JFK, Conservative

Stoll (Samuel Adams: A Life) makes his stance clear right from the beginning, opening with John F. Kennedy declaring, “I’m not a liberal at all.” Some 70 odd pages later, the former managing editor of the New York Sun glosses over the speech J.F.K. delivered in acceptance of the New York Liberal Party nomination in September of 1960, when the soon-to-be-president elect spoke at length of how “proud” he was to be a liberal, and what that label meant to him. Here, Stoll highlights J.F.K.’s definition of a liberal as “someone who looks ahead and not behind... someone who cares about the welfare of the people”—not someone who favors a “super state” dependent on big government and big spending. Stoll’s obvious allegiances notwithstanding, this is still an informative analysis of the ways in which J.F.K. did indeed evince his conservative side—he was very religious, open to a free market unencumbered by governmental interference, and staunchly anti-Communist. Stoll’s stated goal is to reveal the man behind the hype, yet a clear corollary aim is to wrest J.F.K. from the rhetorical and political grip of today’s Democrats. Conservatives will find plenty to enjoy here, while more open-minded left-leaners will be given pause to consider the ways in which politicians—especially in retrospect—can be said to have simultaneously occupied two very distinct camps. (Oct.)