The Kennedy Myth Continues

The idea that John F. Kennedy was a great president is one of the strangest baby boomer narratives. Now we have a new film arguing that Kennedy would have kept us out of Vietnam. This despite the fact that there is no evidence suggesting such a thing. Kennedy was ready to begin a nuclear war with the Soviets over Cuba. His administration acted in a wide variety of loathsome ways in Africa. He ran on a platform that was to the right of Richard Nixon on foreign policy issues. Richard Nixon! Plus, Kennedy increased US presence in Vietnam!!!

I know that Kennedy is a more appealing figure to intellectual baby boomers than Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, but I'm sorry, there is very little difference between any of the three in how they approached the Cold War. JFK was not a peacenik, no matter how much you want him to be.