Most of my life, I would consider myself fairly conservative.
I cried the day Hubert Humphrey died.
These days, no matter how much we don’t want to admit it, there have actually been some stellar dem politicians.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan comes to mind...
Not many. But a few. These guys were men, with true values.
And I consider JFK in that bunch. He ALMOST prevented the Viet Nam war. And we do have that little moon landing thing to thank him for. A moment I will go to my grave believing was one of Americas finest hours!
I hear you. His speeches were really inspiring. Another Dem like is Zell Miller. And Joe Leiberman had his moments. His party betrayed him and he went Independent.
If you could pick anyone and make them Preisdent, is there a person alive right now that you would measure againt Humphrey?
Well not exactly. Both Kennedy and Johnson were committed to stopping the communist advance in Southeast Asia at South Vietnam. Kennedy presided over a significant increase in our commitment there. My father's office partner was the Army's small arms expert and when returned from his tour in 1962 he said "They may not be calling it a war, but we are sure using ammunition like it's one." There were some 15,000 American military advisers in South Vietnam at that time.
By early November 1963 Kennedy was very frustrated with South Vietnam's President Ngô Đình Diệm. Kennedy let it be known that he wanted Diệm replaced and on November 1st some ARVN generals staged a coup. Diệm was arrested and the next day assassinated. Vietnam was left rudderless with a series of unstable governments. Ho Chi Minh could hardly believe his good luck. When Kennedy was killed 20 days later Johnson inherited the mess and his solution was the large scale commitment of American combat troops.