On May 29, 2017, the nation commemorated the 100^th birthday of President John F. Kennedy. As we all know, Kennedy was cut down before reaching the age of 50. Yet, his short term in office still casts a giant shadow over contemporary American history.  As author Larry Sabato has shown, the vast majority of Americans believe that something went wrong with America after he was assassinated. We take this opportunity to remind us all of what might have been and to commemorate what was.  And it's important, too, to learn about the many things Kennedy achieved while in office, but which you won't hear about from today's mainstream media.

The images below are linked to a four-part slideshow and afterword featuring highlights from the life and political career of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35^th President of the United States, which we hope you will find informative.

~Jim DiEugenio

At: DW Made For Minds

In the first part of this projected multi-part series, the author reviews Oswald's "defection" to the USSR in the light of Cold War games and his possible connection to them, and proposes an interesting twist on what the role of his stay there may have been.

Because of its innumerable textual and sourcing problems, Tye's book is neither worth reading nor buying, concludes Jim DiEugenio, who is prompted to muse:  "Why did the author write the book? Only he can answer that question".

Extralegal assassinations, unwarranted domestic surveillance, interventionist wars at the behest of corporate interests, torture or other activities of that stripe – these all have their roots in the Dulles era in which covert, corporate power developed into a well-oiled and unaccountable machine running roughshod. These dark forces have continued to operate regardless of who is elected president; and the refusal to face them has caused the Democratic Party to lose its way, writes Alex Sill.

After reading [this book], I was able to understand what this was all about—at least in a fundamental way. Also, my respect for President John F. Kennedy, which was already estimable, increased a bit more, writes Jim DiEugenio.

Volume 5 of the Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, by Jack B. Pfeiffer (18 April, 1984)

The Democratic Party has become something both JFK and RFK would deplore—the party of war.

By Adam Walinsky, At: Politico

By Matthew Jaffe, University of Chicago Institute of Politics, At: CNN Politics

Presentation by Jim DiEugenio of an excerpt from Greg Poulgrain's book on the Indonesia coup.