John F. Kennedy

Joe Biden Speech In Poland One Of Great Presidential Speeches

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President Joe Biden gave one of the great Presidential speeches of modern times yesterday in Warsaw, Poland, as he met with refugees from the Russia-Ukraine War.

He was passionate in defense of democracy, freedom, and in support of NATO as it deals with the Ukraine invasion.

His speech will be remembered much like John F. Kennedy’s Cuban Missile speech in October 1962, and Ronald Reagan’s Berlin Wall speech in June 1987, both challenging the Soviet Union, as now, Biden challenged its successor, the Russian Federation.

Joe Biden has demonstrated on this European trip a high level of energy and focus which belies his right wing critics who say he has dementia, a total fabrication.

Everyone should be proud of Joe Biden, who is proving just how Presidential he is, a stark contrast to his predecessor in the Oval Office!

Joe Biden Showing Vladimir Putin How Tough He Is, Not Easily Intimidated By Russian Threats!

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The Ukraine Crisis is the most dangerous single moment in international affairs, since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962!

Vladimir Putin seems poised to have Russian troops invade and occupy Ukraine, changing the map of Europe in a way that could lead to continental war and even nuclear war, if the situation gets out of hand.

Joe Biden is showing Putin and the Russian Federation how tough he is, and made clear he will not be easily, or at all, intimidated by Russian threats.

A Russian move westward would also endanger NATO allies, particularly Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, and cannot be tolerated.

It does seem as if Putin is backing off at this writing, but still there are 130,000 troops at the Russian-Ukranian border, while Putin complains about 3,000 US soldiers being deployed to eastern Europe, specifically to Germany and Poland.

Putin is a bully, and the only way to deal with a bully is NOT to back down, so we are in a tenuous, scary period, but if it works out that Russia backs off on its threat to Ukraine, it will make Joe Biden look as good as John F. Kennedy standing off with Nikita Khrushchev sixty years ago!

First Year In Oval Office Under Most Presidencies Problematical, And Joe Biden Better Than Many!

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One could argue that Joe Biden has accomplished a great deal in the first year, while often having disappointments and shortcomings.

Two major pieces of legislation were accomplished (The American Rescue Plan, and the Physical Infrastructure legislation), and the only reason why the Build Back Better bill and voting rights have failed to be accomplished is the opposition of two Democrats–Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema–and the reality of an equally divided Senate for only the third time in American history!

While inflation has become a major problem, the stock market dramatically rose, more jobs were created in the first year of a Presidency than any other administration, and the unemployment rate has dropped to a very low rate.

There are still the issues of the COVID 19 Pandemic, and the disaster of Afghanistan withdrawal, but the first issue was unpredictable as the worst health crisis in a century, and the second would have been the same result had Donald Trump stayed on as President, since he had made a deal with the Taliban without Afghanistan government involvement, to leave in May 2021, NOT as occurred in August 2021!

So some disappointing developments in the first year of a Presidency are not unique to the 46th President!

When one looks back at other Presidencies, it is actually quite common that the first year of a Presidency is a learning curve, and does not reflect on whether such Presidents will be, in the long run, successful, and also have the possibility of successful reelection.

The following Presidents had very successful first years—Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, George H. W. Bush!

Three Presidents had what could be described as mixed records in the first year in office–Dwight D. Eisenhower, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

The following Presidencies in the 20th and 21st century were far from successes in their first year:

Harry Truman 1945
John F. Kennedy 1961
Richard Nixon 1969
Gerald Ford 1974-1975
Jimmy Carter 1977
Ronald Reagan 1981
Bill Clinton 1993
Donald Trump 2017

Among these eight Presidents, four—Truman, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton–won reelection.

So it is not time to say that Joe Biden will fail to succeed, as he already has in many respects, and it is not time to say he cannot win reelection fo a second term!

Effect Of John F. Kennedy Assassination Still Reverberates On America 58 Years Later!

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This author and blogger was a sophomore in 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.

It was the most stunning event of my life until the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The Kennedy assassination transformed American politics dramatically, both in good ways and bad ways.

It brought about the possibility of the greatest period of reform since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, with Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society.

But it also brought on a devastating long term war in Vietnam, and the beginning of disillusionment with government at all levels.

Had Robert F. Kennedy survived and won the Presidential Election of 1968, instead of being assassinated after winning the California primary in June 1968, the potential for more great reform and change, and to avoid the Presidency of Richard Nixon, would have existed.

WIth RFK’s death, after the earlier tragedy of JFK, America was put into a permanent decline in hope and optimism for the next forty years, as even the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in 1992 did not revive the hopes of the Kennedy legacy.

Instead, we had Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush cause great regression in so many ways, as Richard Nixon had done earlier.

Barack Obama was a bright light, but faced great opposition, and the horrors of Donald Trump as his succession!

Joe Biden, who has a bust of RFK behind him on the left in all photos when he is sitting at his desk, is trying to revive the Kennedy legacy of hope and promise, and has made a good start.

But it is clear the two Kennedy assassinations in the early and late 1960s have left a permanent scar on the nation!

Tragic First Year Foreign Policy Nothing New In American Presidency!

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The tragic events in Afghanistan continue a tradition that in most Presidencies, first year, there are events which affect the historic role of Presidents in American history.

We have the Bay of Pigs Fiasco (Cuba) in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy.

We have the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam, and the sudden tragic exit from the embassy in Saigon in 1975 under President Gerald Ford.

We have the attack on the World Trade Center, and the tragic exit from terrorism in Somalia in 1993 under President Bill Clinton.

We have the September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon under President George W. Bush.

And now we have the horrifying situation in Kabul, Afghanistan going on under President Joe Biden, similar in many ways to the exit from Vietnam in 1975.

Barack Obama Turns 60, And Is Rated In Top Ten Of Presidents By C SPAN Historians’ Survey!

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Today is the 60th birthday of President Barack Obama, and this highly honored and successful President in many ways is able to celebrate his historical reputation.

Obama is the 5th youngest President at inauguration at age 47, with only Theodore Roosevelt (42), John F. Kennedy (43), Bill Clinton (46), and Ulysses S. Grant (46) younger than Obama was at the time of inauguration.

The C Span Historians’ Survey of 2021 rates Obama overall as Number 10, after having been Number 12 in the C Span Historians’ Survey of 2017!

The “Ups And Downs” Of Ranking Presidents Over Time

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Historically, many Presidents have gone through periods of low esteem, and then, suddenly, high esteem in the minds of public opinion and also, Presidential scholars.

Abraham Lincoln had a very divided nation in response after his assassination, and only in the early 20th century, did the nation decide to honor Lincoln with the construction of the Lincoln Memorial, dedicated in 1922. He has been rated Number One by just about every Presidential scholar and poll, except those right wing Confederate sympathizers and white supremacists

Harry Truman left office in 1953 with a very low public opinion rating, and was regarded poorly in assessments of Presidents, until after he passed away in 1972. In the next five years, as TIME Magazine termed it in the late 1970s, we had “Truman Mania”, as massive research and writing on Truman caused his rise in stature to as high as Number 5 in scholarly polls on Presidents.

Dwight D. Eisenhower left office with an image of a passive, lazy President, and the vitality and youth of his successor, John F. Kennedy, did not improve his image, and he was seen as not an outstanding President. But his historical reputation has risen dramatically to the point that in many scholarly assessments, he is now seen as number 5 or 6 among all Presidents.

Lyndon B. Johnson suffered mightily in assessments due to the Vietnam War, despite his amazing domestic accomplishments of the “Great Society”, and was poorly rated for 20 years. But now, he is somewhere between number 9 and 11 in rankings of Presidents.

Jimmy Carter has never risen from the mid to low 20s in rankings and popularity, but it seems possible to imagine that when the longest lived President eventually passes away, that his rating may go up much more than many might now imagine.

Birthday Commemorations Of John F. Kennedy And Hubert Humphrey Remind Us Of True Leadership!

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Today, May 29, is the 104th anniversary of the birth of President John F. Kennedy in 1917.

Also, two days ago, May 27, was the 110th anniversary of the birth of Senator, Vice President, and Democratic Presidential nominee (1968) Hubert Humphrey.

These two men were great leaders and spokesmen for the best ideals of American liberalism, and contributed so much to their nation in public service.

They remind us of what political leadership is all about, to make America a better nation for all.

This is very different than the way many American politicians have become in the 21st century, where too many are in politics only to gain wealth and power, and benefit the elite rich and entitled.

Thankfully, there are some political leaders in the present, including Joe Biden, who was massively influenced by the historic leadership of John F. Kennedy, and the comradeship in the Senate of Hubert Humphrey in Biden’s first term in office as a young man in his early 30s.

Both men inspired Joe Biden, and he has a prominent bust of President Kennedy’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy, with whom Biden shares a birthday 17 years apart, right behind him in the Oval Office. RFK represented the hope for change and inspiration for reform, which was sadly ended by his own assassination, less than five years after his brother.

The commitment to serve of JFK, HHH, and RFK are needed to motivate future generations to dedicate themselves to the advancement of America in the future!

Foreign Policy Rears Its Ugly Head For Joe Biden

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Every President enters office wishing to deal with domestic policy and change.

But invariably, foreign policy rears its ugly head much too often!

Woodrow Wilson came to office in 1913, not expecting the First World War I to break out in 1914, and bring us into that war in 1917.

Franklin D. Roosevelt came to office in 1933, wishing to deal with the Great Depression, but also had to deal with the growing Fascist threat of Japan, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy, and eventually, entrance into World War II!

Harry Truman came to office in 1945 to end World War II, but had to deal with the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and send troops to Korea.

John F. Kennedy came to office in 1961, and had to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Lyndon B. Johnson came to office in 1963, wanting to promote the Great Society, but also had to deal with the Vietnam War.

Every other President in modern times has had to face similar issues, and now, Joe Biden must deal with China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran as major headaches, as he tries to resolve the COVID 19 Pandemic Crisis!

No Donald Trump Highway, Library, Holiday, Or Any Other Honor!

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The Crazy season has begun, now that Authoritarian Fascist Donald Trump, who provoked the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021, is thankfully out of office, and not the constant news item he was five plus years after he announced his Presidential campaign in June 2015.

So now in Florida there is a proposal to name the US 27 Highway, Donald Trump Highway, and to have a Donald Trump Presidential Library in Palm Beach County, where Mar A Lago, his resort, is located.

Also, in Ohio, there is a proposal to make Trump’s Birthday, June 14, which is already Flag Day, a state holiday in his honor.

All of these preposterous ideas should be vetoed, and a Presidential Library and Museum for a criminal, responsible for promoting so much harm and damage, is an outrage!

Any documented material of the Donald Trump Presidency should be owned by the US Government, and none of it should be made available in any way, particularly national security matters, to the former President or his family members!

We need the truth, the unvarnished truth about this monster, to come out, not a landmark established to “worship” him as if he was a God!

One must understand, it is one thing to name places, buildings, holidays, after our greatest public leaders, so to have honors for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan, and others is fine.

But do we name places, buildings, holidays after Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, or Richard Nixon?

The answer is obvious!