We remember him for facing Khruschev down in the Cuban Missile Crisis. In fact, we gave up missiles in Turkey in trade for the missiles in Cuba. Kennedy totaly screwed the Cuban Brigade in the Bay of Pigs invasion by withdrawing air support that was promised. He did this after they were on the beach.
Kennedy's camelot would never survive if scrutinized at the same level that W experiences today (Although we know it would never happen). We saw him take nepotism to a level that would never be tolerated today, when he appointed his brother Bobbie as Attorney General.
We now know Kennedy had Addison's disease, a fatal disorder. We now know he was a drug addicted womanizer. These facts were completely concealed from the public by a incompetent or complicit press.
The main reason he got a "pass" on all this was Jackie. The public and press were starry eyed over her grace and charm then her martyred heroine status. His memory was untouchable as long as she was alive.
Ben Bradlee editor for the Washington Post (also from MA) practically lived at the WH during the Kennedy years. Camelot ... na, I don't think so ... it was simply portrayed that way by the fawning liberal media. Bradlee, in fact, was so enamored with Kennedy and that era, later wrote two books about him.
Nor should he. From the standpoint of a "legacy," being assassinated was the best thing that could have happened to this loser. Khrushchev had him pegged and pinned to the wall. Had he lived he would have done something really stupid, even more stupid than crossing the Rubicon in VietNam with no more than a few thousand "advisors."