John F. Kennedy (35th president)
1961-63
Democrat
ABOVE: JFK and wife Jacqueline Kennedy ushered in an era of unprecedented style and glamour to the White House.
Early in his administration, JFK seemed to confirm his critics' complaints that he was a young, brash lightweight in over his head. Right off the bat he OK'd the disasterous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba and then chickened out mid-operation and refused to provide the necessary air support to the hapless Cuban exile invaders. He also got his ass handed to him by the wily Nikita Khrushchev at their Geneva Summit. JFK was ill-prepared for the meeting, and it was here where Khrushchev probably determined that he could get away with placing nukes in Cuba. JFK also escalated the Vietnam conflict, and despite what Oliver Stone says, was probably not on the verge of withdrawal.
Although Kennedy talked a big Civil Rights game, he really didn't want to touch the issue. Other than forcing integration at the University of Mississippi, JFK did not act on his Civil Rights promises. It was Lyndon Johnson who moved on it and deserves most of the credit.
So, why ranked so high? First, Kennedy's way with words and his mystique were part of a genuine greatness. His inspiring challenge to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade helped to spur our most productive and daring decade in space. Words have power. He inspired an optimistic start to the 60's that died with him. That decade could have unfolded differently had he lived and perhaps won a second term.
ABOVE: Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, you've got to admire this speech, one of the all time great inaugural addresses
After his unsure start, JFK accomplished some great things before November 1963. He created the Peace Corps, signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviets, and altered the dangerous Massive Retaliation policy of his predecessors.
His two greatest successes had to do with knowing when to stand down and knowing when to boldly act. First, standing down. When the Soviets put up the Berlin Wall in Germany, many hawks demanded immediate action. Kennedy had the wisdom to know that there was not much we could really do short of starting a nuclear war over the issue, so instead he quietly secured guarantees from the Soviets of continued access to West Berlin, and simply let it go. This was the wise move.
ABOVE: CIA satellite photos of missile sites in Cuba
His time of action, of course, was the Cuban Missile Crisis, the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. Obviously we could not allow nuclear weapons 90 miles from our shores (which would not give us time to retaliate if they were launched), so he ordered the blockade and demanded that the Soviets pull the weapons out. Kennedy had learned a great deal about his adversary since their meeting in Vienna. He calculated that Khrushchev wanted to neutralize the nuclear weapons that we had in Turkey pointing at the Soviet Union, and even privately admitted that if he were Khrushchev, he might have tried the same thing. After secretly agreeing to remove many of our nukes in Turkey, Kennedy didn't flinch from his demand that the Soviets remove all of their nukes from Cuba. Kennedy didn't flinch, and Khrushchev finally had to.
ABOVE: JFK moved from amateur to great leader in three short years. I believe that had he lived, he just would have gotten better.
3 comments:
FYI - Sienna College just posted its first presidential ranking poll since 2002. I can already tell that I wouldn't trade Dez's rankings for theirs if my life depended on it. The 200+ "scholars" polled must all teach at the University of Moscow.
Dez's rankings in parentheses.
43. Johnson (37 of 39)
42. Buchanan (39)
41. Harding (35)
40. Pierce (38)
39. "W" (not rated)
38. Fillmore (23)
37. Tyler (26)
36. Hoover (31)
35. Tippecanoe (not rated)
34. Harrison (34)
33. Taylor (33)
32. Carter (28)
31. Hayes (19)
30. Nixon (22)
29. Coolidge (29)
28. Ford (30)
27. Garfield (not rated)
26. Grant (36)
25. Arthur (24)
24. Taft (27)
23. Van Buren (32)
22. Bush (16)
21. McKinley (?)
20. Cleveland (20)
19. John Q. (25)
18. Reagan (?)
17. Adams (?)
16. LBJ (18)
15. Obama (not rated)
14. Jackson (21)
13. Clinton (17)
12. Polk (?)
11. Kennedy (15)
10. Eisenhower (?)
9. Truman (?)
8. Wilson (?)
7. Monroe (?)
6. Madison (?)
5. Jefferson (?)
4. Washington (?)
3. Lincoln (?)
2. TR (?)
1. FDR (?)
Cool Brad, thanks. If you look up "Presidential Rankings" on Wikipedia, they have a great chart showing the results of about 15 presidential polls. It is interesting to look over.
How can they even rank Obama yet? And they put The Annointed One at 15 already? Ridiculous. Socialists.
It's difficult to give a president too much credit for successfully handling a foreign policy crisis when he was primarily responsible for the evolution of that crisis in the first place. JFK's amateurism encouraged the Soviets in Cuba, Berlin, etc. no less than Carter's weakness encouraged them in Afghanistan a generation later. Furthermore, had Kennedy not vascillated at the Bay of Pigs, there wouldn't be a Soviet-friendly regime in Cuba for the remaining half-century.
JFK was mostly style and little substance and there's too much at stake for Americans to find on-the-job training of the Leader of the Free World as acceptable practice.
In the fall of 1963, Republicans were looking forward to the prospect of running against Kennedy (whom they considered vulnerable). While exhorting the American People to become a better version of themselves - and doing so eloquently - Kennedy himself did not exhibit the same kind of self-sacrifice in his personal life that he asked of his countrymen.
Kennedy's involvement in escalating American participation in Vietnam isn't often mentioned either. The whole "Camelot" mystique was a creation of the press. Imagine if the press had been as intemperate with Kennedy as they were with Nixon? Widely considered one of our greatest presidents for the same reason men named their sons after Mickey Mantle: because America's "golden age" has been deemed to be the overly romanticized youth of its baby boom generation.
In the past half century, only three presidents have cut taxes and Kennedy is one of them. While the man held promise, I always received what I earned on my report cards; I wasn't graded on "potential." Come to think of it, Dez, it seems you give Kennedy and Hayes extra credit for their potential, but not Zach Taylor, the sole president between Adams and Lincoln unwilling to coddle slaver interests in the antebellum Republic.
Kennedy remains an intriguing figure in many ways - the real Kennedy, not the myth, that is. Ironic that so many choose to idolize him as the embodiment of their unfulfilled dreams for that decade/generation, yet Kennedy's policies were decidedly in opposition to the Left turn his party took in the decade after his death. Kennedy hasn't so much in common with today's Democratic party.
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