The American Icon

Not really touching on Libra, but more commenting on John F. Kennedy's legacy in America as a whole. Assassinated in 1963, it always strikes me how much of an emotional reaction his name seems to invoke still more than 50 years later. Often seen as the harbinger of a prosperous and optimistic new time in America, his untimely death shattered the dreams of many Americans who continue to hold onto the belief that his life could have turned around many of the darker events in American history that later ensued. Despite not being in office long enough to make too much of a change in the lives of the average American citizen, JFK remains one of our most beloved presidents. Though his assassination definitely aided in creating a bond between posthumous JFK and the American public, we are obviously deeply sympathetic of his premature death, there must be other reasons for his feverish popularity. Maybe it was the way he was ushered into the white house, the first democrat to win the election in a long time, or maybe it was just the way he exuded charisma, he was, after all, notorious for his extramarital affairs. And though we may associate Kennedy with an image of youth and vitality, he had actually ben suffering from a plethora of illnesses from childhood, all of which he treated with an incredibly extensive drug regimen. To me it seems his lesser attributes have always been brushed aside in order for us to have in JFK what we seek most in a leader, a hero. Though automatically we may associate heroes and leadership with war heroes whose stories of sacrifice we hold up to the highest esteem, the American public has always sought also sought a sort of wild, virile, yet magically inspirational hero to lead us. In Kennedy the country almost found what we had wanted, but only for a few short moments before he too was snatched away.