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Originally Posted by medicineman
Well, the reason Kennedy was assassinated was because he wanted to stop the war.
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Sorry MM but this doesn't sound like the actions of a man who wants to end a war...
John Kennedy and the Cold War
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It was for these reasons alone, that holding the line in Vietnam was essential. It was JFK who increased America's troop number from 500 to 16,000 and he repeatedly insisted that while Vietnam might have been "in the final analysis, their war," American troops were nontheless not there "to see a war lost" and that he totally disagreed with those who were suggesting the idea of a pullout. "I think that would be a mistake," he said to Walter Cronkite in 1963.
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OpenDNS
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The President accepted the Taylor recommendations, and the number of U.S. personnel grew steadily during 1962. U.S. advisors in the field rose from 746 in January to over 3,400 by June; at the end of the year, the entire U.S. commitment was 11,000, including 29 U.S. Army Special Forces detachments.
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HistoryNet - From the World’s Largest History Magazine Publisher » General Maxwell Taylor’s Mission to Vietnam
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The initial military commitment called for the introduction into South Vietnam of armored personnel carriers and up to 300 aircraft, including helicopters. From a modest force of 3,205 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam at the end of 1961, the number of troops and advisers swelled to more than 9,000 by the end of 1962. By the time of Diem’s–and Kennedy’s–assassinations in 1963, more than 16,000 U.S. personnel, many of them going on combat missions alongside the ARVN, would be in-country.
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Now I will grant this, but has actions, not his promise, speaks volumes...
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Kennedy still did not know was policy to pursue in Vietnam. He had already begun to speak to his advisers about pulling out. He had announced that he was pulling out 1,000 men from Vietnam at the end of the year. Kennedy, however, left no doubt that he will see the war through until he won reelection in 1964. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. The only thing certain about Kennedy's role in Vietnam before he died was that he had escalated America's military, political, and maybe psychological commitment to Vietnam.
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Pulling out only 1,000 out of 16,000. Not exactly a withdrawal IMO.
...and Johnson just made the situation worse.