JFK era resurrected at school

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, June 2, 2008

Many of us who lived through the Kennedy Administration from 1961 to 1963 recall an era of challenges and opportunities. Those memories came to mind after learning that the Fergus Falls secondary school will be named in honor of John F. Kennedy.

The charisma of Kennedy and his family led to the figurative designation of Camelot for his administration. This relates to JFK’s affection for the contemporary Broadway musical of the same name.

To be sure, JFK had his faults. In the years following his assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, the myth of John F. Kennedy gave way to an honest historical perspective. Still, most Democrats, Republicans and independents agree that JFK had a special charisma. People felt good about themselves — and their country — when he was in office.

Kennedy served as a Navy officer during World War II. On Aug. 2, 1943, his boat, the PT-109, took part in a nighttime patrol in the Solomon Islands. It was rammed by a Japanese destroyer.

Kennedy was thrown across the deck, severely injuring his back. Nonetheless, he swam — while towing a wounded man — to an island and where his crew was eventually rescued. Kennedy, 26, received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

After the war ended, in 1945, Kennedy successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives form his home state of Massachusetts. In 1952 he was elected to the U.S. Senate and a year later he married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.

In 1960 Kennedy, 43, was the youngest person ever elected president. In his inaugural address, in January 1961, he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens, saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Later that year Kennedy failed miserably after ordering the Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba. In October 1962, however, he stood firm during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

American U-2 spy planes had taken photographs of a Soviet intermediate-range ballistic missile site under construction in Cuba, only 90 miles from the Florida Keys. Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine in which the U.S. Navy inspected all ships arriving in Cuba. A week later Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles, subject to U.N. inspections.

JFK set a goal for landing a man on the Moon while speaking to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961. Eight years later Neil Armstrong fulfilled Kennedy’s dream by walking on the lunar surface.

Americans regularly vote JFK as one of the most outstanding presidents. On Tuesday, May 20, he was the overwhelming choice of students in the naming of Kennedy Secondary School in Fergus Falls.

Students should take note that the Profile in Courage Award, created in 1989 by members of President Kennedy's family, honors officials who choose principles over partisanship — to do what is right rather than what is expedient.

The award is named for President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer prize-winning book, “Profiles in Courage,” which recounts the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers by taking principled stands for unpopular positions.

Historians will continue to assess JFK's time in office. We in Otter Tail County can recognize his errors while crediting his many accomplishments.

Tom Hintgen’s column appears Mondays.