The Kennedy Connection and the Myth
Caroline Kennedy and Senator Ted Kennedy recently came forward with endorsements for Barack Obama. No doubt the Big Kennedy names carry some influence among the diehard Democrats.
With all the talk of change and hope for the future, Obama seems to have captured the hearts and enthusiasm of many Americans. Caroline Kennedy, wrote an op. ed. piece in the New York Times entitled, A President Like My Father, published January 27, 2008 in which she wrote:
OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
I was a teenager when President Kennedy was elected. I didn’t know much about politics. In fact, I thought the president’s job was to play golf. Television was still in the pre-adolescent stage and we were as likely to get our visual information at the theatre as on the television. Before each movie, a “short” would play with generic and mostly patriotic news.
President Dwight Eisenhower was an old man. Of course, when you are young everyone looks old. Eisenhower’s pictures often depicted him in his general’s uniform. I remember seeing clips of Eisenhower with army tanks behind him. That was when he was fighting in the big war. Riding on a wave of patriotism and (I suppose) heroism, Dwight David Eisenhower was elected president. Apparently, he was a war hero, although I never did my history check. Anyway, once in the White House, the pictures I remember are of him playing golf.
Of course, in the years since my childhood, I have learned that Eisenhower was interested in “outer space” and first talked about the “military-industrial complex”. Maybe someone should have been listening. But, for a youngster, Eisenhower appeared old and about as interesting as the newspaper in the bottom of the bird’s cage.
Then, suddenly out of nowhere, John F. Kennedy appeared on the scene. At his side was the glamorous Jackie. I remember seeing Jackie on the magazine covers. I remember watching John Kennedy motivate the crowds… and me. Of course, for me, it wasn’t what he said, but how he said it. His speeches seemed to bring Americans out of the shadows of fear and into the light of future promises.
When Kennedy was elected Russians were very Red and very communist. They were a danger to the world, much like Al-Quaeda today. We were so fearful that the Russians, with their nuclear weapons, could attack at any minute that the more affluent Americans, and perhaps the ones who bought into the fear factor, built “fall-out” shelters underground in their back yards. Oh, yeah! For a while fall-out shelters were more popular than swimming pools.
And, in the schools, we practiced our fire drills, marching outside single file and shivering the in cold until someone decided we were all cold enough to return to the classroom. But, that wasn’t all. We practiced what we would do in case of a nuclear attack. We were to climb under our desks and onto our knees. We were to stay squatted down with our hands over our heads until…. Well, no one ever told us until what.
That was the Cold War, two super powers flexing their muscles and their missiles, teaching hate and fear. And, there was the movie starring Alan Arkin, “The Russians Are Coming. The Russians Are Coming.” It only added to our fear and so we continued to practice our defense against the Reds, hiding under our desks, not daring to stare the enemy in the eye.
Then, John Kennedy led us away from the pervasive fear, into an era of hope. Like so many Americans, I was swept away with by his good looks, his Boston accent, his vim and vigor. His rhetoric was uplifting and enthusiastic. He was the fresh young face on the map of politics. The election didn’t necessarily reflect his overwhelming appeal, but he won and became our youngest president.
For many of us it was a new era… the first era we actually remember as being part of us. Ladies looked for pillbox hats just like Jackie wore. Men talked of putting a man in space… and it all seemed possible. With one election the national tone had moved from the shadows of fear and hiding into the possibility of a man on the moon. Kennedy unlocked the doors to emotional freedom.
Then, a couple of months into the presidency, the young and inexperienced president positioned us against Russia, head to head, in the Bay of Pigs. Men on both sides of the ocean, half a world apart, sat with fingers on the buttons that could annihilate the world. There were pictures of Kennedy sitting beside a red phone, the direct hotline to the red Russians, so it was reported. And, for days the stand-off in the Bay of Pigs, known to many as the Cuban missile crisis froze our hearts and our hopes. Perhaps, it was as close as any two countries have come to ending the world through nuclear force.
John Kennedy and the whole Kennedy family have proved themselves as dedicated servants of the America. To remove the Kennedy accomplishments from history would change the face of not only America, but of the world.
Today I am equally enchanted by Barack Obama. But, I caution those who are riding on the enthusiasm of a new face and new rhetoric, on hope and on change for our country’s future. Stop and take a deep breath. Ask the hard questions. Demand the hard answers.
Change for the sake of change is not always positive. We all want change, but we want to know the plan that will lead us into that changed country. We all want to feel the hope for America, but once again, to quote Anderson Cooper, “Hope is not a plan.”
Whether we are leaning towards Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, as Democrats we must not only scratch the surface of their differences, but we must dig into the wells of their knowledge and the examine the schematics of their plans. Then, we must vote for the issues that will affect us, not just enthusiasm and rhetoric.
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