Was JFK a liberal or conservative?

[Col. Roosevelt]

The left tries to paint JFK as being in essence the son of FDR; That, had JFK lived, we would've had all the goodness of LBJ without any of the bad, a pioneer of Detente and hero of the civil rights movement; while the right tries to claim JFK for their side and portray him as almost a proto-Reagan. Where do you think the truth is?

[ElectionsGuy]

He was liberal. Anybody who has extensively looked into his presidency can tell this.

[Intell]

He was a liberal, yet it is exaggerated how liberal he was.

[OSR stands with Israel]

liberal

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

As President he was basically a liberal, but one who understood the burdens of very high taxes and overregulation, and was more of an incrementalist than some other New Dealers/postwar liberals.  Early in his political career he could have been called a conservative, with a more limited view of the role of the federal government.

[Antonio the Sixth]

lol

[Lincoln Republican]

More of a moderate.

[Thunderbird is the word]

What I find funny are recent attempts by conservatives to portray him as one of there own just because he cut taxes on the rich even though he cut them to 70% and was attacked by conservatives at the time for cutting taxes without cutting spending. In the future I could see conservatives also trying to claim Obama as one of there own.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

More of a moderate.

[Blair]

Well he wasn't as Liberal as the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt or Humphrey

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Liberal, but independent minded.  Sort of like a Jimmy Carter.

[RogueBeaver]

liberal

[Rockefeller GOP]

I feel like over time it's become viewed as "knowledgeable" to paint past Republicans as liberal or past Democrats as conservative.  The fact is that pre-1932 (our modern definition of "conservative" LITERALLY grew out of opposition to the New Deal), those terms mean very different things than today (and still, within those periods, rely heavily on context).  Post-1932, you can nitpick certain things they did (Eisenhower built the interstates!!!!!!  Clinton cut welfare!!!!!!), but there's a reason they're in the party they're in.

So, of course, while not as liberal as McGovern, JFK was to the left of every single Republican nominee post-1932.

[Col. Roosevelt]

I feel like over time it's become viewed as "knowledgeable" to paint past Republicans as liberal or past Democrats as conservative.  The fact is that pre-1932 (our modern definition of "conservative" LITERALLY grew out of opposition to the New Deal), those terms mean very different things than today (and still, within those periods, rely heavily on context).  Post-1932, you can nitpick certain things they did (Eisenhower built the interstates!!!!!!  Clinton cut welfare!!!!!!), but there's a reason they're in the party they're in.

So, of course, while not as liberal as McGovern, JFK was to the left of every single Republican nominee post-1932.

Nixon and Kennedy were pretty much the same candidate in 1960. Hence why the GOP moved so far to the right in 1964, saying Goldwater offered a "choice, not an echo."

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Nixon and Rockefeller were quite a bit to JFK's left. So Conservative. Yes he's to Goldwater's left but he's miles more conservative than the two prominent establishment moderate wing of the GOP politicos previously mentioned.

Are any of you factoring where he was an advocate of hard currency (a conservative position) (American currency being backed by gold, silver, etc) where Nixon took us off the Gold Standard?

While he was a cold warrior, he valued diplomacy and wanted reluctance towards sending our military into quagmires like we dealt with in Southeast Asia (the position of the old right)

Unlike today's Democrats, against gay marriage and against abortion (like a good Roman Catholic) (also a conservative position)

Often spoke about God and God's influence in the life of our body civil and politick. Waxing eloquently against atheism and for the Gospel.

Do I even need to mention about how he drastically cut taxes for all incomes.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Unlike today's Democrats, against gay marriage and against abortion (like a good Roman Catholic) (also a conservative position)

Oh yeah, I forgot about Nixon's position on abortion:

"There are times when an abortion is necessary, I know that. When you have a black and a white"

I would easily have voted for JFK in 1960.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

He was liberal, but not as much as everyone thinks he was, he is almost centrist, just barely left-of-center compared to today's standards.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Nixon and Rockefeller were quite a bit to JFK's left. So Conservative. Yes he's to Goldwater's left but he's miles more conservative than the two prominent establishment moderate wing of the GOP politicos previously mentioned.

Are any of you factoring where he was an advocate of hard currency (a conservative position) (American currency being backed by gold, silver, etc) where Nixon took us off the Gold Standard?

While he was a cold warrior, he valued diplomacy and wanted reluctance towards sending our military into quagmires like we dealt with in Southeast Asia (the position of the old right)

Unlike today's Democrats, against gay marriage and against abortion (like a good Roman Catholic) (also a conservative position)

Often spoke about God and God's influence in the life of our body civil and politick. Waxing eloquently against atheism and for the Gospel.

Do I even need to mention about how he drastically cut taxes for all incomes.

Whilst actively noting the importance of the separation of Church and state. Considering where Ted and the rest of the his family ended up on those social issues, there's no reason why he'd be opposed to either abortion or same sex marriage.

Also, considering his own life choices and practices... would spouting the gospel etc be considered, quite... hypocritical.

Kennedy was pretty much a mainstream liberal for the time. He wasn't ardently leftist, he realised the Eisenhower tax rates were unnecessary (which they were), but was also someone who pumped billions into space R&D (so believed in the power and the importance of government). He supported Civil Rights, but was also deeply concerned about the political consequences of being too strong on the issue.

We need to put him in context. For his time, he was a standard NE Liberal. But that isn't the same as those terms now.

Also trying to put him in the context of now is a pointless exercise.

[All Along The Watchtower]

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[Mr. Illini]

Got to love this faux controversy. He was a liberal, and embraced it. That doesn't mean he wasn't a pragmatic President, which he was.

[Thunderbird is the word]

Was anybody in favor of gay marriage in the early 60s? Pretty much the entire country at the time, including the radical left was homophobic by today's standards. Just look at blatantly anti-gay articles from the Village Voice of all places at the time for an example.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Nixon and Rockefeller were quite a bit to JFK's left. So Conservative. Yes he's to Goldwater's left but he's miles more conservative than the two prominent establishment moderate wing of the GOP politicos previously mentioned.

Are any of you factoring where he was an advocate of hard currency (a conservative position) (American currency being backed by gold, silver, etc) where Nixon took us off the Gold Standard?

While he was a cold warrior, he valued diplomacy and wanted reluctance towards sending our military into quagmires like we dealt with in Southeast Asia (the position of the old right)

Unlike today's Democrats, against gay marriage and against abortion (like a good Roman Catholic) (also a conservative position)

Often spoke about God and God's influence in the life of our body civil and politick. Waxing eloquently against atheism and for the Gospel.

Do I even need to mention about how he drastically cut taxes for all incomes.

Whilst actively noting the importance of the separation of Church and state. Considering where Ted and the rest of the his family ended up on those social issues, there's no reason why he'd be opposed to either abortion or same sex marriage.

Also, considering his own life choices and practices... would spouting the gospel etc be considered, quite... hypocritical.

Kennedy was pretty much a mainstream liberal for the time. He wasn't ardently leftist, he realised the Eisenhower tax rates were unnecessary (which they were), but was also someone who pumped billions into space R&D (so believed in the power and the importance of government). He supported Civil Rights, but was also deeply concerned about the political consequences of being too strong on the issue.

We need to put him in context. For his time, he was a standard NE Liberal. But that isn't the same as those terms now.

Also trying to put him in the context of now is a pointless exercise.

On the note of "Eisenhower's tax rates," those rates 1) were instituted by Democrats before he took office, 2) Ike lowered many of them, at least as much as was politically feasible with a split government and 3) those rates had WAY more deductions and loopholes than today.  People's effective rates weren't nearly that high (I know the difference between marginal and effective, I'm saying the top income wasn't paying anything close to that 75% or whatever on each dollar they made over $____).

[RINO Tom]

Senate voting scores (liberal = below zero, conservative = above zero) for comparison:

http://pooleandrosenthal.com/is_john_kerry_a_liberal.htm

Jesse Helms (R-NC) ... .658
Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) ... .358
John McCain (R-AZ) ... .303
Prescott Bush (R-MA) ... .180
Olympia Snowe (R-ME) ... .089
Robert Byrd (D-WV) ... -.208
Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX) ... -.225
Al Gore, Sr. (D-TN) ... -.260
Goerge McGovern (D-SD) ... -.516
JOHN F. KENNEDY (D-MA) ... -.525

This method isn't perfect, but it clearly shows Kennedy was not a CONSERVATIVE, LOL.  You can do moderate, even conservative things, and still be a liberal (and vice versa).  Someday some d*psh**t high school teacher is going to tell her kids that the parties switched because back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan used big government and raised taxes and Bill Clinton followed that with a fiscally conservative record because he cut welfare!  We live in the time period, so we know it's a heck of a lot more complicated than that, which is why it's dangerous, and often stupid, to try to categorize the political leanings of people who governed decades ago (much less over half a century ago).  As Rocky said, our definitions of fiscally conservative and liberal are largely based around opposition or support for the New Deal (and have evolved from that basis since then), and I'd argue our definitions of socially conservative and liberal really didn't emerge until post-Roe v. Wade and now a days pretty much only mean "policies of the RNC" or "policies of the DNC."  This is just me, but I see no inherent connection between being pro-choice and pro-gun control, other than the DNC supports both.

What people do in their presidency is circumstantial and does not necessarily demonstrate (much less define) their ideologies.  For example, the writings of Lincoln before he was President portray a very different ideology than what he did as President; this should not be surprising, as he probably did not anticipate the bloodiest war in American history defining his entire Presidency.  Same with Clinton: his ideas, campaign promises and personal opinions aren't really reflected by what he accomplished with a Republican Congress.

Anyway, the answer is obvious.  If we HAD to use these simplistic terms to define every POTUS in the 20th Century, I SUPPOSE I'd have it like this:

McKinley (R-OH) - Conservative
Roosevelt (R-NY) - Moderate to Liberal
Taft (R-OH) - Moderate to Liberal
Wilson (D-NJ) - Liberal
Harding (R-OH) - Moderate to Conservative
Coolidge (R-MA) - Conservative
Hoover R-CA) - Moderate
Roosevelt (D-NY) - Liberal
Truman (D-MO) - Liberal
Eisenhower (R-KS) - Moderate to Conservative
Kennedy (D-MA) - Moderate to Liberal
Johnson (D-TX) - Liberal
Nixon (R-CA) - Moderate to Conservative
Ford (R-MI) - Moderate
Carter (D-GA) - Moderate to Liberal
Reagan (R-CA) - Conservative
Bush 41 (R-TX) - Moderate to Conservative
Clinton (D-AR) - Moderate
Bush 43 (R-TX) - Conservative
Obama (D-IL) - Liberal

And I could disagree with myself on those rankings and change them around for days, haha.

In short, JFK was definitely not a conservative, governed as somewhat of a moderate and unquestionably had a liberal ideology.

[Blair]

Lol at people thinking that JFK was a social conservative-the bloke not only had about 200 affairs, but he took LSD and hanged around with gay people in the 1960's ffs

[Хahar 🤔]

Nixon ran to the left of Kennedy in 1960. Kennedy was literally willing to go to nuclear war with China over Quemoy and Matsu, and picked a noted segregationist as his running mate.