What JFK did for this country

[Len Colby]

JFK did many important things during his short presidency but communications satellites and school desegregation began under Ike. The men most responsible for the latter were Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren.

[Scott Kaiser]

Fifty years ago this month, a junior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts became the youngest person ever elected to the presidency and the second-youngest to hold the job. John F. Kennedy’s presidency was bookended by a narrow victory in 1960 over then-Vice President Richard Nixon (featuring the first televised debates) and his tragic assassination in November of 1963. By 1963, however, the rhetoric had changed. In his American University speech, which followed the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy attempted to sell the American people on an arms agreement with the Russians.

[Kennedy] says, ‘In the final analysis, we all inhabit the same small planet, we all breathe the same air, we cherish our children’s future and we are all mortal.’ And it’s spectacular,” says Kuklick. “This overture by Kennedy to say, ‘Let’s do something about this’ meets with a very positive response from the Russians. It’s Sorensen’s words and Kennedy’s ability as a public speaker that really did the trick.”

Fifty Years Later

Today, Kennedy remains one of the most admired and beloved presidents in history, coming in third on a 2007 Gallup Poll list behind Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. Americans may remember Kennedy’s presidency as a special time in the country’s history. “I think that the assassination combined with [Kennedy’s] rhetorical powers will give him maybe a false place in American history as displaying this great moment of hope and a moment at which people could think that rational debate might actually have successful fruition,” says Kuklick. “This represented a time when we could put intelligence to work and somehow work things out in a reasonable way. I think that’s what the Kennedy legacy is and I think it’s likely to remain that way.”

[J. William King]

Looking in retrospect at the events of the last 50 years, I have often wondered if the United States would have gotten to the moon by 1969 if President Kennedy had NOT been assassinated. I have to wonder if an exposed scandal, budget problems, Vietnam, public opinion, or a host of other issues would have worked against the goal of a moon landing by the end of the decade.

After the assassination, it was almost as though NASA and the public in general had the attitude that the slain president would not die in vain, and that his wishes would be carried out.

It could be that this country's (maybe the world's) greatest scientific achievement was accomplished because of, and not in spite of, his death.

Edited March 13, 2012 by J. William King

[Dean Hagerman]

If JFK would have lived and been re-elected it is my opinion that in the 1968 election George Wallace and Curtis LeMay would have been elected president and VP

[Mark Wengler]

I think RFK would run in 68 like he did even if his brother was not assassinated.

[Dean Hagerman]

I think RFK would run in 68 like he did even if his brother was not assassinated.

Thats possible, but I think that crime and lawlessness would be at an all time high and america would want a drastic change

So even if RFK was not assassinated and ran in 68 Wallace would have still won