1. This thread by Prof. @KevinMKruse unfortunately presents a misleading & oversimplified history of John F. Kennedy & his presidency. Let's dig in and explore why, moving from the general to specifics. https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1104826912445206529 …
-
This Tweet is unavailable.Show this thread
-
2. Prof. Kruse argues that JFK was a liberal, not a conservative, in the terms of our own day. This is a false dichotomy; he wasn't Goldwater, but he was a conservative Democrat on many issues by the standards of his day, and would be off the far right end of today's Democrats.
80 replies 11 retweets 69 likesShow this thread -
3. I do not claim JFK as a movement conservative. As
@KevinMKruse notes, he believed many things the Goldwater/National Review Republicans rejected then, & continue to criticize now. JFK was more John Kasich than Joe Lieberman. In today's terms, a centrist, not a liberal.9 replies 8 retweets 42 likesShow this thread -
Dan McLaughlin Retweeted
4. The fact that JFK - like every president ever - had both partisan & extremist critics in the other party proves nothing. These are the same people who thought Ike was a Communist & were blood feuding with Bill Buckley. https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1104826921513353217 …
Dan McLaughlin added,
This Tweet is unavailable.5 replies 10 retweets 48 likesShow this thread -
5. Ira Stoll argues, in this column & listicle & his book, that JFK was a conservative. That's a stretch & some of his examples are as trolly as Prof. Kruse's, but he notes some important ways in which JFK was really not liberal. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/irastoll/21-ways-jfk-was-actually-a-conservative-fjkq …http://ideas.time.com/2013/10/14/jfk-was-a-political-conservative/ …
6 replies 5 retweets 23 likesShow this thread -
6. Consider *why* JFK needed to give a campaign speech defining himself as a liberal: he needed to secure his base after a divisive primary. As
@IraStoll notes, he had often been identified as a conservative by fellow Democrats before 1960.pic.twitter.com/m8jvvYnF97
1 reply 0 retweets 12 likesShow this thread -
7. And *listen* to that speech! JFK denies being "someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of 'Liberal.'"
2 replies 0 retweets 10 likesShow this thread -
8. 1960 was a zigzag race: in the primaries, JFK got to the left of LBJ, then seen as more conservative, but added LBJ as his VP. He navigated a breach w/Harry Truman, who resigned as a convention delegate in protest. On issues he & Nixon were barely distinguishable.
2 replies 3 retweets 11 likesShow this thread -
TRuman made a stink about Johnson?
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
No, Truman made a stink specifically about the convention being in his view rigged for JFK. He had a very uneasy relationship with JFK.
-
-
Truman seems like a pain in the ass.
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.