Yes, John Kennedy was a genuine hawk on defense.
Such animals ceased to exist in the Democrat Party when
the McGovern/Carter/Tedkennedy liberals took over; Kerry was in that crowd, touting the UN in 1971 and being anti-vietnam war.
Then the Democrat's last hawk Scoop Jackson retired and his neocon underlings (like Richard Perle) migrated to the Republican side.
The Democrats behavior since 9/11 only proves they are still the weak-on-defense mcgovernite party.
The Democrats will claim President Bush has no "wisdom". Oddly enough, the most unwise President Clinton first brought this up.