Is it normal that i think jfk is overrated?

You don’t get publicly murdered for nothing.

JFK was certainly no saint and, in retrospect, some of his decisions were wrong. But I suspect you don't know as much about the Cuban missile crisis as you believe you do.

The US military was pushing for aggressive action to be taken, and Kennedy resisted that. If he hadn't, we would be living in a very different world than we are now, and I very much doubt if it would be a better one. Long after the event, it was learned that there were 100 tactical nuclear missiles deployed in Cuba at the time of the Crisis, and local commanders could have launched these - some of which could have reached as far as Miami - without receiving orders or arming codes from Moscow. If Kennedy had agreed to the air strikes and invasion US generals wanted, it's entirely possible those missiles would have been launched and things would have very rapidly spiralled completely out of control.

Not long before the Missile Crisis, JFK had read a best-selling book about WWI which highlighted how Germany had been thrust into a disastrous war by it's generals and a belligerent Kaiser who accepted everything they told him at face value. It's pretty clear that lesson - and the disastrous Bay of Pigs fiasco - were on JFK's mind when he decided to restrain the military.

One thing that the Missile Crisis makes clear is the fundamental hypocrisy of the USA. Khrushchev mainly wanted to deploy missiles in Cuba because the USA had put ballistic missiles which could reach Moscow and much of the western USSR in Italy and Turkey. As far as American politicians, generals and public were concerned, this was perfectly reasonable, but it was completely unacceptable that the other side should have the equivalent ability.

I suppose not many Americans think much about the Cuban Missile Crisis these days. Most of those that do have some vague recollection of it probably believe that the USSR backed down out of fear of American military might. Few understand that what really happened is that the USSR agreed to withdraw their missiles after the USA promised to never again attempt to invade Cuba and that the American missiles in Turkey would be withdrawn.

JFK is far more famous for other things that he did as a President. The commitment to put a man on the moon and return him to earth safely in less than 10 years unified the nation to the point that his successors knew they had to continue with it.

He also pulled the nation together in other ways as well. He was the best communicator with the public until President Ronald Regan was elected.

No he doesn’t.

The Cuban missile crisis gets too much credit as a crisis.