Quote:
Originally posted by CaptainCrunch+Aug 7 2005, 07:51 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (CaptainCrunch @ Aug 7 2005, 07:51 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Displaced Flames fan@Aug 8 2005, 12:11 AM
I'm surprised Reagan was picked as the greatest American too. I would've thought Kennedy would be the popular choice.
I like Lincoln or King as the greatest. I would push for Jefferson as well, except for the fact he was a slave owner.
|
Kennedy made a lot of huge mis-steps in my mind, somebody mentioned the invasion and blockade of Cuba, which was b huge cluster -**** and extended the cold war by 30 years, when Kruschev (sorry, can never spell his name) was actually trying to thaw the cold war while gutting his military. In my mind he was a great speechmaker but a pretty bad president in terms of his foreign policy.
Reagan, I've always had a ton of respect for, he pretty much forced the Warsaw pact to blink and crumble, worked for the re-unification of Germany, and helped his own country recover from the malaise of the Vietnam war. I'd definately rank Reagan as a top 5 president. [/b][/quote]
I agree Kennedy made some misteps like the Bay of Pigs and getting involved in Viet Nam, but he inherited the Cold War from Eisenhower where the foriegn policy was called brinkmanship. A lovely atmosphere to grow up in.
Kruschev was no peacemaker. He brought on the Cuban missile crises and Kennedy reacted. Probably the closest time to nuclear war we will experience, but their was more to Kennedy. He was a man of a new era and wanted to run things in a much more democratic manner and get rid of the inside corruption. The USA and the west was leaving the post war behind and new era of hope was coming. Kennedy was a breath of fresh air after the very structured and repressive 50s. I believe he would never have gotten the USA as deeply invoved in VietNam as they did. To sum it up Kennedy was a man of the people and loved by my generation. He helped bring equal rights to the USA and thus was also deeply hated. I still remember hearing the shocking news when Kennedy was shot.
Ronald Raygun, now there was a warmonger who tried to return brinkmanship as a way for the USA to succeed. He gets credit for the downfall of the USSR but he had little to do with it. The war in Afganistan bankrupted their economy and the union movement in Poland did more to bring down the East Bloc then Reagan ever did. Reagen had good instincts and good speech writers to take advantage of the situation and claim credit in the one sided American press which a lot of you seem to accept as the gospel.