LESSONS of the PAST

Change is the law of life. Those who look only to the past and present will miss the future. John F. Kennedy (35th US President 5.19.1917-11.22. 1963)

Have you ever had a chance to look behind the walls of the White House, State Department, and other important institutions? Many if not all influence our lives even if they are lessons of the past.

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s extraordinary book “An Unfinished Love Story” (A Personal History of the 1960s) allows the reader to sit on the shoulders of history and look inside. Even if these are lessons of the past, they all give the reader, young and old, a clear understanding of events that are still part of life in today’s America and will be for years to come. Life’s memories are held in 300 boxes, reminding the reader of a life lived and gone by. It is a book of vital importance to our time, not some relic of the past, nor is it part of indifference or apathy. The author and historian writes: ‘It amused me that I have spent more time with Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson than with any other man in my life, besides my husband, Richard Goodwin. Yet, Dick resisted the idea of starting the process of excavating the files and comprehensive archives of the Sixties. These were the files, held in these many boxes we had gathered and saved for more than fifty years.’

She observes: The image of a forlorn and lonesome young man – walking through streets, stuck in my memory; that young man was John F. Kennedy in the 1960s; he was a man of resolutions and perseverance, nor did the wall of indifference dispirited him. He had promised that he would cast off old slogans, delusions, and suspicion and Lyndon Baines Johnson seemed to balance the ticket. The narrative of what really happened between Kennedy’s nomination and the surprise selection of Lyndon Johnson as his running mate was always questioned. Lyndon Johnson had shown an uncanny ability to turn a ‘sow’s ear into a silk purse.’ As a party whip, minority leader, and then majority leader, he had taken positions with small bases of power and vastly magnified and multiplied their functions. Robert F. Kennedy, the President’s brother, was disconsolate about Johnson’s selection; Johnson was nominated by voice vote, but he would forever blame Robert Kennedy for the humiliating experience during that chaotic afternoon. In hindsight without this ticket, there would have been no President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1961, and no President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963.

During this time Richard Goodwin embarked upon an enormous adventure, tracking the candidate’s progress and the adventure of being close to the candidate and his vision for America. With his writing ability and its messaging for President Kennedy, Dick Goodwin would speak of men surrounding the president who were men of courage, judgment, integrity, and dedication.?

The long game of history is filled with surprises and reversals. What happens in history is often a slippery business and, as ever depends on who is doing the telling, when they are telling the tale, and why. For unlike today, the Sixties was still a time when a candidate’s word represented a commitment to a prescribed course of action. What one said mattered. Here is part of a speech President Kennedy gave in June 1963: We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the Scriptures and as clear as the American Constitution. The heart of this question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities…If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public…cannot enjoy the full and free life, which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place?... Next week I shall ask the Congress of the United States to act, to make a commitment it has not fully made in this century to the proposition that race has no place in American life and law.’?

It is a deep privilege to read this vast treasure of historical documents and read them with my husband. He had such uncanny insights into America’s history from its leaders and wanted to be part of it and was part of these events, some joyful, some tragic. His self-appointed, defining mission would be the guiding light into these accomplishments. The 1960s are deeply carved in America’s history. The assassination of John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963, the Vietnam War 1955-1975, the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, on April 4, 1968, the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, on June 6, 1968, and finally the resignation of President Lyndon B. Johnson, on January 20, 1969.

This book is a journey into America’s history, yet it is also a story of deep love for this vast country by the author and her husband, Richard Goodwin, who is and was part of this extraordinary story. Theirs was a marriage of more than 43 years and gives the reader an insight into the value of this lasting relationship.

The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.

Alexis de Tocqueville (French Sociologist, Political Scientist 1805-1859)