“If by a ‘Liberal’ they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people – their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties – someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a ‘Liberal,’ then I’m proud to say I’m a ‘Liberal.'”
JOHN F. KENNEDY, DEMOCRAT (5/22/1917-11/22/1963)
As a young sailor stationed at Guantanamo Bay, the events of that afternoon and the days to follow became etched, indelibly, in my being. It was just a glimmer of an awakening that much of what I had been taught up to that point in life was very possibly a lie. Its quite possible I owe my life to JFK, since he fought the generals and their ideas of how to end the missile crisis.
And then we lost Bobby. May you rest in peace, Kennedys all.
Thanks for the reminder (not that I remember the actual day, being only one years old at the time).