kennedy myth (1)

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The Kennedy Myth and American Politics

HerbertS. ParmetTheCity Universityof New York

WHEN LYNDON JOHNSON BEGAN HIS PRESIDENCY with thewords Letus continue, his meaningwasclear. The idea of Americahadacquired another shrine. JFK was the apostle of racial and religiousequality, compassion toward the underprivileged,and a champion ofdemocracy.Johnsonwent on to exploit thatsentimentby engineeringtheenactmentof key elements of his GreatSociety legislation. The mostsignificant,civil rights,was hailed as a memorialto Kennedy.The fallenpresidentbecame transformed n memoryas a fighter for the commonman.Tradingon that,and utilizing his own considerableskills, PresidentJohnsonacted duringa time of economic well-being, in contrastto hispolitical daddy, F.D.R.,to createhis own distinctiverevolution.Beforethe end of 1966, however,themomentumwas almostdead,destroyedbythe politics of backlash.The shapeof Americanpolitics duringthe years that followed drewmore fromavarietyof other actors,both domestic andinternational.TheNew Frontierbecame invisible. Kennedy was less an architectof thefuture than a player at the leading edge of change. Nevertheless, it isappropriate o note that the harshest critics of John F. Kennedy haveconceded theplace of inspirationas his chief legacy. So sharpa writeras

The History Teacher Volume 24 Number 1 November 1990

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HenryFairliehas, in fact,chargedhim withorchestrating thepoliticsofexpectation.Skepticism about Kennedywas hardlynew. Eric Sevareid wrote in1959 that Kennedy'scandidacyfor thenomination would be a test ofthe charm-schooltheoryof high politics, and FletcherKnebel declaredthat Kennedy'spolitical success is basedon two foundations-shrewdplanningand votes. 2OneKennedysenatorial olleague, Pat McNamaraof Michigan,toldDrewPearson, AsbetweenKennedyand Nixon if theyboth wererunning or President,Iwould have a hard imemakingupmymind who to vote for. 3Political scientistJamesMacGregorBurns,whileworkingon hiscampaignbiography,eopardizedhis relationshipwiththeKennedyitesby daring oraisequestionsabout theyoungman'scommit-ment to anythingotherthanhis own ambitions.4The criticswere invari-ablyDemocratsandliberals.Theyalso shareddoubtsabout the ideologi-cal commitmentof a son of JosephPatrickKennedyand a friendof JoeMcCarthy.Ted Sorensen has agreedthatJackKennedy never dentified himselfas a liberal; t was only afterhis death, Sorensenadded, that heybeganto claim him as one of theirs. In fact, Sorensen went on to say, in aninterviewthattookplaceduringthefirstReaganterm, onfiscal mattershe was moreconservativethananypresidentwe've hadsince. 5 f,as hasbeen so widely suggested, Kennedy'sliberalismwas two-thirdsmythol-ogy, concoctedto suit thetastesof his potentialDemocraticbackers,andonly some one-third heproductof enlightenedprogressivism--andif thattepidcommitmentwasheldinadequateorthe commongood nanationbesotted by Eisenhower shibboleths-how much does that still leaveKennedyresponsiblefor whathappenedafter his death?How muchwas he responsible, n otherwords,for theQuixoticeffortto subdueIndochina, or theunleashingof domesticeconomic and racialanimositiesthatsmoldered ndecaying nnercities,forthecounter-cultureand the counter-counter ulture-the revenge of the forgottenAmeri-cans, and the rise of a new conservativemajority?How much was due to the Kennedy mythology?Had he been givenmoreyears,how would hehavealtered uturehistory?WouldmiddleclassAmerica have been less determined o safeguardtheirhomes, jobs, andpocketbooksfrom the menacingpoor?***

MostAmericansthought hatDallas markeda suddenend of stability.Kennedy's years became an interludebetween EisenhowertranquillityandJohnson-Nixon urmoil.A Gallupsurvey n 1983reported hat65 per-cent of thosecanvassed believed that the UnitedStates would have been



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much different f Kennedyhad not been killed.6If only he had lived,went the argument, he storm would not have come. Vietnam would nothave become an Americantrap,there would not have been fires in thestreets,andthe presidencywould have remaineduntarnishedby scandaland bitterness.Certainpointsabout theKennedy impact,however,can be made withconfidence:It is true that therewas no social and economic transformation.Thedistributionof income, the extremesof wealth andpoverty,were essen-tially untouched.But it is also truethat,despitecurrent ensions in partsof thecountry,theJimCrowthatlived on until the 1960s belongs to thepast.Kennedy-and the Johnsonsuccession--closed out the New andFairDeal reform movement. The upheavalsof the post-Kennedy'60s andearly'70s precipitated combinationof social backlashand nflation.Anyfuture administrationdevoted to reformswill be compelled to devise anew blueprint.If certainof our current eaders are no JackKennedys, t shouldberemembered hat neitheris theU.S. of 1989 the U.S. of the early 1960s.The Kennedy luster profited not only from its own style but, to aconsiderabledegree,from the relativedrabnessand inertiaof the Eisen-howerfifties. Kennedysaid he spokeforanew generation,andhe seemedplausible in that role. Underhis leadership,the nationalpurposesent amessage of clearpragmatic dealism--one filled with suchhigh-mindednotions as the PeaceCorpsandtheAllianceforProgress-that inspiredanew generationof Americans.Ouractionsbeganto fall intoline with ourpropaganda.The Kennedy image drew addedstrength rom thetimely marriageoftechnology and nature.The contrastof Jack and Jackie with Ike andMamiewas striking,especiallyina worldnotyetaccustomed o saturatedtelevision coverage. Eisenhower, it is commonly assumed, retainedsufficientpopularityat theendof his secondterm o havebeen able towinanother.Kennedy,however,having pulledoff his razor-thinvictoryoverNixon, was quicklyhailed as the heraldof a new generation,a point hehimself encouragedin his InauguralAddress.A nonideological nationsuccumbedtoattractionshatwere moreregalthanphilosophical.For thenext 1,037 days, the Americanpeople were treated o more of the same.The Kennedys, with Caroline and her little brother,became the royalfamily.



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RichardGoodwinhas noted thatKennedy's1960campaignbegantheprocess of speedingup the terminaldecay of the DemocraticParty.7 fthatpartywas being reshaped,so was the strengthof partisan oyalties.Withthehelpof the newer electronicmedia,and with a furtherboostfromolder governmententitlementprograms, he influence of local politicalleaderswas graduallyweakening.Kennedy,in the 1960campaign,reliedon his own cadre that was independentof the Democratic NationalCommittee.LyndonJohnsonneglected the DNC even more. By 1971,David Broderwould write a book called The Party's Over. The post-McGovern, post-Watergateelection in 1974 broughtinto positions ofpoweranew groupof brightDemocrats,suchpeopleas MichaelDukakis,Les AuCoin, Toby Moffett, and Paul Tsongas. Perhapsmost closelyidentifiedwith the Kennedystyle was GaryHart,especially in the 1984campaign.They and others-James Florio, Bill Bradley, Richard Gephardt,TimothyWirth,Bruce Babbitt,AlbertGore,Jr.,Jim Hunt,ChristopherDodd-and a number of journalists-especially Charles Petersand thestaff of TheWashingtonMonthly,as well as academics,became the coolpragmatists (or bloodless progressives )of a new political wave.Speaking nthewake of Reagan's1980victory,MortonKondracke f TheNewRepublicdeclared hat what heDemocraticPartyhas to do is adoptsome sort of a-what mightbe called a neoliberalideology. Pressedbya startledJimLehreron his PBS televisionprogram orexactly whatthatmeant,Kondrackewenton to explainthat t was anattempt o combinethe traditionalDemocraticcompassionfor the downtroddenandoutcastelements of society with differentvehicles thancategoricalaidprogramsor quotasystems or new federalbureaucracies. 8Moreprivately,over ayear earlier,editor Peters, loosened by alcohol, shoutedin glee at TheWashingtonMonthly'stenthanniversaryparty, We are theneoliberals. '9Theywere liberalbutcalledfornocrusades.As politicalscientistWilliamSchneiderhaswritten, Anew kind of liberalemergedoutof thiscontext:unorthodox,reform-minded, conoclastic, andstaunchly ndependentofDemocraticParty radition. 'Manyregardedhemas abreak romtheolddominant New Deal liberalism.

They were, in short,Kennedy'schildren.Several,includingPeters aswell as ChristopherDodd andPaulTsongas,had servedwith the PeaceCorps. They followed theirsymbolicleader n thedisavowal of ideologi-cal rigidity.RandallRothenberg, n his Esquirearticleof February1982thatintroduced he worldto neoliberalism,stated, What'smore impor-tant is thatmanyof theseyoungerDemocratshaveconsciously modeled



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high technology order. Peters, in his neoliberalmanifesto of 1983,declared that their concernwith the public school system was atoncepragmaticand idealistic. 8Theodore Sorensenhas agreedthat educationwas the one domesticsubject that matteredmost to John Kennedy..., a position that can beeasily confirmedby examininghis entire political career.' Kennedy'scommittmentwas most oftenjustifiedbyAmerica's ColdWarneeds. TheNational Defense Education Act that followed the Soviet launchingofSputnikwas theprimeexample.Partlyas a form of politicalatonement orhis silence aboutJoe McCarthy,Kennedybecamea vigorousadvocateofrepealing the loyalty oath requiredof graduatestudentsattemptingtoqualify for federal funds. Or, as with the position taken by PresidentGeorge Bush in Charlottesville,Virginia,lastSeptember,whenmeetingwith governorson the need to overhaul the nation's school system, theimportanceof internationalcommerce was the compelling rationale.Kennedy often stressed both factors, but he also arguedfor improvededucationfor the benefit of individuals and the society, especially in ademocracy.As president,his resistanceto privateschool aid was as much of anobstacle as his earlier support, especially when the Rules Committeenarrowlydefeated his public school education bill in 1961.20 Kennedyfollowed that oss with the statement hatheconsidered it to be themostimportant piece of domestic legislation. '2Indeed, his aid to highereducationbillof 1963,whereassistance oprivate choolswasnot afactor,was notableas thefirstmajoraid to educationproposalthatdid notcarrythe defense needs of the cold war as its justification.22 No numberofsetbacks discouragedhim, Sorensen reports. Whenan omnibus billfailed, he triedfor eachof its parts,and vice versa.Whenelementaryandsecondaryschool aid was blocked,he worked on highereducation. 23At the end, the administration'sHigherEducationFacilities Act wasstill pending. Aid to education became a more legitimate part of theKennedy egacythancivil rights--not onlyintheformalsense butthroughsuchprogramsas thePeaceCorpsand its domesticimitation,VISTA, aswell as throughdesegregationandtheantipovertyprogram hatbegantotakeshapeduringhis finalmonths.24Concernforearlychildhoodeduca-tion was the mission of the administration'sCommittee on JuvenileDelinquency, which had the close involvement of RobertKennedyandspawnedotherprograms,mostnotablysuchgrass-rootsefforts asHaryouand Mobilization for Youth.25 Lyndon Johnson, in his mournfulfirstspeechto thejoint session of Congressof November27, 1963, thatcalledfor the enactment of Kennedy's program urged passage of the pending



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educationbills tohelpbringthelightof learning oeveryhomeandhamletin America. 26The legislation was signed into law one week before Christmas,witha fulsome tributeby Johnsonto his predecessorfor havingmade it pos-sible.27FrancisKeppel,who was appointedCommissionerof Educationby Kennedy in November of 1962, later told an interviewer that thePresidenthadbeenparticularlypersuasiveon thehigherlevels of educa-tion. He hadan effect simplybecause he lived andbreathed ntellectualmatters. ... He just represented hatwhole generationand this devotiontouched me about it. He caughtthatgeneration. .. The tone was set forit. 28Johnsonthen went on to the enactment,as partof his GreatSocietyprogram,of theElementaryandSecondaryEducationAct. Guidedalongby Keppel, it containedprovisionsfor aid to privateschools, includingsectarian nstitutions.Thatquestionhadbeen one of themajorobstaclesto federal assistance during the entire post-WorldWar II period. TheKennedy-Johnsonperioddidmuchtokeepeducationon theagenda.Morerecently, a half dozen years before George Bush declared himself theeducation President, alarmingreportsabout the state of the nation'seducationalsystem went unheeded.That was truedespite the publicitygiven to the A Nation at Risk reportby the National Commission onExcellence inEducation.Recently,JapaneseofficialsadvisedAmericansto upgradetheirschools if theywanted to be competitivein internationalcommerce.29Meanwhile,two decades aftertheKennedy-Johnsonperiod,the nation's schools continued to decline.

We should also arguethatKennedyaltered thepresidencyitself. Notsince FDR's time had the Executive Branch cast such an intimidatingshadow.Successorshadto cope withthe standards et by Kennedy-hisrhetoric,his sparklingpress conferences, the attractivenessof the FirstFamily,his sense of style, his efforts to set the toneforAmericanculture.Kennedymadethepublicfeel goodaboutthe manintheWhiteHouse,thanks in large partto his ability as an image-maker.In 1983, Gallupreportedthathe was by far the favoriteformerpresident,threetimes asmuch as themanwhoplacedsecond,FDR.30In1988,New YorkTimescor-respondentMichaelT. Kaufmanwrote hat nterest nJFK issurging,andnotonly becausetheanniversary f his deathfalls thisweek ... Formanynow in middleage, he added, including hoseascendingtopositionsofpower,basic politicalreflexes were established n the early 1960's. 31How all this can be separatedfrom the horrorat Dallas is beyondunderstanding,o it will bea tricktostepbackfromthatevent and findthe



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manwho was at the centerof Camelot. One weekbeforeKennedywentto Texas,James Reston devotedhis newspapercolumnto the stateof thepresidency. Onehasthe distinct mpression hatthe Americanpeoplearegoing to reelect him, probablyby a wide margin, he wrote, but don'tquite believe him. Then, in words that were rendered ironic by theassassination,he added, He has touched the intellect of thecountrybutnot the heart. He has informed but not inspired the nation. Restonconcluded withtheobservation hat hehasnotmade thepeoplefeel ashefeels, or lifted them beyond theirprivatepurposesto one of the largerpurposeshe has in mind ... this is a far cry from the atmospherehepromisedwhenhe ran or thePresidency n 1960. 32 NewFrontiersman,RichardGoodwin,hasrecentlywritten hat NooneeverreallyknewJohnKennedy.' 33Nevertheless, it shouldbe added,we all think we do, which gives thelegend the strengthof universality.

Notes1. Henry Fairlie, The Kennedy Promise. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1973),

p. 11.2. Eric Sevareid (ed.), Candidates 1960 (New York: Basic Books, 1959), pp. 13,214.3. Herbert S. Parmet,Jack: TheStruggles ofJohn F. Kennedy. (New York: The DialPress, 1980), p. 468.4. James MacGregor Bums, John Kennedy: A Political Profile. (New York:Harcourt Brace, 1960).5. Newsweek, November 28, 1983, p. 72.6. Ibid., p. 64.7. Richard N. Goodwin, RememberingAmerica: A Voicefrom the Sixties (Boston:Little, Brown and Company, 1988), p. 77)8. Randall Rothenberg, The Neoliberals: Creating the New American Politics.(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984), p. 16.9. Randall Rothenberg, The Neoliberal Club, Esquire, February 1982, p. 38.10. William Schneider, JFK's Children: The Class of '74, The Atlantic, March

1989, p. 39.11. Leslie Lenkowsky, Does Neoliberalism Have a Future? Commentary, March1985, p. 54.12. Randall Rothenberg, The Neoliberal Club, Esquire, February 1982, p.42.13. John Judis, Neoliberals, The Progressive, October 1982, pp. 28, 31; RichardReeves, The Reagan Detour. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985, p. 59; The NewRepublic, April 9, 1984, p. 6.14. Rothenberg, Neoliberals, p. 19.



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15. David Burner, John F. Kennedy and a New Generation. (Boston: Little, Brown,1988), p. 169; Thomas Brown, JFK: History of an Image. (Bloomington: Indiana Univer-sity Press, 1988), p. 102.16. New York Times, November 3, 1989, and September 22, 1989.17. Ibid., November 14, 1989.18. Charles Peters, A Neoliberal Manifesto, The Washington Monthly, May 1983,p. 11.19. Theodore C. Sorensen, Kennedy. (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), p. 358.20. Herbert S. Parmet, J.F.K.: The Presidency ofJohn F. Kennedy. (New York: TheDial Press, 1983), p. 205.21. Public Papers of the President: John F. Kennedy, 1961. (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1962), p. 516.22. Hugh Davis Graham, The Uncertain Triumph: Federal Education Policy in theKennedy and Johnson Years. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984), pp.44-45.

23. Sorensen, Kennedy, pp. 358-359.24. Carl Brauer, Kennedy, Johnson and the War on Poverty, Journal of AmericanHistory, 69 (June 1982), pp. 107, 113.25. Schlesinger, Thousand Days, p. 1008.26. New York Times, November 28, 1963.27. Graham, Uncertain Triumph, p. 51.28. Francis Keppel, interviewed by Frank Sieverts, September 18, 1964, John F.Kennedy Library Oral History Project.29. New York Times, November 20, 1989.

30. Newsweek, November 28, 1983, p. 64.31. New York Times, November 20, 1988.32. Ibid., November 15, 1963.33. Goodwin, Remembering America, p. 71.

kennedy myth (1)

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