2008 Woodie Awards
How Would JFK Advise the Next President?
Robert Girling, Guest Editorialist
Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: Editorial
This year marks 48 years since the election of JFK and the beginning of the New Frontier. Kennedy's election came at the end of a period of war and social decay and was marked by the persecution of thousands of Americans by Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Affairs Committee. Kennedy's hard fought campaign against Vice President, Richard Nixon resulted in a narrow victory; the country was deeply divided.
Kennedy's victory brought into the White House a scholar-statesman who inspired a nation dispirited by the seamy intrigues John Foster-Dulles in overthrowing democratic governments and tarnishing America's reputation throughout the world. Dulles tendency to view the world in stark terms of good versus evil backed by belligerent threats in its dealing with the former Soviet Union had the world teetering on the edge of a nuclear catastrophe. As a child in Audubon Elementary School, I recall monthly drills that had the entire school diving under our desks and putting our hands over our necks to protect us from radiation in the event of full-scale war.
Kennedy's election marked a dramatic change. Here was a man who believed in diplomacy first and had the intellectual skills and backing of his brain trust of Ivy League professors. However, he was aware of the limitations of his victory, and that he would need to knit the nation together. As a result, he reached out to members of the Republican administration and its supporters.
An author in his own right (of the influential book "Profiles in Courage"), Kennedy followed the advice of Liddell Hart who cautioned, "Keep strong, if possible. In any case, keep cool. Have unlimited patience. Never corner an opponent, and always assist him to save face. Put yourself in his shoes-so as to see things through his eyes. Avoid self-righteousness like the devil-nothing is so self-binding."
Kennedy inherited a nation nearly bankrupted by a decade of negligence-recession in the economy, a ballooning balance of payments deficit, as well as deficiencies in the nation's education, housing and health care, not to mention trouble in Asia, Africa and Latin America .Yet in his inaugural address he was eloquent.
Kennedy's victory brought into the White House a scholar-statesman who inspired a nation dispirited by the seamy intrigues John Foster-Dulles in overthrowing democratic governments and tarnishing America's reputation throughout the world. Dulles tendency to view the world in stark terms of good versus evil backed by belligerent threats in its dealing with the former Soviet Union had the world teetering on the edge of a nuclear catastrophe. As a child in Audubon Elementary School, I recall monthly drills that had the entire school diving under our desks and putting our hands over our necks to protect us from radiation in the event of full-scale war.
Kennedy's election marked a dramatic change. Here was a man who believed in diplomacy first and had the intellectual skills and backing of his brain trust of Ivy League professors. However, he was aware of the limitations of his victory, and that he would need to knit the nation together. As a result, he reached out to members of the Republican administration and its supporters.
An author in his own right (of the influential book "Profiles in Courage"), Kennedy followed the advice of Liddell Hart who cautioned, "Keep strong, if possible. In any case, keep cool. Have unlimited patience. Never corner an opponent, and always assist him to save face. Put yourself in his shoes-so as to see things through his eyes. Avoid self-righteousness like the devil-nothing is so self-binding."
Kennedy inherited a nation nearly bankrupted by a decade of negligence-recession in the economy, a ballooning balance of payments deficit, as well as deficiencies in the nation's education, housing and health care, not to mention trouble in Asia, Africa and Latin America .Yet in his inaugural address he was eloquent.