Why is JFK considered such a great president? | AskHistorians Archive Observer

I think the short answer, and for a lack of a better way to put it, is that he didn't live long enough to become a "villain."

If you're an American president and you only last one term, your presidency is generally regarded as a failure because you lost reelection even though you had the tremendous advantages that come with being an incumbent. If you end up serving two terms, there is just no way you can avoid baggage or scandal, which inevitably taints public and historical perception.

JFK was charismatic, young and handsome. He fared well in his 2.5 year term. He averted disaster during the Cuban missile crisis and he laid the groundwork for a lot of progress on civil rights that LBJ later executed on. Though he stepped up involvement in Vietnam, LBJ and Nixon are the ones who ultimately shoulder the blame for what a disaster it was.

Part of his legacy is also the alluring "what if" factor. Many of us view his presidency in a favorable light because we desire to entertain the thought of what everything would have been like if he weren't assassinated. To be blunt, a lot of things went to shit for the United States after his assassination. So a lot of people demarcate the period by his assassination, which was in many respects a death knell to the glimmer of early Cold War optimism.