Would President John F. Kennedy be called a ‘deplorable’ by his own party today?

President Trump has decided to make public the JFK files. While the media is going over the files and cherry picking parts of it to make a point, I would like to go back to look the man and what he said. Looking at President Kennedy’s words one begins to wonder how his policies would viewed by his party and its leadership.

QUESTION: Would JFK be a called ‘deplorable’ by his own party today?

The quote in the featured image was taken from President Kennedy’s speech on the Berlin Crisis given on July 25th, 1961 (below). When President Kennedy made this speech Nikita Khrushchev, the former Premier of the Soviet Union, had threatened to end the allied presence in West Berlin. The rights to this presence had been won in the peace treaties, concluded with Soviet agreement, after the defeat of Nazi Germany. Kennedy refused to buckle under this threat, and was prepared to go to war to defend freedom if necessary.

In this speech President Kennedy sought to dramatically increase military spending, expand the draft, increase the numbers of men in our military in order to protect the people of West Berlin.  President Kennedy stated:

And let me add that I am well aware of the fact that many American families will bear the burden of these requests. Studies or careers will be interrupted; husbands and sons will be called away; incomes in some cases will be reduced. But these are the burdens which must be borne if freedom is to be defended–Americans have willingly borne them before–and they will not flinch from the task now.

During the Berlin Crisis speech  JFK requested from Congress an additional $3,247,000,000 of appropriations for the Armed Forces, an increase in the Army’s total authorized strength from 875,000 to approximately a million men, an increase in the Navy and Air Force by 29,000 and 63,000 men respectively and he ordered that draft calls be doubled and tripled.

With the release of the JFK files more Americans will learn how John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Every American remembers where they were when the news came of his shooting and death. I was  in class at Washington University, in St. Louis when the word came of his assassination. The class was dismissed and all students sent home.

One thing never reported by the media was that JFK was a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. On March 20, 1961 JFK became a life member and in a letter to the NRA President Franklin L. Orth stated,

“Through competitive matches and sports in coordination with the National Board for Promotion of Rifle Practice, the Association fills an important role in our national defense effort, and fosters in an active and meaningful fashion the spirit of the Minutemen.”

JFK with an AR-15 in the Oval Office.

During his 1961 Berlin Crisis speech President Kennedy requested 1.8 billion dollars for the “procurement of non-nuclear weapons, ammunition, and equipment.” Among these non-nuclear weapons was the AR-15 rifle. It was the Kennedy administration that developed the AR-15 rifle and made it the standard weapon for soldiers in our military. The AR-15 became a symbol of America’s military might and advanced technology competing with the Russian built Kalashnikov AK-47. Later the AR-15 became the American made rifle of choice by gun owners globally.

Given the threat of a nuclear armed Iran, the bloody onslaught of radical Islam, Russian saber rattling in Ukraine and China’s cyber warfare against U.S. interests perhaps we should remember what President John F. Kennedy said when confronted with a similar evil:

“We in this country . . . are—by destiny rather than choice—the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility . . . and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, goodwill toward men. That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago, ‘Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain’.”

President Kennedy made it clear that evil must be confronted. He said:

The solemn vow each of us gave to West Berlin in time of peace will not be broken in time of danger. If we do not meet our commitments to Berlin, where will we later stand? If we are not true to our word there, all that we have achieved in collective security, which relies on these words, will mean nothing. And if there is one path above all others to war, it is the path of weakness and disunity.

Kennedy drew red lines for the American people and his party.

Would today’s Democratic Party label JFK a deplorable? We report, you decide.

RELATED ARTICLES:

SHOCKING REVELATIONS: Here’s What You Need to Know About the JFK Files

J.F.K. Files Released, Highlighting Hoover, L.B.J. Among Others – New York Times

RELATED VIDEOS:

JFK speech on Berlin.

Larry Elder did a video asking the fundamental question: JFK – Democrat or Republican?

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