>>>>>He has been gone for close to half a century now and it's easy to forget how eloquent he was. Charles can say until the cows come home that the words were Ted Salinger's. I do not believe that to be true. The man did go to Harvard.
>>>>
>>>>Most of what came out of JFK in speeches (and books) were the product of Sorenson, Schlesinger and Goodwin.
>>>>
>>>>For someone who scoffs at "belief" you really have a child-like need to believe <g>
>>>>
>>>>George W Bush got into Yale and did as well as Al Gore or John Kerry - or John Kennedy did. And yet I never heard you say "The man did go to Yale"
>>>>
>>>>Getting into Harvard in 1936 when you prepped at Choate and your father was chairman of the SEC wasn't exactly an endorsement of academic excellence.
>>>>
>>>>JFK was by all accounts a charming guy, somebody I probably would have liked a lot, but the myth is just that - the product of one of the most formidable image-making machines seen in modern times. Given his private behavior while President it is likely that had he gone on to a second term there would have been scandal dwarfing anything Nixon or Clinton gave us.
>>>>
>>>>Of course boomers whose history comes from Life magazine and things like 1000 Days will remain enthralled and that is probably as it should be. But history is already not being as kind.
>>>>
>>>>Many good qualities and probably a better man that he should have been, given his father. I was certainly impressed with Bobby - who I think was tougher, smarter and certainly more self-disciplined.
>>>>
>>>>1968 changed the future for the worse a lot more than did 1963.
>>>>
>>>>But the need to worship politicians is neither fair to them nor the truth.
>>>>
>>>>But if you heard familiar echoes :
>>>>
>>>>http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4259093&page=1
>>>>
>>>>I'm not anti-JFK. (or Obama for that matter) I am just anti-idolatry. <s>
>>>
>>>I sincerely do not believe it's idolatry. He had something to say.
>>
>>Until recently, I thought Kennedy was one of the worst Presidents the USA ever elected.
>
>Ha ha.
>
>The jury is still out on Obama. But I will never back off about JFK. The thing that is already receding into the rocky mists of time is how inspirational he was. As just one example, the Peace Corps was established. Young college grads traveled to the poorest nations on earth to work for little or nothing, postponing their careers. Who on the recent landscape has had that kind of influence? Vowing to put a man on the moon is another example. They all think so small now, both parties.

We are the buffer country between the two biggest nuclear armed nations on the earth and he proceeded to lead us to the brink of full scale nuclear war. I wasn't too impressed with that. The bay of pigs wasn't to hot a decision either. Add to that the foolishness of left leaning legislation and politics and it's a mess.