# Why Is JFK So Deified? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 28, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541 "2015-12-28T06:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![JBGUSA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/258eb7/32.png) [@JBGUSA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBGUSA)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/81 "2016-01-02T06:21:17Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Should I use my power of invisibility for good, or evil? Without cheating, I assume Coolidge. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/82 "2016-01-02T07:27:32Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > Without cheating, I assume Coolidge. No, Coolidge’s super-power was silence. You couldn’t hear the guy. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@Earl\_Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Wilson)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/83 "2016-01-02T13:21:17Z")
Jacqueline Kennedy had JFK shot, the simplest solution is usually the correct one. as the saying goes hell hath no fury like a woman scorned or in the case with any murder its almost always the spouse. well that’s my take on it anyhow. as for you question for the most part because he was shot and killed but also because at the time in America they were regarded as American royalty. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/84 "2016-01-02T13:21:53Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Who deifies Kennedy these days? Any overestimation of his administration happened within the first decade or so after he died. Since then most people have tended to think of him as a flawed man. No kidding. How often do people bring him up outside of CT discussions? Let alone libs talking him up. If anything in recent years I’ve seen the right try to appropriate him, usually citing the “ask not what your country can do for you” bit to argue against welfare. Ted Cruz claims he’d be a Republican today. If there’s a deified Dem POTUS it’s FDR. ---
**Author:** ![JBGUSA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/258eb7/32.png) [@JBGUSA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBGUSA)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/85 "2016-01-02T13:26:11Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > If there’s a deified Dem POTUS it’s FDR. I am a Democrat and I don’t deify FDR. He has a lot of Jewish blood on his hands. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/86 "2016-01-02T20:54:38Z")
> [@Earl\_Wilson](#): > > Jacqueline Kennedy had JFK shot, the simplest solution is usually the correct one. as the saying goes hell hath no fury like a woman scorned or in the case with any murder its almost always the spouse. well that’s my take on it anyhow. So, why do you think she decided to have it happen right next to her? To make sure the job was done? Surely she would have preferred to not be downrange when they shot him. But yeah, he’s deified mostly because he was assassinated in the age of television. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/87 "2016-01-02T21:10:27Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > I am a Democrat and I don’t deify FDR. He has a lot of Jewish blood on his hands. What? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/88 "2016-01-02T22:12:35Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > So, why do you think she decided to have it happen right next to her? To make sure the job was done? Surely she would have preferred to not be downrange when they shot him. It was the perfect alibi and she thought of all that. Oswald and the other CIA operatives used as a diversion were shooting blanks. Jackie was the one that made the actual lethal shots from a pistol she pulled out of her purse and timed them to match up with the diversion from the operatives but they didn’t know about that part of The Plan. The operatives believed that the “assignation attempt” was not supposed to be successful and its purpose was to rally the nation around a new, radical Cold War strategy in Cuba and the Soviet Union (Oswald wanted in because he thought the U.S. was sure to lose). They didn’t know that the double-cross masterminded by Jackie was really nothing more than an elaborate scorned wife murder plot. Just before Jackie had Oswald shot as well to shut him up, he claimed on national TV that he was a “patsy”. Most people assume that meant a fall guy or a sacrificial lamb but that wasn’t it at all. He meant the literal name “Patsy” because that is what Jackie nicknamed him as when she discussed the plan with him on the phone. JFK - “Who are you talking to?”. Jackie - “Oh, just my old friend Patsy”. JFK - “Tell her I said hello”. The fact that few people know this even today proves just how successful it was. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/89 "2016-01-02T22:17:03Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > I am a Democrat and I don’t deify FDR. He has a lot of Jewish blood on his hands. > [@Monty](#): > > What? Failing to respond to the Holocaust more robustly, I assume: [Criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Franklin_D._Roosevelt#Failure_to_do_enough_for_the_Jews_of_Europe). I’m a stalwart Democrat and I’m not crazy about FDR for the Japanese-American internments, either. ---
**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/90 "2016-01-03T07:44:31Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It was the perfect alibi and she thought of all that. **Oswald and the other CIA operatives used as a diversion were shooting blanks**. Jackie was the one that made the actual lethal shots from a pistol she pulled out of her purse and timed them to match up with the diversion from the operatives but they didn’t know about that part of The Plan. The operatives believed that the “assignation attempt” was not supposed to be successful and its purpose was to rally the nation around a new, radical Cold War strategy in Cuba and the Soviet Union (Oswald wanted in because he thought the U.S. was sure to lose). They didn’t know that the double-cross masterminded by Jackie was really nothing more than an elaborate scorned wife murder plot. > > Just before Jackie had Oswald shot as well to shut him up, he claimed on national TV that he was a “patsy”. Most people assume that meant a fall guy or a sacrificial lamb but that wasn’t it at all. He meant the literal name “Patsy” because that is what Jackie nicknamed him as when she discussed the plan with him on the phone. JFK - “Who are you talking to?”. Jackie - “Oh, just my old friend Patsy”. JFK - “Tell her I said hello”. > > The fact that few people know this even today proves just how successful it was. Small problem because there were no CIA operatives - or anyone other than one gunman - shooting. What is the evidence you have for this revelation? ---
**Author:** ![Lorne\_Armstrong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@Lorne\_Armstrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorne_Armstrong)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/91 "2016-01-03T07:51:05Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > No kidding. How often do people bring him up outside of CT discussions? Let alone libs talking him up. If anything in recent years I’ve seen the right try to appropriate him, usually citing the “ask not what your country can do for you” bit to argue against welfare. Ted Cruz claims he’d be a Republican today. > > If there’s a deified Dem POTUS it’s FDR. I have no scientific evidence that JFK is deified. But from what I have observed on the Internet, particularly YouTube and Facebook, it goes along the lines of: -Last real president/last great president -Last president to speak the truth -America ceased to be a democracy when JFK was killed -Only president willing to stand up to bankers/military/corruption -Was getting ready to end our government’s covert actions by disbanding the CIA -Was going to end Vietnam, end racism, change the world, etc. I just find it odd how so many on the left love the guy so much but can’t really give a specific thing he accomplished. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/92 "2016-01-03T09:35:31Z")
> [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#): > > I just find it odd how so many on the left love the guy so much but can’t really give a specific thing he accomplished. I’ve been as cynical about JFK’s foibles as anyone in the thread, but to say he accomplished nothing is absurd. The Peace Corps was a big deal. Much bigger still was [this bold choice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwFvJog2dMw). ---
**Author:** ![JBGUSA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/258eb7/32.png) [@JBGUSA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBGUSA)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/93 "2016-01-03T13:40:59Z")
> [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#): > > I have no scientific evidence that JFK is deified. > > * * * > > I just find it odd how so many on the left love the guy so much but can’t really give a specific thing he accomplished. Real easy. He accomplished very little. > [@septimus](#): > > I’ve been as cynical about JFK’s foibles as anyone in the thread, but to say he accomplished nothing is absurd. The Peace Corps was a big deal. Much bigger still was [this bold choice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwFvJog2dMw). Not really,but that wasn’t his fault. Most of the newly independent “governments” wanted big checks. Peace Corp. volunteers don’t fill Swiss bank accounts real well. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/94 "2016-01-03T14:17:41Z")
Lorne Armstrong writes: \> I have no scientific evidence that JFK is deified. But from what I have observed on \> the Internet, particularly YouTube and Facebook, it goes along the lines of . . . You need to spend your time reading things other than YouTube and Facebook. Read newspapers and magazines and books. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. give you nothing but people’s random thoughts, often the ones which they come up with when they are too drunk, stoned, sleepy, etc. to think carefully through what they’re saying. Furthermore, if there’s a President who’s deified by some these days, it’s Reagan. There are a lot of conservatives who praise Reagan who don’t know much about him. Often they’re too young to remember his time in office well. He’s also remembered more for stirring statements that didn’t mean much. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/95 "2016-01-03T14:30:11Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > He got shot. This is quite seriously the main reason. If he was not shot, he was very unlikely to have been deified as he was. He was no Roosevelt with a game changing Presidency and a brilliant record of successes. (I am talking about both of them.) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/96 "2016-01-03T14:39:13Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Furthermore, if there’s a President who’s deified by some these days, it’s Reagan. There are a lot of conservatives who praise Reagan who don’t know much about him. Often they’re too young to remember his time in office well. He’s also remembered more for stirring statements that didn’t mean much. Oh, I think Reagan had a big effect. Contrast JFK’s “Ask what you can do for your country” and “We don’t do this because it is easy, but because it is hard” with Reagan’s “Government is the problem.” Reagan was extremely influential. Unfortunately it is becoming increasingly obvious how very bad that infuence was. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/97 "2016-01-03T19:02:20Z")
> [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#): > > …I just find it odd how so many on the left love the guy so much but can’t really give a specific thing he accomplished. See post 16. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/98 "2016-01-03T21:00:54Z")
I’m not reading through the whole thread, so somebody may have touched on this already, but the plain & simple answer to the OP is this: He successfully prevented the outbreak of World War III vis-a-vis the Cuban Missile Crisis. If that isn’t worthy of serious recognition, then nothing is. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/99 "2016-01-03T22:26:17Z")
There are those who argue that the Cuban Missile Crisis was Kennedy’s fault: [http://www.thenation.com/article/kennedy-week-jfk-nuclear-savior-and-liberal-icon/](http://www.thenation.com/article/kennedy-week-jfk-nuclear-savior-and-liberal-icon/) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2016, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541/100 "2016-01-03T22:53:55Z")
> [@2ManyTacos](#): > > I’m not reading through the whole thread, so somebody may have touched on this already, but the plain & simple answer to the OP is this: > > He successfully prevented the outbreak of World War III vis-a-vis the Cuban Missile Crisis. If that isn’t worthy of serious recognition, then nothing is. If you aren’t going to read the thread, why bother posting something that will obviously have already been addressed? You seriously think a hundred posts in, nobody has brought up the Cuban Missile crisis? Sheesh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-jfk-so-deified/741541.md?page=6)