by John Graham

Created on: October 25, 2008

J.F. Kennedy was a very dangerous leader.

The country was almost rid of Bill Clinton, a minor ne'er-do-well, when he was impeached. Although he used the power of the White House to launch an attack in the Middle East to divert congressional attention from his sexual misdoings he was really just a lush and a playboy who was mostly concerned in politics with creating his legacy.' He couldn't do much real harm to this country. However, J. F. Kennedy was a different kettle of fish. He was a present danger to the nation yet being a keen political player he avoided any censorship from Congress.

Kennedy started the Vietnam War and the downward slide of the United States to defeat by ignoring the lessons of history and the details of Vietnamese victories against both the Dutch and the French (notably at Dien Bien Phu.) He ignored history in favor of his feeding the country's paranoia against the red menace'. He thereby committed many young boys to their deaths and the United States' reputation to a black mark from which it has not recovered. Furthermore he was very close to committing the U.S. to a World conflict over Cuba. He deserved to be removed from office for the real safety of the country.

If he had been content with playing the lush with Norma Jeane Mortensen (Marilyn Monroe), it might have been different. The US happily forgives harmless' transgressions by beautiful people. However, as with all of the Kennedys it seems, JFK was also interested in power. That's a dangerous ambition in any President.

Kennedy's death was a release for this country. Johnson became President and although he pursued the Vietnam War he was too small a man to be dangerous or, unfortunately, to be very constructive. It took Nixon (with Kissinger) to get our troops out of Vietnam.

It is an irony that today we, the American people, celebrate JFK and denigrate Nixon.

It is telling that most Americans don't know the truth about JF Kennedy. He is celebrated as if he had been a saint. His wife and son contributed to the myth of a man cut down in his prime. That is so sad and so dangerous. Despite our democratic processes and Congressional safeguards against the actions of any dictatorial president, the fact that Kennedy did what he did while fooling Congress and smiling at the media shows that a dangerous leader is just as likely under our system as under any other.

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