If Kennedy had lived?

[admin]

If Kennedy had lived

Do you think America would be different today and why? What changes would he have Implicated? Would he have changed the course of history?
Would America be a better country or worse?

[Guest]

His death was dramatic and he was, for a time, almost beatified. While he certainly achieved some good things his reputation has tarnished over the years as archives are opened. LBJ was, in my view, a much more effective president. Apart of course from the Vietnam disaster.

[admin]

Looking back Minny, would you feel it is right to say there is a measure of good and bad in each and every World Leader, other than those dictators such as Hitler? There is therefore no such animal as the perfect President, Prime Minister, etc. You get what/who you voted for and hope they don't press the button! I agree Vietnam was an appalling error of judgement on the part of Johnson. My parents thought he was more than a bit of a war monger. Kennedy and Wife were glamorous and media friendly, which seems to have caught on as this is all we are getting in today's world!

[Guest]

Indeed I would. However, with dime there's a great deal more of one than the other. Hitler at the bottom, Mandela at the top and most of the others at different points of the spectrum. Politics is the art of the possible and compromises are always necessary. I certainly wouldn't like to be the one deciding which course to take when faced with great moral dilemmas.

[Daisy]

I think Kennedy was of his time. As you say, glamorous, media-friendly and in that exciting time in the early 60s when WWII was receding somewhat and young people were driving change in a way which hasn't happened before or since. Now, I regret he would be instantly mired in innuendo and subjected to trial by Twitter! I think very few people at that time could have held their resolve as he did over the Bay of Pigs crisis, and there's a point of view saying that he was reckless in doing so.

[Elisi]

Gosh how I remember the Bay of Pigs. I was at a teenage party and got home to find mum and dad desperately worried about where this would leave the world. They were not huge fans of the Kennedy's but were concerned about the Cold War aspect. In their eyes Kennedy was better than the alternative!