The False Legacy Of JFK
By Judson Cox (11/26/03)
Last week marked the 40th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Thousands gathered to memorialize the event and the media carried tributes, biographies and salacious conspiracy specials all week. JFK's death was tragic; however, so was Abraham Lincoln's. When was the last time thousands gathered to memorialize him? The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were certainly more tragic than JFK's assassination, but their 2nd anniversary garnered less ceremony and coverage than did his 40th.
In polls, Kennedy is listed as one of the greatest presidents ever to serve. How is it that a man who barely served 1,000 days and enacted few lasting policies, won no wars and who was never much more popular than his Republican rival, could be perceived as greater than George Washington, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson or Ronald Reagan? The answer lies in the most consistent feature of Baby Boomers, their narcissism. The president of the "Me generation" trumps all others, just as their war (Vietnam) is the measuring stick by which all modern wars are judged and their music (rock n' roll) continues to dominate the air waves. History be damned; if it didn't happen between 1960 and 1980, it's irrelevant. If they didn't see it on television, it might as well not have happened. JFK was the first president to make effective use of television.
Emotion clouds JFK's legacy, he is remembered as a war hero, an athletic and energetic leader, a liberal, a civil rights proponent, master of foreign policy and the model for modern Democrats, none of which is accurate. Kennedy dismissed the war hero myth by replying, "They sank my boat." when asked about his service. His injuries left him weak and consumed with pain, which he treated with staggering amounts of prescription narcotics. His ability to function as a competent president was far more impressive than his war record.
John Kennedy was no liberal. The debates between Kennedy and Nixon reveal that in that instance, there really wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the Democrat and the Republican. Both Kennedy and Nixon were social moderates and both were famous anti-communists; in fact, both were friends of Senator McCarthy. Fiscally, Nixon was far MORE liberal! Kennedy was a tax cutting proponent of supply side economics; during his presidency, Nixon imposed wage and price controls and spent like a socialist!
JFK instructed his brother Bobby to wire tap Martin Luther King's phones because he suspected him of being a communist. Again, the similarity between Kennedy and Nixon is clear; the Watergate was bugged for identical reasons. However, Nixon did not discover the target of his investigation to be having adulterous affairs and then use that to secure his endorsement, as did JFK (though he probably would have if given the opportunity).
JFKs foreign policy prowess is purportedly evidenced by the Cuban Missile Crisis. However, had he properly handled the Bay Of Pigs, deploying the air support he promised, Castro would have been deposed and the Soviets could never place missiles in Cuba. In addition, Kennedy started (and his vice president escalated) the very same Vietnam War that is so often blamed on Nixon. Republicans opposed Kennedy's foreign policy as did much of the nation. Before the assassination, polls showed Barry Goldwater ahead of President Kennedy for this very reason!
Regardless, John F. Kennedy was a pretty good president. He had his faults, but he served competently. The same cannot be said of his emulators. Those who invoke his name are often his antithesis. We are left with the myth of Kennedys Camelot, an American royalty that rules by birthright; in opposition to the American ideal itself.
Most troubling, is the legacy of the assassination. Whether he acted alone or not, Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F. Kennedy. Oswald was a communist, who associated with known Soviet spies. Through years of conspiracy theories, the left effectively covered up for their ideological allies and hijacked the legacy of a man who stood firmly against communism. This lie found it's fullness in the radicals of the 1960s, who advocated bombing government buildings and shooting police officers as part of their revolution. Abbie Hoffman claimed that the assassination of JFK lead him to distrust his government. This sentiment is echoed by modern day leftists like Oliver Stone.
The political inclinations of generations are often defined by a singular event. However, as evidenced by the perversion of the Kennedy legacy, how that event is perceived is often more important than the reality.
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