Our late great President..  

So...having read his biographies, I (being 42 yrs old) boggle at the Catholic reverence for such an adulterous person.  Nevermind the alliance between the Kennedy family and liberal and dissident theologians which, I would think, would sent Traddy Catholics into hysterical orbit.  

There is so much pious nonsense about this man.  An example, the continuing legend of him going to confession the night before he was shot.  You can read the minute-by-minute account Manchester wrote of the days leading up to the shooting, an account which, btw, was held up from publication by Jackie's influence and so we know she had a lot of control over it, and read nothing about any priests coming to the hotel (although priests are not absent in the account).

Etc. Etc. Etc.

I wasn't born.

I've always liked RFK more. I think given the country's past treatment of Catholics, many faithful Catholics were excited to live to see a Catholic president. Look what happened to Al Smith, I think that set a tone that Catholics couldn't be president in this country. It really seems against all odds that we would have a Catholic president.

I was at Arlington this past year, and it was really nice to be able to pray for the repose of their souls, though I skipped over Teddy's grave. There aren't a ton of historical figures Catholics can pray for in this country.

Maybe it was by God's mercy that He allowed JFK to die when he did. I'm not sure he wouldn't have continued on the same downward spiral as the rest of the family politically.

RFK attending Holy Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Chicago in 1960.

The words "conspiracy theory" was invented for those whom would not
accept the conclusions of the Warren Report on the assassination of
JFK.
Michael Collins Piper is a good alternative source on why JFK was
αssαssιnαtҽd and the cover ups.
You can find him on the Internet.  He has written a highly acclaimed
book on the assassination of JFK.

Jack Kennedy was charismatic, humorous and all the rest. No argument.

However, Pat Buchanan's latest column deflates the "legend" of JFK's leadership, pointing out that Nixon did a great deal more while also undoing some of the catastrophes of the JFK/LBJ era. (On that, Pat and I will ever disagree. I think Nixon was a big government liberal but Pat is a loyal man.)

Anyway, compared to the post-Reagan era, JFK and RMN both look like fire-breathing Tories. So the point, for all practical purposes, is moot.

JFK's baggage and encuмbrances were monumental. Being a Catholic and being president was something for which neither he nor the government were adequately prepared. While today his "elitist progressivism" would be a natural fit, the average Joe in the early 1960s was much more independent of omnivorous federal predation than today and, especially in the South, the least mention of "change" in the social order really was a war cry. Kennedy's own party obstructed racial legislation long after his death.

As Pat points out, JFK's fall from popularity is now precipitous. His idolaters managed to keep the myth going for 50 years but even that has been too, too much.

The man renounced his obligations to the Faith before Texas Baptists (or whatever sect that gang of mouth-breathers was) to get his Catholicity off the table during the campaign and then went on to give some exciting speeches in office, but not much else.

Was it fun to see him and Jacqueline and the little ones vacationing in Hyannis, to see him stride into the press room and lay waste to the idiotic questions put to him, to see the adoration of the Irish and the Berliners when he visited? Sure! It was terrific!

I think, had he lived on, he was smart enough to have been able to get out of the big holes he dug for himself with the Soviets and to even take a hard look forward, economically, to set some matters right. He DID propose tax cuts and for that he will always remain in the plus column.

The Kennedy mythology, like so much else handed down from Mt. Olympus on the Potomac, is media-generated. Jack was quite a guy with some very serious problems and, quite frankly, was not given the time necessary to work his way upward toward something actually substantial and, thus, worth remembering for important reasons.

http://buchanan.org/blog/nixon-kennedy-myths-reality-6001

Cantarella asked for the motives.

That would be impossible to answer. There are suspicions galore but the assassination conspiracy industry has so confused, inflated and whip-sawed so many details and people alleged to have been involved that at every turn every piece of evidence or the latest theory is contradicted by hundreds of noisy, opposing voices, all contradicting one another.

All you can expect is guesses. 99.99999% of which are completely wild.

Btw, I think it is Michael Collins Piper who will be a guest, again, soon on the Glenn Beck program. I caught the Beck show last night on my way to dinner and he said he'd like to put Piper up against Roger Stone, another conspiracy theorist and former Dole campaign operative, who has claimed it was LBJ - all the way, that put out the hit on JFK.

They will be arguing about who did it until Doomsday.