Passion for Justice
Passion
Before I indicate the books that I wish to review here let me say some brief words on the topic of passion. It has long been my belief that love or desire or passion for one's career counts for a lot. I had wanted to become a teacher since I was a young boy of ten. Why? Quite simply, because I was awe-struck by the ability to teach of an old teacher near his retirement. This man was still enthusiastic and still interested in his students after many years of teaching. Indeed, I remember telling my mother that I wished to be a teacher like Mr. Murray because I had learnt so much from him with such a singular ease. It was not solely down to me at all, though I was a good student. There was something about Mr Murray that I intuitively admired, and looking back at it after all these years (46 to be precise), that one thing was his passion for and his commitment to or enthusiasm for his job. Some people write off this quality far too easily indeed in my opinion. However, let it be noted here, that such qualities as hard work, commitment, perseverance, punctuality, trustworthiness and a certain level of intelligence are also needed. But all of these can be draining and stressing and debilitating, and quite frankly soul-destroying without a certain passion, desire or love for what one is doing.
Here I wish to review three books animated by passion, viz., JFK in Ireland: Four days that changed a President, by Ryan Tubridy, HarperCollins (2010), pp. 302, "Let The Word Go Forth": The Speeches, Statements and Writings of John Kennedy, 1947 - 1963, selected by Theodore C. Sorensen, Delacorte Press, Bantam, 1988, pp. 433, and Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years by David Talbot, Simon & Schuster, UK and New York, 2007, pp. 478.
This is a well-researched book that is lavishly illustrated with pictures and plates. It captures the enthusiasm and passion not alone of the Irish people for their first real Irish prince as it were, even if he was as many as four generations adrift from his roots, as it does the passion of an Irish-American President for his cultural and family roots in Ireland. Tubridy captures both these passions so well in his wonderfully researched and delightfully clearly written text. This book is at once, then, an account of the search for identity of a nation as it is the search for the personal identity of an individual, who just happened to be the first Catholic Irish American to be President of the United States of America.
That JFK was an Hibernophile was without doubt as he had visited Ireland twice before his much heralded and triumphant if indulgent visit to our shores as President of the USA in 1963. In the summer of 1945, in the wake of the end of World War II, the recently demobbed USA Naval Officer, JFK, then a mere 28 years of age secured a job as a cub reporter with the Hearst Newspaper Group. He immediately embarked for a post-war tour of war-shattered Europe. This trip took the young reporter to Germany, England, France and, needless to say, Ireland. During this visit he called on the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera whom he interviewed. Tubridy quotes JFK as being impressed by de Valera's "mystic hold on the hearts of the people." (Op. cit., p.26). This about sums up for this reader his own father's view of that same Irish politician, whom I recall, my father and most people of his generation virtually worshipped. Quite interestingly, Tubridy also quotes at length JFK's wide reading of Irish history and other subjects related to his ancestral homeland. (Ibid., p. 27ff )
Some two years later, as a young elected Congressman man he was to return yet again, and stay in the plush and luxurious Lismore Castle, owned by a family whom a sister had married into. During that 1947 three-week visit he was to meet his father's third cousin Mrs Mary Ryan, whom he would also fondly visit on his third and final trip in 1963 as President. Once again JFK recalled of that 1947 visit that for him the call to "that cottage was filled with magic sentiment ... I looked around the table (in the imposing Lismore Castle) and thought about the cottage where my cousins lived, and I said to myself, 'What a contrast!'" (Ibid., p. 31)
This book goes on to chart JFK's love affair with the country that was the birthplace of his ancestors and, by implication that country's love affair with the young Irish American President. This work, along with the TV documentary written and produced by Tubridy, gives the reader a wonderful feast, and not just a simple taste, of the euphoria which accompanied that same presidential visit to Ireland in June 1963. In the final pages of this wonderful account of those four historical days, the author fittingly quotes the insightful words of the then Irish Ambassador to the USA, Dr. Thomas Kiernan, words that are worth recording here in toto by way of conclusion of this section of my post:
If anything, JFK's speeches are nothing if not passionate. A passion for peace and justice and for the brotherhood of humankind runs through these speeches gathered here. As Pope Paul VI said in one of his encyclicals "if you want peace work for justice." Kennedy not only believed that, but made it his life's mission. I actually recall purchasing this book back in 2002 when I visited the JFK Library and Museum at Columbia Point on Boston's waterfront with my cousin Paul who lives in that great city. Undoubtedly, Sorensen, who was JFK's special adviser as well as his speech writer, would have known these speeches inside-out. However, it is also without a shadow of a doubt that much of Kennedy's own personality and views are expressed in those same speeches. Moreover, such is the collaboration between any president and his speech writer and adviser that the latter nearly always capture his president's style. Further, Kennedy would have made amendments and some stylistic changes to suit his delivery. The following quotation from his speech to the joint Houses of the Oireachtas on June 28th, 1963 - namely Dáil and Seanad or Parliament and Senate - shows JFK's love and passion for his Irish roots:
This book is a wonderful book to dip into as it includes most of the major speeches of President John F. Kennedy's career. That they display a passion for justice and peace is without a doubt. It is a book well worth dipping into to uplift the reader before bedtime. It also strikes this reviewer that no matter what peccadilloes come to light about John F. Kennedy's (or indeed Martin Luther King's) dalliances or extra-marital relationships, the passion of their vision and their dream for justice and peace among all can never be denied. Indeed, it was such passion that inevitably led to their death at the hands of assassins working for one or other power interest.
Book 3:Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years
This is such a well-written book that it captures the reader's attention immediately. David Talbot's style is so easy to read and so obviously authentic that one will keep reading far longer that one might have initially intended. Talbot is hailed by many as one of the pioneers of online journalism and is the founder and former Editor in chief of Salon.com: See Here. This book recounts the commitment of both brothers John F. and Robert F. Kennedy to world justice and peace with a passion equal to that of the brothers for their cause. That is probably what keeps one reading. For both brothers, the following is what mattered, according to Talbot, though he is talking of the President in the following passage, but the message applies to both:
RJK turned his righteous anger on all US officials who were propping up exploitative and dictatorial regimes. Neither did he mince his words: What he had seen in Latin American, he said, was "a kind of cabal between the Johnston State Department and these companies to just basically rape the countries they were dealing with." (Quoted, ibid., p. 343)
Speaking of the Kennedys in general, and Robert in particular, Walinsky, one of RFK's advisers said of their connection with the citizens of Latin America:
As well as his work for justice and peace, Bobby bravely continued his own secret quest to solve the murder of his beloved brother whom he believed had been assassinated by either the CIA or the Mafia or by a collaboration of both. Talbot's book shows the extent to which the Kennedy administration was plotted against by its own national security apparatus and delineates much other clandestine activity behind the overt political scene.
Is it any wonder, then, my friends that we Irish are enamoured of and intrigued by both the legacy and the current actions and interests of this great dynastic Irish American family not alone in political terms, but in terms of our very identity as a nation.
The Books under Review
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| My copies of these three books |
An Irish Note
For anyone who has little or no knowledge of Ireland it is important to underline how central to the Irish national psyche or to Irish national identity is the success in the USA of the Kennedy family who are Irish Catholics. When I was a little boy of five years this great Irish American, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy came on an official visit to Ireland. Even as a little boy I will never forget the impact it had on everyone about me. Literally, everyone was talking about the impending visit before he came, continued to talk about him during his visit and after he had departed these shores. At that time and for a long period afterwards, every house in Ireland had a framed photograph, mass-produced, with the images of Pope Paul VI and John F. Kennedy side by side on their walls or mantle pieces. In other words, John F. Kennedy was venerated on a par with the Holy Father himself in the early 1960s in Ireland.
Book 1: JFK in Ireland: Four days that changed a President
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| My copy of this book |
That JFK was an Hibernophile was without doubt as he had visited Ireland twice before his much heralded and triumphant if indulgent visit to our shores as President of the USA in 1963. In the summer of 1945, in the wake of the end of World War II, the recently demobbed USA Naval Officer, JFK, then a mere 28 years of age secured a job as a cub reporter with the Hearst Newspaper Group. He immediately embarked for a post-war tour of war-shattered Europe. This trip took the young reporter to Germany, England, France and, needless to say, Ireland. During this visit he called on the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera whom he interviewed. Tubridy quotes JFK as being impressed by de Valera's "mystic hold on the hearts of the people." (Op. cit., p.26). This about sums up for this reader his own father's view of that same Irish politician, whom I recall, my father and most people of his generation virtually worshipped. Quite interestingly, Tubridy also quotes at length JFK's wide reading of Irish history and other subjects related to his ancestral homeland. (Ibid., p. 27ff )
Some two years later, as a young elected Congressman man he was to return yet again, and stay in the plush and luxurious Lismore Castle, owned by a family whom a sister had married into. During that 1947 three-week visit he was to meet his father's third cousin Mrs Mary Ryan, whom he would also fondly visit on his third and final trip in 1963 as President. Once again JFK recalled of that 1947 visit that for him the call to "that cottage was filled with magic sentiment ... I looked around the table (in the imposing Lismore Castle) and thought about the cottage where my cousins lived, and I said to myself, 'What a contrast!'" (Ibid., p. 31)
This book goes on to chart JFK's love affair with the country that was the birthplace of his ancestors and, by implication that country's love affair with the young Irish American President. This work, along with the TV documentary written and produced by Tubridy, gives the reader a wonderful feast, and not just a simple taste, of the euphoria which accompanied that same presidential visit to Ireland in June 1963. In the final pages of this wonderful account of those four historical days, the author fittingly quotes the insightful words of the then Irish Ambassador to the USA, Dr. Thomas Kiernan, words that are worth recording here in toto by way of conclusion of this section of my post:
I think that his coming back to Ireland was the closing of a chapter that began with the Famine. It was triumphant in that way... At the back of the people's minds was a feeling of failure. Famine spelled failure. And the entire government of the country since the Famine had been a government of non-Irish. This again indicates failure. And here was a success come at top level. Here was a fellow who came from Famine stock on both paternal and maternal sides and who had reached the very top in the United States. That was felt throughout the country. (Ibid., pp. 283-4)Book 2: "Let The Word Go Forth": The Speeches...
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| My copy of this book |
If anything, JFK's speeches are nothing if not passionate. A passion for peace and justice and for the brotherhood of humankind runs through these speeches gathered here. As Pope Paul VI said in one of his encyclicals "if you want peace work for justice." Kennedy not only believed that, but made it his life's mission. I actually recall purchasing this book back in 2002 when I visited the JFK Library and Museum at Columbia Point on Boston's waterfront with my cousin Paul who lives in that great city. Undoubtedly, Sorensen, who was JFK's special adviser as well as his speech writer, would have known these speeches inside-out. However, it is also without a shadow of a doubt that much of Kennedy's own personality and views are expressed in those same speeches. Moreover, such is the collaboration between any president and his speech writer and adviser that the latter nearly always capture his president's style. Further, Kennedy would have made amendments and some stylistic changes to suit his delivery. The following quotation from his speech to the joint Houses of the Oireachtas on June 28th, 1963 - namely Dáil and Seanad or Parliament and Senate - shows JFK's love and passion for his Irish roots:
And so it is that our two nations, divided by distance, have been united by history. No people ever believed more deeply in the cause of Irish freedom than the people of the United States. And no country contributed more to building my own than your sons and daughters. They came to our shores in a mixture of hope and agony, and I would not underrate the difficulties of their course once they arrived in the United States. They left behind hearts, fields, and a nation yearning to be free. It is no wonder that James Joyce described the Atlantic as a bowl of bitter tears. And an earlier poet wrote, "They are going, going, going, and we cannot bid them stay." (Op. cit., p. 387)And the end of that great impassioned speech sounds both a note of deep emotional attachment to Ireland as well has his deep conviction that justice was the only road to peace:
However, while Kennedy was a true son of Éire, he was never a supporter of any extremist feelings with respect to the North of Ireland. In fact, Tubridy's book above underscores how the President was too much of a pragmatist, who had a global vision rather than a narrow nationalist one, insofar as he insisted on not mentioning anything about the partition of the North and South of Ireland, and deliberately stayed away from expressing any views or sentiments that might annoy the British. After all, the USA and Britain were firm and strong Allies during WWII and continued to be. The Irish Ambassador to America, Dr Kiernan, stated that JFK was a pragmatic politician and with regards to Anglo-Irish relations "President Kennedy was .... more British than Irish .... It's the New England attitude in him, I suppose it's the Harvard attitude .... Kennedy's first reaction, if there were any minor dispute between Britain and Ireland would be to side with the British." (quoted, Tubridy, op. cit., p. 74)A great Irish poet once wrote: "I believe profoundly ... in the future of Ireland ... that this is an isle of destiny, that that destiny will be glorious... and that when our hour is come, we will have something to give to the world."
My friends: Ireland's hour has come. You have something to give to the world--and that is a future of peace with freedom.Thank you.
This book is a wonderful book to dip into as it includes most of the major speeches of President John F. Kennedy's career. That they display a passion for justice and peace is without a doubt. It is a book well worth dipping into to uplift the reader before bedtime. It also strikes this reviewer that no matter what peccadilloes come to light about John F. Kennedy's (or indeed Martin Luther King's) dalliances or extra-marital relationships, the passion of their vision and their dream for justice and peace among all can never be denied. Indeed, it was such passion that inevitably led to their death at the hands of assassins working for one or other power interest.
Book 3:Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years
 |
| I love the Getty Image on the cover! |
This is such a well-written book that it captures the reader's attention immediately. David Talbot's style is so easy to read and so obviously authentic that one will keep reading far longer that one might have initially intended. Talbot is hailed by many as one of the pioneers of online journalism and is the founder and former Editor in chief of Salon.com: See Here. This book recounts the commitment of both brothers John F. and Robert F. Kennedy to world justice and peace with a passion equal to that of the brothers for their cause. That is probably what keeps one reading. For both brothers, the following is what mattered, according to Talbot, though he is talking of the President in the following passage, but the message applies to both:
The message of self-determination and human dignity that he [JFK] brought to his fellow citizens as well as to those in the countries he visited - was undeniably radical. In the highly polarized atmosphere of the day, Kennedy had an electrifying and dangerous impact. (Ibid., p. 340)Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy made a three week tour to South America in 1965, barely two years after his brother's assassination. He visited Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Chile mainly because he felt that the new administration had failed to continue to implement anything of JFK's vision for global justice and peace. Indeed, if anything, Robert believed that President Johnston had sold out completely on JFK's vision. Talbot continues:
The political passion displayed by Kennedy in South America - and later in South Africa - resonated around the world. These two memorable journeys would set the stage for Robert Kennedy's most heroic expedition of all, the 1968 presidential campaign. (Ibid., p. 340)The political passion of the Kennedy brothers was, as I have stated, essentially expressed in their commitment to justice and peace, qualities that they deemed the very heart of the democratic process. Hence they would have despised and rightly excoriated any ideology, whether of right or left, that had no passion for justice and peace, that passion which invigorated or gave life to any mere system of ideas.
RJK turned his righteous anger on all US officials who were propping up exploitative and dictatorial regimes. Neither did he mince his words: What he had seen in Latin American, he said, was "a kind of cabal between the Johnston State Department and these companies to just basically rape the countries they were dealing with." (Quoted, ibid., p. 343)
Speaking of the Kennedys in general, and Robert in particular, Walinsky, one of RFK's advisers said of their connection with the citizens of Latin America:
It was not simply his reform brand of Catholicism that connected Kennedy to the South American crowds .... it was more his Irishness. It has to do .... with that whole history of the Kennedys and the Fitzgeralds ... with that whole thing about what it was to come from this country Irish and to struggle your way up in Boston. It was a heritage that kept the younger Kennedys from being a bunch of stiff rich prigs. Understanding really, in your gut, something of what it was to have been poor and to have struggled up. (Ibid., p. 345)Bobby's commitment to his brother's legacy, he knew, spelled out his ultimate doom. He instinctively knew that this Kennedy vision of global justice and peace treads on very many powerful toes and that "sooner or later" there would be a bullet with his name on it. (See ibid., p. 345ff).
As well as his work for justice and peace, Bobby bravely continued his own secret quest to solve the murder of his beloved brother whom he believed had been assassinated by either the CIA or the Mafia or by a collaboration of both. Talbot's book shows the extent to which the Kennedy administration was plotted against by its own national security apparatus and delineates much other clandestine activity behind the overt political scene.
Is it any wonder, then, my friends that we Irish are enamoured of and intrigued by both the legacy and the current actions and interests of this great dynastic Irish American family not alone in political terms, but in terms of our very identity as a nation.
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