On tomorrow’s show I’ll be joined by historian and author Stephen Knott to discuss his upcoming book Coming to Terms with John F Kennedy. In the book, Knott looks at the long-term impact of a relatively short presidency–including the notion that Kennedy established in his supporters, and in subsequent generations, an unrealistic set of ideals for what a President could be.
If you review the accomplishments of the men that sat in the Oval Office before Kennedy, you will find that most were incredibly boring bureaucrats. There are few books about the “vision” of Grover Cleveland, the “leadership style” of Millard Fillmore, or the “inspiration” of John Tyler. Even our most hallowed of Presidents: Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln grew greater in stature AFTER their terms were done, rather than during their efforts to gain the seats or even while they were in office.
But from the moment he announced his intention to run for the Presidency, Kennedy was seen as this inspirational visionary with a bold leadership style that represented a “new hope” for our country. Television certainly helped project that image. His relative youth compared to his predecessors added to that. As did a large generation of Baby Boomers coming of age and into political awareness just as Kennedy was getting into the race. And for the most part, that reputation has stuck–likely bolstered by an assassination that left everyone wondering “what could have been?”
In his book, Knott considers whether this “higher elevation” of the position has been good for the Presidency, or bad. Should we expect one person to be the curer of all our ills, and inspire such blind devotion to themselves?
Sixty years from now, historians and authors will be wondering the same thing about the presidency of Donald Trump. But instead of looking back and trying to decipher why so many were inspired to be their “better selves” by a President, those researchers will be trying to determine why so many were inspired to be their “worst selves” instead.
Those writers will try to explain why so many within the structure of American government at all levels were so willing to beclown themselves in words and in deeds. Why those that had built solid reputations on respect for the institutions upon which our Republic was established, adherence to core values and beliefs, and acceptance of the truth would so suddenly be willing to sew distrust in those institutions, replace their beliefs with those of a TV con man, and vehemently deny the facts and truths right in front of their faces? Why would some act illegally or immorally for someone that did not care one iota for those doing his bidding? And why would they be willing to end our “grand experiment in Democracy” for someone that was using the Presidency for only personal gain?
What those historians are going to grapple with the most is how it was basically the same group of people that were so enthralled by Kennedy’s high rhetoric as young adults in the early 1960’s and Trump’s guttural demagoguery as seniors in the 2010’s–carrying each to their respective victories.
Unless I live to be 110 years old, I won’t get to read those books 60-years from now–but I hope they are able to tell a story about how the period of 2016 to 2024 was just an aberration. That faith in democracy and the institutions that make it work and prosper will have been fully restored. That those bad actors of this period will have been prosecuted, punished, and held up as an example of how NOT to govern. And that the American people came to realize that they are what make American great, not the people they see on ballots every year.
We can all have our unrealistic set of ideals, can’t we?
