Oh heavens.....LBJ, and skipping entirely over JFK?
Jean, From reading many books on the personalities and lives of the past presidents there were more than Kennedy and Clinton who did their share of philandering while in the White House. Seems power goes to these men's heads and they can't seem to control their libidos. I know I read LBJ had a secret room for his lady friends and Lady Byrd was aware of it.
I loved Jackie Kennedy, she was my first impression of a First Lady since I was only 9 yrs old when the Kennedy's took the world by storm. She was more than a decorator, she was huge in the fine arts, she spoke many different languages, she was very much active in the literary world and I have a few of her poems Caroline published in her books after her death. Jackie loved John in spite of his cheating. She too wanted the Presidency as much as he did. I applaud her courage after John was shot. She raised two beautiful, intelligent unspoiled children keeping them as protected from the paparazzi as possible. They were "Camelot" to me, and the world, and that is something I think this world will never experience again.
#5. What were President Kennedy’s mistakes in his first year in office and how could he have avoided them?
I could see a few mistakes Kennedy made in his first 100 days. He wanted to be too hands on and eliminate the middle guy/woman. Trying to take on too much will cause more stress then need be. He also did NOT follow his OWN instincts with the Bay of Pigs. Everything he saw and heard told him it would not be a successful mission, yet he trusted in the "plans" of a 5 star General and all the people he kept regarding those top positions. I found it interesting how later when Eisenhower was talking with Gordon Gray going through the notes of the conversation stored with Eisenhower's other classified presidential papers how Ike was surprised to see the word
"planning" and decided to change it.
pg. 142 "The account did confirm the importance Ike had placed on there being a plausible government in exile in place before any move was made on Castro. But it was when they came across the word "planning" that Eisenhower recoiled. "This is wrong," he insisted. "We did no military planning." All he had approved was the training of the Cuban exiles, not a blueprint for the deploymen. "With your permission," he told Gray, "I'm going to have this page rewritten to reflect the facts." Gray agreed; more than a decade later, he wrote to the assistant director of the Eisenhower library explaining how the original version of the memo had been misleading, and how they altered it.
Imagine how that one word
"planning" may have changed the entire event. Had Kennedy called Eisenhower to confirm or confer with him, I am almost certain the Bay of Pigs mission would not have taken place at that time, changing history. I am impressed how Kennedy did not try to put the blame on Ike even though he could have.
Lessons learned indeed:
"The Bay of Pigs changed Kennedy's approach to executive management. He stopped believing that the judgement of professionals was infallible, and he rebuilt part of the Eisenhower system, even reviving some of the committees he had so intent on stamping out.
I agree, I think the Cuban missile crisis was his finest hour, and I pray NO president will ever have to be faced with that decision again.
Ella, Seems we were posting at the same time. lol I'm happy to see we will not skip over Kennedy. I was surprised to read how Eisenhower was impressed with young Kennedy. lol
pg. 120
Eisenhower was pleased by the invitation to remain involved, as Kennedy had plainly intended. And he was, against all expectations, impressed. Persons later told Clifford that Ike had been "overwhelmed" by Kennedy. "What impressed the President the most, "Persons said, "was your man's understanding of world problems, the depth of his questions, his grasp of the issues and keenness of his mind." Ike called him one of the "ablest, brightest minds I've ever come across," and confessed to perhaps having misjudged him."
Yet later he says,
But he also glimpsed the blind spots. "I think he was pretty quick, but my impression was this, "Eisenhower told an interviewer years later, reflecting on that first encounter. "At that time, he looked on the presidency as not only a personal thing, but as an institution that one man could handle with an assistant here and another there. He had no idea of the complexity for the job at that time."
I sense that is the case in every man who sits in that Oval office after being sworn in......
