The Kennedy Thread

[Darthphere]

I know why I don't care, because he's dead and this happened almost 50 years ago.

 

[Gerald Root]

Damn, I bet the government hopes everyone thinks that way. Then they won't have to worry about 9/11 or the Iraq war years later if any kind of smoking gun comes out of that (as if it wasn't clear enough now, but a lot of people are ignorant, example: Bush got re-elected).

 

[DV8]

I think nobody heard about this last year because Britney Spears showed her up w/o her panties or something around that time

 

[RickO'Connell]

The important thing is the dutch girl picked me

 

[skorponok]

Best thread ever

 

[bunk]

Very interesting, I hadn't read about this before.

 

[Spider-Bite]

I started this thread so that we could all talk about John F. Kennedy.

Like Barack Obama being the first black president, John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic President. He also broke down barriers.

"We choose to go to the mooon in this decade and do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

I love that statement. It is so incredibly powerful, right along with
“I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters and the Church does not speak for me."

John F. Kennedy is considered by many historians to be one of the best Presidents in U.S. History. He sent humans to the moon. But most important he ended segregation with his proposed 1964 civil rights act. That alone puts him right up there with the greats such as Abraham Lincoln.

Just curious what do you think of Kennedy's speaking ability? I think he is an incredible speaker. Let's watch this short video of the great John F. Kennedy, may he rest in peace.



What do you think of John F. Kennedy?

 

[hippie_hunter]

JFK is the most overrated President....EVER. He really didn't do anything asides from the Cuban Missile Crisis which could have been done with anyone with half a brain.

 

[hippie_hunter]

LBJ on the other hand, was a man who knew how to get things done.

 

[Spider-Bite]

JFK is the most overrated President....EVER. He really didn't do anything asides from the Cuban Missile Crisis which could have been done with anyone with half a brain.

ending segregation doesn't count? How could you not consider that a historical amazing step forward for our country?

Seriously when I saw you say that in the other thread, I assumed you hadn't known about the 1964 civil rights act.

But now that you know, I mean how can you not say that is a great giant step forward? There is no justified reason to oppose it.

That automatically puts him right up there with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. He's one of the best Presidents we ever had.

And what about putting people on the moon? How is that not a gigantic leap forward?
You give Bush credit for the mars mission, which hasn't even happened yet but not Kennedy for the moon mission?

 

[redfirebird2008]

LBJ on the other hand, was a man who knew how to get things done.

Agreed. He signed some of the most important legislation into law of the 20th Century. Politically inconvenient for him and the Democrats at the time, but very important nonetheless. It took balls to completely give away the votes of the South by standing up for what was right.

 

[Spider-Bite]

LBJ on the other hand, was a man who knew how to get things done.

Yes that is true. but for his first term he merely finished out Kennedy's proposals.

 

[Spider-Bite]

Agreed. He signed some of the most important legislation into law of the 20th Century. Politically inconvenient for him and the Democrats at the time, but very important nonetheless. It took balls to completely give away the votes of the South by standing up for what was right.

He showed more balls than Roosevelt who would tiptoe towards black civil rights and then run and hide at the first sign of political upheavel in the south. However that legilsation was proposed by Kennedy who also showed balls. It probably had something to do with him being assasinated.

edit... I have to actually give Roosevelt some sympathy seeing as political support was essential for getting us out of the depression.

 

[redfirebird2008]

He showed more balls than Roosevelt who would tiptoe towards black civil rights and then run and hide at the first sign of political upheavel in the south.

edit... I have to actually give Roosevelt some sympathy seeing as political support was essential for getting us out of the depression.

Roosevelt also did the Japanese-American internment camps. That was one of America's darkest moments. Right up there with slavery and Jim Crow laws.

 

[Spider-Bite]

Roosevelt also did the Japanese-American internment camps. That was one of America's darkest moments. Right up there with slavery and Jim Crow laws.

Yes I agree. But at the same time it had different motivations behind it. It was partly driven out of fear because we were at war with Japan. Slavery was not driven out of a fear. It was completely selfish and evil.

but at the same time there was no reason to lock up babies who obviously posed no threat.

but then again perhaps it was considered more compassionate not to seperate Japanese babies from their parents when their parents were taken away.

But to be clear I am not in support of the Japanese internment. It was a horrific act which should not have happened.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Yes I agree. But at the same time it had different motivations behind it. It was partly driven out of fear because we were at war with Japan. Slavery was not driven out of a fear. It was completely selfish and evil.

but at the same time there was no reason to lock up babies who obviously posed no threat.

but then again perhaps it was considered more compassionate not to seperate Japanese babies from their parents when their parents were taken away.

But to be clear I am not in support of the Japanese internment. It was a horrific act which should not have happened.

Prejudice and racism are always driven out of fear. The modern day equivalent of the internment camps would be racial profiling after 9/11.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

He has his pros and cons.

On one hand, he did sign the Civil Rights Act.

On the other hand, his policies and advisment decisions is what propelled us into the Vietnam War.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Yes that is true. but for his first term he merely finished out Kennedy's proposals.

No, he was the one who put Kennedy's proposals into place. Kennedy himself didn't get anything done really because Congress which was filled with conservative Democrats and Republicans didn't want to work with him.

LBJ deserves the vast majority of Kennedy's credit.

 

[redfirebird2008]

He has his pros and cons.

On one hand, he did sign the Civil Rights Act.

On the other hand, his policies and advisment decisions is what propelled us into the Vietnam War.

JFK didn't sign the Civil Rights Act. He was killed before getting the chance to. He did propose it to Congress in 1963 though. It was signed by LBJ in 1964. JFK was killed in November 1963.

 

[hippie_hunter]

On one hand, he did sign the Civil Rights Act.

No, that was LBJ.

 

[MaskedManJRK]

JFK didn't sign the Civil Rights Act. He was killed before getting the chance to. He did propose it to Congress in 1963 though. It was signed by LBJ in 1964. JFK was killed in November 1963.

No, that was LBJ.

DURRRRRR. Me am ******o.

My bad.

 

[Spider-Bite]

Prejudice and racism are always driven out of fear.

I really don't agree with that even closely. Fear for the destruction of your country and fear that you will die is not even remotely close to what we did to black people. In fact we brought there here on our own free will as slaves.

It's not really prejudice to assume that Americans will want America to win and Japanese will want Japan to win.

the Japanese internment was carried out out of a fear that they would engage in acts of terrorism to sabotage us. We were never really at war with black people.

The modern day equivalent of the internment camps would be racial profiling after 9/11.

I 100% agree on that statement and had actually touched on that in the report I had to write on comparing Roosevelt to Obama. I mentioned that most of Obama's supporters would be furious if Obama were to do that as part of the war on terror.

It really is the perfect compaison.

 

[redfirebird2008]

DURRRRRR. Me am ******o.

My bad.

Don't feel bad. JFK did propose it. That was hugely important too. It's a shame it took nearly a year to get it passed into law though.

 

[hippie_hunter]

ending segregation doesn't count? How could you not consider that a historical amazing step forward for our country?

Seriously when I saw you say that in the other thread, I assumed you hadn't known about the 1964 civil rights act.

But now that you know, I mean how can you not say that is a great giant step forward? There is no justified reason to oppose it.

That automatically puts him right up there with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. He's one of the best Presidents we ever had.

And what about putting people on the moon? How is that not a gigantic leap forward?
You give Bush credit for the mars mission, which hasn't even happened yet but not Kennedy for the moon mission?

As I've said before, LBJ deserves the vast majority of credit for JFK's legacy.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Don't feel bad. JFK did propose it. That was hugely important too. It's a shame it took nearly a year to get it passed into law though.

Check that. It actually took a full year and 1 month to get it signed after JFK proposed it.