8-3-2019
There once was a President
During World War Two young men and women came together committed to serve this nation and the free world against the naked aggression of the Axis powers of Germany and Japan. A number of men went into the US Naval Reserve, while women served in the homeland as mothers, wives, sisters and aunts or went to work in factories making war machines and supplies. Other women became pilots ferrying aircraft from the factory to wherever it was needed at home and abroad. This was a time of intense patriotism and the united goal was to stop the spread of communism and aggression.
Of those who survived World War II a number of veterans went into business or politics. Of those who went into politics a select few became President of the United States. Their war experience affected and changed their lives forever. One of those men was John Fitzgerald Kennedy. During the war he commanded PT-109 and helped rescue his surviving crew after the craft was sunk in the Pacific.
Coming from a wealthy family steeped in politics he went first into the House and then in the Senate. Kennedy then ran against the incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon to win the nomination and finally became the 35th and youngest elected President of the United States at 43 inaugurated in January 1961.
Kennedy inherited a number of situations from President Eisenhower. One of great importance was a spat with Russia about Berlin, Germany and Kennedy felt that appeasement of Russia building a wall in Berlin would reduce tensions and the threat of Global Thermonuclear War.
The next situation Kennedy had to deal with was the commitment to send advisors to Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese. The overwhelming call was for combat troops in Vietnam and Kennedy was against it. In fact Kennedy ordered his chief advisor Aval Harriman to instruct the US Ambassador to India to begin negotiations with Vietnam for a peaceful settlement and the withdrawal of US advisors from Vietnam. That order was not carried out purposefully.
The third situation was the Cuban Missile Crisis where expat Cubans were trained and equipped to take the nation back from Fidel Castro. This escapade quickly failed and heightened tensions as Kennedy’s military advisors wanted to proceed with jets, bombers and troops to deal forcibly with Cuba and Kennedy said “No” and did not want to ratchet up existing high tensions with Russia without first negotiating a possible solution.
Because Kennedy was young with no experience his military advisors doubted his resolve at dealing with the overall world situation. It’s possible they did not provide Kennedy with timely or accurate information even when he requested it.
America loved the Kennedy’s and dubbed them from “Camelot”. Their two children were the focus of many television specials or photographic shots in the White House.
Kennedy envisioned an America where the sky was the limit and put into motion or set the stage for the first man on the moon mission with NASA. Kennedy wanted Americans to not depend upon government, but to strive to do their part in making America better and stronger. Kennedy began to distrust his advisors and used back channel negotiators in dealing with various world powers.
Things came to a head on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas when Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President #36.
Conspiracy theorists wonder was it any coincidence in the assassination of South Vietnamese President just a couple of weeks before President Kennedy. There is speculation that Kennedy’s wanting to keep the US out of the war in Indochina, his not pushing forward with a Cuba invasion and allowing Russia to erect a massive wall separating Berlin into Eastern and Western Sectors all contributed to his death and not at the hands of patsy Lee Harvey Oswald. Lots of loose ends became tied up rather too quickly and the Kennedy Assassination became classified. Kennedy saw America in a different light than his predecessors in politics. Normally a quiet man, his outspokenness on issues he was passionate about had to draw enemies and made himself as a target.
Since World War II there have been only 3 presidents who did not serve in the military, William Jefferson Clinton #42, Barack Hussain Obama #44 and Donald John Trump #45. Each came from different backgrounds, two became lawyers then went on to become a governor, a community organizer and a successful businessman/entertainer and is now the sitting President of the United States.
It might surprise you that ideologically the one most closely aligned with the ideology of John F. Kennedy is Donald J. Trump. Their vision of America is one of resourcefulness and progress where we can become better as individuals and collectively as a nation. Kennedy felt negotiating from strength was the duty of America. Trump feels that negotiating with an enemy is necessary because one must always know your enemy. Although their styles and mannerisms are as different as their political party affiliations, their goal for America was/is the same.
Political parties of yesteryear are not the same political parties we deal with today. Since the days of John F. Kennedy the Democratic Party has migrated so far left that it has become all that Kennedy worked to prevent. Even the Republican Party has changed and much of that may be that Congress has changed over the years.
Everything seems to be about money, power and getting the votes, so that life in Congress goes on as it always has. Americans are smarter than that and we deserve better from our politicians. They work for US “We The People” and we must constantly remind them at the ballot box during every election.
I don’t say that these two presidents are the same, they are not. However their ideals are American ideals and not borne out of political parties or necessities. Remember we are American’s first and political parties can come and go, but America remains! – I am the Real Truckmaster!
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