In honor of President’s Day, it seems fitting to look at one of our past presidents–one commonly seen as a hero-and try to identify his heroic qualities.  I thought a lot about which President to choose, and in the end I decided not on Lincoln or Washington, but on John F. Kennedy.

Now, you may not agree that he’s hero material but read on to see my take on him.  Politics aside, John Kennedy embodied courage, bravery, morality (on a grander scale than his sexuality), and hope.  He dealt with crisis, owned up to his responsibility in his failures, and kept up the good fight, never losing sight of the America he wanted to see.

Here’s a brief look at what I think makes Kennedy a hero:

• 1. While in the Navy, the boat Kennedy was on was attacked by a Japanese destroyer. During the attack, Kennedy, with a back injury and without concern for his own safety, rescued a man from his crew by towing him from the water to an island.

• 2. He wrote a book during his early years in the Senate called Profiles in Courage. The book details times when U.S. Senators stood by their personal beliefs at the risk of jeopardizing their careers, something he obviously admired. Profiles in Courage received the Pulitzer Prize.

• 3. While running for president in 1960, he said this about being Catholic:

“I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for President who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my Church on public matters - and the Church does not speak for me.” He managed to stand by his faith and his commitment to public service, never once condemning either one.

• 4. Taking his words at face value and as representatives of his true beliefs, his speeches reflect his character. After being elected president of the United States, Kennedy’s famous statements during his inaugural speech include:

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

He wanted nations to come together to fight against the “common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.”

“Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you.”

• Although the Eisenhower Administration came up with the plan to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba, Kennedy went ahead with the plan, ordering the attack (with Cuban insurgents trained by the U.S.). He did not offer U.S. military (air) support, however, and the majority of the insurgents died upon their landing on Cuban soil. “The Bay of Pigs” was an embarrassment for Kennedy, but he took full responsibility for it, not passing the buck or shirking his part in the failure of the plan, the deaths that resulted, the taking of hostages and the need to negotiate their release at great cost to the U.S.

• 6. Dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis thereby avoiding nuclear war.

• 7. Created the Peace Corps.

• 8. Kennedy stood by his convictions, promising “federal funding for education, medical care for the elderly, and government intervention to halt the recession”, and an end to racial discrimination. Who knows how he would have worked to achieve these dreams had he lived.

• 9. Finally, Kennedy believed in Martin Luther King, Jr., supported Civil Rights, and proposed what would, after his death, become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Not everyone liked John Kennedy and I’m sure not everyone agrees that he’s hero material.  After all, he was famously unfaithful to his wife, he made mistakes during his presidency, he was a democrat, and he was Catholic.  For as many people who might find these traits acceptable and/or excusable, there are just as many who likely find them reprehensible and/or unforgivable. 

For me, understanding who John F. Kennedy was comes down to this one statement made during a speech he gave on space exploration:

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

Don’t those words encompass what we want in a hero?  Choosing to do things, not because they’re easy, but because they’re hard.  Or the right thing to do.  Or because we have to follow our convictions, no matter what.  John F. Kennedy didn’t back down from crisis.  In fact, this is what he said of crisis: “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters–one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.”  He never backed down from crisis, from his core beliefs, or from his pursuit of peace based on his abundance of hope.

Maybe it was his early and tragic death that contributes to him being called a hero, or maybe it is the hope that we can live in a world of peace, a dream that is still pursued and will one day be realized.  Either way,  John F. Kennedy is a hero in my book.

 I’ll end with this poem by Emily Dickinson which seems written just for John F. Kennedy, a true American hero. 

Because I could not stop for Death,

He kindly stopped for me. The carriage held but

just ourselves, And immortality.”

                                                                                                            –Emily Dickinson

Question of the Day:

Which president would you name as the most heroic?