The short, unpleasant life of John F. Kennedy

Minneapolis Star Tribune ^ | 1/21/12 | Jason Lewis

[BlueBerrier0341]

Fifty one years after a young president from Massachusetts delivered a stirring inaugural address on a frigid day in the nation's capital, contemporary politicians still aspire to the Kennedy mystique.

[wideminded]

"... there is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war, and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic, and some are stationed in San Francisco. It’s very hard in military or in personal life to assure complete equality. Life is unfair. Some people are sick and others are well."

- JFK, March 21st 1962 press conference (no teleprompter)
It has been speculated that the last line here was referring to himself.

[RJS1950]

The entire kennedy myth is a huge piece of unpleasantness which has done much harm to Constitution and the country.

[palmerizedCaddis]

If you want to factually criticize someone?????

How about JFK’s affair with a blonde lady german spy during WWII? That is what got him transferred to the Pacific. Traitorous, treasonous, anyone with less family clout would have been imprisoned for life or executed.

Due to an all night round of poker, I am..

Caddis the late riser

[bmwcyle]

Sins of the Father will be visited on the Sons.

[Reily]

Read Robert Caro's book on JFK
JFK was an best an inept PT Boat commander, was almost removed from command because of an inability to properly dock his boat! In many ways his boat captaining skills were more Ensign Parker then Commander McHale! And there was going to be either a court martial or board of inquiry regarding how he got his boat cut in half on a night with very good visibility (Like why wasn't a watch assigned?) and why he was so far out if the squadron's area of operations?
He did behave very courageously after his boat's destruction there is no question of that. However he never should have gotten his command into that predicament. The Navy takes a very dim view of losing a ship (or boat!) regardless of the circumstances. But Daddy Joe stepped in and made it all better!

[Churchillspirit]

Agreed....if you are in constant pain no amount of money can make life pleasant.

[AFret.]

Read Robert Caro’s book on JFK
JFK was an best an inept PT Boat commander, was almost removed from command because of an inability to properly dock his boat! In many ways his boat captaining skills were more Ensign Parker then Commander McHale! And there was going to be either a court martial or board of inquiry regarding how he got his boat cut in half on a night with very good visibility (Like why wasn’t a watch assigned?) and why he was so far out if the squadron’s area of operations?
He did behave very courageously after his boat’s destruction there is no question of that. However he never should have gotten his command into that predicament. The Navy takes a very dim view of losing a ship (or boat!) regardless of the circumstances. But Daddy Joe stepped in and made it all better!

---

I suggest you review “The Kennedy’s At War” by Edward J. Renehan, Jr.

I’m not going to argue with you..JFK was a brave man and well regarded by his peers and superiors. Yes, there was a board of inquiry..there always is after a materiel loss.

[Reily]

Well Caro's book says different.
Don't really care enough about the Kennedy’s to care to argue the merits of either book (Particularly since I haven't read the book you are talking about! Also there is money to be made and influence to be gained in keeping the Kennedy mystique alive.) Caro was a Kennedy worshiper when he started the book after finishing he came away with a different view. Who's right? Don't know & no longer care!

[Polynikes]

“JFK was an best an inept PT Boat commander, was almost removed from command because of an inability to properly dock his boat!”

I saw History channel episode years ago that had an interview with the captain of the destroyer who ran over JFK. The Japanese captain was amazed that he managed to hit a PT boat. He opined that the US commander might not have been of the best quality because PT boats were so hard to ram.

[GreenHornet]

JFK was an best an inept PT Boat commander, was almost removed from command because of an inability to properly dock his boat!

I wonder if he taught his brother Ted how to drive?

[ansel12]

Like many heroes of the left, JFK was a sleazy, wicked man behind the veil, he disgusted his Secret Service people and they were ashamed of the things they had to do and overlook for him, I saw one tear up as he described the degrading things they had to endure for the guy.

[RichInOC]

Short, yes. Unpleasant, I question.

[SamAdams76]

Well the title of this article is a bit overly dramatic. Yes, JFK had a short life but he had a million dollars (in 1938!) handed to him when he was 21, got to be a "war hero", had all the babes he wanted, and on top of that, got to be president of the United States. So okay, in between, he had some back pain, some stomachaches, and his mother was a frigid old hag who outsourced his upbringing to the hired help. Oh well, just goes to show you can't have it all.

Out of all the Kennedys, JFK is my favorite of the whole wretched bunch. No doubt he had his peccadilloes and he's a flawed man, not worthy of the idol worship bestowed upon him by the fawning mainstream media and little old ladies from East Boston (who still have portraits of him hanging in their parlors) but JFK certainly made the most of his brief time on earth and generally rose above the rest of the riff-raff that descended from the loins of Joe and Rose Kennedy.

[Reily]

I would have to find Caro's book and look but he quotes the reports of the squadron commander & other boat captains on visibility. The visibility was quite good! Also the Kennedy boat seemed to be well out of the area of operation. (That's why they had problems finding him!)If you remember the movie, it makes it look like a foggy night. It wasn't according to Caro's research!

Japanese destroyers & US PT boats did not fight using classical age triremes & quadremes tactics! Something is very amiss with the story. PT boat tactics were wait in the shallows like shoals & inlets (too shallow for deep water ships like destroyers!) and dash out for a torpedo run. It seems that Kennedy's boat was out in deep water and again if I remember this right according to “the story” it wasn't on a torpedo run!. It was sitting there! Huh? That makes no sense!

[Dr. Scarpetta]

The article says that Kennedy would suffer from the absence of a mother's love.

Never heard that one before...

[ansel12]

Adjusted for inflation, JFK was a billionaire President, no other President comes anywhere near that.

Odd that America doesn’t think of JFK as being the richest president in our history, instead it is all athletics and war heroism ,the outdoors, and movie star glamour.

[M1903A1]

Look up “Japanese Destroyer Captain” by Tameichi Hara. He was aboard one of the other destroyers in the squadron involved, and as I recall he witnessed the whole thing.

[Mears]

bfl

[PapaBear3625]

On the other hand, he DID get to sleep with Marilyn Monroe, among others.

[Reily]

“....instead it is all athletics and war heroism ,the outdoors, and movie star glamour. ....”

About 75% of this was fiction just Ole Joe buying the best PR men you can get!