58 Years Later

Fifty-eight years have passed since John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  I was just a teen during his time as President but the things I remember most about him are:

1. He was the first Catholic elected as President.  It was thought by many that Pope John XXXIII would have a say in American politics and policies.  That didn’t prove to be the case.
2. Kennedy emphasized public service. In his inaugural address he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” On March 1, 1961 he started the Peace Corps. He first suggested the concept while campaigning at the University of Michigan in 1960.  Since the initial volunteers stepped forward, we’ve sent over 250,000 to help “promote peace and friendship” throughout the world by assisting underdeveloped countries.
3. In May of 1961 he announced the goal of placing a man on the moon.  Although we didn’t reach the moon until 1969, Kennedy was instrumental in our initial accomplishments.
4. He led the United States through the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962.   The Soviet Union was placing offensive weapons in Cuba, ninety miles off the coast of Florida.  Kennedy went against his advisors who wanted him to carry out an air strike on the Cuban missile sites, followed by an invasion of Cuba.  He ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba while negotiating with the soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev for the removal of the missiles. This was the closest we had come to a nuclear war.

Kennedy wasn’t a perfect man, but I admired what I knew of him.  He appeared to be a man of his word, and I thought that was important.  I believed he truly wanted what was best for our country.

He went to Dallas on November 22, 1963 to help smooth out frictions between liberals and conservatives within Texas’s Democratic Party and to begin his fund-raising campaign for the 1964 Presidential election.  There was a dinner scheduled for the night he was killed, so he never delivered his planned unification speech.  I recently read what were to be his closing remarks.

With the continued turmoil within our country today, and the constant finger pointing both within and between our political parties, this would be a great time to heed President Kennedy’s unspoken words.