Kenneth (kensmind) wrote in potus_geeks,
Kenneth
kensmind
potus_geeks

  • Location:
  • Mood:
  • Music:

Presidential Legacies: John F. Kennedy

Few Presidents have captured the imagination of the nation following their election victory as much as John F. Kennedy. He was youthful and vibrant and had a beautiful wife and very young children. The power couple was ideal for the cover of magazines from many different genres. Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected President (Theodore Roosevelt had become President at a younger age, but was older than Kennedy at the time he was elected.) His youth was a contrast to that of the septuagenarian President Dwight Eisenhower that he succeeded, and the media projected a romanticized notion of the the Kennedy presidency. His White House was dubbed "Camelot" in reference to King Arthur's court and the youthful President acquired a status akin to a Hollywood celebrity. Throughout his Presidency Kennedy would face challenges more daunting than any President had faced thus far, including the threat of a nuclear attack on US soil. He would perform excellently in some cases and not so well in others. His assassination would give him the status of a beloved national martyr, though this image would be tarnished by revelations of human failing that would be revealed after his death.

JFKJr

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1917. He was born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. His father was the wealthy Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., a wealthy and successful businessman who later served as Ambassador to Great Britain. His mother was Rose Kennedy, the daughter of a former Boston Mayor. He graduated from Harvard University in 1940 and joined the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded a series of PT boats in the Pacific theater and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his service. His older brother Joe was supposed to be the future President, but when Joe was killed in the war, the mantle of political responsibility fell to him.

After the war, Kennedy represented the 11th congressional district of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate and served as the junior Senator from Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, he published his book Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize for Biography. In an early age of primary politicking, he parlayed his youth and energy, aided by his family's wealth, to win the 1960 Democratic Party's presidential nomination. In a very close election, Kennedy narrowly defeated Republican opponent Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president. At age 43, he became the second-youngest man to serve as president (after Theodore Roosevelt), the youngest man to be elected as U.S. president, as well as the only Roman Catholic to hold the office. He was also the first president to have served in the U.S. Navy.

Kennedy's time in office was one of significant tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was the height the Cold War. Like his predecessors, Kennedy wanted to stop the spread of communism throughout the world. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam eighteen fold over the number that President Dwight D. Eisenhower had put in that country. In April 1961, he authorized a failed joint-CIA attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. To his credit, he publicly shouldered the blame for the fiasco. His on the job training continued on June 4, 1961, when he met with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna and left the meetings angry and disappointed that he had allowed the premier to bully him.

But Kennedy grew in the job. He subsequently rejected Operation Northwoods plans by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to orchestrate false flag attacks on American soil in order to gain public approval for a war against Cuba, though his administration continued to plan for an invasion of Cuba in the summer of 1962. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered that Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba; the resulting period of significant tension known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. It nearly resulted in the breakout of a global thermonuclear conflict, as Kennedy resisted calls from some of his military leaders to bomb the Cubans, provoking World War Three. Domestically, Kennedy presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, and offered lukewarm support for the civil rights movement, but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies.

On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas while on a visit intended to patch up divisions in the state's Democratic Party. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the state crime, but he was killed by Jack Ruby two days later. Those old enough at the time of Kennedy's assassination can remember where they were when they heard the news. It was one of those events that was etched in people's memories. Both the FBI and the Warren Commission officially concluded that Oswald had acted alone in the assassination, but those findings are considered doubtful in many quarters and many believe that Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy. After Kennedy's death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights and the Revenue Acts of 1964. After his death, it was reveled that Kennedy had hidden his lifelong health ailments as well as many extra-marital affairs.

Historians and political scientists tend to rank Kennedy as an above-average president. He is usually the highest-ranking president among those who served less than one full term. But assessments of his policies are mixed. The early part of his administration was filled with missteps, the most glaring of which were the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the 1961 Vienna summit. But Kennedy is credited for the notable successes of the second half of his presidency, namely the calm manner in which he handled the Cuban Missile Crisis, avoiding nuclear war. He is criticized for his escalation of the U.S. presence in Vietnam and his effectiveness in domestic affairs has also been questioned. His most important programs, such as health insurance for the elderly, federal aid for education, and tax reform, were blocked during his presidency. However many of Kennedy's proposals were passed after his death, during the Johnson administration, and Kennedy's death gave those proposals a moral forcefulness.

A 2014 Washington Post survey of 162 members of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Kennedy 14th highest overall among the 43 persons who had been president. The survey also found Kennedy to be the most overrated U.S. president. A 2017 C-SPAN survey has Kennedy ranked among the top ten presidents of all-time. He received high marks for public persuasion and crisis leadership. A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association’s Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Kennedy as the 16th best president, while a 2006 poll of historians ranked Kennedy's decision to authorize the Bay of Pigs invasion as the eighth-worst mistake made by a sitting president.

According to the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes, "It was President Kennedy who was responsible for the rebuilding of the Special Forces and giving us back our Green Beret." At the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Kennedy's death, a wreath in the form of the Green Beret would be placed on the grave. Kennedy was the first of six presidents to have served in the U.S. Navy, and one of the legacies of his administration was the creation in 1961 of another special forces command, the Navy SEALs.

Kennedy's civil rights proposals formed the basis to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ushered in by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy's successor. Johnson, the renowned "Master of the Senate", steered the bill through a bitterly divided Congress by invoking the slain president's memory. Kennedy's continuation of the policy of giving economic and military aid to South Vietnam created the climate for Johnson's escalation of the war. At the time of Kennedy's death, no final policy decision had been made as to Vietnam, leading historians, cabinet members, and writers to speculate about whether or not the Vietnam conflict would have escalated to the point it did if Kennedy had survived. His earlier 1963 speech at American University suggest that he was ready to end the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War contributed greatly to a decade of national difficulties, amid violent disappointment on the political landscape.

Part of Kennedy's legacy is his eloquence. Many of Kennedy's speeches (especially his inaugural address) are considered iconic. In spite of his relatively short term in office, and the lack of major legislative accomplishments during his presidency, Americans regularly vote him as one of the best presidents.

minutes-before-jfk-assassination-dallas

Kennedy's assassination had an effect on many people, not only in the U.S. but around the world. Many vividly remember where they were when they first learned the news that Kennedy was assassinated, much as had happened with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, or the September 11 attacks. The death of President Kennedy, and the ensuing confusion surrounding the facts of his assassination, marked a turning point and decline in the faith of the American people in the political establishment. Mistrust in the findings of the Warren Commission have spawned a spate of conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy's death. Over half a century later, the vast majority still suspect that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. This will continue to be an enduring part of Kennedy's legacy.
Tags: assassinations, dwight d. eisenhower, john f. kennedy, lyndon johnson, richard nixon, theodore roosevelt, vietnam
Subscribe

  • The Issue of Globalization

    Today, some people believe that politics are more polarized than ever and that there is little or no hope of finding bipartisan solutions to the…

  • Remembering Woodrow Wilson

    On February 3, 1924 (101 years ago today), Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States, died at his home in Washington, DC at the…

  • Happy Birthday FDR

    On January 30, 1882 (143 years ago today) Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, was born at Hyde Park, New York, the…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Comments allowed for members only

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

  • 6 comments