今天是肯尼迪总统被刺50周年

大概两周前，媒体就开始关于肯尼迪总统被刺50周年的报道了，包括肯尼迪的女儿出任日本大使，媒体报道很久。
本周的报道更是密集，今天是肯尼迪总统被刺50周年，路上听新闻在连轴访谈，回忆等等。

我都被这阵势惊讶坏了，呵呵。在我脑子里说到JFK，我立马想到的是：丑闻，包括政治丑闻和私人活丑闻；阴谋，50年没解密的阴谋；肯尼迪家族的魔咒。我基本上想不出JFK在任期间到底有哪些作为。
为什么米国人这么对他着迷和热衷？

今天路上听新闻时得到一点答案，我随便翻了篇文章，说的差不多：

  
In Our View: JFK's Legacy Resonates

He wasn't perfect president, or man, but impact on U.S. extends beyond his death


Published: November 22, 2013, 6:01 AM

It remains, 50 years later, a seminal moment in American history. Not one that was unique in the scope of its tragedy, but one that served as the defining moment for a generation, as an ultimate remember-where-you-were event, and as the coming-of-age apogee for television.

Five decades after President John F. Kennedy was murdered while riding in an open car through the streets of Dallas, five decades after the national psyche was forever altered, there is little that can be written about the assassination that hasn't already been said. And yet it still resonates. For people now in their 60s, the moment defined their youth; for those younger than 50, it influenced every event of their lives.

Much of that is due to the fact that the Kennedy presidency was the first significant historical event to play out in real time on television. A young, charismatic president had ushered a new era to the American forefront, creating such a generational shift that his time was dubbed "Camelot" for its glamour and myth-making possibilities.

And it all was instantly beamed into living rooms across the nation. Kennedy's election was due in part to the first televised presidential debates; he went on television to inform the world that the Soviet Union had placed missiles in Cuba; his death was reported to the nation within moments of the announcement. That death marked the end of a presidency and, perhaps, the end of America's innocence, but it did not mark the end of the era that Kennedy had helped launch. He was, in many ways, the first modern president.

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans -- born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace," he said during his inaugural address.

Kennedy was, indeed, the perfect man for his time. Photogenic. Quick with a quip. He wasn't a perfect man, of course, as we know by now. Nor was he a perfect president. His role in ramping up American involvement in Vietnam tends to be understated, and the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion is what emboldened the Soviets to place missiles in Cuba and precipitate the Cuban Missile Crisis.


But there were moments of great leadership and great inspiration. In the end, Kennedy did manage the Cuban Missile Crisis; and he did join others in taking important steps in the civil rights movement; and he did provide the impetus for the mission that eventually landed humans on the moon. His successes were many, and they lead to questions of whether he presided over a particularly significant 34 months in American history or whether his presidency has simply been so scrutinized that it swells in importance.

We vote on the side of significance. Whether the man made the times great or whether a great man made the times, Kennedy's presidency proved to be a turning point in American history. That is his legacy, and it resonates much more strongly than the horrible events that took place 50 years ago today in Dallas.

Much has been written and contemplated and theorized about Kennedy's assassination. Much like 9/11, it quickly became a breeding ground for conspiracy theories and conjecture, a development that is unavoidable when a moment in history is so grotesque that it defies logic. The shooting can and will continue to be a source of debate, yet while it is a part of the Kennedy story, it is not the most important part. On this anniversary of his death, we prefer to place our focus on his life..

Dallas (CNN) -- Five decades after it served as the backdrop for a nation's grief and disbelief, Dallas' Dealey Plaza took center stage once again Friday as Americans commemorated the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

"A new era dawned and another waned a half century ago when hope and hatred collided right here in Dallas," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said in his remarks commemorating Kennedy's death.

Rawlings then read the final words of the speech Kennedy was to deliver that day. That was followed by a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m., the time Kennedy was shot a few feet from where Rawlings spoke.

Bells tolled, and after a brief pause, cadets from the Naval Academy sang "America the Beautiful." Historian David McCullough read excerpts from famous Kennedy speeches.

Some 5,000 invited guests were expected to attend the commemorative events, which was bookended by bagpipers -- a JFK favorite -- playing under a spitting gray sky.

The tightly choreographed and secured event was the culmination of a series of commemorations Friday, including wreath-laying events in Kennedy's home town of Boston and at his Arlington National Cemetery gravesite.

In Washington, where flags flew at half-staff over the Capitol and White House, Kennedy's last living sibling, Jean Kennedy Smith, participated in the Arlington wreath-laying. Earlier, Attorney General Eric Holder visited the gravesite.


And in the House of Representatives, where Kennedy served from 1947 to 1953, the Rev. John Robert Skeldon of Fort Worth, Texas, reminded lawmakers in his opening prayers that "in commemorating such a one whose life and presidency were cut short, we do so not to sow in tears, as the psalmist says, but rather to reap with shouts of joy."

"Help us, Lord God, to make the late President's inaugural vision our own so that together as fellow Americans we may 'ask not what our country can do for us, but rather what we can do for our country,'" Skeldon prayed, invoking Kennedy's famous words.

The Dallas event was designed to be a delicate balancing act of honoring Kennedy's memory without sensationalizing his murder, and to help the city throw off its reputation as "the city that killed Kennedy."

It opened with a video from an organizer speaking of that goal, and continued in Rawlings remarks, which keyed off Kennedy's call for the United States to embrace and conquer a "New Frontier" of challenges

The mayor spoke of a Dallas that took up the mantle of Kennedy's challenge of American betterment and transformed itself with a "sense of industry born of tragedy" into a city that he hopes would make the president proud.

"He and our city will forever be linked, in tragedy, yes," Rawlings said. "But out of that tragedy, an opportunity was granted to us: the chance to learn how to face the future when it's the darkest and most uncertain, how to hold high the torch even when the flame flickers and threatens to go out.".

＂ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.＂
今天听到这句话，孤陋寡闻的我都石化了！ 啊？这是JFK说的 我以为是中宣部说的呢

1961年肯尼迪就职演说中说：
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”.

Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, Reverend Clergy, fellow citizens:

      We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as well as a beginning--signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.

     The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

     We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

     Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

     This much we pledge--and more.

     To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

     To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

     To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

To our sister republics south of our border, we offer a special pledge--to convert our good words into good deeds--in a new alliance for progress--to assist free men and free governments in casting off the chains of poverty. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers. Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every other power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.

     To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support--to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective--to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak--and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

     Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction.

     We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.


     But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present course--both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of terror that stays the hand of mankind's final war.

     So let us begin anew--remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

     Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

     Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms--and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations.


     Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce.

     Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the earth the command of Isaiah--to "undo the heavy burdens . . . (and) let the oppressed go free."

     And if a beachhead of cooperation may push back the jungle of suspicion, let both sides join in creating a new endeavor, not a new balance of power, but a new world of law, where the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.

     All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.

     In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.

     Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are-- but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

     Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?

     In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility--I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it--and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.

     And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.

     My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.

     Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

[ 本帖最后由 pp_dream 于 2013-11-26 01:50 编辑 ].