It’s ironic, but the greatest service Kennedy performed for his country was getting shot. We tend to view him thru rose-colored glasses these days, but the fact of the matter was that his legislative agenda was struggling until he was assassinated, and LBJ rode the consequent national wave of sympathy and good will to all of the domestic accomplishments for which he deserves to be remembered. Unfortunately, LBJ wasn’t much of a foreign-policy expert — and recognized it — so he trusted Kennedy’s advisors on things like Vietnam and Cuba, which proved to be his undoing.
It’s ironic, but the greatest service Kennedy performed for his country was getting shot. We tend to view him thru rose-colored glasses these days, but the fact of the matter was that his legislative agenda was struggling until he was assassinated, and LBJ rode the consequent national wave of sympathy and good will to all of the domestic accomplishments for which he deserves to be remembered. Unfortunately, LBJ wasn’t much of a foreign-policy expert — and recognized it — so he trusted Kennedy’s advisors on things like Vietnam and Cuba, which proved to be his undoing.