Were the Kennedys naive and reckless?

[Winston]

Ok here's something I don't understand.

As much as I like the Kennedy's, they honestly didn't seem too bright. Consider the following:

JFK made enemies with many powerful people, J Edgar Hoover, the CIA, the military industrial complex, the mafia, the oil industry, LBJ (who may have gone to jail for his crimes had he not become president), Castro, and everyone who blamed him for the Bay of Pigs failure.

With the most powerful enemies in the world, why would JFK be riding around in an open limosine in public with no secret service at his side, like a sitting duck? I mean, come on now. That's totally reckless and unclever. It's like the guy didn't have common sense. Even ruthless dictatos never ride out in open cars like a sitting duck. Even Sadam Hussein and Joseph Stalin would not expose themselves like that.

At least JFK could have asked for a top to cover the limo. Didn't he know about the Lincoln assassination, where some actor just walked up to him and shot him, just like that? Where was Lincoln's security guards? That was so lame.

Furthermore, didn't JFK realize that something was wrong on the day of his assassination, when his secret service was not running alongside his car and were withdrawn for no reason? They were totally useless that day. Anyone could shoot him and the agents sitting in the car behind him could not protect him. He was a sitting duck. Why didn't he immediately get suspicious?

He did seem very naive though, to think that he could go against the CIA, Federal Reserve and military industrial complex and get away with it. Or maybe he just didn't think about it. Or maybe he didn't care if he got killed?

Also, why would his brother Bobby try to run for President in 1968 so that he could stop the war in Vietnam, and not realize that he would be assassinated too? He could have deduced that from basic logic. Why didn't he take any steps to protect himself or have some security? Did he lack any survival instinct?

Did RFK think that Oswald acted alone, and therefore with him out of the way, no one would assassinate him? Surely RFK didn't buy the lone nut theory deep down did he? Was he really that naive and reckless? As much as I like him, it seems like he just walked into an obvious death trap. Was he really that dumb?

Finally, with so many Kennedy's coming to such a tragic end (even before JFK), and with the myth of the "Kennedy curse", why would JFK Jr. go flying around in a small plane with little training and skill? I'm sure he was aware of his family history and that his uncle and aunt both died in separate plane crashes. Whether there was a curse or not, or just a lot of powerful people wanting to kill them off, either way, wouldn't he be more cautious than to take such reckless risks as flying a small plane? It seems strange.

There was no reason for JFK Jr. to take such a reckless risk of flying a small plane. He was no expert pilot. Why didn't he just take a commercial flight? Or hire a private jet with a professional pilot? That would have been the safest way. He should have known that in a small plane, anyone who wanted to kill him could do it easily by sabotaging his plane or shooting it down. (It was never clear exactly how his plane went down or why)

He did seem like a naive simpleton, not clever, cunning or calculating. Were all the Kennedy's like that? Why did they take such reckless risks and expose themselves and never think about guarding against the worst, which kept happening to them? Did they have no survival instinct? Did they not understand logic? Why didn't they just hire people to protect them?

It's like they always walked around without ever looking behind their back or looking out for danger. Anyone notice that? What was wrong with them? Did they lack intelligence, wits, or cleverness? Were they simpletons who only had looks and charisma, but not smarts? Why would they walk around with no protection, keep getting killed and never learning from it?

I don't know. But the blunders they made do seem bizarre. They seem almost as senseless as the actions that characters in B horror movies make, which defy common sense, basic logic and survival instinct. Can anyone explain this? Were they trying to get themselves killed? It seemed like it, as if they were following some kind of script.

I don't know. Maybe people in the 60's were too trusting and weren't as jaded and paranoid as we are now, so they didn't think about those kind of things? From the voices of people in the 60's that are on video, they sure sound a bit naive and incapable of deeper thought.

What do you think?

Another question that I don't get:

Jack Ruby, Oswald's assassin, was in jail for about 3 years. Why didn't he reveal more about the plot during all that time? It was obvious that his co-conspirators betrayed him and left him in jail, so why wouldn't he expose them all in revenge? He had nothing to lose at that point right?

Also, why didn't anyone probe him for more info and details? In three years, all they got out of him was a 30 second cryptic spiel about "no one will ever know the truth about my motives"? WTF? That was such a wasted opportunity to find out what the truth was. Why didn't anyone try to seize that golden opportunity during those three years? That doesn't make sense. You'd think someone would, wouldn't you? That's a long time let a golden opportunity go to waste. How could such a blunder last for three years?

Come to think of it, if Oswald had lived, gone to trial and then to jail, might the same thing have happened? Maybe he would have just sat in jail, revealing nothing until he died, just like Ruby? The other alleged lone nut assassins didn't reveal much while they were in jail, so why would he?

[samurai_panda]

Logic cannot explain everything, my friend.

[WanderingProtagonist]

Ok here's something I don't understand.

As much as I like the Kennedy's, they honestly didn't seem too bright. Consider the following:

JFK made enemies with many powerful people, J Edgar Hoover, the CIA, the military industrial complex, the mafia, the oil industry, LBJ (who may have gone to jail for his crimes had he not become president), Castro, and everyone who blamed him for the Bay of Pigs failure.

With the most powerful enemies in the world, why would JFK be riding around in an open limosine in public with no secret service at his side, like a sitting duck? I mean, come on now. That's totally reckless and unclever. It's like the guy didn't have common sense. Even ruthless dictatos never ride out in open cars like a sitting duck. Even Sadam Hussein and Joseph Stalin would not expose themselves like that.

At least JFK could have asked for a top to cover the limo. Didn't he know about the Lincoln assassination, where some actor just walked up to him and shot him, just like that? Where was Lincoln's security guards? That was so lame.

Furthermore, didn't JFK realize that something was wrong on the day of his assassination, when his secret service was not running alongside his car and were withdrawn for no reason? They were totally useless that day. Anyone could shoot him and the agents sitting in the car behind him could not protect him. He was a sitting duck. Why didn't he immediately get suspicious?

He did seem very naive though, to think that he could go against the CIA, Federal Reserve and military industrial complex and get away with it. Or maybe he just didn't think about it. Or maybe he didn't care if he got killed?

Also, why would his brother Bobby try to run for President in 1968 so that he could stop the war in Vietnam, and not realize that he would be assassinated too? He could have deduced that from basic logic. Why didn't he take any steps to protect himself or have some security? Did he lack any survival instinct?

Did RFK think that Oswald acted alone, and therefore with him out of the way, no one would assassinate him? Surely RFK didn't buy the lone nut theory deep down did he? Was he really that naive and reckless? As much as I like him, it seems like he just walked into an obvious death trap. Was he really that dumb?

Finally, with so many Kennedy's coming to such a tragic end (even before JFK), and with the myth of the "Kennedy curse", why would JFK Jr. go flying around in a small plane with little training and skill? I'm sure he was aware of his family history and that his uncle and aunt both died in separate plane crashes. Whether there was a curse or not, or just a lot of powerful people wanting to kill them off, either way, wouldn't he be more cautious than to take such reckless risks as flying a small plane? It seems strange.

There was no reason for JFK Jr. to take such a reckless risk of flying a small plane. He was no expert pilot. Why didn't he just take a commercial flight? Or hire a private jet with a professional pilot? That would have been the safest way. He should have known that in a small plane, anyone who wanted to kill him could do it easily by sabotaging his plane or shooting it down. (It was never clear exactly how his plane went down or why)

He did seem like a naive simpleton, not clever, cunning or calculating. Were all the Kennedy's like that? Why did they take such reckless risks and expose themselves and never think about guarding against the worst, which kept happening to them? Did they have no survival instinct? Did they not understand logic? Why didn't they just hire people to protect them?

It's like they always walked around without ever looking behind their back or looking out for danger. Anyone notice that? What was wrong with them? Did they lack intelligence, wits, or cleverness? Were they simpletons who only had looks and charisma, but not smarts? Why would they walk around with no protection, keep getting killed and never learning from it?

I don't know. But the blunders they made do seem bizarre. They seem almost as senseless as the actions that characters in B horror movies make, which defy common sense, basic logic and survival instinct. Can anyone explain this? Were they trying to get themselves killed? It seemed like it, as if they were following some kind of script.

I don't know. Maybe people in the 60's were too trusting and weren't as jaded and paranoid as we are now, so they didn't think about those kind of things? From the voices of people in the 60's that are on video, they sure sound a bit naive and incapable of deeper thought.

What do you think?

Another question that I don't get:

Jack Ruby, Oswald's assassin, was in jail for about 3 years. Why didn't he reveal more about the plot during all that time? It was obvious that his co-conspirators betrayed him and left him in jail, so why wouldn't he expose them all in revenge? He had nothing to lose at that point right?

Also, why didn't anyone probe him for more info and details? In three years, all they got out of him was a 30 second cryptic spiel about "no one will ever know the truth about my motives"? WTF? That was such a wasted opportunity to find out what the truth was. Why didn't anyone try to seize that golden opportunity during those three years? That doesn't make sense. You'd think someone would, wouldn't you? That's a long time let a golden opportunity go to waste. How could such a blunder last for three years?

Come to think of it, if Oswald had lived, gone to trial and then to jail, might the same thing have happened? Maybe he would have just sat in jail, revealing nothing until he died, just like Ruby? The other alleged lone nut assassins didn't reveal much while they were in jail, so why would he?

Interesting topic, shame it didn't get any attention and you posted this in 2012.