy's support, and the anti-Castro forces went ahead eagerly with the attack. Then, once the forces hit the beaches, Kennedy withheld any American support for them. Without that support, the rebels were easily beaten by Castro's army. It was a debacle. Kennedy made the basic mistake of trying to give halfway support to a military campaign. He seemed to think that you could partially support something of that nature.
Kennedy's next international fiasco came when he met with the leader of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna. Kennedy came across to Krushchev as a weak man who could be pushed around easily. As a result, Krushchev gambled and began to put nuclear missiles in Cuba in secret. The USA found out about these missiles right before they were to become operational. Remember, in 1962, there were few, if any Soviet missiles that could hit the USA. Any nuclear attack by the Soviets required the use of bombers which could be shot down (at least in part). Missiles in Cuba changed the balance of power.
As a result, we got the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy took a stand against the Soviet missiles, and Khrushchev ultimately removed them from Cuba. In return, however, Kennedy stopped all American efforts to remove Castro. Kennedy also agreed to remove American missiles from Turkey. In other words, Kennedy gave up big things to get the missiles out of Cuba. This outcome was a lot better than what had happened with the Bay of Pigs or Vienna, but it was hardly a great victory.
Kennedy's other big move was putting major numbers of American "advisors" into Vietnam. At the time of his assassination, Kennedy had increased the number of US forces in South Vietnam from a few hundred at the time of his inauguration to about 16,000. It was the true beginning of the terrible war in Vietnam. To be fair, most of the blame for that war goes to Lyndon Johnson who raised the number ultimately to over 700,000 US troops in that country while at the same time limiting the ability of those forces to fight and trying to manage everything that happened from the White House. For this reason alone, Kennedy's presidency was a mess.
2. On the domestic front, Kennedy did better. He passed a tax cut that lowered the extremely high income tax rates that had been put in place to fund World War II. That helped get the economy growing rapidly again.
Kennedy also pushed for desegregation, voting rights, and the civil rights laws. In that effort, Kennedy was opposed mainly by members of his own Democrat party, mainly those from the South. The Democrats today portray themselves as the ones who delivered civil rights to blacks, but that is a lie. It was the GOP that pushed through these laws; the Democrats were deeply split on the issue.
In sum, Kennedy was not the worst president, but he was far from the best.
1. The key was international affairs. Kennedy came into office and green-lighted the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by rebels seeking to overthrow the Castro regime. The landing could not have happened without Kennedy's support, and the anti-Castro forces went ahead eagerly with the attack. Then, once the forces hit the beaches, Kennedy withheld any American support for them. Without that support, the rebels were easily beaten by Castro's army. It was a debacle. Kennedy made the basic mistake of trying to give halfway support to a military campaign. He seemed to think that you could partially support something of that nature.
Kennedy's next international fiasco came when he met with the leader of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna. Kennedy came across to Krushchev as a weak man who could be pushed around easily. As a result, Krushchev gambled and began to put nuclear missiles in Cuba in secret. The USA found out about these missiles right before they were to become operational. Remember, in 1962, there were few, if any Soviet missiles that could hit the USA. Any nuclear attack by the Soviets required the use of bombers which could be shot down (at least in part). Missiles in Cuba changed the balance of power.
As a result, we got the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy took a stand against the Soviet missiles, and Khrushchev ultimately removed them from Cuba. In return, however, Kennedy stopped all American efforts to remove Castro. Kennedy also agreed to remove American missiles from Turkey. In other words, Kennedy gave up big things to get the missiles out of Cuba. This outcome was a lot better than what had happened with the Bay of Pigs or Vienna, but it was hardly a great victory.
Kennedy's other big move was putting major numbers of American "advisors" into Vietnam. At the time of his assassination, Kennedy had increased the number of US forces in South Vietnam from a few hundred at the time of his inauguration to about 16,000. It was the true beginning of the terrible war in Vietnam. To be fair, most of the blame for that war goes to Lyndon Johnson who raised the number ultimately to over 700,000 US troops in that country while at the same time limiting the ability of those forces to fight and trying to manage everything that happened from the White House. For this reason alone, Kennedy's presidency was a mess.
2. On the domestic front, Kennedy did better. He passed a tax cut that lowered the extremely high income tax rates that had been put in place to fund World War II. That helped get the economy growing rapidly again.
Kennedy also pushed for desegregation, voting rights, and the civil rights laws. In that effort, Kennedy was opposed mainly by members of his own Democrat party, mainly those from the South. The Democrats today portray themselves as the ones who delivered civil rights to blacks, but that is a lie. It was the GOP that pushed through these laws; the Democrats were deeply split on the issue.
In sum, Kennedy was not the worst president, but he was far from the best.
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