So it's 50 years today that he got assassinated. I guess we'll never know who did it.

Last year was the 200th anniversary of the assassination of Spencer Perceval, can't recall much of a fuss being made over that

Not that well known even now.

Or even care.

One thing's for sure, his assassination has made sure that history has been kinder to him than it ever would if he'd remained in power

How do you know that?

Do you think things like Viet Nam would not have happened? He would've taken the blame for that instead of Johnson & Nixon, along with many other acts attributed to them. Look behind the cosy family man presentation and you'll find a philandering mysoginist, unused to being challenged by anyone. There's plenty of detail out there, you just need to look for it.

A tad unfair, as he lived in an era of rank misogyny and whilst he no doubt philandered, in this he joined maybe a third or two thirds (depending which stats you believe) of the world male population.


Being the man basically in charge of the planet, do you see that as a bad thing?

if you're looking for faultless saint-like characters in world leaders, good luck with that.

I quite like this portion of his speech to Rice University on the decision to start the Apollo Lunar project...




"...some of which have not yet been invented..." sort of puts the thing into context, that speech was in 1962.

Both JFK and his brother were very much behind making civil rights a federal issue so he would have come out of that fairly will i think.

Plus he bedded Marilyn Monroe so he has my envy. !!!

No-one ever recalls that a police officer died in the incident too...

....other than perhaps the very real stigma of being Roman Catholic in a country which many believed would never elect a Roman Catholic President. Sure you don't have to look too hard for the salacious details of Kennedy's failings, and there were many. But make no mistake, JFK was a great and courageous man, a WWII combat hero, who forced the American people to confront many of their country's uncomfortable societal inequities and facing down the very real global threat of the Soviet bully. For all of its failings, he personified what the USA at its best could be, youthful, enthusiastic with boundless optimism. His inaugural speech 'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country' is one of the most inspirational speeches ever.
Yes he was an imperfect human being but given the vacuous leadership we have largely endured in the 50yrs since, he was a great man worthy of remembering.

Was at a talk given by Gore Vidal a few years ago, about the Kennedys, who he knew rather well.

He doesn't seem to have had much time for any politicians - JFK and co included.

As for facing down the "Soviet bully", he also helped to create the Cuban situation. But hey - it was tragic that Cuba was lost to a bunch of Mafiosi and their buddies.

Ian Tomlinson might have remembered?

No, he was only 18 months old at the time and living in a completely different country.