John F. Kennedy

The Kennedy Half Century Began 53 Years Ago Today!

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On this day in 1960, John F. Kennedy was nominated for President by the Democratic Party at their national convention in Los Angeles. He went on to a very tight and much debated close victory over Richard Nixon, including widely accepted accusations that his election was fixed in Chicago by Mayor Richard J. Daley!

Kennedy’s impact on the nation was massive, and made greater by the fact that he was assassinated, and even though we learned about his controversial sex life in the White House, and he has faced growing criticism on his policies and actions in office as the years have gone by, it is still a reality that he is adored by vast numbers of the American people, and made out to be an icon!

His brother, Robert Kennedy, was also martyred after a controversial career as Attorney General under his brother, a short Senate career, and his assassination while seeking the Presidency in 1968 to finish the work of his brother.

And then, there was Ted Kennedy, the youngest brother, who was first seen as a lightweight in the Senate, had the scandalous Chappaquiddick incident in which a woman died in his car as it was being driven by a drunk Kennedy, and was totally defeated in his later attempt to take the 1980 Presidential nomination of his party away from President Jimmy Carter.

But Kennedy went on to a distinguished, record setting career of 47 and a half years in the Senate, honored as the “Lion” of the Senate, and regarded as one of the greatest Senate giants in its more than two century history as an institution.

And then there was Joseph Kennedy II, son of Robert Kennedy, who served in the US House of Representatives from Massachusetts for 12 years; Patrick Kennedy, son of Ted, who served in the House from Rhode Island for 16 years; and now Joseph Kennedy III, grandson of Robert Kennedy and son of former Congressman Joe, who serves in the House of Representatives from Massachusetts since the beginning of this year.

And there have been other Kennedys or Kennedy relatives who have been in public office, including Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, daughter of Robert Kennedy, who served as Lieutenant Governor of Maryland; and JFK brother in law Sargant Shriver, who headed the Peace Corps, the War On Poverty, and was Ambassador to France.

So the Kennedy half century of influence is marked today by the JFK nomination for President in 1960, and it continues in politics and in history!

40 Years Since The Middle Class Reached Its Peak: The Republican And Conservative Role In Middle Class Decline!

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Forty years ago, in the year 1973, during the Presidency of Richard Nixon, the middle class, which had been steadily growing since the end of World War II, reached its peak in economic terms.

In the years of Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon, an optimism that the future would be better was fulfilled, and the “American Dream” was a reality for millions of Americans, many of whom emerged from the lower middle class or from poverty.

This was the age of liberalism, a time of expanded government and social programs, whether under Democratic Presidents Truman, Kennedy and Johnson, or Republican Presidents Eisenhower and Nixon.

But a right wing reaction was beginning to emerge, and reached its ultimate success under Ronald Reagan, after sniping at Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, undermining both of them in their attempts to continue the direction that the nation had been engaged in for 28 years.

And despite what seemed like improvement under Bill Clinton in the 1990s, the reality was that conservative ideology even infected him, and while some benefited from the prosperity of the tech revolution of the 1990s, many were left behind by the trend toward making government the evil, rather than the source of much of the prosperity that brought about the middle class advancements.

And once the Republican Party gained the two houses of Congress in 1994 and kept it until 2006, and then regained the House of Representatives, beginning in 2011 until now, the middle class continued its decline, and here we are with hardly any wage increase and asset growth for the middle class, or what used to be the middle class, as we reach the two generations that have passed since the ultimate peak of the middle class.

Leave it to the GOP, and as long as the wealthy do well, they will continue to war on the middle class and turn them against the poor, so as to keep the wealthy in a privileged position, paying lower levels of taxes than they ever did during the years from FDR to Nixon!

So those who see themselves as middle class, and are struggling, need to realize who the real enemy for them is—the Republican Party and conservatism, not the Democratic Party and modern liberalism and progressivism!

Will Speaker Of The House John Boehner Be A “Profile In Courage” On Immigration Reform?

Ronald 11 Comments

Speaker of the House John Boehner has a job that no one in their right mind would envy–being leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, when the Tea Party Movement has taken over a good portion of the Republican caucus, and is out to destroy any possibility of any Congressional action on just about anything, unless it fits their extremist right wing philosophy!..

Boehner has been heavily criticized on all political fronts of the left and the right, of the Democrats and Republicans, for trying to maintain some semblance of order, decorum, and discipline in the House.

Boehner is not exactly a likeable character, but one can sympathize with the burden he carries, and he has shown willingness four times this year to move legislation that does NOT have a majority of his party willing to back by their votes.

Boehner has pushed legislation with a minority of Republicans and a majority of Democrats in the following circumstances:

Passage of the “fiscal cliff” legislation in January of this year.

Hurricane Sandy relief vote in January.

Extension of the Violence Against Women Act vote in February.

Federal acquisition of historic sites vote in April.

Now Boehner has the most challenging situation, whether to allow an immigration reform vote, when the majority of his House majority will be bitterly against it, while Boehner has been supportive of immigration reform in his past career as a Congressman from Cincinnati, Ohio.

California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has threatened to call for a vote to unseat Boehner as House Speaker if he calls for such a vote.

So Boehner has to decide to gamble his Speakership on this matter–choosing between his own career, and doing the right thing, something which would revive Republican fortunes with the growing Hispanic-Latino community in America, and also just doing what is fair and just for eleven million people, many born here, and others coming only for economic betterment, not to commit crimes, which only a miniscule number have engaged in over the years!

Is the Speakership that important? Does not John Boehner secretly wish he could give up the burden, which has become a nightmare with the lunatic Congressmen and some Senators of his party who have set out to destroy the historical reputation of the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike?

The conclusion of the author is that Boehner will allow a vote, and immigration reform will pass the House, if a large majority of the Senate, including Republicans, pass a bill.

And if that happens, and even if Boehner loses his Speakership, we will be able to add Boehner to the list of people who have been a “Profile in Courage”, as John F. Kennedy termed it in his Pulitzer Prize winning book in 1956!

John F. Kennedy’s Two Great Speeches In Two Days: Unmatched In American History!

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John F. Kennedy was one of our most brilliant orators in the history of the American Presidency, but many may not have realized that he gave two speeches in two days, which rank among the greatest speeches ever delivered by an occupant of the White House!

As stated on my June 11 blog entry, Kennedy spoke up on the need for a Civil Rights law, immediately after the infamous George Wallace tried to prevent the integration of the University of Alabama earlier on that June 11, fifty years ago.

But the day before, June 10, at an American University commencement speech, only seven months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy called for peace between the superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, calling for an end to the Cold War.

Kennedy managed to accomplish, before his death that November, the accomplishment of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, with the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France, a treaty still being obeyed by the Russians today, an amazing development!

So as we near the 50th anniversary of JFK’s tragic death, we are coming to realize more than ever, even with his shortcomings and warts, just how great a leader JFK really was, on the premier issues of his time, Civil Rights and the Cold War!

50 Years Since Civil Rights Activist Medgar Evers Was Killed In Mississippi

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A sad anniversary was reached today, as 50 years ago, civil rights activist Medgar Evers was killed in Mississippi by gunfire, as he stepped out of his car at his home, just hours after Alabama Governor George Wallace had stood in the door of the Registrar’s Office at the University of Alabama, attempting to stop the registration of two black students at the university, which had led to President John F. Kennedy’s Civil Rights Speech that evening, one of the greatest Presidential speeches in American history!

It was just past midnight, when Evers, the Mississippi Field Secretary of the NAACP, was slaughtered, leaving three young children and a wife, Myrlie Evers-Williams, who survives him after 50 years, and later became the Chairwoman of the NAACP.

His assassin went free after a hung jury, but was later convicted on new evidence thirty years later, and served time in prison for the last seven years of his life.

A community college in New York City was created within a few years in his honor, and Evers has remained a leading part of the civil rights story.

His death also shaped the thoughts of a young generation of whites and blacks, and stained the reputation of both Mississippi and Alabama, as the two worst states on civil rights above all others, with Mississippi often compared in many ways to Nazi Germany in its treatment of its minority population, before the federal government intervened and enforced civil rights on all states by legislation in 1964, repudiating the arguments of states rights!

50th Anniversary Of Significant Moment In Civil Rights Movement: John F. Kennedy’s Television Address

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Fifty years ago today, Governor George Wallace of Alabama attempted to stop the registration of two black students at the University of Alabama, and only stepped aside, after making an appeal for states rights, when the Deputy Attorney General informed him that he was about to be arrested for defying a federal court order!

And that evening, President John F. Kennedy gave what might have been his most historic speech in office, calling for a civil rights bill, despite the fact that odds of passing into law were nil, and only accelerated by his death in November, and the amazing ability of Lyndon B. Johnson to accomplish passage in 1964.

John F. Kennedy demonstrated great courage, conviction, principle, and morals in that speech, and as a college student, I recall how it impacted myself and my generation with the idealism that all Americans should be treated equally under the law.

Kennedy demonstrated what has occurred not many times, true leadership and commitment to a great cause, no matter how much it might harm him politically. This is worthy of special praise and attention!

Karl Rove Totally Delusional On George W. Bush’s Greatness!

Ronald 11 Comments

Former George W. Bush “brain” Karl Rove is totally delusional, as yesterday, he declared on Fox News Channel that George W. Bush belonged with the “greats” among the Presidency, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan!

This is the same man who failed to elect most of the Republicans that he supported through his campaign organization, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars from wealthy patrons who believed he knew who to back and could win seats in Congress.

This is the same man who said on Election night that Mitt Romney was going to win, and denied the obvious Barack Obama victory when it was already happening!

Bush will make the list of Presidents as one of the FAILURES of the Presidency, in the company of James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Pierce.

Rove has conveniently forgotten Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Thomas Jefferson, Lyndon B. Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, all of whom rank better than Ronald Reagan, who might be number 11, but not in the top ten of all Presidents!

And Bill Clinton may eventually rank above Reagan as well, and Barack Obama might also make the top ten to twelve list, when he has left the Presidency, and passions have cooled down!

A Rare Moment: Five Presidents And Five First Ladies Photographed Together!

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For those of us who are Presidential junkies, the only time we see a group of Presidents and First Ladies together in public is at openings of Presidential libraries, and at funerals of Presidents and First Ladies.

Since these do not happen very often in either regard, today’s gathering of five Presidents and five First Ladies at the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library at the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, was an exciting moment, no matter how one feels about the Presidency of George W. Bush.

Seeing Jimmy Carter looking hale and hearty; George H. W. Bush in a wheelchair in obviously poor health although only being less than four months older than Carter; Bill Clinton his usual talkative, charismatic self; George W. Bush being very positive, despite the clear cut failures of his time in office; and Barack Obama, always good with saying the right things, was fascinating!

Seeing Rosalynn Carter and Barbara Bush looking good, considering their advanced age; Hillary Clinton looking ready to run for President any time now; Laura Bush being her usual sweet self; and Michelle Obama looking always as an elegant lady, was also very inspiring!

Of course, Nancy Reagan, while not mentioned, was absent, as she is in her early 90s and not in good health.

And we saw the two daughters of Lyndon Johnson and of Richard Nixon, along with the daughter of Gerald Ford, but no other Presidential children, other than the two daughters of George W. Bush, of course! But only Michael Reagan, the adopted son of Reagan and his first wife, Jane Wyman, was present, not the son and daughter of Nancy Reagan, Ron Jr. and Patti. And neither was Caroline Kennedy, or the other children of Gerald Ford, and none of the children of Jimmy Carter, or the Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea!

In any case, for those who are into photographs of a group of Presidents or First Ladies, today was a very good day!

Terrorism Tax Essential To Deal With Threats To National Security!

Ronald 8 Comments

It is clear after the Boston Marathon tragedy that we will be dealing with the imminent threat of terrorism, whether external or internal, for many years, even decades.

At the same time, we have many who tell us we must cut Social Security and Medicare for the elderly, veterans, and the disabled. We are also told we cannot afford health care and education,. and that millions of Americans must be sacrificed on the altar of never raising taxes!

Well, it is time that those opposed to tax increases, in a nation with the lowest tax burden of any democracy in the world, start reconsidering.

So a proposal is to recognize the dangers that face us, and to see that we are engaged in a different kind of war, and in all wars except under George W. Bush, taxes went up to support the war.

So we need a “Terrorism Tax”, and it should be one percent on incomes under $25,000; two percent on incomes up to $50,000; three percent on incomes up to $100,000; four percent on incomes up to $250,000; five percent on incomes up to $1 million; and six percent on all income above $1 million, including unearned income!

The author knows he will be attacked for such a heinous suggestion as a “Terrorism Tax”, but our security and safety requires sacrifices from all of us, and those with higher income and assets should be expected to contribute more to the nation that has helped to give them opportunity to prosper!

As John F. Kennedy said in his Inaugural Address in 1961, all of us should share the responsibility of promoting our nation and advancing its agenda, that we cannot afford as citizens to sit on the sidelines and leave responsibility to others. Let us fulfill what Kennedy enunciated 52 years ago!

Presidents And Science: The Top 15 Chronologically

Ronald 10 Comments

A very important measurement of Presidential leadership is to evaluate their interest in the advancement of science, and their willingness to support scientific research as a major part of their administrative goals.

Sadly, many Presidents have shown a lack of interest in the advancement of science, and presently, we have a group of KNOW NOTHINGS in the Republican Party who would rather promote religion in government, and deny evolution and global warming, and are generally antagonistic to any suggestion of the advancement of science, such as Barack Obama newly suggesting an investment through the National Institutes of Health to fund $100 million to work on the mapping of the human brain, which could lead to research and advancement in the study of mental illness, and such other major problems as Alzheimers Disease and Parkinson Disease. But in the Sequester environment we are now in, and the push for austerity by the GOP, it will be difficult for the vision of the study of the brain to be understood as a worthwhile and significant investment!

In any case, the Presidents who can be seen as having advanced science include the following,

Thomas Jefferson–arguably the most science oriented of all Presidents, a true genius and intellectual, who sponsored the Lewis and Clark Expedition for its scientific value, as well as the exploration of a large part of the American continent.

John Quincy Adams—a promoter of federal support of the arts and sciences, and helped to promote astronomical studies, and helped to form the Smithsonian Institution, for which he laid the cornerstone in 1846, as well as the US Naval Observatory.

Abraham Lincoln—-promoted the scientific study of agriculture, and signed legislation establishing the National Academy of Sciences.

James A. Garfield—tragically killed early in his term, but a promoter of mathematical studies, devising a mathematical proof of the Pythagorean Theorem, and promoted funding for agricultural research. Garfield was a great intellectual, and in many ways, was a tragic loss of a President whose potential for greatness was lost so quickly!

Theodore Roosevelt—was a great promoter of nature and conservation of natural resources, quadrupling our national parks and national forest lands. He also set up the US Forestry Service, and went on a dangerous trip to map the Amazon River Basin and discover new species of animal and plant life.

Herbert Hoover—a brilliant mining engineer, and elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, and a great intellectual, who was sadly a disaster in the White House, despite his credentials.

Franklin D. Roosevelt—managed the challenge of the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, in his promotion of forest conservation, watersheds, and agriculture, and also worked with Albert Einstein and others in development of the atomic bomb to help win World War II.

Harry Truman—signed legislation setting up the National Science Foundation, and saw the need for greater funding of scientific research.

Dwight D. Eisenhower—promoted the beginning of the space program and the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in response to the Russian putting of Sputnik I in space in 1957.

John F. Kennedy—promoted the space program goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, and was a great promoter of science in other ways as well.

Lyndon B. Johnson—promoted the completion of the moon landing, and encouraged more students to go into science through federal fellowships and grants.

Jimmy Carter—received a Bachelor of Science degree with specialty in nuclear physics from the US Naval Academy, and promoted energy conservation research, with creation of the Energy Department in the cabinet, and signed legislation for the original funding of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Ronald Reagan—promoted the Space Shuttle and a space station, and although flawed, wanted to encourage a system to stop nuclear attack, known as the Strategic Defense Initiative.

Bill Clinton—promoted the Human Genome Project and the International Space Station as important for the advancement of science.

Barack Obama—is now promoting human brain research, and has called for action against global warming, and the importance of the study of evolution in science classes.