But it is harmless , perhaps, if he is not sainted in the effort.
Oh, how we Irish Catholics loved the image, youth , handsome, dashing, no less loved by Catholics of other ethnic history, the Poles, the Italians all the Catholics who knew what it meant to become mainstream.. The nuns shoving PT109 and PROFILES IN COURAGE under our noses. He was one of our own. Through him I learned that Papist were then,and in some places in the country are still,reviled. Yet he was able to break the shackles of prejudice and take hold of the highest office in the land. Young , handsome, beautiful wife and family.
Not until later, did I learn the truth. Catholics had their own schools to educate their own children because they were systematically excluded from the early days of the national formation. Catholics built themselves, JFK did not. JFK rode with them because of the swift changes in social order resultant from WWII.
FORDHAM University, NOTRE DAME,BOSTON COLLEGE, among hundreds of others were Places built so JFK could be what he was, not the other way around St Agnes Parochial , St. Mary's and on and on in every parish in the land, Palmer method, Catechism and learning to read and write became central to the idea of Catholics moving into the main stream. Catholics pulled JFK, not the reverse.
My own parents were educated at a local parish school, and well educated they were, passing some of their flavor onto their children. My in laws were in the same mix, except they were Polish Catholic.
The Nuns would cry tears in November 1963 on his death. The expression was oft repeated, Johnnie, we hardly ever knew you. What was clear is that someone wanted him dead, but the reason was never really explained. What was the motivation of Lee Harvey Oswald, if I heard it I have forgotten it. Was it his ties to Russia or was it something else. I do not know to this day what possible motivation for the assaination existed. I would dare to ask my wife if it was ever revealed in any of the Kennedy books she has read, and she has read them all I think. But the motivation for the awful deed has never fully been made known to me.
Not until later did I learn the truth that PT109, the story ,was carefully crafted and embellished by Joseph Kennedy to make his son into the President and that Profiles in Courage was the prototype of the obligatory campaign launch book, notwithstanding its authorship by Ted Sorensen. The cavorting playboy turned into a War Hero for political gain.
The affairs, the Hollywood sex trafficking, the elbow rubbing with organized crime figures all further dampened the view. A 10 year olds hero was gone by the time Woodstock rolled around as Kennedy's legacy of Vietnam was killing Americans in shocking numbers. Kennedy it was later learned was afflicted by Addison's disease, probably brought on by his use of steroids to treat his Ulcerative Colitis. He was often in pain and ill and reportedly used pain medications. Remember the Kennedy rocker, I do. It was designed to remedy his pain. Back pain as I can attest is a given once the UC diagnosis comes down. He suffered anxiety, a known element of
his disease. He was by all accounts the replacement for his older brother who had died during the war. That he could be president with his illnesses is a testament to his strength, amazingly his predecessor in office suffered from the same type of illnesses. Kennedy, Eisenhower had Crohn's Disease and had an attack while in office that required life saving surgery. Yet no one ever knew.
My father would say that more was done to remove the stain of prejudice by WW II, than by anything else. Think about it , he would say, a depression era Catholic from Jersey City was bunking next to a former Southern Baptist plow boy who had never worn shoes before and they needed to put aside their differences because their very lives might depend on it. He would then expound at length on the destructive nature of the emotion of hate, I always thought he was targeting me as his child most in need of that lesson of tolerance, probably detecting in my immature opining a budding ugly lack of empathy . Somewhere I like to think I got righted.
JFK 's death was a great tragedy, as are most deaths to someone. But the
Reality was that he ushered in the idea of charismatic,yet unsubstantial political leadership.
Candidates are molded and formed and coiffed, remember the Clinton tarmac 500 dollar hair cut, their warts are not there as are mine and yours. We are lessened by this turn. Although there is no way of telling where Kennedy would have taken us and we most assuredly are diminished by all of the tragic happenings within his family, we should not be too quick to overlook the reality, that our politicians are artificial people crafted and spun. John Edwards and Gary Hart easily come to mind, but LBJ with his legendary philandering and even more cynical views on race. We were not allowed to see the real deal.
On, this Memorial Day weekend my attention is drawn to those shoeless southern plow boys who holed up next to the Italian Boys from Brooklyn and in their own way taught tolerance of others as if our lives depend on it. And in a way our lives did depend upon their ability to get along and in so doing purge another form of hate from the world. We should look to our contemporaries rather than our politicians for our guidance. We should also look back those 70 years and realize that the greatness of that generation in answering the call does not translate into a national obligation to answer every call anywhere in the world. We have done that too many times, we need to look at our own reality.
Our own reality looks like the discontent is rising with the hatred being expressed so freely , I find that really disturbing. So maybe a charismatic Kennedy type who can help us get along is needed, to at least keep us from seeing the reality. A Nation divided against itself can not long stand. Maybe we need another Kennedy even if to fool ourselves.