Most presidents are admittedly uncomfortable thinking of themselves as either pure maximalists or pure retrenchers. John Kennedy was an activist by instinct. He was also acutely aware of the risks to which his own instinct. He was also acutely aware of the risks to which his own instincts, and those of his activist advisers, exposed him. Richard Nixon, by contrast, knew that he had to pull back, to get the war in Vietnam “off his plate.” But he worried that withdrawal would turn into an across-the-board American retreat. Kennedy was a maximalist always looking around for a safe exit. Nixon was the opposite : a reluctant retrencher always trying to whip himself into an activist lather.