Literacy, Competency & Humility

This illustration points out the vast difference of Trump vs Kennedy and Eisenhower in terms of literacy, competency and humility, traits that prevented the world from blowing up in 1962 regarding the Missiles of October.

Kennedy’s successful resolution of the crisis was rooted in two things that, to put it charitably, are not notable Trump traits: humility and history. Eighteen months earlier, J.F.K. had authorized an ill-conceived invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. He was horrified by his failure to see the flaws in the planning. “How could I have been so stupid?” he asked in the aftermath. To make sense of the botched incursion, he had turned to his predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, a man whom he’d derided during the 1960 campaign but who suddenly proved to be a source of insight.

“A CRISIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR A TRIGGER—OR A TWITTER—FINGER.”

Eisenhower asked a crucial question. “Mr. President, before you approved this plan [for the invasion], did you have everybody in front of you debating the thing so you got the pros and cons yourself and then made the decision, or did you see these people one at a time?”

Kennedy’s answer was not reassuring. “Well, I did have a meeting. . . . I just approved a plan that had been recommended by the CIA and by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I just took their advice.” He would never do that again: decisions required care and questioning, and Kennedy was humble enough to learn from his mistakes. The haphazard planning of the Bay of Pigs would give way, in October 1962, to a crisis-management apparatus known as ExComm, the executive committee of the National Security Council. As the Missile Crisis unfolded, Kennedy resisted being seduced by any one faction of advisers. He knew that each came to the table with preconceptions and interests of his own. Only the two Kennedys—the president and the attorney general—had the ability to see the whole. Would Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, rise to such an occasion?

Given what we have seen thus far, I think not.