John F. Kennedy's reputation (letter)

by Michael Arnold

News Weekly, August 28, 2004
Sir,

R.J. Stove is completely missing the point about John F. Kennedy's reputation (News Weekly, July 17).

It was Kennedy's global image, and the image he projected of the United States, that carried so much weight, irrespective of the domestic issues. Many Americans at the time were unaware of this but it was certainly the case outside the US.

Whatever Mr Stove may rake up - and it's not difficult to dig up something about a public figure - is irrelevant in the context of the message that Kennedy articulated with such eloquence.

Kennedy may well have had good speech-writers, and was flawed at a personal level, but that does not alter the message of youthful hope and vigour that went with him. World reaction, had it been Eisenhower that was assassinated in Dallas, would have been muted by comparison.

Inhabiting a particular age group has nothing whatsoever to do with reproaching past world leaders, but it does help to place the reputations of those leaders in context and to understand their stature at those times. Many had personal flaws - Churchill, for instance - but would Stove do the same character demolition on him? Perhaps so.

Let it be understood, Kennedy may have had some unbecoming traits, but none of these will alter the way he was perceived at the time.

Michael Arnold,
South Coogee, NSW