President Kennedy would have been 88 tomorrow.

I wasn't fortunate enough to have lived during JFK's presidency, but I had the privilege of meeting his brother in Boston last year during the DNC. How different our world could be had he not been struck down so early.

Let's hope that our nation will soon be returned to the ideals that John F. Kennedy so strongly believed in and fought for.

They continually replay his speeches so we can hear what a true Statesman sounds like.

The Sixth Street Museum is the book depository from which Oswald fired.

if RFK had been elected instead of Nixon???

Had RFK lived and won, no Watergate, possibly no Reagan, then, no Bush.

What a different world we would all be living in had he been allowed to live and fulfill his potential.

I saw this piece by Ted Sorenson in the Boston Globe today, and thought it was so spot-on:

What JFK might tell our leaders

By Theodore C. Sorensen | May 28, 2005

TOMORROW WOULD have been John F. Kennedy's 88th birthday. Were he still alive, I have no doubt that, with his customary idealism and commitment to country, he would still be offering advice to our current leaders in Washington. Based upon his words of more than 40 years ago, he might well offer the following:

To President George W. Bush on Iraq, Iran, and North Korea: ''The United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. This generation of Americans has had enough -- more than enough -- of war." (American University commencement, 1963)

To President Bush on stem cell research: ''For those of us who are not expert ... we must turn, in the last resort, to objective, disinterested scientists who bring a strong sense of public responsibility and public obligation." (National Academy of Sciences, 1961)

To Vice President Dick Cheney on international organizations, alliances, and consultations: ''The United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient. We are only 6 percent of the world's population . . . we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind." (University of Washington, 1961)

To Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on terrorism: ''If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." (Inaugural address, 1961)

To United Nations ambassador-designate John Bolton on diplomacy: ''Civility is not a sign of weakness. The United Nations our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace." (Inaugural address, 1961)

To Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on space: ''We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. This new ocean must be a sea of peace, a new terrifying theater of war." (Rice University, 1962)

To House Majority Leader Tom Delay on fund-raising: We need ''men of integrity whom neither financial gain nor political ambition could ever divert from the fulfillment of our sacred trust." (Massachusetts farewell, 1961)

To Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on judges: ''To maintain the constitutional principle, we should support Supreme Court decisions, even when we may not agree with them." (News conference, 1962)

To White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on negative news media: ''It is never pleasant to be reading things that are not agreeable news, but it is an invaluable arm to the presidency as a check on what is going on . . . ven though we never like it . . . and wish they didn't write it . . . we could not do the job at all in a free society without a very, very active press." (Television interview, 1962)

To pastor-in-chief Pat Robertson on church-state separation: ''I believe in an America where no would tell his parishioners for whom to vote, where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the public acts of our officials, where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference. The presidency must not be the instrument of any one religious group." (Houston ministers, 1960)

To Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes on propaganda: ''The United States is a peaceful nation where our strength and determination are clear, our words need merely to convey conviction not belligerence." (undelivered Dallas speech, 1963)

How I miss his friendship. How our nation misses his wisdom.

Theodore C. Sorensen is former special counsel to President Kennedy.

The Bush administration has chosen to overturn every ideal their principals once believed in and which Kennedy espoused.

He stopped in Marinette during the 1960 Wisconsin Primary. He made a speech at a local Catholic High School. After his speech he met with the nuns who worked at the school in the house that they lived in behind the school. During this visit, he excused himself to use the first floor bathroom. Fast forward to the mid 1990s. The school had long since sold the house and it was being used by a counseling center. I had been sent to this center for counseling after being caught stealing from my dad's coin collection. When I was seeing the counselors there, sometimes I had to go and I went in the same commode as JFK.

damn.

It was at the old Boston Garden and he had come home to vote after the campaign.

Oh what times they were!

Kennedy had guts, compassion, and intellectual curiosity.
He was also a war veteran that had the guts to risk his life.

How were you able to get so close?

And I just happened to be lucky because I was near the area where he walked in.When I finally found a seat it was in the 2nd balcony.

After his asassination things changed,of course,and now with things the way they are it would be impossible to get close.

The Boston Garden was an absolute madhouse,with everyone wearing red,white,and blue straw boaters(I think that's what they called those hats).The band played"Happy Days are Here Again" over and over again.

A very pleasant memory.

:kick:

:kick: :kick:

that JFK survived the assassination (attempt), with fake photos of a distant blurry figure in a wheelchair.

I never got the chance to vote for him. In 1960 the voting age was 21.

I hope his soul is resting peacefully and he's happy. I wasn't around (as far as I know) in his lifetime and I'm sad I missed him. :( Damn whoever killed him, his brother and his son. Lately I've been imaginging what it would be like if Kennedy was still a live and the SS were doing their jobs on that day. :cry: I know things would be very different and we might not have some of the leaders we do today but I still always wonder. For the past few years I've been, for some reason, very drawn to his assisination and have been researching it since then. I'm thinking of changing my major to criminial justice because of that. I just wish whoever really killed him was brought to justice. *sigh* :cry:

...in 1960 or 1961. I was attending an all girls Catholic high school at the time and he made an appearance at Portland Civic Auditorium. The nuns urged us to "volunteer" at the event and I'm glad I did.

would we have lost so many men in Vietnam. Would our innocence have been ripped from us with his brutal murder. JFK inspired me with the ideals of what the Democratic Party should be about...it seems sometimes we have lost our way. Oh to hear his oratory...over and over again, that New England acent. I was young when he was Our President, I even met him as a young school boy. As I think back it was right about this week in May of 1963 he was going to give the Cadets at West Point their diplomas. Imagine a bunch of school children yelling and scream President Kennedy at his limo and it stopping for our school bus. He had his driver pull the limo onto a median and got out and boarded our bus....all the yelling stopped and we were in awe of the man we saw & heard on TV. That smile, the pat on the head...the shaking of hands...our teachers just beside themselves....yup JFK made an impression on me. I still after all these years have a few memomentos of him tucked away.

John we hardy knew ye.........

I was born. Thanks, Oliver! I mean, obviously, you should get some help, man--but your work helped get and keep me interested in this great man.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President. :)