Cheers!

[monk222]

♠
“The troops will march in; the bands will play; the crowds will cheer; and in four days everyone will have forgotten. Then we will be told we have to send more troops. It's like taking a drink. The effect wears off, and you have to take another.”

-- President John F. Kennedy, 1961

Taking "Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974" back up, I thought this quote resonates well with today. Kennedy's Administration is divided between sending more troops into Vietnam. After the failed Bay of Pigs operation, Kennedy is not very eager to go down that route of escalation.

xXx

Comments

[antilapsarian.livejournal.com]

The guy was a war hero...so one wonders if that puts it in better or worse light than Dubya's failings. But one of Kennedy's great faults as history looks back was playing too much hardball with the Soviets and on foreign policy. Hindsight is 20/20 but it shouldn't take a genius to see that you don't get involved in stuff like Vietnam, Iraq, Bay of Pigs, etc.. I suppose that is the irony of Profiles in Courage is that the Kennedy legacy has little to do with international or military issues--although I might throw the space race in there for the political element. Kennedy was one of the greats, but like all great Presidents who fail to come up as the best, what does them in is usually failing to pay attention to a key area while they have a pet project. Even FDR, the greatest in history, failed blacks in many ways despite his other obvious triumphs.