During WW2 when JFK was a Navy Lieutenant commanding PT109, he would often resort to irresponsible acts such as running at high speed toward the dock after a routine patrol, then reversing the engines at the last moment just in time when approaching the dock. This practice was hard on the PT boat's transmission, often damaging it which required replacement. During one incident, it was said that Kennedy was coming in too fast and was too late in reversing the engines, allowing PT109 to slam into the pier where storage and workshop facilities were destroyed and expensive tools and spare parts were dumped into the water. Later on, a Japanese destroyer sliced PT109 in half, and Kennedy, an excellent swimmer, swam ashore assisting an injured crewman. Hal (I voted for him in the 1960 Presidential Election, because I couldn't vote for Nixon.)
@Hal Pollner I was not old enough to vote yet then, but doubt that I would have voted for him had I been able to. When he was in deep distress and not knowing which way to turn during the Bay of Pigs deal, who do you think he asked for a meeting with, for his guidance? Barry Goldwater! Frank
He was also a Playboy/Womanizer even while married to Jackie. He also had an affair with Marylyn Monroe. But he was protected by his wealthy, powerful, influential father, Joseph P. Kennedy, who "engineered" his election to President. Hal
Yeah, I wasn't old enough to vote then either, as the age then was still 21. I have always wondered how history would have viewed him if he had not been killed. He was an innovative man, with the Peace Corps (Corpse to Obama) and VISTA (which Clinton tried to re-engineer and take credit for as AmeriCorps), but he was very much like Trump. He cut taxes, built the military, made rash actions, and would be viewed today as Conservative. He also strongly attacked the Intelligence Community and FBI. That probably was in part what resulted in his assassination. As Hal alluded to, he was also the only person to occupy the Oval Office who did not really win the election. Everyone in political power at the time knew that Kennedy had lost but enough dead voters had been in Texas and Illinois to throw the election due to Papa Joe's connections to Organized Crime. Nixon decided not to bring it to light, as he thought it would traumatize the nation. There is no evidence that Kennedy himself knew of his father's machinations, however, and the Mafia considered it a betrayal when he and Bobby turned their guns on the Mob. He then had enemies in Crime, the FBI and the CIA, and when he added Castro and the Soviets into the mix, it was a lethal combination. Even Donald Trump wouldn't release the documents on the conspiracy.
It was said Joseph Kennedy made oodles of money, profiting from Prohibition, by illegally running enormous amounts of bootleg hootch into the country. Frank
Yep, I believe he was the ambassador to the Court of St. James and shipped scotch in diplomatic containers so they couldn't be opened by customs. He then built his fortune further by selling short on stocks that he had manipulated, essentially stealing from the people who lent to him. He was one of the famous villains of the early 20th century.
All the while, we were being brainwashed and fed the Camelot myth. Apparently, the control of the mainstream media even goes back that far.
My Dad was a staunch Liberal Democrat, and he was so upset by JFK's assasinationon Nov 22, 1963, that he wanted the entire city of Dallas burned to the ground in retaliation for the tragedy. Hal
Before Reagan, I was always fascinated by the Southern Democrat voters, who enabled the likes of the Kennedys by being "the Solid South" even though they hated most of what they stood for. Black Americans fill that role now. Republicans appointed the first woman SC Justice, the first black SC Justice, the first black woman Sec'y of State, etc., but the black voters still vote as a block for Democrats, who stood against black voting rights until they were forced to relent in the 1960's.
It goes back to Roosevelt. Daddy and the Southern Democrats thought that he was, if not the son of God, at least pretty close kin.
@Shirley Martin My grandparents, especially my Dad's folks, truly believed the propaganda put forth at the time, and proclaimed FDR as having "pulled us out of the Depression". In fact, though, IMO, it was the Japanese who ended the Depression, in December, 1941. Frank
The war ended the Depression. In fact, we were headed back into what may have been a worse depression (called Roosevelt's depression by some) when Pearl Harbor was bombed. I think FDR felt relieved when he had an excuse to help his buddy, Stalin. We had been sending goods to Britain for some time by then, but FDR really like Stalin and had studied him and his methods--he wanted to emulate them. His set up with Stalin is why we had the Iron Curtain after the war. Both Truman and Churchill tried to change things, but they were unable to change the terms of the agreement that FDR had set up. Eisenhower had been given his orders prior to Roosevelt's death that Stalin had free rein in Poland and most of Eastern Europe.