Kennedy's Critics

While the public considers Kennedy one of the greatest leaders, historians have reservations about whether he deserves such notable praise. They point out that Kennedy failed to enact momentous legislation. Although he averted a nuclear war during the missile crisis, created the Peace Corps, and negotiated a test ban treaty, most historians do not believe these accomplishments are enough to make him one of America's greatest presidents. In fact, among the academic community he has been commonly referred to as overrated. In 2000, seventy-eight scholars ranked him at number eighteen out of forty-two presidents, near the bottom of the above-average list.

Kennedy, however, did accomplish one thing no other president had. He confronted the stigma attached to his faith and convinced a majority of Americans that they did not need to be afraid of a Catholic in the White House. With this action, Kennedy broke down political barriers for all minorities, not just Catholics.

No matter what the scholars think of Kennedy, the public has remained steadfast in its fascination. Not even the exposure of his womanizing and his secret health problems could destroy the public's affection for Kennedy.

JFK and women

Before being President, JFK was a man like all the others, with his qualities and faults. Some men have problems with gambling and alcohol, JFK’s problem where women. He was far away of being a myth. He didn’t passed without being noticed. He was 6 foot tall and weight 170 to 175 pounds. He had tainted skin with dark red hair and, with his appearance, it wasn’t astonishing to see women turn around him. He also had a lot of money. He had a wide choice, he was the playboy of his time.
7 february 1960, Kennedy assist to a presentation of Rat Pack, composed by Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. During this memorial evening, Sinatra presents his ex-girlfriend to the young senator, a lovely brunette, Judy Campbell. She came from a hippster family with a lovely smile and looked like his wife Jackie with the beauty of Elizabeth Taylor. That’s when he turned to the dark side.
Judy said about his lover that : « he was surprising. You had the feeling being the only person left on earth. He never forgot something you said, he really listened, he wasn’t faking. He absorbed everything. »
JFK obtained the democratic nomination and was on his way to the White House, but dragged Giancana behind him, the maffioso from Chicago by the intervention of his mistress Judy Campbell. It seems that during his campain for being President, Kennedy asked Judy to give a big amount of money to Giancana in a bag. After all, a presidential election campaign is expensif. You have to know the people who are trendy. Kennedy used Judy Campbell as an intermediary between him and Sam Giancana.

Decision making

Studies reveal that the personality of Kennedy follows one schema of motivation and that this schema was differentley affected by two aspect in each decision to take. Placed in front of a problem where he had the solution to deal wtih an affair (Cuba crisis and de steal crisis), he reacted positively, but in front of a problem where he didn’t had the solution (the Bay of pigs, the Meredith Case), he took refuge in the prospect. A positif reaction was to intensify a need to act, while a wait-and-see reaction reduced this factor. The difference of result (success or failure) was understandable by the fact that its regulating mecansims (pessimism, caution and scepticism) affected every situation in a identical way : an aggressive reaction was returned to manoeuvrable proportions, what pulled adapted action plans, a defeatist reaction was amplified in to confine him on marginal and unsuitable strategies.

Popularity

Forty years after his death, it is still hard to view his life and presidency objectively, and a kind of “mystique” (some would call it “glamor”) clings to his name. Perhaps glamorous Neptune in Leo (the sign of charisma and the heart) so elevated in the natal chart (conjunct the MC) contributes greatly to the optimism, uplifted vision and wistfulness which the name “President Kennedy” still awakens. Positively, John Kennedy was known for his charisma, his brilliance and facile wit, his social idealism, courage and even heroism. On the more negative side (as the contrasts in the Gemini character are often great) he was possessed by an unrelenting ambition, opportunism, and a careless morality leading to flagrant relationships with numerous women and reputed links to notorious underworld figures. It is hard to conceive of a more colorful political figure. He was widely loved and admired (an immensely popular world-figure rather than simply an American president).