Devastating article

The US under Kennedy in the Cuban Missile Crisis wasn’t consulting with anyone. They were informing people. There is a really big difference, something a person worried about a global test doesn't understand.

DeGaulle VS. Kerry

“Yet when Kennedy finally took action [in the Cuban Missile Crisis -- ed.], it was unilateral and pre-emptive — under international law, in fact, blockade is an act of war. Unlike Iraq, there were no votes in either Congress or the United Nations authorizing the action.”


“The United Nations was not being asked for permission, just being told why President Kennedy was taking action.”

Read it all.

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Looking back, the reason the Cuban Missile crisis occurred is because President Kennedy the feckless convinced Khrushchev he could be rolled.

The record indicates that Khrushchev had Kennedy read correctly. However, there really is only so far you can push a democratically elected leader no matter what his personal views. Once Kennedy had publicly declared "there aren't any missiles there, I won't allow it" and then the proof landed on his desk he had little option but to act.

Today, with different imperatives, I don't think the junior Senator from MA would behave as well after getting himself into a mess. The Scoop Jackson wing of the Democratic Party ("I'm a liberal but I'm not a damn fool") no longer exists to back him up.

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I'm working on a program to collect and tabulate poll data from RealClearPolitics in a manner I think might be more useful for the horse race numbers. FilmAtEleven.