JOHN F. KENNEDY

I recall where I was on November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated. Though I was a Republican at the time, I found him to be very charismatic and inspiring, but I recall thinking that he was in a way lucky because his Presidency was not working.  He was not getting his legislation through, and he had poor relations with congress even though he had been one of them.

Though he got the Apollo Program of missions to the moon started, he was getting cold feet on the cost and was thinking of inviting the Soviets to participate.  In one year, spending on the Apollo Program consumed 5% of our GDP.  It was Lyndon Johnson who took up the flame and completed the pledge to send a man to the moon and bring him back safely to Earth (plus 21 pounds of lunar rocks and soils).  I felt so strongly about this that I wrote a poem "Upon The Second Anniversary Of Apollo 11." (http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/01/upon-second-anniversary-of-apollo-11.html)  I had been opposed to the program, but I had an epiphany after Apollo 8 and, as they say, there is no sinner like a converted sinner which applied to me.  I bought all the trinkets.

He started the escalation of the war in Vietnam and there is no sign that that he wouldn't continue as much as fans of Kennedy would have you believe. Just weeks before his death,  "To CBS he said: "In the final analysis, it is [ the South Vietnamese ] who have to win or lose this struggle." Then he added: "But I don't agree with those who say we should withdraw. That would be a great mistake. . . ." To NBC he said he believed "the domino theory," whereby the fall of Saigon to Communism would lead to the collapse of America's position throughout Asia."*

Kennedy's actions on Civil Rights were at best conflicted.  As a Senator he voted against Eisenhower's 1957  Civil Rights Act.  In 1961: " Kennedy himself condemned the Riders for their lack of patriotism at a time of international tension over the Berlin Wall, Cuba and the Bay of Pigs fiasco.**  There was some indication that Kennedy was evolving on Civil Rights  Perhaps a combination of Kennedy's death and President Johnson's political abilities succeeded in getting the Civil Right Act of 1964 through congress with Republican help and the 1965 Voting rights act as well.  It may have been the Republican's finest hour..

The results on Cuban missile crisis may be Kennedy's greatest accomplishment, but it wasn't because that the other guy just blinked because we quietly agreed to remove our missiles from Turkey in exchange.  So we gave something to get something.  I don't quarrel with that, but the Kennedy fans just ignore it and would have you would believe we gave nothing.  In addition, the Soviets began their nuclear missile submarine fleet, some of which patrolled off the U.S. coast (and they still do***).  As the public didn't know about this, it turned out that what you don't know doesn't hurt you, but were nuclear missiles on submarines really less a worry than land-based missiles on Cuba?  At the time, I felt that Cuba was in our sphere of influence just as Hungary was in the Soviet's.  Eisenhower had encouraged the Hungarians to revolt, but, when they did, he just said, in effect, too bad boys.  It was tough on the Hungarians but perhaps saved a nuclear war.  But we came closer to nuclear war over  the Cuban Missile Crisis than I thought at the time.

Though I did not experience the charisma of Ronald Reagan, many did.  His administration started with two attacks on U,.S. Embassies  [in Lebanon (63 killed) and in Kuwait (5) killed],**** each with more loss of life than in Benghazi, Libya, that so much is being made of.  I also believe, that cutting and running after the Marine Barracks incident where more than 200 died, emboldened terrorists.  Though Reagan talked of cutting government, he actually left the Federal government larger than he found it, after small cuts in employees by Carter and Ford.  And of course he never came close to balancing the budget.  After a very large tax cut for the wealthy, he reinstalled half the value of the tax cuts when he realized what he had done to the Federal budget.  Those who deify President Reagan have been blinded by his charisma and words or have forgiven much or, more likely, just do not know his record.

But something went out of me with the assassination of President Kennedy that never came back.

Note added on November24, 2013:  A further more complete analysis of the Kennedy poor record as President is given in; http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/11/22/americans-think-john-f-kennedy-was-one-of-our-greatest-presidents-he-wasnt/?wpisrc=nl_wnkpm

* http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/06/opinion/foreign-affairs-kennedy-and-vietnam.html
**  http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/john_kennedy_and_civil_rights.htm
*** http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/11/second-russian-sub-detected-near-us-coast-in-3-months/;
**** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_United_States_embassy_bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Kuwait_bombings; also see general report in http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/libya-consulate-embassy-attacks-obama-romney