From the moment he took office in January of 1961, Kennedy had been eager to settle the Cuban problem without overt military action by the United States.

Some Kennedy aides have always insisted that Johnson misread J.F.K.'s plans for Vietnam. They say that Kennedy had begun to rethink the U.S. presence in Indochina and was reluctant to increase it.

It's always valuable for someone running for president... to have as much bipartisan support as possible.

Dwight Eisenhower, the Republican nominee in 1952, made a strong public commitment to ending the war in Korea, where fighting had reached a stalemate.

Harry Truman wrote scathing letters, but he almost never sent them.

Despite an unqualified understanding that U.S. national security was inextricably bound up with Britain's survival, F.D.R. knew that his reelection in part rested on the hope that he would keep the country out of war.

There's a certain clubbiness to the idea that you're an ex-president. You're no longer a politician. You're a statesman.

By the time a second term rolls around, the illusions about a president have largely evaporated.

Foreign policy - dealing as it does with the most charged political subjects of all, the safety and dignity of the nation - will always be political terrain particularly vulnerable to distortion and demagoguery.

For style and for creating a mood of optimism and hope - Kennedy on that count is as effective as any president the country has had in its history.