John F. Kennedy

Term: 1961-1963

Party: Democrat

Nickname: JFK, Jack.

Short Bio:
Kennedy has the distinction of being the youngest elected president in history. Theodore Roosevelt is technically the youngest to be president, as he took the office after McKinley was shot. Kennedy was a young, debonair, and exciting politician, which is probably what helped him become president. He was seen as a dark horse going into the 1960 election under the perception that he was too young, with too little experience, and was a Catholic to boot. Nixon, his competition, was vice-president under the popular Eisenhower, and seemed to be set to become the next president. Luckily for Kennedy, the television was invented. In the first ever televised debates, Kennedy looked cool and confident. Nixon, suffering from sickness, looked a mess and appeared flustered. Though people listening over the radio said Nixon won the debates, people who watched the debates swore that Kennedy did. This botched appearance in the debates probably cost Nixon the election. The election went to Kennedy, but not by much. Kennedy had only beat Nixon in popular votes by 115,000.

Kennedy's presidency is well known for a few reasons. One of those will be covered at the end. Only a few months into his presidency, Kennedy approves the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba to get rid of Castro. With the cancellation of air reinforcements and the failure of expected local support, the American forces were defeated by Castro's troops. Castro releases 1,173 prisoners for $55.5 million worth of food and medicine. Kennedy took full blame for the operation and tried to redeem himself with beefing up the U.S. military. Kennedy made small strides for the Civil Rights movement, something that his successor Johnson will do the most for, but did little else for domestic issues. Kennedy was strictly a international president. He cared more for protecting the U.S. and getting rid of any possible problems.

Though Eisenhower had sent military advisers and others to Vietnam, it was Kennedy that sent the first batch of official U.S. support. Thus began the unofficial start to America's involvement in the Vietnam War. The unpopular war would go on until Ford's presidency.

Communism and the Soviets became a bigger problem for the U.S. The Berlin Wall was being built, the Soviets were testing warheads, and there was considerable evidence that they had weapons pointed at us. The Cold War almost became a real war. It all came to a fever pitch during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Finding out that the Soviets had built missile bases in Cuba, Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of the Communist nation. Luckily, Kennedy was able to reach an agreement with Premier Khrushchev and all the missile bases were to be deconstructed as long as the U.S. promised not to invade Cuba. Kennedy, after hearing that all the weapons were taken out, lifted the blockade, and got rid of the missile bases we had pointing at the U.S.S.R. in Turkey. Kennedy basically averted WWIII. Most baby-boomers will tell you about how scary the times were and all the bomb drills they had to do, which had the children hide under their desks. With that, Kennedy brought the U.S. into a period of peace, as the U.S. had little to no near disasters with the U.S.S.R. after this time. Shortly before Kennedy's unfortunate end to his presidency, he was able to get an agreement involving the U.S., Britain, and the Soviet Union to limit nuclear tests. The treaty halted all nuclear tests but those done underground.

On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot twice while riding in his presidential convoy in Dallas. The shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, was later shot in police custody by a local bar owner, Jack Ruby on the 24th. Kennedy has the distinction of being the last president slain during his presidency, though not the last to be shot at. There are a bunch of conspiracy theories about his death, but they won't be entertained here.

Grade: B-
Kennedy is probably one of the most over-hyped president, partially due to his assassination. Kennedy did have one of the best approval ratings in the modern era, so I can't say that he wasn't beloved before his death. Yes, he was a very charismatic leader and a great speaker, but he was by no means perfect. He redeemed himself for the Bay of Pigs disaster with averting a war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and beefing up our military. Kennedy lacked a good record on domestic issues and got us involved in the Vietnam War, which became probably the most unpopular war we've been a part of.

Fun Fact!
Kennedy is on the rarely seen half dollar coin! Who was on the half dollar before him? The famous patriot, Benjamin Franklin.

George Washington

Here’s my first big series. I’m going to give an overview of our presidents, listing their main achievements, what they messed up on, and I give them my personal grade. Be sure to check back every couple days for a few more presidents. Hopefully you learn something you never knew about our nation’s past leaders.

Political Party: None

Term: 1789-1797

Nickname: Father of Our Country

Short Bio: Washington had been enjoying his retirement from national service, when he was asked to preside over the Constitutional Convention. He agreed, and that set him on track to become the President. The framers of the Constitution had made a strong government with Washington in mind actually, and he was the only choice anyone had ever had for the first President of the United States. To this day he is the only president to win unanimously. John Adams was chosen as his Vice-President. Washington realized early on that he was going to be setting many precedents for the presidents. Since Washington lacked much in the way of education, he had James Madison write his inaugural address. Washington was offered $25,000 a year for being president, but like when he was leading the Continental Army, he declined, saying that he would like his work expenses covered only since he was rich already. Congress eventually got him to take the money, since they didn't want this to be something that was perceived as precedents, which would take any poorer man out of the Presidential race.

Washington started the tradition of meeting regularly with his cabinent members, which has been done by every president since. An instance of precedents that was very harmful to America was Washington's unwillingness to visit Congress in person. He had terrible experiences when he did go and try and speak to everyone, so he never did it again. This set a trend for further presidents and caused a larger rift between the Legislative and Executive Branch. Washington helped build the new nation, while dealing with domestic issues including the creation of political parties. Washington was against the creation of political parties and was disdained to find that his secretary of state Thomas Jefferson and secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton had created the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalist, respectively. His cabinet became an all out war against Hamilton and Jefferson. Washington himself leaned more towards the Federalists side, which angered Jefferson, who felt the President relied too much on the advice of Hamilton. This large rift between all of this cabinet members ultimately led to it's demise, as Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and many more would leave and have their seats filled with inadequate men. Hamilton was the last to go, but served with Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion. The rebellion was a controversial issue for the new nation, mostly on how to deal with it. After the rebellious were told that they would be put down with force if they didn't go back home, they still stayed, and Washington decided that this was a dangerous situation that needed to be put down. Washington and Hamilton led the standing army, though Hamilton led the men, and Washington hung out in back giving orders. This marks the only time in history that a Commander in Chief took part in any part of the military while president. Washington took a lot of heat for this from the Democratic-Republicans, as they felt that this was the government abusing its power.

Washington, though greatly loved in America, was not without detractors. Many Democratic-Republicans thought he was too much like a king, as did a few members of the press at the time, some who routinely wrote of how Washington was trying to be King of America for life. Washington heard these attacks, and though he had a tough exterior, he was internally tortured by them. Washington decided that he had enough and just wanted to go back to Mount Vernon. He knew he could of been reelected till he was too old to serve, but instead wanted to live out the rest of his days in peace. He had to get away from all the politics. Thus, Washington set the precedent of only serving two terms. This would go on until FDR, who was elected to four, though he was criticized for it, as his detractors found it to be a slight against Washington. Though it wasn't expected, Washington had a farewell address prepared, this time by Hamilton. This was the last piece of precedence that Washington set, as all presidents afterward would give one. Though during his two terms his cabinet and many others were torn between the two new parties, Washington endorsed and for the most part had a united America. He had claimed neutrality in the fight between Britain and France and was determined to instead build his nation up. He showed that he was able to tackle tough domestic issues like a rebellion, and able to keep a bunch of colonies together.

Grade: A: For his role in creating our nation and keeping the new nation afloat in the early years.