PT-109 becoming a naval legend had to be because of some boosting from the press. This would not have become a big story if the skipper's father hadn't been Joe Kennedy.
In the navy, losing your boat is not considered a good thing. At the board of inquiry, they never reached a decision. This is odd.
Kennedy wanted to return to the PT Boats, but was declined. Official reason was because of the back injury he sustained. Rumors were there were concerns about him dating women that were possible foreign spies, and that there was concern about his competence.
Agree with you that Kennedy may not have been a great naval officer, but both he and his older brother, Joe, volunteered for extremely hazardous duty, when they could have easily gotten safe assignments. Joe died, John nearly died, and tried to go back.
John Kennedy never made a big deal out of his naval career. Other people talked about it, but Kennedy never bragged.
(personal opinion coming) The John Kennedy that ran for president was a media creation, from the ghost-written Profiles in Courage, to the senate seat prepared for him. After he got in office, he became a great man. Bobby Kennedy took on the mob. John Kennedy took on the CIA and the mafia over Cuba. And they killed him for it.
Why couldn’t it have been Ted that was killed?
I agree with your response. I would also add that Kennedy’s promoting of NASA and a trip to the moon was a major milestone in America’s history leading to our dominance in science and engineering and computers.
I strongly disagree that JFK was a great president. His foreign policy was marked by a string of failures including the Vienna Summit, the Bay of Pigs, the Berlin Wall, the transfer of Dutch New Guinea to pro-Communist Indonesia and the murder of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem. His domestic policies included allowing federal workers to unionize.
As for Bobby, he started off right, working for Joe McCarthy, but in the '60's he was moving left. Concern that he might become president was a major incentive for me to become a conservative political activist.