Remembering JFK...The Conservative?

Today marks the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. As we look at old footage of Kennedy's speeches, it becomes striking just how much he sounded like a conservative.  According to Ira Stoll, author of "JFK, Conservative" this seems very much the case, despite the fact that the image of him is that of a liberal Democrat.

In an interview with Glenn Beck, Stoll cites principles that Kennedy stood for which resembles that of a present day Tea Party conservative. Kennedy called for lowering taxes, for balancing the budget, fighting for freedom, and winning the cold war against the Soviet Union. He was for the death penalty, free trade, and a strong military. He believed in peace through strength by increasing military spending to put pressure on the Soviet Union - ideas that Ronald Reagan adopted during his tenure. Kennedy fought against corrupt labor unions, warned against atheism, quoted scripture in his speeches, and appointed the Supreme Court justice who wrote the dissent on Roe v Wade. He was often very outspoken against Communism, and he saw the necessity to continue nuclear testing. He sent in more troops to Vietnam.

This claim that he was a conservative, of course, would seem unbelievable to those on the left who always thought he was one of their own. After all, JFK is a liberal icon...how can that be? Stoll claims that two of Kennedy's close aids,  Ted Sorenson and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., were themselves very liberal. Since their books were influential on the subject of John Kennedy, they had a part in creating that perception, maybe, he says, as part of wishful thinking...maybe, they wanted others to remember him as more liberal than he actually was.

However, the facts didn't bear that out. One of the ways they helped create that perception, was that in their books, they edited out some of the more hawkish lines from his speeches. For example, in the American University speech, which some say was his most dovish speech, Kennedy talked about a limited nuclear test ban treaty. But he also said 'Communism was repugnant for its negation of  the rights of the individual against the State' and that 'the Soviets were to blame for the Cold War'.  In both books, these lines were edited out. When Kennedy spoke in Berlin, he also railed against Communism  and said 'anyone who thinks we can work with the Communists, let them come to Berlin'. However, in both books, the authors changed the chronology of these two speeches. They said the Berlin speech came first and then the American University speech.  Apparently, they both wanted to make him appear as though he became more dovish as time went on, as though he was becoming more of a peacenik.  Yet, supporting this claim that Kennedy was more conservative, Schlesinger admitted that liberals were disappointed when Kennedy made free trade a priority over medicare and increased aid to education. In fact, JFK supported cuts on tariffs for imports and associated himself with the tax rebellions of the old Boston Tea party.

Even by the standards of his times, JFK was considered conservative, as compared with a Rockefeller liberal. As Stoll asserts, with the assassination, came the end of the Conservative wing of the Democrat party. Conservatives then moved into the Republican party, and eventually, to the more conservative Tea Party wing.

Needless to say, Ira Stoll is getting a lot of heat by the political left for his assertion that John Kennedy was really a conservative. No surprise, John F. Kennedy was a hero to many, but an icon to the left.