"robert j. kolker" wrote in message
news:LDA1d.434849$%_6.212951@attbi_s01...


Peter Stickney wrote:


Well, there was also the Berlin Crisis of 1961, which saw a long-term
nuclear showdown with the Soviets, including having the the National
Guard activated to, among other things, stand Victor Alert (That's

He allowed the Berlin wall to built. When American tanks faced Soviet
tanks in August of 1961, it was the U.S. that blinked. I witnessed that
and I was ashamed.

before I jump in here, i have to say that I have never understood the
mystique that surrounds JFK...he was an average President, at best.
However, what would you have had us do in regards to the Berlin Wall? Was
it worth a war, especially a nuclear war? ESPECIALLY, when the wall was a
great public relations failure for the USSR (admitting they couldn't keep
their own people inside without a fortified barrier)?


We spent most of the Kennedy era with the Guard and Reserve activated,
with everybody primed for Nuclear Conflict, toe-to-toe with the
Russkies. One crisis after another. Now, mind you, a lot of that was
due to Kruschev's hopeless misreading of Kennedy's intellect and
willpower, but I can recall some rather scary times.

Yes it was scary. If Kennedy had followd through on the Bay of Pigs
Invasion the Cuban Missile Crisis would never have occurred.


Again, was it worth a war? Im no dove, I firmly believe that there are
things worth fightring and dying for...Cuba isn't one of them, not in the
1960s.

Kennedy was mostly sizzle and very little meat.


Agreed.

Bob Kolker