Jfks-Legacy-As-Seen-By-His-Grandson

[Bernice Moore]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/opinion/jfks-legacy-as-seen-by-his-grandson.html

From J.F.K.'s Grandson

To the Editor:
As a young man inspired by politics and history who has spent time studying the Kennedy administration, I take issue with Ross Douthat's Nov. 27 column, "The Enduring Cult of Kennedy ," about President John F. Kennedy, my grandfather.
Mr. Douthat suggests that President Kennedy was a "near disaster." He criticizes Kennedy on civil rights; Kennedy was the first president to deem civil rights "a moral issue," and applied federal authority to force desegregation.
The president described as "famously hawkish" resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis peacefully. Mr. Douthat does not mention what President Kennedy called his proudest accomplishment: the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Contrary to what Mr. Douthat asserts about the Vietnam War, in 1963, at American University, Kennedy stated that America would never start a war. Many who served in his administration, including Ted Sorensen and McGeorge Bundy, long argued that my grandfather would have never invaded Vietnam as Lyndon B. Johnson did.
Finally, I take issue with Mr. Douthat's condescending view of the American people. He suggests that Americans who admire President Kennedy and as Mr. Douthat points out, the majority of Americans rank him among our best presidents do not understand their own history.
Instead, I suggest that President Kennedy's legacy remains relevant today not because of Camelot or conspiracy, but because Americans find inspiration and meaning there.
JOHN KENNEDY SCHLOSSBERG
New Haven, Nov. 30, 2011

[Bernice Moore]

Here is a link to information on the young man, he is 18 years old..b

http://kennedylegacy.tumblr.com/post/381...y-grandson

Bernice,

Thanks so much for sending me this. I just forwarded it to a whole lot of people with my own comments appended (see below).

Doug Horne


To:


To All (many by bcc):

This is a refreshing OPED piece by JFK's grandson (whose mother is Caroline), and an extremely ominous warning to us all about the dark forces still in place at the editorial boards of The New York Times and other large American newspapers (like the Washington Post). These papers (and inadequate academics and mainstream media talking heads and anchormen) have been misrepresenting his policies ever since his death, in an obvious attempt to mold public opinion to the point where we don't care so much about JFK anymore. It is no accident that they are publishing smears like the one quoted in the NY Times as the 50th Anniversary approaches. The national security establishment in this country is upset about the high esteem with which the American people hold JFK, and is determined to continue to: (1) smear and denigrate him whenever possible, and (2) lie about his death.

The national security establishment, the Power Elite in this country, does not want to admit the truth about his assassination---that he was killed by a lethal crossfire in Dealey Plaza by a large, powerful domestic conspiracy---because it would then mean having to admit to a longstanding government cover-up of his death---i.e., government complicity in, and indeed sponsorship of, the Big Lie in America, which would then lead to questions of WHY? and WHO? Smearing him and misrepresenting his policies (indeed, lying about them) is the fallback position employed in the hopes that people will care less about both his life, and about how (and why) he died. It has not worked for 48 years and I doubt it will work two years from now. But it will only continue to fail if outraged citizens continue to object---and object loudly, and publicly---to the scurrilous lies about his life and his death that continue to surface each November from members of the mainstream TV and print media, and our vanilla, conformist academic circles. This is why I aggressively confronted Chris Matthews of MSNBC's hardball back on Nov 22nd with my own BLOG entry at insidethearrb.livejournal.com

To the Editor:
As a young man inspired by politics and history who has spent time studying the Kennedy administration, I take issue with Ross Douthat's Nov. 27 column, "The Enduring Cult of Kennedy ," about President John F. Kennedy, my grandfather.
Mr. Douthat suggests that President Kennedy was a "near disaster." He criticizes Kennedy on civil rights; Kennedy was the first president to deem civil rights "a moral issue," and applied federal authority to force desegregation.
The president described as "famously hawkish" resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis peacefully. Mr. Douthat does not mention what President Kennedy called his proudest accomplishment: the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Contrary to what Mr. Douthat asserts about the Vietnam War, in 1963, at American University, Kennedy stated that America would never start a war. Many who served in his administration, including Ted Sorensen and McGeorge Bundy, long argued that my grandfather would have never invaded Vietnam as Lyndon B. Johnson did.
Finally, I take issue with Mr. Douthat's condescending view of the American people. He suggests that Americans who admire President Kennedy and as Mr. Douthat points out, the majority of Americans rank him among our best presidents do not understand their own history.
Instead, I suggest that President Kennedy's legacy remains relevant today not because of Camelot or conspiracy, but because Americans find inspiration and meaning there.
JOHN KENNEDY SCHLOSSBERG
New Haven, Nov. 30, 2011