Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgaryborn
Well I suppose that in any case, Kennedy authorized both. Yes he should be given some credit for his handling of the crisis. But perhaps more should be given to the Soviets for backing down. If they hadn't I wonder if Kennedy's success would instead be seen as his worse failure.
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The Soviets didn't exactly back down despite it being reported that way in the west. Pravda, I'm sure, reported it as a great victory as they got the USA to pull their missiles out of Turkey. Still Kennedy deserves a lot of admitation for negotiating under extreme pressure, especially from the military.
The thing I remember about Kennedy was he could think on his feet and was open to new ideas. He wasn't an idealogue and although he started most of the USAs involvment in Viet Nam, I like to think that he would have had the smarts to back off a lot earlier then Johnson and Nixon did. Another thing that has to be understood is the freight train of previous policy and cold war emotion pushing American policies. They couldn't be changed in two years.
Kennedy was also the first Catholic elected president. Nobody now thinks it such a big deal but in a WASP controlled culture, it was. The propoganda was that he would be controlled by the Pope.