What’s the Word: JFK a study in contrasts
Considering this year marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the intervening four decades seem to have done little to diminish the controversy surrounding what many regard as one of the darkest days in our nation’s history, as well as one of the most mysterious.
Once routinely touted as one of our greatest presidents, many have begun to question the veracity of that assertion. But whether or not he was one of the greatest, he was undeniably one of the most popular.
The country loved him, as did the media. It was as if we had decided, at that late date in our country’s history, to revert to a monarchy. We referred to his presidency as Camelot, with Kennedy obviously in the role of Arthur, and Jacqueline as a beautiful, cultured and soft-spoken Guinevere, every bit the queen to Kennedy’s king.
Kennedy’s now infamous romantic peccadilloes were almost totally ignored by the media of the era, as were some of Jackie’s less than elegant habits, such as her smoking. Though reputed to be a chain smoker, she was rarely photographed with a cigarette.
But then, Kennedy courted the media, and whatever his other skills, he was a master at manipulating public opinion. It seemed no matter what he did in his personal life, or how close he brought us to the apocalypse, politically and militarily, as far as the general public was concerned, he could do no wrong. He didn’t have to worry about how effective his public relations men were, he was himself the ultimate spin-doctor.
With the looks and charisma of a Hollywood leading man, and the intelligent, articulate language of an Ivy-league scholar delivered in the clipped cultured cadences of a dyed-in-the-wool Bostonian, he seemed to be able to convince Americans that a war with Russia wasn’t such a bad idea.
And indeed, while that handsome, square-jawed face was on the television screen and he was speaking to us in that direct clear-eyed manner, everything truly did seem to be all right. Never mind once that visage was gone and reality set in, we were all petrified, sitting on the edge of our seats wondering when the missiles would fly and the bombs would begin to fall.
For me, the Kennedy era exhibited a strange dichotomy. To paraphrase Dickens, it was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. Kennedy’s confrontations with Kruschev put us on the edge of a precipice, and then inched us ever closer. Though Kennedy and his entourage were surrounded by glamour, wealth and celebrity, behind all the glitter, there were some pretty scary moments for all of us.
Kennedy was able to engender the trust of the American public back then, but one wonders if he could be nearly as successful today, when his private life would be considered open season for today’s media.
The Clinton scandals would pale in comparison. In his book “The Dark Side of Camelot,” Seymour Hersh documents a much darker side of Kennedy. According to his sources, Kennedy suffered from chronic back pain and was often medicated with powerful drugs, something he hid from advisors and from the country.
John and Robert Kennedy, Hersh wrote, “lived and worked on the edge of an abyss. The brothers understood, as the public did not, that they were just one news story away from cataclysmic political scandal.”
It’s a different world today, due, in no small part, to the Kennedy era and all its tragedies and triumphs.
Perhaps it took the death of a president to bring the country to political maturity. Too bad we had to lose our innocence in the bargain.
(Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)