So he had an affair with Marilyn Monroe. Did that really affect the country? But people held it against him. But it was also none our business, because it didn't interfere how he ran his presidency. If JFK's only flaw was that he slept with Marilyn Monroe that's far better and much more forgiving than what presidents after him have done.
Originally Posted by acp5762
MM was only a minor secret. What about that whole Bay of Pigs disaster? What about the multiple attempts to depose Castro, including reaching out to the Mafia? How much transparency went on there?
What about Kennedy approving the CIA-backed coup (and assassination) of Ngo Dinh Diem in November 1963?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrest_..._Ngo_Dinh_Diem
How much transparency there?
What about using the FBI to spy on folks? JFK's right hand man, Bobby Kennedy had dirt on half of Washington and was not afraid to use it - in secret, of course - to further JFK's agenda. Why do you think JFK picked a FAMILY member as attorney general? Unquestioning loyalty, that's why. What better way was there to keep secrets?
None of this is to condemn Kennedy more than any other President. I just point out that JFK was no different that most other Presidents.
All of that talk about "Camelot" is a bunch of bullshit. He was a deeply flawed man and his marriage was something of a front.
Even with an affair, Kennedy was the last real president this country had.
Originally Posted by acp5762
So, LBJ, Carter, Nixon, Reagan, both Bushes and Clinton were not "real" Presidents? What is the qualification to be real?