The legacy of US presidents
TDominion store parking lot in Windsor was quite big, enough for dozens of cars. A typical grocery store in southern Ontario, I suppose. I took full advantage of it, of course. It was Saturday, Nov. 23, 1963, the day after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. So loved was JFK, that the store closed - and, on top of that, staff filled the giant glass windows with black paper, and big photos of Jack.
Think about that for a moment. A US president, so loved, so revered and respected … that a Canadian grocery store, across the river from Detroit, paid tribute in a way that they could. And so, there I was, just eight years old, riding around on my bicycle with my buddy Randy, looking at these giant photos of Jack, and wondering who killed him, and why. I never forgot that day, like many others.
Of course, we knew from day one, that there was something more to JFK's demise than what was being officially told.
It's highly likely, that Oswald didn't kill anyone, he was just the fall guy. And nothing seemed right in that whole Warren Report investigation. It was a professional hit, carried out by professionals - but who gave the order, and how high up did it go? We still don't know.
These doubts were carried forward years later to the US House Select Committee on Assassinations in the 1970s, which concluded a conspiracy was highly probable - that was as far as the CIA would let it go. Today, most Americans now believe that there is more to the story. Conspiracy theories aside, we know now that Kennedy endeavoured to turn the big military ship around - to pursue a real and lasting peace with the Soviets (to avoid another Cuban missile crisis) - to "smash the CIA into a thousand pieces" - and, he and Bobby Kennedy had serious doubts about American involvement in Vietnam. Although, this last point is contentious. Jack's now famous speech at American University, likely sealed his fate to a sinister cabal, involving CIA, military and mafia elements. Give it a listen sometime, and you'll understand why the military industrial complex and certain quarters of power were mortified.
Kennedy's legacy, and the legend of the"Camelot" White House years with first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, is fascinating … and it continues to shine until this day.
According to the Epoch Times, JFK's skill, ability to listen to diverse points of view, and his empathy for Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev allowed him to avert a disaster during the Cuban missile crisis - while the Joint Chiefs called his actions appeasement.
Kennedy also called for a federal Civil Rights Act, but it was not his fate to sign it into law. President Lyndon Johnson signed it in 1964, as well as the Voting Rights Act in 1965 prohibiting discrimination in voting.
Meanwhile, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover regarded the activists with suspicion and worked against them, and the Kennedys.
He also stood up to big steel interests, boldly told Berliners he was one of them, established the Peace Corps and vowed America would put a man on the moon, before the end of the decade. He had, what some would call, human decency, and with that, inspired a generation. That was then. For a time, under the Kennedys, America truly was "the beacon on the hill" historians speak of.
Over this past week I watched several hours of testimony at the US Congressional impeachment hearings, aimed at dislodging President Donald Trump. A man who entered the presidential race to boost his brand, only to win the highest office in the world.
The testimony focused on Trump's efforts to extort dirt on a rival, Hunter Biden, by withholding US$400 million in military support to Ukraine - an impeachable offense, and something no other president has ever done.
We also learned how Trump not only tarnished the reputation of ex-US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, a long-serving member of the foreign service, but also threatened her in order to get her out of the way - siding instead with corrupt Ukrainian officials. In an even more bizarre display, Trump tweeted an attack on the ambassador, during her testimony, raising concerns of witness intimidation.
The day ended, with one of Trump's advisors, Roger Stone, found guilty on seven felony counts in a court just down the street. He is just one of several Trump advisors to be given a one-way trip to the crowbar hotel, to put it nicely. In summary, it was two political parties battering each other and dragging down the democratic system with it. A shambolic escapade that will not achieve anything in the end, because Republicans control the Senate. For the record, no dirt was found on the Bidens and the Ukrainians did get their military support, something they desperately needed.