JFK’S legacy with Australia lives on
THE only surviving child of US President John F. Kennedy says she is ready to fulfil his legacy and promise to Australia whose troops rescued him during World War 2.
The next US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of JFK and Jackie Kennedy-onassis, issued a video message saying she was eager to tell Australia why the posting, she will take up this week, means so much to her and her family.
Ms Kennedy said her role
went beyond simply representing her nation in Australia, that she described as one of the world’s great democracies.
But it was about fulfilling her father’s bond with the country.
In August 1943 the future president was commander of US Navy boat PT-109 tasked with repelling a Japanese advance on the Solomon Islands when his vessel was sunk by a Japanese destroyer, leaving him and his crew in a perilous situation.
“If not for the help of two Solomon Islanders and an Australia coast watcher he
and his crew would not have survived,” she said in her very personal video message.
“He wanted to be the first sitting president to visit Australia so I’m honoured to carry his legacy forward in my own small way.”
That Australian was Sydney-born Arthur Reginald Evans, a former artillery warrant officer turned navy reservist with the secretive Coast Watch Organisation intelligence unit who decoded the PT-109 sinking message and dispatched two islanders in dug out canoes to rescue.
Ms Kennedy said her fa
ther, who in 1963 had made a commitment to visiting Australia before fatefully deciding to travel to Dallas, Texas where he was assassinated, had inspired a generation to take up public service that transformed America, a commitment to country passed on to his family.
She said this has never been now more important with the state of the world and need to maintain the rule of law.
“My mother believed that words and ideas could change the world and in my books on the constitution on American history and work
in education I have tried to make our fundamental democratic ideals accessible to new generations,” the 64year-old career diplomat, lawyer and author said.
“The most important thing I learnt is that none of us expect to be the ones to have to fight for freedom.
“But we each must be prepared to stand up for what we believe in if we want to pass these precious values on.”
She said US President Joe Biden was committed to stability in the Pacific, fighting climate change and increasing economic engagement to the region.