So Babe Ruth and Walt Disney more influential than JFK

This is a toughie, all right. For those of us who were around during 'Camelot' it seems like a terrible oversight. But the more I think about it, the more I can see the reason for the choices and the reason for that glaring omission.

JFK is revered as the brash, very young, agressive president who stood up to Kruschev and Castro during the Cuban missile crisis and whose life was cut tragically short by an assasin's bullet in Dallas. Alas, it is that brevity of time in office that makes Kennedy less than one of the "most influential" people in American history. The resolution of that missile crisis in Cuba is really the only act of his presidency which had any impact whatever on history. He simply died too young to have accomplished much, compared to, say, Truman or Eisenhower or even Nixon. As for your mentioning Babe Ruth and Walt Disney. linkat, they may not have been paragons of greatness, but their legacy endures, like it or not. Only historians even remember the missile crisis; everybody knows about Disneyland, Disney World and that European Disney aberration. Every time a pro ballplayer steps up to the mound, it's the Babe's home-run record he's mindful of. And so it goes.

I doubt that the choice had anything to do with any personal feelings that group of historians had about Kennedy. It's just that he hasn't left that much of a legacy. (And, on a purely personal note, there are plenty of selections in that group of 100 that made me a do a double-take and that I vehemently disagree with.)

I could never put my finger on the reason, but I was not a fan of JFK's. He just did not reach me somehow.

I read the entire article and I think there were 4 (if I remember correctly) who made these decisions - of the four, two felt JFK should be on there and pretty high on the list. To them, a huge thing was the impact of his death and how it effected people then and still today. You mention about Babe Ruth's record and so forth - I can see that - similar to I can see the impact of the death of this president and how it still affects people today.

Obviously this is all subjective in what historians and others feel is a huge impact on people's lives. For example, people who are not baseball fans will not think Babe Ruth had much of an impact. I mean this is entertainment not live changing events. I am a baseball fan by the way.

Ruth & Disney were in the public a lot longer than was JFK, people knew Disney & Ruth. What did we reslly know about JFK at the time he was president?

I agree completely. Excellent post!
We never got to see what impact Kennedy would have made had he lived.
What everyone really remembers is his death and how it affected the world at the time.