People wonder why the Kennedy assassination has been traditionally treated with such hysteria that even so-called prestigious, scholarly institutions have been corrupted by the conspiracy theory industry, so that reasoned study of the actual facts of the case is now nearly impossible. But I don’t. Here’s the conclusion I have come to about “Kennedyitis” and the people who suffer it:
First, Kennedy was “different” — he was considered young and good-looking, unlike the rest of the crusty old men that had held office before him. (Personally, I think he looked like Mr. Ed, and I find the Boston accent to be beyond grating. But apparently in the early 60s that high-haired, shiny-toothed look was the sine qua non of male beauty, at least for a politician.) He also had a cute, young, fashionable wife. Previous president’s wives were, well, let’s say they were “motherly” in appearance, not the sort of females found in fashion spreads. And more important than any of these was television — Kennedy was the first widely televised president. Of course from time to time other presidents had their mugs on the little black and white screens, and there were also newsreels in the theater, but Kennedy was right there in everyone’s living room, all the time, flashing those teeth. He also made good speech, saying all the right things about prosperity and brotherhood and impressing the foreigners, but that wouldn’t have meant much if he also hadn’t been perceived as young and sexy (Marilyn Monroe got involved with him for God’s sake). There might have been other presidents who were actually young and attractive (though I can’t bring any to mind — Thomas Jefferson? No, he was old when he got elected, wasn’t he…) but they didn’t have television to implant their features and personality on the nation.
One more factor is the first set of Baby Boomers was coming of age. Kennedy was “their” president, so of course his assassination was the Most Important Event Ever, it shattered the universe, it couldn’t have been a lone gunman with a bee in his bonnet, the evil forces the New Youth already sensed were arrayed against them (Mom and Dad! The Warmongering no-dancing, no-drinking, no-fun oldsters! A.k.a. “the Mob,” “right-wingers,” and capitalists — which purveyors of Beatles records and mini skirts of course were not) had to have done it, just to rain on their parade.
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April 21st, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Teddy Roosevelt was young (42) and attractive, who had gone out west to be a cowboy to heal a heart broken by the death of his first wife, as well as an intellectual, and wildly, wildly popular. He was an exuberant voice welcoming the 20th centruy.
His daughter Alice was quite a celebrity in her day, too, sort of like a young Kennedy, except not so self-destructive. She was always good for a nasty quip about her cousin Eleanor.
FDR, when he was first elected was 50 which is not so young but was as handsome as could be. Baby boomers remember him as the old man he was by the end of WWII.
But of course, who am I kidding? NOTHING ever happened before The Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan show.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:21 am
Oh, I know that the Roosevelts were much admired in their day, celebrities even, but there was no tv back then. Thus everyone pre-Boomer consciousness can be stereotyped as “old and crusty,” never mind what actual research reveals. No one does research these days — they just accept the Received Wisdom from the tv screen; or at least they did before the internet made the easy access of all sorts of information via one’s own home that much easier. (Of course, I know that most people use the internet to gossip on their MySpace pages, but given time, a trickle can become a flood…)