President John F. Kennedy

[Victoria O'Keefe]

"what [JFK] did during the Cuban Missile Crisis was an incredible exercise of leadership and remaining cool under the most intense pressure imaginable. But JFK also was responsible for allowing the Bay of Pigs debacle to take place, escalated American military involvement in Vietnam, was complicit in the coup that overthrew (and led to the assassination of) South Vietnamese President Diem, was overly cautious when it came to gaining concrete achievements in civil rights, and had a difficult time getting most of his policy goals through the legislature. And he was only President for 1,036 days, so he was also limited by the brevity of his time in the White House.

I think JFK probably would have been a great President with many important legislative achievements if he hadn’t been murdered. But the hope and inspiration of his election, the power of his eloquence, and the attraction of his young, charismatic family were frozen in time when he was assassinated, but his actual Presidential accomplishments had not yet caught up with the image of him that the world was left with."

[faded00]

Is spirit airlines safe could be a low-priced airline based in Miramar, Florida. It was founded in 1964 as Clipper Trucking Company

[George 1978]

40 years ago, Walter Mondale was called Fritz or Fritz Mondale, even by his running mate in the VP debates. Today most people just call him Walter Mondale. Similarly, I think we will only see William Clinton in coming decades.

There was someone called Nicki Dixon who made the news a few years ago, which sounds like a transposed "Dick(y) Nixon".

[Victoria O'Keefe]

Again, as has happened with Mondale and likely will happen with Clinton, James Carter will show up more and more in the decades after Carter goes to the Great Peanut Farm in the Sky.

[Richard1978]

Jimmy Carter was almost never called James, even when he was sworn in!

[Victoria O'Keefe]

Why do I find him being called "Dick Nixon" amusing?

Was he ever called Dick officially? I thought he was always called Richard.

40 years ago, Walter Mondale was called Fritz or Fritz Mondale, even by his running mate in the VP debates. Today most people just call him Walter Mondale. Similarly, I think we will only see William Clinton in coming decades.

[George 1978]

Sincerely,
Dick Nixon"

Why do I find him being called "Dick Nixon" amusing?

Was he ever called Dick officially? I thought he was always called Richard.

[Victoria O'Keefe]

I watched a newish film called JFK it was good,he should have been in a bullet proof car and not an open top

The Secret Service thought so too but Jack overruled them.

[Victoria O'Keefe]

If RFK's killer wanted to help the Palestinian Arabs, killing Kennedy was the worst thing he could have done.

[beccabear67]

I can't see JFK as underrated what with all that Camelot golden era type stuff that has been written about his sadly brief presidency. Obviously his murder was a huge event and adds to the feelings of loss, followed by Robert's murder almost five years later (which I find stranger than the Dallas sniper situation).

I would say Stanley Baldwin is the most underrated UK PM... not sure about the U.S., perhaps Eisenhower?

[Victoria O'Keefe]

"The 37th President of the United States, 50-year-old Richard Nixon, had arrived in Dallas on November 20th for a conference of the American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages on behalf of Pepsi-Cola, a company that his New York law firm was representing. On November 21st, Nixon sat down with reporters in his room at the Baker Hotel, where he criticized many of the policies of President Kennedy, his 1960 opponent, who would be arriving in Dallas the next day. That night, Nixon and Pepsi executives including actress Joan Crawford, who had been married to Pepsi’s chairman, Alfred Steele, until his death in 1959, were entertained at the Statler Hilton.

In the early morning of November 22nd, a car dropped Nixon off, alone, at Love Field, the Dallas airport that would host President and Mrs. Kennedy, Vice President Johnson and Mrs. Johnson, and Texas Governor John Connally and his wife in just a few hours. Nixon later remembered the flags and signs displayed along the motorcade route that Kennedy would soon follow. Nixon approached the American Airlines ticket counter to check-in for his flight to New York City and told the attendant, “It looks like you’re going to have a big day today”.

Nixon landed several hours later in New York at an airport that would be renamed after John F. Kennedy a month later. He described what happened next in his 1978 autobiography, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon:

Arriving in New York, I hailed a cab home. We drove through Queens toward the 59th Street Bridge, and as we stopped at a traffic light, a man rushed over from the curb and started talking to the driver. I heard him say, “Do you have a radio in your cab? I just heard that Kennedy was shot.“ We had no radio, and as we continued into Manhattan a hundred thoughts rushed through my mind. The man could have been crazy or a macabre prankster. He could have been mistaken about what he had heard; or perhaps a gunman might have shot at Kennedy but missed or only wounded him. I refused to believe that he could have been killed.
As the cab drew up in front of my building, the doorman ran out. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. "Oh, Mr. Nixon, have you heard, sir?” he asked. “It’s just terrible. They’ve killed President Kennedy.”

The close 1960 Presidential election changed the relationship between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, but they had once been very close. When they first entered Congress together in 1947, they considered each other personal friends, and when Nixon ran for the Senate from California in 1950, JFK stopped into Nixon’s office and dropped off a financial contribution to Nixon’s campaign from Kennedy’s father. Nixon would later write that he felt as bad on the night of Kennedy’s assassination as he had when he lost two brothers to tuberculosis when he was very young. That night, he wrote an emotional letter to Jacqueline Kennedy:

Dear Jackie,
In this tragic hour Pat and I want you to know that our thoughts and prayers are with you.
While the hand of fate made Jack and me political opponents I always cherished the fact that we were personal friends from the time we came to the Congress together in 1947. That friendship evidenced itself in many ways including the invitation we received to attend your wedding.
Nothing I could say now could add to the splendid tributes which have come from throughout the world to him.
But I want you to know that the nation will also be forever grateful for your service as First Lady. You brought to the White House charm, beauty and elegance as the official hostess of America, and the mystique of the young in heart which was uniquely yours made an indelible impression on the American consciousness.
If in the days ahead we could be helpful in any way we shall be honored to be at your command.
Sincerely,
Dick Nixon"

[George 1978]

Herbert Hoover lived until 1964, after being president from 1928 to 1932, which was possibly a record at the time for how long a president had lived after leaving office.

Amazing that Hoover outlived Kennedy - pity that his vacuum namesakes don't have a very long life...

[Victoria O'Keefe]

MKULTRA etc. - a lot of people in his own government saw Kennedy as a threat to their illegal ****

[Semi42]

100% Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy , if you go down the rabbit hole of researching this fascinating subject , you’ll be convinced

[Victoria O'Keefe]

20th Amendment. the handover became January 20 in 1937 (FDR's second Inauguration Day)