Remembering JFK: "The Golden Cup," A Folk Song

Like Martin Luther King, President John F. Kennedy envisioned a "New Frontier," a U. S. where everyone, including African Americans, had equal opportunities for success. His vision also included a U. S. which took a leadership role in the exploration of space as well as a growing and vibrant national economy unhampered by restrictive tax rates.

And like millions of other Americans at that time, I shared his vision of America. Today, some of us are beginning to question whether we can sustain our success and others doubt our nation's ability to lead in these difficult times.

In my view, were JFK alive today, he would disagree with those doubters. Read these words from JFK to see what I mean.

“The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.”

"I think we have to revitalize our society. I think we have to demonstrate to the people of the world that we're determined in this free country of ours to be first -- not first but -- not first when -- but first." 

I was in my early twenties when Kennedy was assassinated. I miss him. I miss those days when Kennedy embodied the youthful confidence of our country, the boundless possibilities of success, the great give and take of American politics, and the hope that we could all somehow make a difference in this hard world. I confess that I miss the excitement that people felt as the myth of Camelot began to take shape; I know it was a bit over the top, a romantic nod to King Arthur's Round Table, but still, it was a great national fantasy.

All that ended on November 22, 1963. Before we drank our fill, the golden cup of promise was shattered that black day.

Here's a folk song from the album, "The Golden Cup," which honors JFK and what he stood for.

PT 109 Commander Jack Kennedy

This is a pic of JFK during his WWII years.

There's a little swagger in the pose -- confident but not arrogant.

There's nothing wrong with a show of confidence if you're leading men into battle. As a matter of fact, having a confident leader is much better than having someone who broods and seems equivocal and uncertain about every decision.

JFK was Commander of the 80' (Mfg. by Elco) Patrol Torpedo Boat 109 and its twelve-fourteen man crew in the Pacific. The boat was powered by three Packard V12 engines (1200 hp each) for a top speed of 35-40 knots. They were armed with two to four Mark 8 torpedos.

The Elco PTs were constructed of two layers of one inch thick diagonally placed mahogany planks which made them easier to repair if damaged...and if they were able to make it back to base.

The PTs were nicknamed "plywood coffins." I'm guessing the brass probably wanted Commanders with a "little swagger" to helm these boats.

Joseph Kennedy, Jr., JFK's Older Brother

Joseph Kennedy, Jr. was JFK's older brother by two years. Joe Junior had been groomed by his father from a very early age to be president of the U. S. He attended the prestigious Choate School in 1933 and graduated from Harvard in 1938. He spent a year of study at the London School of Economics before enrolling in Harvard Law School.  He was a delegate to the 1940 Democratic National Convention and planned to run for congress from Massachusetts. As World War II began, Joe Kennedy left law school and began officer and flight training in the U. S. Navy.

He completed 25 missions as pilot of a land based PB4Y patrol bomber by 1944 and was eligible to return home to the United States.

PB4Y

He instead chose to volunteer for a very dangerous mission called Operation Aphrodite. This secret development made use of "unmanned, explosive laden Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers, that were deliberately crashed into their targets under radio control."

The bomb filled planes couldn't safely take off by remote control; pilots had to take off and fly them up to 2000 feet where the remote control would take over and the pilots would parachute out of the plane. The planes would then be crashed into the target.

On August 12, 1944, five planes took off from RAF Fersfield near Norwich in Norfok, England. The BQ-8 (a converted remote control equipped B-24 Liberator) was piloted by Joe Kennedy; his co pilot was Lt. John Willy. Two of the other planes were Lockheed Venturas, the navigation plane was a B-17, and an F-8 Mosquito was the photography plane.

Their target was the Fortress of Mimoyecques, an underground German military complex in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. The allies knew something was going on there, but they didn't know that the site was supposed to house 25 giant V3 cannons which the Germans hoped to use to bombard London (only a hundred miles away). 

Kennedy's plane was loaded with 21,000 pounds of Torpex and the plan was for Kennedy and his co pilot to get the plane into the air, put the plane on remote control for a test turn, remove the explosive firing pin, and then parachute to safety before the plane was guided to its target.

Everything went according to plan up to and including the firing pin removal. Over the radio, Kennedy told the other planes, that the pin had been removed. Two minutes later, the plane exploded.

A camera man in the photography plane who was injured by some of the fragments from the explosion says,  

the Baby just exploded in mid-air as we neared it and I was knocked halfway back to the cockpit. A few pieces of the Baby came through the plexiglass nose and I got hit in the head and caught a lot of fragments in my right arm. I crawled back to the cockpit and lowered the wheels so that Bob could make a quick emergency landing,

Kennedy and his co pilot were killed instantly. Later, an electronics officer said he had warned Kennedy the day before the flight about a possible defect in the wiring harness.

Kennedy's father and the rest of the family were devastated by Joe's death. The presidential plans that Joesph Kennedy senior had for Joe Junior were passed on to the next oldest son, John F. Kennedy.

JFK's Centrist Political Views Would Unite U.S. Today

May 23, 2020. AUTHOR NOTE: Coming in late summer 2020: Keepsake Edition of JFK 50: A Memorial.

This year marks the 57th anniversary of John Kennedy’s assassination. Over the years many books and articles have been published concerning JFK, his life, his murder, etc. Today most of JFK's political views (especially his patriotism) are shared by conservatives.  Indeed, in my opinion, Kennedy would disagree with many if not most of the "Progressive Democrat," or "Democrat Socialist" views popular today. I believe Kennedy was a heroic figure whose centrist views spanned the political spectrum. 

Kennedy stood firmly for civil rights -- his dramatic call to Coretta King during the 1960 campaign, his use of federal marshals and national guard troops to ensure the safety of James Meredith at Ole Miss, and his famous TV address on civil rights, all reveal him to be a strong advocate for human rights. In addition to that, JFK was active in pursuing another goal -- nuclear disarmament. He persuaded a reluctant public and Senate to support a cautious and limited nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviets.

Kennedy's approach to fiscal matters (he believed that across the board tax cuts would benefit all Americans), his distrust of government bureaucracy, his attitude toward the individual's relationship to the government ("ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"), his disdain for communist ideology, and his support for a strong military buildup, would all be popular with conservatives today.

The late summer 2020 release of this special Keepsake Edition of JFK 50: A Memorial in Drama, Poetry, and Song is a dramatic narrative that recalls the fear and grief that the assassination led to  and suggests that Kennedy should be included in the pantheon of national heroes. It's not a history, an opinion piece, or a novelization of the assassination. It's a memorial, a souvenir, and a keepsake of JFK and his times. It will be available in both ebook and print forms on Amazon.

The memorial book also includes the lyrics to seven original folk songs commemorating Kennedy. A previously released companion CD/MP3 album of these songs is still available on Amazon ($0.99). Nashville producer J. Aaron Brown, a two time Grammy winner, calls the concept album "a folksy blend of songs and narrations that will touch the hearts of all who experienced that tragic day in 1963."

I've always admired JFK and he was my first political hero. I was a young, twenty-three year old college instructor when he was assassinated. Like most everyone else on that tragic weekend in November of 1963, I was devastated. I tried to recreate some of that emotion in JFK 50: A Memorial in Drama, Poetry, and Song."  Whether you are old enough to remember those dark days or  a younger person who's interested in JFK, I think you will enjoy this book and album.

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JFK...A Hero?

In the song "He Was Born to Live" on the JFK 50: A Memorial Album,there's this verse:

He asked our help while on his way

To let the sun shine in,

We thought of him as a hero back then,

Didn’t mind his feet of clay.

(Click here to see the video post of the complete song.)

Is JFK a hero? In my opinion...yes. A good many people regarded him as a hero in the late '50s. And after he was killed in office, many more felt the same way. He died serving his country as its Commander in Chief. 

The Oxford dictionary defines a hero as

• a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities:a war hero

By now, most people have heard the story of JFK's heroism as Commander of PT 109 in the Pacific in WWII. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library site says that later when asked how he became a hero, Kennedy said, "It was involuntary. They sank my boat."

That's Kennedy on the far right, bare chested and in shades. On a night mission, his patrol boat was rammed and cut in half by a Japanese destroyer. Two of JFK's men were killed. He and his remaining crew members gathered in the dark water and decided to swim to an island over three miles away.

JFK, a strong swimmer, towed one of the injured men by clamping his life jacket strap between his teeth. Over the next several days, the men moved to other nearby islands looking for food and water. They encountered a couple of natives who took a message on a coconut shell to a nearby US base. Kennedy and his men were eventually rescued. You can read the whole story in more detail at the JFK Library site.  

For his bravery during the incident, Kennedy was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal and for his injuries was given a Purple Heart.

So he meets the "courage" and "war hero" parts of the standard.

But what about the "outstanding achievements and noble qualities" part? As president, I think he accomplished at least two "outstanding" things: he started and inspired others to follow through on the program to reach the moon, and he did more than any president up to that time to champion civil rights.

But what about the "nobility" standard?

Many point to the revelations about his treatment of women and many sexual affairs as proof of his poor character. It has been reported that he had various one day or one night stands while president. And in my JFK 50 drama (see column on right) a feminist character says that's not all.

Kennedy apparently had several longer affairs. Frank Sinatra introduced him to Judith Campbell Exner who also had mafia connections. It is also reported that he had a liaison with suspected spy, Ellen Rometsch, as well as a relationship with promiscuous Mariella Novotny, the notorious woman who also slept with British war minister John Profumo and a soviet military attaché. More recently, Mimi Alford, a White House intern during JFK’s tenure, has described her long sexual relationship with him. And finally this catalogue of promiscuity wouldn’t be complete without celebrities he was rumored to have bedded, stars such as Angie Dickinson, Kim Novak, and Marilyn Monroe.

Everything that's been said about Kennedy’s sexual indiscretions may be true, but heroes are human beings, and that means they are flawed just like us. 


As far as I know, no mythological or historical heroes were absolutely perfect from a moral, especially sexual perspective. But they came through in a time of desperation and fear, and their leadership and courage inspired people to elevate them above their human shortcomings.

John Kennedy's Vision

This photo illustrates one reason why those of us who were alive back then liked JFK. He had VISION and that vision inspired us.

In this iconic photo he and NASA Director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, Wernher von Braun, are looking up at one of the early rockets in the moon program.

He told the American people we could do this (reach the moon), and we did it.

This photo was taken on 11/16/1963. Six days later JFK was assassinated.

JFK had his faults. He was human. But most of us are willing to overlook those faults in light of his outstanding leadership qualities.

Please comment and tell why you admire (or do not admire) Kennedy.

Remembering JFK: A Memorial in Drama, Poetry, and Song

The songs in JFK 50: A Memorial Album came from a readers' drama with the similar title -- JFK 50: A Memorial in Poetry, Drama, and Song.

A readers' drama is a drama in script form meant to be read and imagined by its readers. Reading a drama is similar to reading a novel that has lots of dialog and not much description. The visual setting, the characters' appearance, etc. are, for the most part, left to the readers' imaginations.

 My readers' drama about JFK is ceremonial in nature. It opens with a picture of JFK and a folk song, "The End of November, 1963."

Darkness falls as the sun goes down,

Dead trees cling to the icy ground,

The black raven bird makes no sound,

The gyre is turning, it’s almost wound.

It’s the end of November, in the year…

Nineteen…sixty-three…

After the song, a character named Heroikus enters. He identifies himself as a protector of heroes ancient and modern, and the keeper of the their pantheon. He speaks to the reader (audience).

Heroikus

 Every nation in every age, and especially your nation, in your age, has a need, nay, a thirst for a cohesive force, a set of shared values and beliefs, and an assortment of unifying, heroic characters who through the magic of myth become something more than legend.

The hunger for heroes is natural. Even now some of your sons and daughters-- because they have no example or guidance from you—sadly try to make heroes out of bombers, terrorists, and vampires.

Without heroes, without myth, families fragment, things fall apart, a culture’s center cannot hold.

He explains that the focus of this drama is John F. Kennedy as a hero and possible addition to the heroic pantheon. He introduces a character called The Old Writer who was alive at the time of JFK's assassination and who will take the reader back to examine the fear and grief felt at the time of his sudden death, as well as some of the words (speeches) and deeds of Kennedy. He promises also to explore the negatives about JFK. 

From the Prologue...

Old Writer
November, November…

The word falls from the lips like a dry leaf

And whirls aimlessly in the chill wind.

The Great Wheel turns,

And the green world gives way to daemonic grey.

Fifty years have passed since that bleak November…

Fifty long winters since

John Kennedy’s brutal murder
Left its ugly scar on our hearts.

After an invocation, we move into Part I, "The Leviathan Rises." Here we see a still picture of the presumed assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. 

The Old Writer takes the reader back to that tragic weekend.

Old Writer

Somewhere in the darkness

On that cold November night,

A small lamp is switched on.

The windows are dark,

And outside, the last dead leaves

Quiver in the night wind.

In another room, the screen flickers, glows…

And the images, the voices, the questions,

The shapes of light and dark,

Coalesce into that primal, wordless fear…

Behemoth, Leviathan rising slowly

Up through dark, anarchic waters

From that abysmal place

Where order crumbles,

Love is mutilated nightly,

And Chaos and Fear reign.

JFK 50: A Memorial in Drama, Poetry, and Song will be available this weekend, October 19, as an eBook on amazon Kindle.

Video: That Black Day, November 1963

November 22, 1963, is the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's death by assassination.

In August and September, my wife Joyce and I worked on an interesting project together, an album of original folk songs which remember and honor JFK as that anniversary approaches. The CD/MP3 was released yesterday and is titled JFK 50: A Memorial Album.

With the help of several friends--Charlie Barnes, Jerry Webb (he owns The Project Room studio), and Joe Pointer--we recorded a series of eight song tracks and four recreated newscasts from 1963. Charlie sings on seven of the songs, Jerry is the guitarist, and Joe Pointer plays harmonica. Joyce sings the last track, a reprise of the fourth song on the album, "The Golden Cup."

All of us involved in the project are seniors who were alive at the time of JFK's assassination. Like most everyone else who was old enough and alive at that time, we remember where we were and what we were doing when we first heard the news.

Nashville producer and two time Grammy winner J. Aaron Brown calls JFK 50 "a folksy blend of songs and narrations that will touch the hearts of all who experienced that tragic day in November of 1963....[It's] a must for history buffs and JFK fans around the world."

Though the lyrics are all original, three of the songs make use of traditional or public domain tunes that you might recognize. The song in the You Tube video below, "He Was Born to Live," is one of those, and the melody, which I'm sure most of you will recognize, goes back to the first decade of the 20th or the last couple of decades of the 19th century.

Most of the new lyrics I wrote for it are not all that new either. A few lines go back to 1969-70 when I used them in a play performed at the community college where I worked at the time.

If you click on the album cover link at the top of the right column, you can sample all the other tunes on the album as well.

Thanks for reading this post and listening to and viewing the video.

Where Were You When JFK Was Killed?

Friday, November 22, 1963. A terrible, black day. If you were alive and old enough back then, you probably remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you first heard that President John Kennedy had been assassinated. 

I remember where I was and what I was doing when I first heard the news. I was 23 and in my first year of college teaching. On that black November day I was just dismissing a 1:00 class in World Literature when we were met at the door by students with the tragic news that shots had been fired at Kennedy and that he and Texas Governor John Connally were wounded. 

"How serious was his wound? Would he make it?" I wondered, as I climbed the stairs in the old Roark Building to go to my next class--Freshman Comp.

Even though I asked those questions in my mind, I clung to the hope that he would somehow survive. I didn't keep that Comp I class very long at all. We talked briefly about what we had heard and I let them go. From their comments, I gathered that they too were hoping against hope that he would pull through.

Later, as I drove home in my old Ford station wagon I heard on the radio that he had died. My wife and I and my little son spent the next three days in front of the TV, watching those images that became etched in our memories forever.

On Monday after watching the funeral on TV and other coverage of the assassination in the afternoon, I sat on the steps of the trailer we were living in, looking at the sunset. I had a legal pad and a pen with me, and I tried to write down what I felt. I soon gave up, overwhelmed by the enormity of what had happened and the inadequacy of my own naive scribblings. 

But as I sat there, I did realize that from the very beginning, Kennedy had inspired me. Maybe it was his youth (he was young for a politician). Maybe it was because of his political views. Maybe it was all those PT 109 heroics that became a part of his campaign.  Maybe it was that crisp Massachusetts brogue he had. Maybe it was because he seemed full of life and vigor.  

Thinking about his assassination still makes me feel like the American people were short changed, robbed. His administration ended just as he was growing to the job. We didn't get to see how he would've handled Vietnam, for example. Is it possible that he would have thrown his full support behind that war (he was very much anti communist) and won it, thus avoiding all the protests and the out of control youth movement? 

It might not have worked out that way, but certainly the whole dynamic would have changed with the youthful JFK in charge instead of lifetime "old school" politician Johnson.

Many say that Kennedy inspired a whole generation. Some say that he still inspires people today. He still inspires me.

I think it was Kennedy’s unquestioned love for the United States, his articulation of our role as citizens and what the future goals of the U. S. should be that still resonate down through the years.

Kennedy focused national attention on achieving the goal of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s. Americans were inspired by that vision and in 1969 U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped from his spacecraft out onto the surface of the moon.

We were also inspired by Kennedy’s efforts in the area of civil rights. From his call to Coretta King during the 1960 campaign to the use of federal marshals and troops to ensure the safety of James Meredith at Old Miss and to his famous TV address on civil rights to the American people, the role he played as president to bring about the end of segregation, though overshadowed by Martin Luther King’s highly visible leadership, was certainly inspirational.

In addition, JFK eloquently articulated the following:

·        A belief in “human dignity as the source of national purpose”
·        A belief in “human liberty as the source of national action”
·        A belief in “the human heart as the source of national compassion”
·        A belief in “the human mind as the source of our invention and ideas”
·        A faith in “our fellow citizens as individuals and people”
·        A belief in the promise embodied in the United States of America as capable of producing “a society so abundant and creative and so free that it cannot only fulfill the aspirations of its citizens but serve equally well as a beacon for all mankind”
·        A distrust of “superstates” and excessive government power.
·        An abhorrence of the “waste and incompetence of large scale bureaucracies.” *

I'm much older now and somewhat more conservative, but those ideas still sound pretty good to me.

The passing years have brought us much more information about JFK, his administration, his assassination, and even the “Camelot” myth, some of it not so flattering. 

But, I haven’t forgotten my younger self, and no matter what others think, I still regard JFK, with all of his flaws, as one of my political heroes.

NOTE: If you were alive and old enough back in '63, please share in the comments your memory of where you were and what you were doing when you first heard the news. Thank you.

*The bulleted items above are taken from JFK’s speech to the New York Liberal Party, accepting their nomination for the presidency in the 1960 election. A text of this complete speech is available on the American Experience website.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/jfk-nyliberal/-