Sunday, October 28, 2012

A clip from the In Our Pages 50 Years Ago section of the International Herald Tribune is edifying:
1962 Eisenhower Says Kennedy Plea ‘Crass’

 BOSTON — Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower today [Oct. 15] lambasted Edward M. Kennedy, the President’s brother, for a “crass, almost arrogant” appeal to the voters to elect him to the U.S. Senate. Then Gen. Eisenhower took out after the President himself in his harshest criticism yet of Mr. Kennedy’s handling of foreign policy. He said it was the product of aimless drift. While he did not mention Cuba by name, he said tartly at a televised political rally tonight that “no threatening foreign bases were established” and no Berlin walls were built during his own Administration
I was a huge JFK (and RFK) fan during my younger days, due to the "brilliant" way that he (and his brother) — in the wake the boring 1950s — handled one crisis after another. That is, I was so until I started studying history from sources (notably Paul Johnson's History of the American People) other than the mainstream media and the left's politically correct version thereof — notice that none of the latter ever seem to make mention any of his predecessor's instances of uttering "criticism" of Kennedy (of which the 50-year-old article seems to imply there were actually a great deal), "harsh" or otherwise — and I learned that one main reason that the 1950s were (relatively) boring was that the United States had a president nobody dared mess with. And the reason the early 1960s were so "exciting" was that in the young, handsome, and articulate Kennedy, the Soviets and other foreign adversaries found someone whom they considered (rightly or otherwise) as naive, inexperienced, and easy to manipulate.

See also:

Before Palin, Before Bush, Before Reagan, It Was Eisenhower Being Called a Dunce by the Left

Evidence of Fraud in 2008 Election? A Surprising Number of Parallels with JFK's 1960 Campaign

As far as Eisenhower's thoughts are concerned, he once had this to say:
There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, love of freedom, intelligence and energy of her citizens cannot cure.