"That little Kennedy -- he thought he was a God." -- Allen DullesIt was 104 degrees that June 1963 day, and the President of the United States is dressed for graduation. John F. Kennedy -- the most powerful man in the world -- makes a speech calling for the rejection of power, the rejection of domination and demonizing: he calls for quiet, thoughtfulness, empathy and compassion. He basically rejects many tenets of the American "character": brutishness, ignorance, aggression, self-justification, the love for war.
And it got him killed.
My gosh, the openness -- almost like a Sermon on the Mount. Where's the security? And how 'bout that guy getting into the dark sedan, obviously late for an important lunch. . . If John F. Kennedy had been alive under Reagan (but then of course there would have been no Reagan), he would've been a Liberation Theologist.
