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I was 16 when JFK died, and I do remember some of the high points of his presidency. The man was human, not a god, but what a contrast between the presidency of JFK and the presidency of GWB.
I remember the great controversy during his presidential campaign because he and his family were (gasp) Roman Catholics. Would he let his religion influence his decisions and policies, or would he let the US Constitution be his guide regarding the separation of church and state? Would the Pope (a foreign ruler) have undue influence on him?
Kennedy had to publicly reassure the electorate on this matter. If he had so much as hinted he was going to impose his religious practices and beliefs on his cabinet and other employees of the White House there would have been hell to pay. What if JFK had his cabinet recite the Rosary before each meeting? Most Americans would have thought it extremely offensive. GWB has Bible study in the White House and prayers at Cabinet meetings. "Missed you at Bible study this morning" is considered an acceptable greeting. Appointees to government positions in Bush's world must pass a religious litmus test. And a large chunk of Americans today think this is proof that Bush is a "godly man."
I knew that JFK and his cabinet knew a lot about other countries and their cultures. The impression I got was that although he knew the US was strong, he also recognized that we are but one member in a family of nations. He supported the UN -- he certainly wanted the UN to agree with him, but he never tried to undermine or destroy it.
I --and many of my friends-- sent away for the Peace Corps packet. What a noble idea to offer to the nation and the world. We felt uplifted just thinking about it, and we knew that we were being told that the US and its individual citizens could be a force toward peaceful change, partly by our assistance to other countries and their people, and partly by modeling democracy.
We headed toward space.
Many of my classmates were military dependents from the nearby Marine Corps and Air Force bases. During the Cuban Missile Crisis we were all in an agony of fear: my friends because their fathers were on high alert, and all of us because we knew a nuclear war would destroy us. The Bay of Pigs invasion/fiasco was beyond most of us youngsters when it happened, but this we understood. We had been raised in the shadow of the Bomb.
The Civil Rights movement was well underway. President Eisenhower had already established that National Guardsmen could be used to enforce Brown vs. Board of Education and begin to desegregate public schools. Kennedy was perceived as a strong supporter of civil rights, desegregation, and voters' rights, and many African-Americans (Negroes at the time) loved him for that and were fiercely loyal. There is some question as to whether a living Kennedy could have gotten his civil rights legislation through the legislature, but in the strong feelings after his death it was Lyndon Baines Johnson who pushed it through.
Jack and Jackie Kennedy didn't just exude glamor. They exuded intelligence, as well. Somehow it was clear that they both valued their education. Need I say more...
It was about 9:30 in the morning in Hawaii and we were changing classes. Over the crush in the hallways I heard someone say that the president had been shot, and I thought, "That's a poor joke." But after my chemistry class got settled, our teacher Mr. Osaki confirmed it. We were stunned, but there was nothing more to go on so we had to continue with our classwork. It was not until later in the day that the word came from the principal's office: everyone assemble at the flagpole. We had no intercoms, no TV, no auditorium. The cafeteria was the biggest room in the school, but we still had to take lunch in shifts. Fortunately it was not raining as nearly 2,000 high schoolers jammed the open space.
By then we knew the grim truth as rumors swept the school, but it was still a shock to hear it from the principal. Some wept, absolutely. Some ditched school, and although one of my teachers was furious and told us it was "dastardly" I've never been able to judge too harshly those who did so, because we all have different reactions to monumentally bad news.
I spent four whole days glued to the TV thinking to myself: "Remember this, remember this; it will never happen again in my lifetime." But it did, again and again before the decade was over.
There was a lot of pain, but there was also a lot of optimism in that decade. Surely Kennedy's charisma, his youth and vigor (or "vigah") had something to do with it. He had a practical mind, combined with ideas like the Peace Corps that encouraged people's participation and their better nature. The economy was good, by which I mean there were enough jobs with middle-class wages and homes were affordable. And I think, somehow, that despite the opposition to it from some quarters, the African American success in the civil rights struggle gave others a sense of possibility as well.
As for your statement: "I have one wish for the people on this board. There are nine candidates to challenge the dim son in 2004. PLEASE educate yourself on these candidates and pick who you feel would be the best person for the office. PLEASE DO NOT elevate your choice by denigrating the other candidates. You really are not elevating your candidate that way. Look at the big picture. We are trying to put a real president in charge once again"
I totally agree. It is very very painful to watch Democrats eat their own. Also incredibly stupid. Who does it serve to bloody and muddy everyone so that the last man standing looks like crap to the voters? Any One of The Nine would be better than Bush. I'm no fan of Al Sharpton's but even he comes off as having more compassion, more common sense, and more knowledge of the world than Bush or any member of his team. I'm working for Dean, I'm making small contributions to Dean as I go along (and not one nickel to the DNC), but you better believe I'll work for and vote for whoever the nominee turns out to be. I just don't want to have to hold my nose when I do so.
Hekate
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