John F. Kennedy

50th Anniversary Of Berlin Wall: The Ultimate Symbol Of Oppression Remembered!

Ronald Leave a comment

Today, a half century ago, the East German government in lockstep with the Soviet Union, its master, started construction of the infamous Berlin Wall, which became the ultimate symbol of oppression, the true image of what Soviet Communism was all about!

For the next 28 years, until the evening of November 9 and day of November 10, 1989, the Berlin Wall became the center of the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, evoking the worst images of the Cold War.

Many people died trying to ram through the checkpoints with their cars; or attempting to climb over the wall with its barbed wire top, or jumping over the wall from nearby buildings at the location of the wall, or digging tunnels under the wall in a multitude of locations.

President John F. Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan were remembered for their condemnations of the Berlin Wall and what it represented.

When the wall came down suddenly in November 1989 during the Presidency of George H. W. Bush, it was a sign of the end of the Cold War, and the ultimate collapse of the Soviet system of government in 1991, after all of Eastern Europe was liberated from the yoke of communism in 1989.

It was a great moment of rejoicing, still in many ways hard to conceptualize, that the wall had actually come down, with East German border guards assisting in the destruction themselves.

It made many think that there would be peace in the world, and that the United States would be the only super power, with no realization that we were entering a new era, in many ways more dangerous, the era of Islamic Terrorism with those engaged in that terrorism having absolutely no limits, including suicide, in their fight against the Western world and Christianity and Judaism!

So today is a day to celebrate, but with great sense of the challenge that we still face in the future, and at a time when America has so many domestic complexities and lack of cooperation by the two major political parties, endangering, therefore, America’s future!

Rush Limbaugh And The Ultimate Right Wing Agenda: Reverse The Social And Economic Progress Since World War II!

Ronald Leave a comment

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh is on a roll with the Debt Ceiling Crisis and the Stock Market Crisis of the past few weeks, and he has declared war on all social and economic progress for the past 65 years, since World War II! Other right wing radio talk show hosts also promote what he does!

Actually, showing his total ignorance, Limbaugh probably means the past 80 years, since the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s!

By declaring, in any case, that it is time to reverse the past 65 years, that means the following:

1. The Harry Truman improvements on the New Deal programs of FDR.
2. Reversal of Truman’s executive order to enforce racial integration in the military.
3. Reversal of racial integration as ordered by the Supreme Court and enforced by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson.
4. Reversal of Eisenhower’s acceptance of the New Deal and institutionalizing it.
5. Wiping out of the programs of the New Frontier of JFK and the Great Society of LBJ–including Medicare, Medicaid, Federal Aid to Education, Consumer Protection Laws, Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act, programs to fight poverty, Environmental laws, National Public Radio, Public
Broadcasting, and other programs.
6.Ending of Richard Nixon’s domestic reforms–including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Products Safety Commission, Affirmative Action programs, and others.
7.Ending of programs to aid the disabled and handicapped, begun under George H W Bush.
8. Other reforms passed under Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and now Barack Obama.

This is totally insane, and the progressive movement MUST fight tooth and nail to prevent such total destruction of everything which has made America a better nation, a more tolerant nation, a more compassionate nation!

We cannot afford to go back to the 1920s, and there is no way that this agenda of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk can be allowed to triumph!

A Day To Celebrate: 43rd Anniversary Of Special Olympics!

Ronald Leave a comment

Today, in the year 1968, with the full backing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her husband, Sargent Shriver, the sister and brother in law of President John F. Kennedy, the Special Olympics was created as a way for intellectually disabled people of all ages to compete in all kinds of athletic events and competitions!

Tim Shriver, the son of Eunice and Sargent Shriver, today heads the Special Olympics, which represents more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries.

Of course, the Special Olympics could not be as successful as they are, without the contribution of volunteers and sponsors in the United States and all over the world!

There are over 30 Olympic type individual and team sports that provide meaningful training and opportunities for competition.

With both Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Sargent Shriver having now passed away, the great work of the Special Olympics continues to move forward in honor of their founders in the late 1960s!

Fascinating “Presidential Freshness” Test: The 14 Year “Window”

Ronald Leave a comment

National Journal writer Jonathan Rauch has brought up an interesting point about American history and the Presidency.

What he calls the “Presidential Freshness” Test demonstrates that for someone to be elected President, that person must NOT have been in high public office more than 14 years when he or she runs for the White House.

High public office means the office of Governor or Senator, and under the Presidential Freshness concept, only three announced candidates fit within it–Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, and Mitt Romney, although Sarah Palin and Rick Perry, both unannounced and unlikely to run, also fit within the limits.

Being a member of the House is no help, as none have ever been elected President, with the exception of James Garfield in 1880, and he was assassinated after only six months in office in 1881.

So therefore, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul are not considered to have any chance under this test, and Newt Gingrich has a double whammy, being a House member and Speaker in the past, and also having much more than 14 years since his first election.

So every President of the past century has met the maximum of 14 years experience, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson who succeeded upon the death of John F. Kennedy, and then was elected for a full four year term.

What it comes down to is that a Presidential candidate can wear out his welcome and be seen as “stale” if he has been on the scene more than 14 years when running for President, so too much experience in years is NOT a plus!

It will be interesting to see if the Presidential Freshness test works in this upcoming election contest!

Death Of Alexander Hamilton On This Day In 1804: What Would He Think Of The Debt Ceiling Crisis?

Ronald Leave a comment

On this day, 207 years ago, in 1804, former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton was killed in a gun duel with Vice President Aaron Burr!

The tragedy of this bright, intelligent, brilliant man, who made such a dramatic difference in our history, dying at the young age of 47, still reverberates through our nation, as we desperately need a financial genius such as Hamilton to resolve our financial difficulties, where we are on the brink of default of our debt payments by August 2, unless cooler heads prevail and a compromise is reached!

Would Hamilton be proud of the Republican Party refusal to consider any tax adjustments, reforms, or increases, when the tax rate is the lowest it has been since the 1940s, and our greatest prosperity came during the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations, when the tax rates were as high as 91 percent under Eisenhower, and were dropped to 70 percent under JFK?

Hamilton, who believed in the power of the federal government, would be appalled at the states rights emphasis reviving today, as if there was no Civil War to resolve that matter!

He would be shocked at the ignorance of Republican leaders and supporters who feel no loyalty to the country, but only to their own selfish, greedy personal desires!

Hamilton revived the American economy 220 years ago when it was in desperate circumstances, making certain that all debts were paid!

It would be ironic if now we saw our nation declare bankruptcy, which will damage the nation and its citizens for generations to come, all over refusal to promote what the definition of politics is, that it is “the art of compromise”!

Barack Obama’s Puerto Rico Visit: The Politics Of 2012

Ronald 1 Comment

President Barack Obama paid a visit to the island of Puerto Rico this week, the first such visit since John F. Kennedy fifty years ago.

Puerto Rico has a 20 percent unemployment rate, far greater than the mainland, but Puerto Rico cannot vote for President, although it can participate in the nomination contests in the primaries and at the conventions of the major political parties.

But Puerto Ricans are the second largest Hispanic group in America behind Mexicans, and their voting bloc can make a dramatic difference in the Presidential Election of 2012.

IF they vote in large numbers for Obama, they can swing the vote in many states in his favor.

So the emphasis of the President is to insure that the Hispanic vote, of both Mexican Americans and Puerto Rican Americans and other Hispanic and Latino groups, is mobilized to help the Democratic Party win back the House of Representatives, keep the Senate Democratic, and reelect the President.

Certainly, the Hispanic vote would be wise to realize that the Republican Party does not have its interests at heart, and that, therefore, the need to support the Democrats, rather than sit on the sidelines, is urgent!

Three Key Events Of June 5 And 6, Which Transformed America , Commemorated

Ronald Leave a comment

While the author was away for a week’s vacation in Montreal and Quebec City, three key events, which transformed America, were commemorated.

Historically, the first event was D Day, the invasion of Normandy, France by the United States, Great Britain and the Free French, on June 6, 1944. This was the beginning of the final push against Nazi Germany, opening up a second front in the war against Adolf Hitler. Thouands of Americans and other allied troops died on that day and in the days that followed on a great mission, and this is what makes the World War II generation called by many the “greatest generation”!

So on the 67th anniversary of that pathbreaking event, one needed to stop and think how rapidly we are losing that generation, with the minimum age of those engaged in that great battle now being 85! We can never do enough to salute the bravery and courage of those who perished, as well as those who survived that crucial moment in World War II, allowing us to be the society we are today!

Secondly, on June 5, 1967, 44 years ago, the Six Day War of Israel versus Egypt, Jordan and Syria, began after information came to the Israelis of an imminent attack, and their decision to commence a war of pre-emption. The war lasted just six days, and led to Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, the Sinai Desert, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.

Out of this war came the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the rise of Yasser Arafat, and two generations of terrorism, which have affected the security and safety of Israel, the United States, and all western nations. And attempts to negotiate peace on the occupied territories has led to return of some land to Egypt and the Palestinians, recognition by Egypt and Jordan, but failure to recognize Israel by other Arab nations, and attempts by the US to promote a comprehensive peace, meeting with utter failure and constant tensions in the area.

But to expect Israel to return more territory without guarantees of security, safety, and recognition of their right to exist, is to dream the impossible.

Finally, exactly a year after the beginning of the war in the Middle East, Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, brother of the slain President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles immediately after winning the California Presidential primary. Considered the front runner for the Democratic nomination for President, RFK was murdered by a Palestinian Arab named Sirhan Sirhan, who worked in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, and was angry over RFK’s open support of the Israelis in the Six Day War a year earlier.

So RFK became the first victim of Palestinian terrorism, something not recognized for a long time. And America lost its possible future President, and one has to wonder how he would have performed as President of the United States.

Many have seen RFK as a transformative figure, who would have changed the course of American history in a major way. We will never know how his impact would have affected us, but we are well aware that we had an opportunity for a major change to the left, and instead descended into Republican conservatism which has put America in a precarious state in the past 40 years, and has caused the Great Recession that we are still reeling from in 2011!

94th Anniversary Of John F. Kennedy’s Birth And 50 Years Since Moon Landing Speech

Ronald Leave a comment

President John F. Kennedy was born on this day in 1917, and certainly, when the centennial of his birth occurs in 2017, it will be a time of national celebration that no President of the past 50 years can match except Ronald Reagan, who had his centennial in February!

But it is not just the anniversary of Kennedy’s birth that should be noted, but the fact that the week that he was about to turn 44, he announced in a speech to Congress his goal of landing a man on the moon before 1970!

Such a goal seemed impossible of achievement in just over eight years, but the miracle was that the United States had made a commitment and was going to achieve it with the drive of JFK and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson!

With the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs, Americans landed on and walked on the moon on July 20, 1969, the most significant scientific achievement of the 1960s!

Kennedy and space will always be linked, even though, tragically, Kennedy was assassinated only two and a half years after giving that speech to Congress on May 25, 1961. His legacy in that regard will last for the ages!

Time For Barack Obama To Utilize Executive Order To Stop Deportations Of Young Immigrant Children Victims Of Failure To Pass DREAM Act!

Ronald Leave a comment

It is long overdue for President Obama to halt deportations of young immigrant children facing deportation from the only country they know, since the DREAM Act, designed to allow them to become citizens through miltary service or college graduation, has not been passed by Congress due to strong nativist sentiments!

These young people were brought here through no fault of their own, by parents who were trying to better their lives. Many are being forced from the country now, to go back to a nation they have no memory of, and in many cases, have no relatives to return to.

These young people have broken no laws, and just want to work toward citizenship through serving in the military, or attending college, so that they can contribute to the future of America.

The use of the executive order is not something new, and this President has already been bold in many ways, so instead of talking about immigration reform, it is essential that the President now take action to stop this violation of human rights!

Executive orders to promote the end of oppression and denial of human rights is part of the long tradition of American history, as witness the following:

1. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s establishment of the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression in 1935.
3. Harry Truman’s promotion of integration of Washington, DC and of the military in 1948.
4. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s intervention in the Little Rock School Desegregation crisis in 1957.
5. John F. Kennedy’s promoting affirmative action in employment by government contractors in 1961, along with his interventions in Mississippi in 1962 and Alabama in 1963 with the National Guard.
6. Lyndon B. Johnson’s promotion of Equal Employment Opportunity in federal employment in 1965.

So, Mr. President, it is time for immediate action on immigrant children!

A Momentous Early May Fifty Years Ago!

Ronald Leave a comment

In early May of 1961, two momentous events worthy of notice occurred, and it is now 50 years since those path breaking events!

On May 5, Alan Shepard was launched into space as the first American, astronaut, going up and down in a rocket in less than an hour, not as dramatic as Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union being launched into orbit 23 days earlier on April 12. Despite the Shepard launch being far less significant, it marked the beginning of the American manned space program, and later that month, on May 25, President John F. Kennedy would announce what seemed impossible at the time, the landing of Americans on the moon before 1970!

On May 9, the first Freedom Ride of black and white civil rights pioneers took place, the attempt to integrate interstate transportation on buses throughout Dixie, a daring and dangerous set of circumstances, which led to bloodshed and violence in Southern bus terminals and on the interstate highways, as Ku Klux Klan activists assaulted civil rights demonstrators and set buses on fire, along with other types of violence. But this reality led the US government to order federal marshals to enforce integration on interstate transportion, and also resulted later in 1961 in the issuance by the Interstate Commerce Commission of an integration order on all transportation within the United States!

The kind of pioneering spirit of Alan Shepard and other astronauts, and of civil rights activists who put their lives at risk to enforce equality, is worthy of notice and recognition and praise 50 years later!