‘Was John F. Kennedy the flat-out absolute worst U.S. president of the 20th century?’
Tom Ricks is being more than a little unfair. But JFK’s sycophants were no better in the opposite sense, spinning him into the mythological Camelot figure following the assassination. … See the note at the bottom of Rick’s post about his Massachusetts and Democratic credentials. He’s covering his flanks well. …

A different parlor game that might produce a more reasonable result: Which 20th Century presidents were better than JFK? My obvious choices:

FDR
Truman
Ike
Teddy Roosevelt
Ronnie

After those five, it’s a big fall off. Some might argue for Woodrow Wilson being up higher. But I can’t do it. There were some truly ugly sides to Wilson’s presidency (and personality). … Spare me the “LBJ signed the civil rights act” argument. The civil rights movement started long before LBJ got loose out of Texas. And, of course, there’s Vietnam, a war LBJ undeniably escalated. …

Bottom line: JFK, at best, was probably a high middle-of-the-pack 20th Century president.  ¶ 3:56 PM