JFK Conspiracy Theories

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For some reason John Fitzgerald Kennedy is a popular figure with the American public and many Americans believe he was assassinated by rogue elements of his own government. Why is JFK so popular, when he was only president for two years, was rather inept and was a stronger supporter of the very "military industrial complex" that some claim assassinated him? My two questions for you are as follows:

1. Why was JFK so popular, despite his ineptitude as president?
2. Why do you think the government or "military industrial complex" want to kill him?

 

Why Kennedy was so popular? hmm lets see..He was young,had a nice family,a reputation for being daring during ww2,the spaceprogram,the Berlin speech etc.
Why would the military kill him? Where did you get that idea? That being said Kennedy was a total a-hole who was ready to destroy the world to cover his lies about short range nuclear missiles in Turkey and he is much to blame for Vietnam.As for the reason for killing him is something you would have to ask the ghost of of mr.Oswald

 

Dude, your 18. No thoughts or desires about 18 yr old stuff going through your head lately? Just these inane polls? Try thinking about girls(or boys if that's your thing...), you'll find life a lot more satisfying.

 

I have not seen the JFK movie,did i miss anything?

 

It's entertaining enough I guess, hardly realistic though.

 

I voted and AD and I actually agree on something. Miracles do happen.

 

Oh Taaaaal, come on. Relax le rules a wee bit - think this place needs it a tad!

 

I'm not terribly up to speed on JFK or who may have wanted him dead, but I generally find little credence in conspiracies (even unexciting ones). Reasons for x, y, and z tend toward the mundane, in my experience. My bet is that Oswald was just some dope who had issues.

Also, actually conspiring on something (meaning at least two people are in on it) is very hard, because people are usually quite unreliable and often incompetent. If I conspired with my neighbor to blow up a mailbox, our plot would likely be foiled before it got off the ground because he'd post our plans on Facebook and I'd forget to buy matches.

 

I voted "Other" because I don't think we'll ever know for sure. The various conspiracy theories are certainly fascinating, and as a writer, I tend to prefer them, although there's a lot to be said for Lee Harvey Oswald as a fascinating antagonist. What was he thinking? What is anyone really thinking? As for media about JFK, I much prefer Stephen King's novel 11/22/63 over the Oliver Stone movie.

 

Hmmm ... I think AD really has no idea of what Kennedy was like as the leading and obviously biased remark about Kennedy being inept indicates. Kennedy was quite progressive and had more charisma than President Obama and Reagan combined. He was the first politician who really understood the power of television.

He had some remarkably tough decisions to make and did a phenominal job during the Cuban missile crisis. He had two major black marks on his record -- Bay of Pigs (which it can be argued he was kept in the dark -- I'm not so sure) and the initial influx of troops into Viet Nam -- but in all fairness that war belongs squarely on the shoulders of McNamara and Johnson.

The military had no reason or desire to kill a hero from their own ranks.

I generally find conspiracy theorist are insane and give no weight to their beliefs.

 

It was clearly the Illuminati. How can you guys not see that? This shows how good they are at mind control.

 

If you wanted to know what really happened to JFK, sitting next to Arlen Specter at his death bed would of been the way to go. Dying folks usually spill the beans, hoping to have a clear path to heaven. Something tells me his magic-bullet theory would of changed a bit.

 

With hindsight it's all too easy to criticize President Kennedy and paint an unfavourable picture (not that I would put much stock in the OP's political acumen at this point).

As for the poll I've chosen the "other" option:

 

Of all the theories out there, my fav is the "It was the Federal Reserve". Cuz' he was gonna take away their money-printing privileges.

 

I agree - and I also believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

I do not think JFK is regarded as an inept president. It is true that he isn't considered by many historians as a great president, but that is at least in part because he was assassinated and served less than three years. He had charisma and personality, and personality goes a long way.

That's why he was so popular with the American public, and why he almost certainly would have won a second term - he was about a year away from the next presidential election. LBJ did run for President in 1964 as the incumbent on a platform that was identical to what Kennedy would have run on. The results speak for themselves - he easily defeated Barry Goldwater in a landslide, carrying over 60% of the popular vote.

As for Vietnam - we'll never know. Yes, the first troops were sent over there by Kennedy, but as T2 correctly points out, the escalation took place under LBJ. While I'm sure LBJ felt he was simply continuing the policy that started under Kennedy, we cannot state with certainty that Kennedy would have escalated the troop levels to that degree had he remained President. That said, by the time 1968 rolled around, Vietnam was becoming increasingly unpopular. LBJ didn't even run for re-election in 1968. (Since he had served fewer than two years of JFK's term that didn't "count" as one his terms. He could have run again.)

I was not yet born at the time Kennedy was assassinated. But I do recall a story from my father-in-law who had the opportunity while serving as a young officer in the Navy to meet Kennedy. It should be pointed out that my father-in-law is a staunch Republican. AFAIK, he has never voted for a Democratic candidate in his life, and generally dislikes all of them. He is also someone who is rather stoic in nature, and not easily impressed. But, he was absolutely star struck meeting Kennedy. And he didn't even like they guy. So yeah, that's why he was so popular.

 

He was certainly very charismatic, but he lacked any real foreign policy experience. I think we're placing the blame to squarely on the shoulders of LBJ and JFK for Vietnam, the folly dates back to Truman's support for the French in the First Indochina War. We ate our own hat with that decision, believing that France's entry into the European Defense Community would be more important than securing Vietnam as an ally. It should be noted that France refused to join the EDC anyway. Certainly LBJ and JFK deserve to be criticized for the situation, but I think more of the blame lies with Truman, Eisenhower, the Dulles brothers, McNamara and countless other deceitful individuals in the State Department and military.

 

All fair points. The only reason I stopped where I did was I didn't want to go too far . Afterall, you were specifically asking how JFK was so popular in spite of his short tenure as presidnet. I only brought up Vietnam in the first place to show that LBJ was elected president campaigning that he'd keep doing what JFK was doing - and that it worked.