John F. Kennedy

61st Anniversary Of JFK Assassination: It Still Hurts!

As I write this blog entry, the time of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy arrives, the most tragic event of my lifetime until September 11, 2001!

A young, vibrant, charismatic, good looking young President, murdered at a time when there was hope and optimism about the future of America.

This is very different than the present sense of pessimism and dread that millions of Americans feel after the nation has put into the White House a man who represents the worst elements of the American experience.

The fact that two women–Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris–who represented the sense of hope and change that Kennedy represented six decades ago, lost to Trump is very much a source of disappointment.

It is not as if John F. Kennedy was perfect or had a perfect rcord in office, but he inspired millions by being the youngest elected President in American history.

And the fact that his nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has so damaged the historical memory of both his father, Robert F. Kennedy, who was also taken from the nation by assassination, and his uncle, by his horrendous and lunatic conspiracy theories about health and medicine, is tragic.

And the fact that RFK Jr. is about to work with Donald Trump in undermining the health care system, makes the anniversary of the JFK Assassination more depressing than ever before.

Democrats Have Cleaned Up Republican Economic Messes Since 1953!

It is amazing how Republicans have lied incessantly for the past 70 years about the economy under Democratic Presidents, when it is such Democratic Presidents who have revived the economy after Republican Presidents managed to preside over economic recessions.

John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson presided over economic prosperity in the 1960s, after three recessions under Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Jimmy Carter presided over an economic recovery from the Recession of 1974-1975 under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, but sadly had to deal with another short lived, six months, recession in 1980, which was one of the factors, but not the most important, in his defeat, as the only Democratic President who had an economic decline since 1953.

Bill Clinton presided over an economic recovery from the recession under George H. W. Bush in the early 1990s, having a long period of economic prosperity.

Barack Obama presided over a long economic recovery from the Great Recession of 2008-2009 under George W. Bush, over 75 months from 2010-2017.

Joe Biden presided over revival of the American economy, from a great economic recession in office in 2020 under Donald Trump, a time of dramatic economic loss due to the Covid 19 Pandemic.

While there were moments of high inflation under Joe Biden due to the aftermath of the Pandemic, as with all Democratic Presidents, there was job growth, with most jobs created under them, and the percentage under Republican Presidents being very few under Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and the Bushes, and a massive job loss under Donald Trump.

These are economic facts, no matter what Donald Trump and Republicans claim to be the truth!

Kamala Harris Being Judged Differently Due To Race And Gender

This entry is being revised from the original entry, which accidentally was deleted by the author, for which I apologize. I will be brief in summarizing my ideas on this entry with the same title, and anyone who had commented on the original entry, I would ask to submit a similar comment, and again, my apologies for the blunder, which has never happened before today, and will not happen again!

John F. Kennedy (Catholic); Barack Obama (African American); and Hillary Clinton (female), all faced discrimination and bias due to their uniqueness as Presidential candidates in 1960, 2008, and 2016, respectively.

In the first two cases, the issue of Catholicism and of race were overcome, while Clinton, although winning the popular vote by 2.85 million, was unable to win the Electoral College.

Now, Kamala Harris who is the second woman to seek the Presidency and has Asian Indian and African-Jamaican heritage, is facing critics who are claiming she is unqualified on intelligence and on abilities and knowledge, to occupy the Oval Office.

Harris has had more government experience than most Presidents, more than all Presidents since 1900, except for Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, and Joe Biden.

Harris is also much more intelligent than some Presidents, including Warren G. Harding, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump since 1900; and also more qualified to be President than some Vice Presidents who succeeded to the Oval Office, including Andrew Johnson and Calvin Coolidge.

So the negativism around Harris in some circles should be seen as not worthy of being considered, and hopefully, she will break the barrier as the first woman President in American history!

Harris Has Promoted Idea Of Prominent Republican For Her Cabinet If She Wins Presidency

Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris stated in her joint CNN interview with Tim Walz last week that she intended to select a prominent Republican to be part of her Cabinet if she is elected President.

As this author and blogger indicated a couple of days ago, this has been a common trend in Presidents, with every President since the 1960s doing so.

The most common decision has been for Democratic Presidents to select Republicans to be Secretary of Defense, as national security is a prime issue at all times.

So John F. Kennedy selected Robert McNamara; Bill Clinton picked William Cohen; and Barack Obama chose Robert Gates and then Chuck Hagel–all to be Secretary of Defense.

So therefore, it would seem appropriate for Kamala Harris to select Adam Kinzinger to be her Secretary of Defense if she enters the Oval Office!

Having Opposition Party In A President’s Administration A Tradition!

It is quite common for a President of one party to select a leading figure of the other party to be part of his Administration.

The number of examples abound, as follows:

John F. Kennedy appointed Republicans including:

Robert McNamara as Secretary of Defense
C. Douglas Dillon as Secretary of the Treasury
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr as Ambassador to South Vietnam

Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Republicans including:

John W. Gardner as Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr as Ambassador to West Germany

Richard Nixon appointed Democrats including:

Sargent Shriver as Ambassador to France
John Connally as Secretary of the Treasury

Gerald Ford appointed Democrats including:

Daniel Patrick Moynihan as Ambassador to the United Nations

Jimmy Carter appointed Republicans including:

James Schlesinger as Secretary of Energy
William H. Webster as Director of the FBI

Ronald Reagan appointed Democrats including:

Mike Mansfield as Ambassador to Japan
Jeane Kirkpatrick as Ambassador to the United Nations
William Bennett as Secretary of Education

George H W Bush appointed Democrats including:

Robert Strauss as Ambassador to the Soviet Union/Russia

Bill Clinton appointed Republicans including:

William Cohen as Secretary of Defense

George W. Bush appointed Democrats including:

Norman Mineta as Secretary of Transportation

Barack Obama appointed Republicans including:

Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense
Jon Huntsman Jr. as Ambassador to China
Robert Mueller as Director of the FBI
Ray Lahood as Secretary of Transportation
Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense

Donald Trump appointed Democrats including:

Gary Cohn as Director of the National Economic Council

Joe Biden appointed Republicans, including:

Christopher Wray as Director of the FBI
Jerome Powell as Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Jeff Flake as Ambassador to Turkey
Meg Whitman as Ambassador to Kenya

Rationale For Joe Biden To Retire

Joe Biden has been an excellent President, but it was a mistake for him to decide to run for reelection at age 81.

The fact that he had a disastrous debate performance in the June 27 Presidential debate, while tragic, was a blessing that it happened now, not in September, when it would be too late to withdraw, and likely, would be a fatal situation.

The odds of him finishing a second term alive under the stresses of the position are not good, and he could be incapacitated, whereby he would have to leave office, or be in the kind of condition that Woodrow Wilson was in his last two years in office.

His wife, Dr. Jill Biden, is very devoted to her husband, but needs to be realistic, and wish for her husband to have peace of mind, and have the burdens of office taken off him, so he can have a pleasant and, hopefully, prolonged, retirement period.

Every President since 1900, with the exceptions of Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy have retired, and every President since Herbert Hoover has had a Presidential Library open while he was alive, other than JFK, with even FDR starting the planning of his library in his second term, and “founding” it in his third term in office.

It is time for Joe Biden to retire, enjoy private life, and hopefully, live to write his memoirs and open up his Presidential Library.

He has nothing to be ashamed of, as he saved America from Donald Trump, and now it is time to pass on that responsibility to others, with Kamala Harris ready to take the charge and attack against Donald Trump and everything evil that the Republican Party stands for.

Two Presidential Debates–June 27 And September 10

President Joe Biden took the offensive and proposed two debates with Donald Trump, outside of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has set the standard since 1988.

The first debate will be on Thursday June 27, sponsored by CNN; and the second debate will be on Tuesday September 10, sponsored by ABC News.

The debates will have no audiences, and will be two hours long, with the plan to shut off microphones to prevent either candidate from interfering with the other candidate speaking.

And there will be, according to the plan, no third party candidate, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. participating in the debate, as only a true lunatic would think that RFK Jr. is a serious contender for the Presidency!

The setup for the debates will be similar to those of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in the first such televised debates in 1960.

Mid April Full Of Historical Significance!

The middle days of April are full of historical significance, involving American history and the Presidency!

April 9 is the day of surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant to end, officially, the Civil War, in 1865.

April 12 is the beginning of the Civil War, with the attack at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in 1861.

April 12 is also the day of the passing of Franklin D. Roosevelt in Warm Springs, Georgia, in 1945.

April 13 is the birthdate of Thomas Jefferson in 1743.

April 14 is the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, in 1865, and his death occurring the next morning, April 15.

April 17 saw the unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, the infamous Bay of Pigs Invasion, under President John F. Kennedy’s administration, in 1961.

April 19 is the unofficial beginning of the American Revolution, occurring at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, in 1775.

The Negativism About Kamala Harris As Potential President Is Unwarranted!

The propaganda being spewed against Vice President Kamala Harris as a potential successor to Joe Biden at some point in the next five years is totally unwarranted.

Vice Presidents, historically, have been panned as not acceptable alternatives, but that is simply political propaganda by the other side of the political spectrum.

John Tyler was the first Vice President to suffer from ridicule and criticism, when William Henry Harrison died after one month in office in 1841, and he was called “His Accidency” by critics who refused to accept that his succession to the Presidency was legitimate.

There was great trepidation when Harry Truman succeeded to the Presidency after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, but Truman, despite bitter attacks, is now regarded as one of the top six Presidents.

No one wanted to imagine Lyndon B. Johnson as President in 1960, but he succeeded John F. Kennedy in 1963, and ended up being the best domestic President since FDR.

Gerald Ford is seen as having saved the nation by his leadership after the Watergate Scandal led to the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974.

Kamala Harris has excellent credentials in her career of being San Francisco District Attorney from 2004-2011; California Attorney General from 2011-2017; US Senator from 2017-2021; and now Vice President for the past three plus years.

She has been a strong support for President Joe Biden, and is clearly more competent and experienced than many earlier Vice Presidents have been, including Spiro Agnew, Dan Quayle, and Mike Pence were.

Most of the opposition is sexist and racist against Harris, and it is disgusting that the right wing issues vicious attacks against her with no factual basis or justification.

If the need arose for Kamala Harris to become President, the nation would be in good hands, and would be well served!

APSA Presidential Greatness Poll 2024: The Next President On Mt. Rushmore, And Most Polarizing And Least Polarizing Presidents!

The American Political Science Association Presidential Greatness Poll 2024 also asks participants who they would consider should join George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt on the Mt. Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota.

The overwhelming choice was Franklin D. Roosevelt by a wide margin (65.4%), with Barack Obama second with 11%, and a three way tie at 4% among Dwight D. Eisenhower, James Madison, and John F. Kennedy.

And the most Polarizing Presidents were Donald Trump, Andrew Jackson, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush in that order, with the least Polarizing Presidents being George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, Franklin D.Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy in that order.