60 years ago today, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. A violent death which will be followed by several others during the 1960s.
We should not forget that in a decade, JFK, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy would fall under bullets.
The “Kennedy myth” played a key role in my professional development, even though I was not born when he passed away.
For what? Because of the fascination that the American president had on one of my aunts. What had he done to make a Quebecer devote her time and passion to him? This question will influence my university studies.
Photo Reuters
Youth, beauty and hope
In 1960, Kennedy is a bit what our neighbors would need in 2024. While society is in turmoil, the effects of the baby boom are being felt and Republican Dwight Eisenhower represents the conservatism of the previous generation , millions of Americans will give in to the youth and charisma of the young Democrat.
Hero of the Second War, married to a magnificent woman and young father, he dares to offer his fellow citizens major challenges, confident that they will be able to rise to the pitfalls that they encounter on their path.
Among these challenges, we find the Cold War, which looms behind the project of walking on the Moon, and the social struggle against segregation and poverty, what he calls the “new frontier”.
Dark side and uncertain legacy
If JFK is everything I describe above, in my eyes he also embodies the origin of our neighbors’ crisis of confidence in the political class.
John F. Kennedy is also a facade policy, the policy of public image which hides a murky reality. From his father’s scandals to his multiple controversial relationships (both his mistresses and his less than desirable allies), Kennedy’s opponents don’t need disinformation to paint a dark picture of the Democratic icon.
JFK owes his famous vitality and hyperactivity in part to the injections and treatments of an unscrupulous doctor who was nicknamed “Dr. Feelgood” (Max Jacobsen). A clever mix of amphetamines, vitamins, steroids and painkillers.
If his personal image is less glowing than the myth, the same is true of his management of the country. Historians can hardly pass a complete judgment on his administration because we will never know what he would have done if he had not been assassinated.
However, it is difficult not to judge harshly the escalation with the Soviet Union, the failure of the Bay of Pigs, the lack of transparency on the government’s true intentions or the sending of troops to Vietnam. We know what Lyndon Johnson did, but we can only guess about the rest.
On this November 22, 2023, let us remember the complexity of American politics and the fragility, not to say the hypocrisy, of the American dream.
