President John F. Kennedy.
Where did it all go wrong?
For as long as most Americans can remember, we have viewed our government through a cynical and jaundiced eye. We always seem ready to believe the worst about our elected officials and rarely prepared to give them proper credit for the things they stand for or against. It seems that this attitude has persisted for several reasons, not the least of which is the "culture war" that began in the 1960s and persists on a lower-profile basis today. I have been reading history, and it seems to me that the decline in American stature and national pride began with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. For evidence, go to the website Youtube.com and view Kennedy's inaugural address. Witness the ambition and boldness of Kennedy's ideas, and the challenge he lays out for "a new generation of Americans." He believed that poverty could and should be eradicated, that racial harmony was not only possible but essential, that a man should be landed on the moon within ten years. These days, we consider ourselves lucky if an elected official or sports hero or celebrity doesn't wind up in prison, and this man was laying out an agenda that was not only ambitious, but truly courageous in its scope. And it wasn't just his speeches - after all, many politicians are blessed with the gift of eloquence. Once he was elected, Kennedy began doing the exact things he had promised. He stood down Nikita Kruschev during the Cuban missile crisis, a profile in courage. He forced Governor George Wallace of Alabama to admit black students to the state university, making desegregation a fact as well as a Supreme Court decision. He refused to commit more than the absolute minimum of American advisors to Vietnam. Kennedy was a liberal in the best sense of the word, believing in a helping hand but not a handout, a step up while not stepping on others. Who has there been for us since Kennedy was brutally murdered by a coward named Oswald? Lyndon Johnson, his successor, buried us up to the neck in Vietnam and then bailed out. Richard Nixon got us in deeper yet, committed burglary, and then quit. Gerald Ford let Nixon off in return for his Presidency, further embittering America. Jimmy Carter allowed Iran to humiliate us and imprison our people. Reagan practiced the kind of conservatism that runs up massive budget defecits and impoverishes the inner cities. Bush Senior was Reagan lite, though he did show courage and forethought in driving out Saddam Hussein and refusing to go all the way to Baghdad. Bill Clinton possessed Kennedy's rhetorical gifts, but refused to control his sexual appetites, and Bush the Younger used 9/11 as an excuse to force democracy on a country that wasn't ready for it and didn't want it. Since the killings of John and Robert Kennedy, America's presidents have never approached the same level of courage and fortitude. They have either been seriously flawed or outright incompetent, and some of them (Nixon) have been crooks. While Kennedy's behavior was not always perfect, the way he inspired people and encouraged them to stand for what they believed in was the gold standard for an American president. Barack Obama has been trying to sell himself as a new Kennedy, pledging to bring back something called "hope." Lets hope he can succeed. Click here to visit the Kennedy Presidential Library's official website.
For as long as most Americans can remember, we have viewed our government through a cynical and jaundiced eye. We always seem ready to believe the worst about our elected officials and rarely prepared to give them proper credit for the things they stand for or against. It seems that this attitude has persisted for several reasons, not the least of which is the "culture war" that began in the 1960s and persists on a lower-profile basis today. I have been reading history, and it seems to me that the decline in American stature and national pride began with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. For evidence, go to the website Youtube.com and view Kennedy's inaugural address. Witness the ambition and boldness of Kennedy's ideas, and the challenge he lays out for "a new generation of Americans." He believed that poverty could and should be eradicated, that racial harmony was not only possible but essential, that a man should be landed on the moon within ten years. These days, we consider ourselves lucky if an elected official or sports hero or celebrity doesn't wind up in prison, and this man was laying out an agenda that was not only ambitious, but truly courageous in its scope. And it wasn't just his speeches - after all, many politicians are blessed with the gift of eloquence. Once he was elected, Kennedy began doing the exact things he had promised. He stood down Nikita Kruschev during the Cuban missile crisis, a profile in courage. He forced Governor George Wallace of Alabama to admit black students to the state university, making desegregation a fact as well as a Supreme Court decision. He refused to commit more than the absolute minimum of American advisors to Vietnam. Kennedy was a liberal in the best sense of the word, believing in a helping hand but not a handout, a step up while not stepping on others. Who has there been for us since Kennedy was brutally murdered by a coward named Oswald? Lyndon Johnson, his successor, buried us up to the neck in Vietnam and then bailed out. Richard Nixon got us in deeper yet, committed burglary, and then quit. Gerald Ford let Nixon off in return for his Presidency, further embittering America. Jimmy Carter allowed Iran to humiliate us and imprison our people. Reagan practiced the kind of conservatism that runs up massive budget defecits and impoverishes the inner cities. Bush Senior was Reagan lite, though he did show courage and forethought in driving out Saddam Hussein and refusing to go all the way to Baghdad. Bill Clinton possessed Kennedy's rhetorical gifts, but refused to control his sexual appetites, and Bush the Younger used 9/11 as an excuse to force democracy on a country that wasn't ready for it and didn't want it. Since the killings of John and Robert Kennedy, America's presidents have never approached the same level of courage and fortitude. They have either been seriously flawed or outright incompetent, and some of them (Nixon) have been crooks. While Kennedy's behavior was not always perfect, the way he inspired people and encouraged them to stand for what they believed in was the gold standard for an American president. Barack Obama has been trying to sell himself as a new Kennedy, pledging to bring back something called "hope." Lets hope he can succeed. Click here to visit the Kennedy Presidential Library's official website.
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