I recently saw a picture of first ladies Jackie Kennedy and Mamie Eisenhower together, and was thinking what a massive generational change JFK was and what a comparative lightweight. Think of his predecessors going back almost 30 years:<p>* FDR was of course a giant, leading the nation through the Great Depression and most of WWII, and through 4 terms.<p>* Truman finished WWII, ordered the atomic bombing, led the transition to peace,  established the great post-war institutions both nationally (CIA, etc.), and internationally (UN, etc.), laid the foundations of the Cold War, including the containtment strategy, and started the Korean War.<p>* Eisenhower was supreme uniformed commander of European (and Pacific?) allied forces in WWII, leading them to victory and defeat of the Nazis in the largest war in history.<p>JFK commanded a patrol boat (about 15 sailors), was 28 years old when WWII ended, and was a 1.5 term Senator. What was Mamie thinking, seeing these comparative children take over the nation and the world? What did the Soviet leadership think?<p>(I don&#x27;t say that to denigrate JFK; thankfully there were no such calmaties after WWII for him and the world to experience, and eventually the next generation had to take over.)