It’s been 50 years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I was born just over a year later. As a young child, my room was decorated with eagles and American flags. The quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” hung from my wall. I was inundated with JFK and what he seemingly stood for as far back as I can remember.
JFK, like any other person taken from Earth before his or her time, is frozen in that moment. He never gets old; he just is as he was. Since his death, we have seen other former presidents go into seclusion and die when they became ill and merely a shadow of the men they used to be. Seeing great leaders in that state is sad. If it can happen to them, what chance do we mere mortals have?
History is often merciful to the memory of those taken from us at a relatively young age. JFK is no exception. JFK didn’t do much as a congressman and maybe less as a senator. In his first term as president, he didn’t have an overwhelming list of accomplishments. He had some close calls and was able to bring the country back from the brink of disaster in the Bay of Pigs debacle.
It was not until Alabama was on fire that he finally suggested that civil rights legislation was appropriate. To be fair, even his suggestion of civil rights legislation was seen by many as political suicide. Ironically, the purpose of the trip he took to Dallas in November of 1963 was an attempt to placate the conservative voters in Texas who were none too happy about the idea of civil rights legislation.
JFK was known for his womanizing and close ties to organized crime. He was not particularly loyal to the Democratic Party and could not be counted on to vote the party line when needed. He was certainly his own man. In the years leading up to World War II, his father argued against military buildup and pushed for a settlement with Hitler, while the young Kennedy argued that strength was the best way to achieve peace. JFK would always listen to his father’s advice but then often go against it.
JFK is largely remembered as being the president that was killed in Dallas 50 years ago with the promise of all he would do for our country unfulfilled. As with all historical figures, the further we get from his life, the more of a caricature of himself he becomes. The focus on the meaning of his life becomes wider. The view of his importance in American History becomes more symbolic than substantive. Such is the fate of all great men. Their lives are largely remembered in a one-dimensional fashion, and the details are left to historians interested in those things.
I loved my red, white, and blue room. I loved the flags and the eagles. I loved the quotes, too, even if I didn’t understand what they meant. I loved holding JFK up as a hero. In many ways, JFK was a great man, but he also was human. The latter fact might be the most important for us to remember. None of us are perfect, but there is a hero in each of us if we look hard enough.
There’s nothing wrong with looking up to heroes and role models. The important thing to remember is the thing that makes a person a real hero is not who they are or what they start with, it’s what they do with what they have. That’s true for everyone, not just those of us way up in the CHEAP SEATS!
Bill James is a co-founder of the James Law Firm with offices in Little Rock, Conway and Fayetteville, Arkansas. His primary area of practice is criminal defense. He can be contacted at Bill@JamesFirm.com