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Column: Decades later, JFK’s legacy remains complex and controversial
Chicago Tribune ^ | November 20, 2024 | Arthur I. Cyr

Posted on 11/22/2024 6:50:33 PM PST by george76

The president of the United States travels to Texas to mitigate factional strife in his Democratic Party, and on Nov. 22, 1963, is gunned down on a Dallas street. Two days later, alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is shot by hustler Jack Ruby.

JFK’s majestic Nov. 25 funeral, planned in detail by wife Jacqueline, provides no closure. American government has been fundamentally shaken. Oswald’s televised murder precludes a trial, and greatly encourages conspiracy theories.

Fascination with, and controversy about President Kennedy continues. In 2013, floods of books, articles and commentaries mark the half-century since his death.

Kennedy’s legacy is complex

...

In fact, JFK had major achievements. They included arms control, the Peace Corps and space exploration.

Nonetheless, Sevareid was perceptive in emphasizing the emotional dimensions of political leadership.

The early disastrous invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs undercut Kennedy, and provided Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev strong incentive to deploy nuclear missiles on the island. Intense, vastly expanded U.S. efforts to kill Fidel Castro further spurred Moscow.

That led to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. President Kennedy, a World War II combat veteran, resisted powerful pressure to invade Cuba. The missiles were removed following a blockade and overt invasion preparations, combined with a secret Cuba-Turkey missile trade. Kennedy’s restraint and imagination were extremely impressive.

In the aftermath of the missile crisis, Kennedy and Khrushchev achieved a treaty banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, a breakthrough. The Senate ratified the treaty with a bipartisan vote of 80-19. JFK had other successes with Congress, including negotiation authority key to the 1967 Kennedy Round Trade Agreement, and the successor Tokyo and Uruguay Accords.

...

RFK was relentless in pursuit of the mafia, while simultaneously gangsters and mercenaries were recruited to kill Castro. Dallas ended both efforts.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 19631122; adulterer; jfk; nov22; nov25
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1 posted on 11/22/2024 6:50:33 PM PST by george76
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To: george76

Where was George Herbert Walker Bush on November 22, 1963?


2 posted on 11/22/2024 6:53:02 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ████. FJB.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

There were so many “Company” affiliates and “cowboys” in or near Dealey Plaza that day that I have lost track.


3 posted on 11/22/2024 6:56:16 PM PST by irishjuggler
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To: george76

JFK’s feckless dilettante behavior very nearly got us nuked. Other than that? Great President!


4 posted on 11/22/2024 7:03:18 PM PST by Locomotive Breath
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To: george76

It was the Texans.

LBJ, Dallas mayor, Dallas police chief, and CIA operative Daddy Bush most mentionable.


5 posted on 11/22/2024 7:03:58 PM PST by Biblebelter
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To: Locomotive Breath

Possibly the dumbest thing ever uttered by a US President in the 20th century.

6 posted on 11/22/2024 7:08:46 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

HW was giving a speech in Tyler Texas that day.


7 posted on 11/22/2024 7:12:19 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Having breakfast with Tricky Dick,himself!


8 posted on 11/22/2024 7:13:26 PM PST by Dr. Ursus
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To: Locomotive Breath

Don’t forget his goal of the 1965 Immigration Act.


9 posted on 11/22/2024 7:13:30 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

It’s called a “cover story.”


10 posted on 11/22/2024 7:13:46 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (The worst thing about censorship is █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █ ███████ ████. FJB.)
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To: george76

JFK was a right winger.


11 posted on 11/22/2024 7:14:55 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

A public speech while your wife is getting her hair done in the same city and travel to and from the speech back to Dallas is a good cover story.


12 posted on 11/22/2024 7:15:57 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: george76

Other than that Mrs. Kennedy, how was the parade?


13 posted on 11/22/2024 7:16:08 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va

Lol, JFK was a lefty, Reagan called him a Marxist.


14 posted on 11/22/2024 7:16:59 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12

Nope, I ‘ve looked at his record. He was a righty. If a Democrat said “ask what yo can do for your country” they would be banished from the party.


15 posted on 11/22/2024 7:20:09 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va

You didn’t look very closely at the left’s most beloved president in history and a deity among the left, and why the left has run the greatest propaganda agenda in American history for more than 60 years in publishing, TV, Hollywood, public education, and in myth creating to raise Americans to practically worship the man whose election ended America and created this path we are on today.


16 posted on 11/22/2024 7:27:39 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: ansel12
Read:

Where would JFK align politically today?

17 posted on 11/22/2024 7:28:02 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

RE: Where was George Herbert Walker Bush on November 22, 1963?

Family of Secrets author Russ Baker was inspired by a report that George H. W. Bush could not remember where he was on November 22, 1963.

Wikipedia:
According to Baker, the first President Bush became an intelligence agent in his teenage years and was later at the center of a plot to assassinate Kennedy that included his father, Prescott Bush, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, CIA Director Allen Dulles, Cuban and Russian exiles and emigrants, and various Texas oilmen.

He also names Bob Woodward of The Washington Post as an intelligence agent who conspired with John Dean to remove President Richard Nixon from office for opposing the oil depletion allowance.


18 posted on 11/22/2024 7:28:23 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: ansel12

In addition, JFK lowered the top income tax rate in 1962 from 91% to 65%. This action would be highly unpopular in today’s Democratic party, as one of their main policies and beliefs are “taxing the rich” or “making the rich pay their fair share” in which the 1% of income earners are taxed heavily. For example, President-elect Joe Biden plans on raising tax rates on families with an income over $400,000 per year.


19 posted on 11/22/2024 7:29:00 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: central_va

You like the 1965 Immigration Act? the Vietnam war and the crazy 1960s, affirmative action, unionized government, the homeless that came from JFK emptying the mental hospitals to try and federalize them?


20 posted on 11/22/2024 7:30:16 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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