What made him great was that he brought youth, energy and vigor to a country that was boring in the Eisenhower years. What made him even more special was that he convinced the Soviets to turn their boats when they were about to head to Cuba for a possible US-Soviet nuclear confrontation. He was a handsome guy too.

Though he made some unwise foreign policy decisions and didn't handle America's entry into Vietnam correctly, Kennedy understood that across-the-board tax cuts actually increased government revenue. I cannot call a tax-cutter of Kennedy's magnitude a bad president. If I were ranking all forty-two presidents from best to worst, Kennedy would likely come out around eighteen or nineteen.

This guy Pat Riot is a riot. Are you writing as a pseudonym for Oliver Stone or are you just a common imbecile??

He had many good ideas, but it makes me angry to see how vain and rude he was.

The last American President who truly had our best interests in mind...And that's why the early Neo-Cons (Yes, Bush &Co.) murdered him.

All he did was die. Horrible leader. Only won the election cause women voted on looks, not policies

Over-mythologized pig who has been given a free ride by the media.

The best prez ever

U.S. prestige was at an all-time high under his leadership. Would that we had that now. Sadly, under GWB, we are at all-time low.

All apperence, no substance.

Many historians have over-romantized the Kennedy years. The myth of Camelot seems to revolve around his youth, beautiful wife, nice kids. He represented a confident America marching confidently into the 1960's. However that facade was developed largely after his death. At the time he was seen as a largely mediocre leader who was good at giving speeches but otherwise lacked substance. I will give credit to Kennedy for having good advisors around him who got him out of tricky positions. His crisis management skills during the Cuban Missile Crisis were supurb. It is fair to say that this was the closest we ever came to all out nuclear war. Yet Kennedy managed to hammer out an agreement with the Soviets without losing too much face. In fact, the only advantage we really lost was that we had to pull out some outdated missiles from the Soviet Unions neighbor Turkey. Kennedy's assassination made him into a legend, maybe one that he doesn't exactly deserve. In many respects, one gets the sentiment that this was a man who had a lot more to do, and it would have been interesting to see how events would have turned out had he been able to serve two full terms. My opinion is that 1. He would have had a much more difficult time than LBJ did in passing the Civil Rights legislation, being that Congress was controlled by a conservative coalition of Southern Democrats and Republicans who wouldn't budge on this issue. The courts would have continued to slowly push for integration more than likely as they did in the 1950's. 2. Vietnam would have more than likely escalated into all out war, but JFK would have probably called it a day earlier and negotiated a settlement before 1968 and 3. it could be fairly argued that Medicare might not have been enacted either. Love him or hate him, JFK's successor Lyndon Johnson was a far more talented politician than Kennedy ever was. He experienced many legislative successes because of his years collecting favors on the Hill. Kennedy didn't come close to having as much political ammunition at his disposal. However Kennedy had a more flexible decision-making style. Whatever the circumstances, it can be agreed that he life was put out too early and he still had much to accomplish. I believe that he's been given more credit than he deserves. In fact, he loses a lot of points over his failures, namely the Bay of Pigs, which was an utter disaster. When everything is put on the table, I will say that Kennedy is squarely at the center of the pack when considering his rating against other US Presidents.

a bit overrated. Bay of Pigs a massive failure, but greatly offset by peacefully ending the Cuban Missile Crisis. i have him as a 3 because he was assassinated, and we dont know what more he would have done if he had lived; also, and the reason i say overrated is that the Space Center is named after him. While it was Kennedy who originally wanted to put men on the moon, he is given ALL the credit for creating the space progam, but it was created in 1950, under Truman.

Terribly overrated. Big rhetoric, little results.

Wonderful president!

he's better off dead with the rest of his family.

I think he was a very good President. He made very good decisions even though he was assinsated.

I have Nixon in front of him on my list. Kennedy could have been good, not great, but during his presidency he was bad. It pains me to give him a 2 instead of a 1, but he was not terrible. He incorrectly handled the Bay of Pigs and that was obvious. There was nothing courageous of his admitting the mistake but rather an attempt on his part to save his ass which worked. He had an approval rating just shy of 80, a remarkable number. He was a peoples' president, not a government president. Clearly overrated.

john f. kennedy was a racist who belonged to a restricted club up until the day he was assassinated. some president

Not bad for a democrat president. He cut taxes to help the economy and managed to stand up to the russians during the cuban missle crisis.

I think President Kennedy is a national hero for being assassinated, but sadly, a poor President. Many rate him highly brcause of their vision of what he could have done, but in his two years as president he accomplished little and there is no reason to see that he would have finished his presidency differentlty. The Cuban missile crisis, an event often billed as one of his greatest accomplishments did not escalate into war because of the actions of Khruschev. Repeatedly the USSR was given ample reason to be angered by the US and did not fire missiles on the US because of their premier, not Kennedy.

I think Kennedy gets overrated because of being assassinated. Perhaps I don't know enough finite details about his policies, but he strikes me as average.

a man to be rememberd for his commitment to his country and its people

Instituted NASA,the biggest waste of money in U.S. history. Saved U.S. from certain war with Russia, and helped with civil rights.

Well, he was great when living! If only he'd never been shot...

It was unfortunate John Fitzgerald Kennedy was not given the opportunity to finish what he set out to do as President. A man of great vision, Kennedy's Presidency was tragically unfulfilled as much as it remains an enigma onto itself. But among the more worthwhile accomplishments of President Kennedy was the establishment of the Peace Corp. Glimpses of greatness abound during this era of Camelot as Kennedy was able to show some of his mettle, one of which was his stand-off against Nikita Khruschev during the Cuban Missle Crisis of 1962. But we will never know how this President would have handled the rest of the turbulent 1960s. We can only wonder what could have been.

Did not accomplish much-and he lost the cuban missile crisis-he hid the facts as to what he gave away having an affair with an east german spy really rates him low

With all respect to his memory, he did a few good things, but not as great as being assasinated has elevated him to. History will unfortunatly never put his term in office in perpective, due to that fatal bullet.

He did steal the 1960 election. His foreign policy (Bay of Pigs) was a near disaster. He's the one who really escalated our role in Vietnam. He didn't really have time to do much of anything else. I don't understand how people can rate him so highly just because he was good looking and died so young. It's a shame, certainly, but let's be honest about it.

Didn't do that much.

Stole the election through shady election results in Illinois, was pushed up the political food chain by his zillionaire father and his politcal machine. He dealt meagerly with Soviet expansion at the peak of the cold war (Vietnam and Cuba). He was actually a weak politician in general. His attemped expansion of the welfare state through New Frontier legislation was mostly unsuccessful (unfortunately LBJ was a much better politician) save for a spike in the minimum wage. He lacked any sense of personal morality, was an ampethemine addict, and is only remembered positively cause he was unfortunately shot by some halfwit nutjob. A guy who can read a good speech doesn't a great president make.

this is to the guy below me. women and minorities shouldnt have the right to vote? so because you're a white man you know whats best? you are a racist sexist biggot who doesnt deserve the right to step foot in this country, shame on you.

why All the fuss. He was just too young and self centered to be a very good President.

About the best.

Charismatic - had some potential, but didn't really accomplish all that much before he was assassinated. Generally overrated - like Reagan - and for the same reason, charisma alone isn't leadership.

One of the american royal family ..

Great man......though human.....but way ahead of his time....i am a republican

most overrated president in history. did very few things right. achieved greatness through liberal fantasy

Cuban missile crisis resolution, civil rights and manned moon mission his greatest legacies.

Inspired a nation to never be satisfied.

JFK was an average President. He wasn't some legendary and iconic figure as people suggest. I truly believe he possesses that image simply for being assassinated and the controversy surrounding it. As for his record, he was, in fact, an economic supply-sider. He cut the taxes of the highest income earners, a fact that liberals to this day hem and haw about. The space program was one of his pet projects and we did, in fact, land a man on the moon by the end of the decade and beat the Russians in the process. It was evident he wasn't aggressive about civil rights issues until it was time to think reelection. His foreign policy was a mixed bag. The Bay of Pigs was a disaster as he failed to provide air support for the Cuban exiles. Plus, from all accounts, the first meeting with JFK and Krushchev was dominated by the latter; JFK was said to look pale and was in deference to the more forceful Krushchev. I believe it was the BOP disaster and JFK perceived as a lightweight that contributed to the Cuban Missile Crisis. To JFK's credit, he took a hard stance against the Soviets and ordered the blockade, and got Krushchev to blink. In retrospect, JFK made a bold move and succeeded, but bottom line, the CMC should've never come to pass. Finally, it was JFK who ordered more troops to be sent to the hellhole known as Vietnam. After the Gulf of Tonkin, I tend to think JFK would've expanded America's role in Vietnam as LBJ did, but that's an educated guess.

Started the space program, good. Got us into Vietnam. Daddy bought his first election. Made all his family appointees. Stood off the Russians.

Pretty mama's boy. Nixon, had he won the 1960 election, he would have been one heck of a president, but obviously someone didn't think Kennedy was that good...

To start off addressing the popular love affair with John F. Kennedy, he is primarily loved and given so many passes (like Clinton) because he was the first president of his generation. Objectively, he was a largely failure. The Bay of Pigs was an embarrassment (whether the administration encouraged or planned the action or not). Kennedy brought us closer to nuclear confrontation (ie the Cuban Missile Crisis) than at any other time in history, and this could have been avoided if the missiles in Turkey would have been negotiated away in secret. He took us deeper into Vietnam (though whether this was a poor decision in foresight is debatable). Even his moon challenge was designed to militarize space, which was later eschewed via treaty. Finally, JFK claimed that there was a missile gap with the Soviets to get elected when he knew differently knowing the Nixon could not reveal the truth without disclosing the existence and effectiveness of the U2 missions. On the plus side, he did invigorate the younger generations to take an interest in politics, he lowered the draconian tax burden, and he established the Peace Corps (though a domestic version should have been established as well). The bottom line is that John F. Kennedy had some rather substantial failures, he did not even serve a complete term (though due to no fault of his own), his primary challenge should have been avoided, and his achievements seem to be tainted or incomplete. I would speculate that JFK would not recognize the Democratic Party today, though he would most likely remain a moderate Democrat.

JFK had plenty of faults, and did embrace some really ill-advised policies (Bay of Pigs being one). He did manage to stare down the Russians over missiles in Cuba, which somewhat redeemed him in my eyes. Yeah, he's overrated for a host of reasons, but he did make yu proud to be an American (as corny as that might seem to some). I have little love or respect for the whole Kennedy clan, but JFK did instill a sense of pride (maybe even arrogance) in the average citizen - even some Republicans!

Put us in VietNam

Probably the most overrated president. Did avert certain disaster in Cuban missile crisis, but seems to me to be more the work of his aides. Of course, no telling what he could have done with a more willing Congress. Kudos to hiim for overcoming such adversity, but his domestic record is bad and foreign only mixed.

His presidency has obviously been grossly over-rated due to his untimely death. I don't htink he was half as bad as some of the jokes we've had in office, but I don't see anything particularly outstanding here either.

Did well by recognizing the necessity of tax cuts. However, his abandoning of the Cuban people in the Bay of Pigs could be the all-time greatest show of spineless diplomacy in the history of American presidents. He began the American entanglement in Vietnam. The half-hearted plan allowed the American Congress to set the military agenda - a huge error that cost 50,000+ American lives and eventually millions of lives of innocent Southeast Asian as communism swept through the region. Very poorly done.

the more i hear about him the less i like, but nobody in my lifetime inspired people like he did.

To tell you the truth, after a heated discussion with Redoedo on this subject (and a little research on my own) I now feel somewhat ambivalent about JFK. I felt that although he was well intentioned in introducing civil rights to the southern states he was still too stand-offish in his approach and certainly didn't achieve anything significant (though with that being said he DID appoint the first black ambassador, the first black naval commander and the first black federal judge) but then again this was a common trend throughout his presidency. He tried but ultimately didn't have enough time to do everything he should have done. Though it might sometimes be claimed he started the escalation towards the war in Vietnam, he was reluctant to actually send troops there, furthermore he also was reluctant to invade Cuba with actual american troops (and this could have turned into a BIG mess). Also he signed a Nuclear Test ban treaty with the Soviets which was certainly helpful in achieving greater detente. Though I still do not agree with his tax cuts, Redoedo informs me that due to the lack of globalization and big bussiness at the time this was in fact overly beneficial to all the elements of society (though I'm sure that those tax cuts on the upper brackets may have precipitated the rise of corrupt multi-nationals, most of the blame for this goes to Reagan). He seemed to have good intentions towards the trade unions and healthcare of the poorer classes which he called the new frontier which was admirable. Also apparently he faced strong competition with congress over welfare issues. Apparently he was also preparing for a war on poverty following the '64 elections but again this was something he did not have a chance to do and this duty went to Johnson. I also liked his foundation of the peace corps. This being said, his voracious sexual appetite and seminal infedelity will always place a black mark on him in my book. However this scarcely affected his presidency and my overall opinion was that he certainly could have been a lot worse given the unpleasant circumstances and had the potential to be a brilliant president though his assasination prevented us from ever knowing how great he could or could not have been.