am I too harsh?

[Ombligo]

Actually as a historian I concur with many of Doutharts statements. While Kennedy was no where near the disaster the writer paints, he also was not the political genious the public has made him out to be. He was barely elected over an opponent whose supporters even disliked. I give him a pass on the Bay of Pigs as it was dropped in his lap before he discovered that the military had it's own agenda (though he really should have known it already). The Cuban Missile crisis was his shining moment while the Berlin Wall was a stalemate - so in reality his box score was 1 win, 1 loss and 1 draw.

What is overlooked is the hope he brought to many even if he never delivered. That is important and will be his real legacy.

Kennedy was a politician, possibly one of the three greatest in the last century of American politics (FDR and Reagan being the other two). Does that make him a great leader? not neccesarily. But a great politician is only one action away from being judged a criminal. Nixon was perhaps the greatest poltician of the last two hundred years.. at least until he was caught. Now all his accomplishiments are forgotton and he is viewed as not only a failed president, but a failed man.

What is really important is we not fall victim to a grave mistake of judging historical figures by today's values. They must be judged by the standards of their time. Kennedy made decisions by what he knew then not by what we know now.