Well before the election, the Russian leader had selected his preferred candidate for American president. To him, the current American administration was too harsh in its positions toward Russia. It appeared that the favored candidate to succeed that administration was likely to hold onto these harsh positions. The Russian leader favored the opposing candidate, not just because he was viewed as inexperienced and possibly easier to push around, but because he was seen as more pragmatic, less of an ideologue. Someone more likely to relax a tense, hostile situation.
So Nikita Khrushchev was pulling hard for John F. Kennedy. Khrushchev even went so far as to put the word out to embassies, to the Soviet media, to agents around the world — help Kennedy get elected.
To this point, it seems like a disturbingly familiar story. But, as far as 1960 goes, that’s the end of the story. In those pre-cyber days, it wasn’t clear what the Soviets could do to aid Kennedy. They might have run favorable stories in the Soviet press … but would that help, or hurt? Not even Khrushchev seemed to know. It appears that what the Russians did was pretty much nothing, though when Kennedy won, Khrushchev was quick to claim credit. Including to Kennedy. Khrushchev would go on thinking of Kennedy as inexperienced and easy to push around — a PT boat commander out of his league who would bend under pressure — right up until that misconception nearly murdered the world.
What definitely didn’t happen: Kennedy did not knowingly and frequently hold up information gained through Russian espionage, laugh about it, and make it the focal point of his campaign. Donald Trump did. Kennedy did not invite the Russians to conduct additional espionage for his benefit. Donald Trump did. Kennedy didn’t collude with Russia for his own benefit. Donald Trump most definitely did,
Time for pundits. But this morning, a special message from Donald Trump.
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2udcvfV
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