I was wondering earlier why JFK is so revered. Is it just because he was assassinated? Several comparisons make him seem not so great. We'll use Bush II. One complaint is that he was only elected because he has lots of money and connections from his oilman/former President father. JFK was elected because he looks good on TV and had lots of money and connections his father made as a criminal.

Bush got us in to a not ill-advised war which was executed badly, and has lost 3000 men over 3 years. That's so far, who knows what will happen in the future. Of course a larger war could break out that is connected, but inevitable even in the absence of an Iraq invasion. JFK got us into Vietnam. Don't forget that. That was all his doing at the start, future Presidents had to play with the cards JFK left them.

JFK had some other boo boos, as well. I can't speak for political realities from more than a decade before I was born, but from 2006, the Bay of Pigs deal seems ludicrous. And the Cuban Missile Crisis? A pissing match with the Russians where we both backed down. And didn't JFK put our missiles on the Russian border first, anyway? So while it's nice that we didn't end up lobbing nukes at each other, whose fault is it that things got that close?

I'm not trying to praise Bush here, or necessarily trash JFK, I'm just really curious what was so wonderful about the man as President, or if it was only his charisma and death which have made him such a legend.