We have celebrated the centenary of the birth of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Like John Stuart Mill, a politician, like Ovid, there was a touch of the poet about him. His political, philosophical approach, was a progressive, perspective also. An idealist and a realist. And his speeches, spoken, proof, if ever needed, that a leader could go beyond the description of President Harry Truman, that, ” we campaign in poetry, govern in prose.”

This was a man who was a war hero and a writer who won the Pulitzer Prize. His book, Profiles In Courage, a testimony to both. His was a love for the arts ,that was not high brow or forced, any more than the love many felt for this President, who was much loved as a human being who was flawed. We know, he was more at home humming a tune from the musical, Camelot, which he loved, than claiming he was an expert on culture, which he was not. Culture needs more than expertise, it needs examples, and it needs inspiration. And so, he, this president, for the popular culture of that era, and our political culture yet, was an example that inspires. 

His words help motivate…