Kennedy was a good president.

[Tiggeroshii]

In my history class, we discussed Kennedy's legacy and his accomplishments. Many people argue he has very little. And if he had survived, maybe his next accomplishments would have tarnished his legacy anyhow. I wonder why so many(including myself at one point) still sort of idolize him? Is it the hope he inspired with his speeches? Could I be wrong about this idolism? Maybe liberals and progressives don't really think too highly of him as I might've though. So. Do you agree or disagree?

"Kennedy was a good president"

[OhioChick]

1. I wasn't born yet, but my parents loved him. n/t

[Tiggeroshii]

2. Cuban Missile Crisis was a defining moment in his career.

Other then that, there's the bay of pigs, Vietnam and indifference towards the civil rights movement(which after enough pressure he ended up abiding by). But there are definitely other perspectives, I suppose.

[Oregone]

9. So do you have a negative view of him?

I wasn't born yet. I grew up learning he was the greatest president of our time, then as I learned about those events you mention, I grew a bit ambivalent. Was he a good president, or merely great at capturing the hearts of the country? I think he definitely made mistakes with foreign policy, but does the popular knowledge teach he grew and evolved from this?

[madrchsod]

3. he was`t in office long enough for me to decide

he was on the right track but we will never know what his presidency would have been.

[emilyg]

5. First presidet I voted for. Agree with you.

[obliviously]

4. The first memory of my life that I can

date was the day he died. My mother answered the phone and started crying she than turned on the radio. That led to days of reporting on television that I remember watching some of at my grandmas. We didn't have television yet.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. I was in high school when he was killed, and I remember...

there was much style but little substance with him. He faced down the Soviets and the steel companies, and his brother the AG was going big time after "the Mob." Vast amounts of silliness over Castro at the time, and the anti-Communist hysteria was still in fine flower.

I lived through endless conspiracy theories about the assassination, many of which still thrive, but little about anything of note he actually accomplished during his short time in office. Had he lived? Who knows?

[Waiting For Everyman]

7. Maybe the class should ask whether throngs turn out to mourn mediocre or bad Presidents?

This downing of Kennedy in recent years is such obvious revisionism.

[ColbertWatcher]

12. Another good question might be: who hated him (enough to kill him) and why? n/t

[live love laugh]

8. Bush's daddy hid his association with anti-Kennedy groups and his

whereabouts on the day that Kennedy was killed. Bush set up an alibi stating that he was somewhere other than Dallas when and where Kennedy was assasinated even though Bush was there. This was discussed today on the Ron Reagan show by the author who thoroughly researched the book, Family Secrets, about the Bush family.

And yes, Kennedy was a good president.

[LSdemocrat]

10. Good, but not great. Sadly it took him getting killed in order to get many of his goals passed

Great rhetoric, great in avoiding nuclear annihilation in the Cuban Missile Crisis, but legislatively the 60's would probably have been significantly less progressive had he lived. Of course the big unanswerable question is what would he have done about Vietnam had he lived and been reelected (which was not a foregone conclusion).

[PSzymeczek]

11. Had he been allowed to complete a term

he would have been even better.

[kiva]

13. Had potential, despite some early errors, but voted neutral. n/t

[provis99]

14. he got good press because he flattered media people and intellectuals

that's why these folks have puffed up his mediocre reputation. Plus, he got assassinated, which automatically generates some sympathy votes. Frankly, he didn't really accomplish much, or try to, and he nearly blundered us into nuclear war in the Cuban Missle Crisis (which we lost; read the history books).

Oddly enough, unlike the baby boomers, liberals of my generation tend to look more favorably at LBJ than they did; LBJ would have been remembered as a great President except for Vietnam, which largely wasn't of his making, but something he inherited from Eisenhower and Kennedy.