“We’re heading into nut country today. But Jackie, if somebody wants to shoot me from a window with a rifle, nobody can stop him so why worry about it?”
John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963
I don’t get it.
Maybe I should rephrase. I do get why JFK is such a popular president, but I don’t buy it. I feel like it’s a case of seductive myth overpowering the facts. Like Einstein said, “If you’re out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.”
My plan was to read Robert Dallek’s 2003 assessment An Unfinished Life, but I couldn’t get into it. When biographers write yet another book about an already well-covered figured they need a new angle. Dallek’s seemed to be the release of previously confidential medical records that detailed Kennedy’s lifetime of hidden ailments ranging from chicken pox and chronic back issues to ulcerative colitis and Addison’s disease. It was enlightening, but not quite what I was looking for.
Knowing I was already skeptical about the greatness of the wunderkind I went to the reliable well of The American Presidents Series for a concise, sober overview rather than throw a dart at the various and sundry hagiographies on the library shelf. From this choice – written by historian Alan Brinkley – I got everything I wanted and felt that it confirmed my early suspicions that popularity and promise can grant almost immeasurable immunity to historical reputation.
Here is the legend: John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the face and the hope of a new generation. This young, handsome, virile war hero galloped into the presidency on a white horse with a glamorous wife, a sterling education, and an invigorated spirit that asked not what your country can do for you, but you can do for your country! He said we’d put a man on the moon! He was going to spread world peace! Did I mention how handsome he was?
Here are the facts: John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy was a ruthless womanizer, a mediocre student, a fairly lazy public servant and above all else a spoiled rich kid whose daddy used political connections to provide everything needed in life to get ahead. Joe Kennedy’s string pulling included securing his son’s admittance to Harvard despite middling grades; Jack’s acceptance to the US Navy despite multiple failed physical exams (at the rank of Captain, no less); and, among other lifelong perks, election to the US House of Representatives after Joe spent today’s equivalent of over $4 MILLION of his own money on the campaign.
But hold on a second, Head Librarian! You’re glossing over all his great achievements! Let’s go toe to toe…
- He trounced that crook Richard Nixon in the 1960 election!
- Actually, he won by one of the slimmest margins in US presidential election history. And Nixon wasn’t stained by Watergate yet, he was coming off eight years as Eisenhower’s Vice President.
- Well, he wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning book Profiles in Courage! He was a literary star!
- He certainly promoted it like he was. But it has been well established by now that he framed it up for friend and speech writer Ted Sorensen to do the heavy lifting, including most all the research and actual writing of the book.
- But he was a man I could relate to, a real man of the people!
- JFK quote when asked about the Great Depression, which began when he was 12 years old: “I have no first-hand knowledge of the depression. My family had one of the great fortunes of the world and it was worth more than ever then. We had bigger houses, more servants, we traveled more. About the only ting that I saw directly was when my father hired some extra gardeners just to give them a job so they could eat. I really did not learn about the depression until I read about it at Harvard.”
- He and Jackie were the American Dream couple. Their life seemed perfect. Anyone would have traded places with them!
- Jack is quoted as having told the British Prime Minister once, “If I don’t have a woman for three days I get terrible headaches.” When he traveled to Paris on diplomatic trips, the French ambassador arranged women for him every night of his stay. When in New York, Jack would slip away from his Secret Service detail to rendezvous at the apartments of other women. The real kicker: In the summer of 1956 Jack was carousing on a yacht in the Mediterranean among a throng of friends and women. When he heard Jackie had had a miscarriage he kept partying and only decided to go home when his host convinced him that a divorce would hurt his political career.
- But wasn’t he president when Martin Luther King, Jr. made the “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, D.C? Doesn’t that make him woke?
- He was in DC but so feared mob violence and embarrassment because of it he sat tight in the Oval Office until it was over. I will grant that he met with MLK afterwards in the White House. Though as Republican leader in the Senate Everett Dirksen put it, “Had the President kept his campaign pledge and sent his program to Congress in 1961 [rather than July 1963, when he did], new civil rights statues would have been on the books before demonstrating and violence were ever precipitated.”
- Well to be so famous he must have passed some keystone legislation, right?
- Not so much. Despite a party majority in both houses, his slim win over Nixon didn’t gain him credibility and the conservative and Southern wing of the Democratic Party was out to stop most of his legislative ideas. He was unable to get through any meaningful tax cuts, aid to education, health insurance for the elderly, college scholarships, the creation of HUD or any Civil Rights laws, among other desired bills. He did raise minimum wage and strengthen Social Security, but most of his agenda stalled. [Ed. note: As a returned Peace Corps Volunteer I’d be remiss to leave out the creation of this organization as a keystone item. Thanks, Jack!]
- Okay, you don’t like the guy. I get it. But there is NO denying that he saved the world during the Cuban Missile Crisis. You can’t be down on a guy who stands up to Russia!
- I truly believe it is this set of 13 days in 1962 that endears JFK to so many in posterity. The absurdly concise summary for those not remembering it from high school history class: After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion on Cuba a year earlier by the CIA and Cuban exiles, the Soviets loaded up Cuba with nukes to deter another American invasion. The US found out and nuclear world war almost ensued. Through one of the most intense fortnights in American history, JFK and his team steered away from global atomic meltdown and into relatively peaceful waters. Jack called all three living former presidents (Ike, Truman and Hoover) and they all congratulated him on a job well done. However…. let us not forget that Jack the Peacemaker would never have found himself in this pickle if he hadn’t invaded Cuba in the first place. Actions trigger reactions, and sending 1,400 angry Cuban exiles and CIA operatives into a terribly planned, terribly executed quasi-coup was bound to rile up the comrades at the Kremlin. High marks for diplomacy, F minus for being the root cause.
Like Tupac and Biggie, a rising star shot down in their prime leads to limitless speculation of how high they might have gone. In John F. Kennedy’s case, it means overlooking the constant philandering, the pedestrian legislative record, the timidity on civil rights and the quiet ignition of the Vietnam War. Instead, the collective memory remains affixed on rocket ships to the moon, missiles in Cuba, a handsome war hero wordsmith and little JFK Jr. saluting his father’s casket. It’s like they say, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
Trivia
- He really did say the quote I used at the top. You can find it referenced on page 242 of David Talbot’s book Brothers: The Hidden Story of the Kennedy Years
- He was sick ALL the time. He initially enrolled in Princeton for college but dropped out 6 months later because of health issues.
- Joe Sr sometimes used all his influential muscle to get Jack the best care even when local hospitals were overrun with patients.
- The treatments he received of corticosteroids in the 30’s and 40’s for his colitis may have contributed to our even caused his later Addison’s disease.
- Joe Sr doctored JFK’s medical records so he could serve in WWII. Jack failed the army and navy’s physical exams the first time.
- Day Jack was born his father was elected to board of MA Electric Co, making him at 28 one of the youngest trustees of a major corporation in America.
- Had 8 brothers and sisters
- On a trip to Rome several of the family took communion directly from the Pope!
- Got a B- in his first year government course at Harvard
- Subscribed to the NY Times as a young man and became obsessed with the writings of Winston Churchill
- PT 109 – boat got cut in half by a Japanese destroyer (maybe his fault?) but he gallantly saves the men and leads them to eventual safety. Even made a movie about it!
- Older brother Joe Jr dies in combat in WWII. His plane blew up as he was flying a mission to bomb France. Likely an incidental radar signal interacted with some faulty equipment in his plane and prematurely detonated his cargo.
- The author suggests, if subtly, that had JFK’s older brother Joe Jr. survived WWII it would have be he, the elder Kennedy, that would have ascended to the political heights instead. Little Johnny aka “Jack” disliked bureaucracy, was often disheveled and unorganized, got bored easily and distracted often. All their lives Joe Jr. was showing Jack up, especially in sports. And the author makes clear Joe Sr.’s big plans for his namesake and that he considered his younger son John to be totally disinterested in the dogfight of politics.
- Disliked the Annapolis and West Point grads he met in service. Ironically, felt the political influence to make these men officers was detrimental to producing quality leaders.
- Served three unremarkable terms as a US House Rep from MA’s 11th District
- 1952 – elected to US Senate; wins reelection in 1958 by widest margin in MA history. During first run he couldn’t criticize Joe McCarthy because the Boston electorate loved the Irishman so much. “What was I supposed to do, commit hara-kiri?” when explaining why he didn’t oppose him during the campaign. Did not produce any legislation of note as a Senator.
- Before running for Senate, took at 25,000-mile trip with Bobby and Pat to see Israel, Iran, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Thailand, French Indochina, Korea and Japan. Wanted to know how effective US policy was abroad.
- Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty – supposedly gave JFK the most satisfaction of his accomplishments in office. Not ideal or as full as desired, but considered a significant step towards peace.
- Executive order signed to end housing discrimination Nov 20, 1962 – most of the orders were of little help overall and did not have significant enforcement mechanisms
- Proposes civil rights legislation to Congress July 1, 1963
- Fearful of losing southern Democratic support, he skipped the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and went sailing, leaving behind a taped message to be played. He also kicked the civil rights bill issue down the road rather than rile feathers in the Senate.
Follow-up Reading
- The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- JFK: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton
- An Unfinished Life: JFK 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek