He literally did nothing.
And that may be an unfair statement because he got shot, but during the time he was in office, he didn’t do anything for the country that immediately comes to mind. I suppose he held the line on the Cuban Missile Crisis pretty well, but... what else?
Why does getting shot suddenly make your presidency good? Did people rant and rave about McKinley?
G.W. Bush should have just taken a walk through South Side Chicago during his last week in office and he’d be called a hero. I really do despair at how politically/historically ignorant people are in this country. Ask the average man or woman what Bay of Pigs was and they’ll probably think you’re talking about a defunct bacon company.
He put Byron White on the SCOTUS.
He and Rehnquist were the only two dissenters in Roe.
All the other Nixon appointees voted for Roe.
White stayed true to the end and in my opinion was one of the better Justices in the last 50 years.
That’s the only thing Kennedy did that stands out in my mind long term.
James A. Garfield as well. He last 6 months as President before he was killed, and "accomplished" about the same amount that JFK did in 3 years. Of course you don't see the media building some fairy tale story about how wonderful life was under Garfield and making his wife and kids out to be royalty.
Put me down in the 10% of Americans who do NOT "approve" of Kennedy's job performance from 1961-19643.