IT'S HARD TO FIND A DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY LIKE TODAY

PRESIDENT TRUMP STUNS THE WORLD AT HELSINKI SUMMIT

Helsinki, Finland (JFK+50) Today, July 16, 2018, U.S. President Donald J. Trump met alone for two hours at the Presidential Palace here in Helsinki with Russia's President Vladimir Putin*.

In a press conference following the meeting, Trump stunned the world by calling Putin's denial of his country's interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election "strong and powerful" despite the fact that US intelligence agencies have confirmed that as fact. 

The response to the President's performance today has been staggering.  Senator John McCain (R) Arizona, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, declared it "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory."  Former CIA Director John Brennan went even further to declare it "nothing short of treasonous."

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R) Tennessee said..."I did not think it was a good moment for our country."

Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called it "the most serious mistake of (Trump's) presidency,"  while Chris Matthews, closing this evening's edition of "Hardball", said..."It's hard to find a day in American history like today."

Mr. Trump is not the first POTUS to come out of a summit meeting with a Russian leader unscathed.  President Kennedy described his meeting with Nikita Khrushchev in June 1961 as "the worst day of my life."  Chris Matthews wrote that JFK returned to Washington "crushed by the experience."

*Vladimir Putin was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1952 & graduated from Leningrad State University in 1975.  VP served as a KGB intelligence officer for 16 years & was President of Russia 2000-2008 & 2012 to the present.


SOURCE

"'Disgraceful', 'Pushover', 'Deeply Troubled':  Reaction to the Trump-Putin Summit", by Jessica Taylor, July 16, 2018, www.npr.org/

"Jack Kennedy, Elusive Hero," by Chris Matthews, Simon and Schuster, New York, 2011.

Khrushchev & Kennedy

June 1961

Vienna, Austria

JFK Library Photo

CRIMEAN CRISIS

CRIMEAN CRISIS NOT A COLD WAR RENEWAL

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) It is rare to see a Republican congressman quote a former Democratic POTUS to make a point, but in this month's "Washington Report," John J. "Jimmy" Duncan, Jr., does just that.

Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr.

Republican, Tennessee 2nd District

Official Photo of U.S. Congress

Congressman Duncan first discusses the situation in the Ukraine and the status of modern day Russia. 

 He writes...

"Russia is not capable of renewing the COLD WAR even if it wanted to.  Their troop numbers are down from the 4.3 million in President Reagan's tenure to less than one million."

Mr. Duncan then devotes an entire column to President John F. Kennedy.

He writes...

"In a speech at the University of Washington in 1961, President John F. Kennedy said...

'...we must face problems which do not lend themselves to easy or quick or permanent solutions. 

 ...we must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent or omniscient--that we are only six percent of the world's population--that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind--that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity--and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.'"

Congressman Duncan tells us that the major differences between 2014 and 1961 are that "we are only four percent of the world's population and that we are almost $17.5 trillion in debt."

The Congressman goes on to quote Anne-Marie Slaughter, former director of policy planning at the State Department, as saying the government of the United States...

"would do well to turn down its sanctimony" about Russian annexation of Crimea "its playing into Vladimir Putin's hands."

Congressman Duncan argues that our exaggeration of the Crimean Crisis only makes Putin stronger "as if it were a renewal of the Cold War."

SOURCE

"Washington Report," by John J. Duncan, Jr. Member of Congress, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., April 2014.

JFK+50 NOTE

We have had the pleasure of having Congressman Duncan visit our classroom at Carter High School and speak to our students.  His daughter, Tara, was one of our 'best and brightest' students, and his father, former Congressman John J. Duncan, Sr. took us to lunch at the Capitol restaurant during our visit in 1972.  The Duncan family has well represented the 2nd District of Tennessee.