By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor
On Monday, John F. Kennedy would have turned 100. I listened for a mention of his name in the Ontario Legion’s Memorial Day service, but it was not spoken. Did any World War II veteran other than JFK carve a larger niche in the wall of history?
Despite myriad physical ailments, JFK’s father pulled strings to get him into the Navy. In those days the sons of the rich marched off to war in droves, unlike now, when few wealthy kids choose military careers. These days, the privileged kids go to Ivy League schools and then on to Washington, where they plan wars for the poor boys to fight.
JFK was an aspirational president, and because he was young and handsome, he caught the attention of my generation. There must be something about spending years of your life killing and avoiding being killed that does something to men. And when a vast percentage of the population shares that same experience, it sets the tone of the country going forward.
It has been said that the men who returned home believed that they had been spared for a larger purpose in life.
“I promised God,” one man told journalist Tom Brokaw, “If you let me live, I will be the best man I can be.”
Or perhaps, exhausted by years of war, they were ready to rush headlong into life and make up for the lost time.
Whatever the case, John F. Kennedy struck a chord.
His inaugural speech commanding us to “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country” has a permanent place in American memory 60 years later.
Perhaps less known is the sentence following, “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Sadly, JFK’s White House years were so occupied with foreign affairs crises that his domestic policies were mostly carried out by the Johnson administration after his assassination.
Nevertheless, the greatest generation took Kennedy’s admonition to heart. From sea to shining sea, the country underwent an explosion of progress, including expanding roads and highways, initiating a space race that culminated with a man on the moon in 1969, and tackling theissues of affordable housing and equal pay. They even built a swimming pool in Wilton.
What would JFK have thought of today’s political climate? We have come a long way from “Ask not what your country can do for you” to “American First.”
Imagine, if you will, selling the idea of a Peace Corps to a Trump presidency! JKF saw the Corps as a peaceful way to combat Communism in foreign lands without coming off as “ugly Americans.”
It began in 1961 as an executive order, which was later fully funded by Congress.
Kennedy said, “Our Peace Corps is not designed as an instrument of diplomacy or propaganda or ideological conflict. It is designed to permit our people to exercise more fully their responsibilities in the great common cause of world development.”
Really? Responsibility to serve the world and to reach out to the less fortunate? What a quaint idea!
The Peace Corps remains one of JFK’s greatestlegacies despite the efforts of other administrations to defund it over the past 60 years.
That “greatest generation” that JFK led into the 1960s is known for its sacrifice and bravery in battle, but over time those veterans may be best recalled for what they accomplished after coming home from the war.
Mostly they are all gone now. They never got to wear red hats that said “Make America Great Again.” Some of the men who made a down payment on greatness with their blood would have considered those hats nothing short of silly.
If we have any criticism of the World War II generation, it is that they produced my generation — the Baby Boomers.
It is the Boomers who dominate a Congress so deadlocked in petty rivalry and political one-upmanship that they accomplish little. The Boomers are represented by three presidents: Bill Clinton, George Bush and Donald Trump. Only time will tell, but it seems unlikely any of the three will find a spot on Mount Rushmore, and it could be more likely they will be relgated to the dustbin of history with the likes of Millard Fillmore. Would the World War II generation have voted for Donald Trump, or would they have considered him a thrice-married, womanizing grifter who stiffed nearly everyone he did business with and who suffers from a complete absence of moral compass?
What would they have said of Ivanka Trump’s Tweet on Monday that everyone should celebrate Memorial Day by making champagne popsicles?
The World War II generation were the parents of my growing-up years. I saw them as demanding, peevish, cranky and puritanical.
Wow, do I ever miss them now.