Quote Originally Posted by World's End Stella View Post
The way you phrased it implied that he had initiated the conflict that brought us close to nuclear war when in fact he reacted to extreme provocation very cautiously and diplomatically. He was under a lot of pressure from people like Lemay to bomb the Cuban missile sites (now that would have been escalation) but chose instead to use the embargo and diplomacy to resolve the situation.

Not sure anyone would consider him mad for the way he handled it, it was one if his finest moments.
To be fair, that 'extreme provocation' was only the same provocation the Russians endured when the US Atlas missiles were stationed in Turkey (Americans don't tend to mention that aspect). It could be argued that Kennedy's reaction was excessively precipitous - although whether he had any choice other than to react that way in the face of public reaction to missiles in Cuba is another question.

In all honestly, though, the situation you describe is analogous - albeit not identical - to Trump's vis-a-vis North Korea. Extreme nuclear provocation and threats to US territory, interests and allies. My beef is that Trump as POTUS is legitimately entitled to react in the way he has, but is castigated for it purely because people don't like him rather on the merits of his actions.