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"Let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests, and the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end, now, our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inherit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal....!"
--John F. Kennedy
Said Jack, the son of a rum runner. Whose family wealth was built on organized crime. JFK almost nuked the world. He disobeyed orders during WW II and is celebrated for his stupidity by those on the left. His brother cheated at Harvard and dad had to buy a building to get Ted his degree. Platitudes and quotes are fun an all. However, lets not put JFK on a pedestal quite yet.
JFK came into office, launched the bay of pigs, wanted and got big tax cuts, and nearly destroyed the world all in a few years. He and his brother turned on dad's mob friends when the bay of pigs failed. JFK also took Vietnam from France and started what would eventually become the slaughter of over 50,000 Americans for no reason. Mostly minority or poor Americans.
"Let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests, and the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end, now, our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inherit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal....!"
--John F. Kennedy
Noble words but in todays cultural mosaic people just want to hate and kill each other,i fear the human species is doomed.
Said the son of a rum runner. JFK almost nuked the world. He disobeyed orders and is celebrated for his stupidity. His brother cheated at Harvard and dad had to buy a building to get Ted his degree. Platitudes and quotes are fun an all. However, lets not put JFK on a pedestal quite yet.
JFK came into office, launched the bay of pigs, wanted and got big tax cuts, and nearly destroyed the world all in a few years. He and his brother turned on dad's mob friends when the bay of pigs failed. JFK also took Vietnam from France and started what would eventually become the slaughter of over 50,000 Americans for no reason. Mostly minority or poor Americans.
The Kennedys' imperfections are well-known! But the quote rings true, and is highly necessary, these days, even though it comes from an imperfect messenger! By the way, many say the speech from which the quote is lifted may have made him a target.....!
The Kennedys' imperfections are well-known! But the quote rings true, and is highly necessary, these days, even though it comes from an imperfect messenger! By the way, many say the speech from which the quote is lifted may have made him a target.....!
Not to most born people born after 1980.
& functionofX didn't even mention the man's wandering eye. Dude made Bill Clinton look like a choirboy. (which doesn't matter to me in carrying out his duties, but evidently is important to many)
The "quote" didn't make him a target.....p*ssing off the mob did.
& functionofX didn't even mention the man's wandering eye. Dude made Bill Clinton look like a choirboy. (which doesn't matter to me in carrying out his duties, but evidently is important to many)
The "quote" didn't make him a target.....p*ssing off the mob did.
He was a target of many!
Pissing off the mob was, in fact, one of them
Talking about civil rights and diversity, in 1963, also made some others get in shooting range.....!
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
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Quote:
Originally Posted by functionofx
Said Jack, the son of a rum runner. Whose family wealth was built on organized crime. JFK almost nuked the world. He disobeyed orders during WW II and is celebrated for his stupidity by those on the left. His brother cheated at Harvard and dad had to buy a building to get Ted his degree. Platitudes and quotes are fun an all. However, lets not put JFK on a pedestal quite yet.
JFK came into office, launched the bay of pigs, wanted and got big tax cuts, and nearly destroyed the world all in a few years. He and his brother turned on dad's mob friends when the bay of pigs failed. JFK also took Vietnam from France and started what would eventually become the slaughter of over 50,000 Americans for no reason. Mostly minority or poor Americans.
No, Eisenhower first sent advisors and it was LBJ who upped the ante to combat troops. The lack of truth in your statement brings everything else you say into question without credible documentation.
No, Eisenhower first sent advisors and it was LBJ who upped the ante to combat troops. The lack of truth in your statement brings everything else you say into question without credible documentation.
Don't gloss it over, JFK took it from around 3,000 to nearly 20,000 US servicemen.
"Let us not be blind to our differences, but let us also direct attention to our common interests, and the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end, now, our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inherit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal....!"
--John F. Kennedy
I have to make a correction. The word "Inherit" should be replaced by "Inhabit." I stand corrected.
No, Eisenhower first sent advisors and it was LBJ who upped the ante to combat troops. The lack of truth in your statement brings everything else you say into question without credible documentation.
Quote:
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a fervent believer in containing communism. In his first speech on becoming president, Kennedy made it clear that he would continue the policy of the former President, Dwight Eisenhower, and support the government of Diem in South Vietnam. Kennedy also made it plain that he supported the ‘Domino Theory’ and he was convinced that if South Vietnam fell to communism, then other states in the region would as a consequence. This Kennedy was not prepared to contemplate.
Kennedy received conflicting advice with regards to Vietnam. Charles De Gaulle warned Kennedy that Vietnam and warfare in Vietnam would trap America in a “bottomless military and political swamp". This was based on the experience the French had at Dien Bien Phu, which left a sizeable psychological scar of French foreign policy for some years. However, Kennedy had more daily contact with ‘hawks’ in Washington DC who believed that American forces would be far better equipped and prepared for conflict in Vietnam than the French had been. They believed that just a small increase in US support for Diem would ensure success in Vietnam. The ‘hawks’ in particular were strong supporters in the ‘Domino Theory’.
Also Kennedy had to show just exactly what he meant when he said that America should:
“Pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend…to assure the survival and success of liberty ".
In 1961, Kennedy agreed that America should finance an increase in the size of the South Vietnamese Armyfrom 150,000 to 170,000. He also agreed that an extra 1000 US military advisors should be sent to South Vietnam to help train the South Vietnamese Army. Both of these decisions were not made public as they broke the agreements made at the 1954 Geneva Agreement.
It was during Kennedy’s presidency that the ‘Strategic Hamlet’ programme was introduced. This failed badly and almost certainly drove a number of South Vietnamese peasants into supporting the North Vietnamese communists. This forcible moving of peasants into secure compounds was supported by Diem and did a great deal to further the opposition to him in the South. American television reporters relayed to the US public that ‘Strategic Hamlet’ destroyed decades, if not hundreds, of years of village life in the South and that the process might only take half-a-day. Here was a super-power effectively orchestrating the forced removal of peasants by the South Vietnamese Army who were not asked if they wanted to move. To those who knew about US involvement in Vietnam and were opposed to it, ‘Strategic Hamlet’ provided them with an excellent propaganda opportunity.
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(which doesn't matter to me in carrying out his duties, but evidently is important to many)
