John, Robert and Edward Kennedy in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts,
in July 1960 after John F. Kennedy won the Democratic nomination for president.
John F. Kennedy Library and Museum
Chris Wallace, anchor of Fox News Sunday, presented John F. Kennedy's legacy on the fiftieth anniversary of his assassination in a panel discussion. Below is Wallace's interaction with Brit Hume, who was on the panel:
Chris Wallace: ...I think a fair reading of history would be that President Kennedy's promise exceeded his accomplishments, and perhaps, the most resonant thing was in fact his death. Why do people 50 years later care so much?Here is the video clip:
Brit Hume: I think he was the coolest president we ever had. He was just a cool guy and therefore, appealing [Note: I like Brit Hume, but he seems cursed with the adolescent vocabulary of our era. Why does he say "cool?" He could have stuck with "appealing" and made a more convincing point. Who wants a "cool" president?]
Chris Wallace: If you look at the pictures of him that we're running, he’s impossibly glamorous.
Brit Hume: Yes. No question. I think, however, that despite the thinness of the record that you just mentioned, that George mentioned, he has been the subject of the most successful public relations campaign in political history. The notion that he was a great president, indeed, perhaps, in some surveys he’s been listed the greatest president, is really a remarkable testament to the ability of those who have so admired him and others to have built this man's legend, and it is a legend bordering, I think, on myth.
But, who doesn't want a handsome president running the country. All the Kennedy brothers were handsome, even the odd member, Edward Kennedy.
The Kennedy aesthetic gene went even further with JFK's son. Camille Paglia, the cultural critic, wrote several articles on the Kennedys, and especially Jackie Kennedy. About JFK Jr. she says:
In a certain way, John Kennedy Jr.'s beauty was a kind of narcissism. His physical perfection came from entrapment in a youthful persona.
John F. Kennedy Jr. in the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1997,
two years before his death
Perhaps these Kennedys' potentials were cut short with assassinations and careless accidents. Bobby Kennedy was also assassinated, five years after his brother. And death followed another Kennedy brother, Ted Kennedy. A young woman who was with him in his car, died after he drove the car off a bridge, and this only a year after his brother Bobby was assassinated.
How could these Princes of Camelot disappoint us?
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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