History credits President John F. Kennedy for preventing the nuclear annihilation of the world by resolving the Cuban missile crisis through diplomatic means.
Hard line critics claim the threat of the world’s extinction materialized because of Kennedy’s mishandling of the Bay of Pigs invasion which was intended to overthrow Fidel Castro.
After the mishandling, of a pre-approved operation by his predecessor, Kennedy asked for airtime on the networks to address the nation. In this address Kennedy accepted the blame for the botched military operation, and it was viewed by some as the first televised presidential apology. Then Kennedy accepted the resignation of the CIA director. (Kennedy fired him.)
Barack Obama promised the reversal of his predecessor’s policies during his presidential campaign. Once in the oval office he embarked upon what could be called the first foreign policy apology tour. The Heritage Foundation lists ten significant apologies Obama made during his first four months. One of the apologies was for the “War on terror”. Then Obama ordered his administration to terminate the Bush invented phrase. The terminology that replaced “War on terror” at the time was “Overseas contingency operations”.
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