Kennedy Could Have Brought Down The Berlin Wall In 1961

7 Responses to Kennedy Could Have Brought Down The Berlin Wall In 1961

1. Grumpy Grampy ;) says:

   July 30, 2011 at 12:40 am

   B.O. would have sent troops to help strengthen it!

   Reply
2. suyts says:

   July 30, 2011 at 1:15 am

   Kennedy didn’t do a couple of things he should have………the Bay of Pigs being something a bit more abhorrent.

   Reply
3. Andy WeissDC says:

   July 30, 2011 at 1:45 am

   We almost got into a nuclear war more than once over Berlin. It’s good that cooler heads prevailed or none of would be here now.

   Reply
4. Michael D Smith says:

   July 30, 2011 at 3:43 am

   And we think we have a credit issue. Imagine if the rest of the crop of morons who became aware in the late 1950’s were driving nuclear subs. Oh. They were. Just had the pleasure of watching K-19. Good flick. Good luck to us all.

   Reply
5. Blade says:

   July 30, 2011 at 9:50 am

   Of course the reporter and the Senator both miss the point, much like the Bay of Pigs, that the wall went up precisely because of JFK.

   Khrushchev was pushing him ever since their first meeting where JFK was tired, jet-lagged, and in severe pain, which was obvious to him. He was thoroughly unimpressed by JFK, and emboldened like any bully encountering a liberal weenie.

   If Nixon was prez or Eisenhower (or LBJ for that matter) things would have been much different.

   For years the media focus was on how JFK avoided nuke war over Cuba, which clearly misses the point that the warheads never would have been shipped there if anyone other than JFK was President.

   Liberals still have not come to grips with the fact that putting the 2nd string Kennedy (Joe was starting quarterback) in the White House at that time was near suicidal. The liberals though they were voting for hope and change, instead they actually voted for the Bay of Pigs, the Berlin Wall, and near Nuclear War. Stupid liberals.

   Reply
6. Sean Ogilvie says:

   July 30, 2011 at 12:12 pm

   suyts and Blade make valid points but I tend to agree with Andy WeissDC.

   By 1961 East Berlin, as most of Eastern Europe, had been a province of the Soviet Empire for 16 years. This was territory of East Germany. Despite the plight of the citizens of East Germany, the US had no right to tear down that wall anymore then we have the right to tear down the Great Wall of China. It wasn’t US or West Germany’s territory.

   Maybe the East German guards on the border were told not to stop us but that doesn’t mean that the East German and Soviet military a few miles away had the same orders. The border guards didn’t have tanks or artillery. West Berlin was an island surrounded by East Germany. It was totally indefensible.

   Reply
   • Blade says:

     July 31, 2011 at 12:28 pm

     “the US had no right to tear down that wall anymore then we have the right to tear down the Great Wall of China.”

     The analogy is icky because the GWoC wasn’t keeping people locked in, like prison walls do. These bastards had sharpshooters at the border actually killing some of the escapees.

     Tearing it down would not have been some destruction of mere private property or a national landmark, it would have been an act of rescue. Besides, the story was probably about not leveling the whole thing, but just knocking some openings in it so that whoever wanted out could get out. I doubt that dragging unwilling people into the West was ever considered!

     Normally this is where the conversation turns to Truman or Marshall bashing (which I enjoy) for letting Stalin capture a large part of Germany, creating West Berlin and as you noted, a surrounded city requiring a massive airlift just to survive. After the loss of so many lives including Americans, giving anything to that swine was positively insane.

     Anyway, I’m pretty sure we’re on the same side here because you used the words ‘Soviet Empire’, kudos! 🙂

     Reply