In February of 1964, The Atlantic Monthly published a speech given by John F. Kennedy to honor Robert Frost. President Kennedy told his audience that the "men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the nation's greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us."
He urged that if "art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him." Our country President Kennedy argued should set free the energy and vitality of these men and women who seek truth, to go wherever they might with their truth telling.
It was an imperative to permit truth and poetry, one and the same for purposes of this speech, to be given free reign in order that greater understanding of the human condition occur and to understand that "when power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstones of our judgement."
The artist whether music or art, paintings, or sculpture; the teacher, whether of art or music, poetry or the social sciences - they lead us, they show us, and when they do it well, they inspire us to free our minds and see beyond the limitations of our self and experience the whole of humanity. The symphony or recital, the classroom, or library - all places of great achievement and art - where the mind flourishes and is nurtured, set free to lead us to the furthest reaches of human imagination, thus showing us our limitations and offering to us the ability to follow the great minds into something greater than ourselves or our time.
Yet many denigrate the art and artist, they stomp upon the teacher, belittle the poet as unrealistic and self-absorbed, and otherwise show us how small our minds can really be when the greatest of art forms is mocked. We have had administrations that treated the arts poorly, laughed at them, mocked the great poets, slept through recitals, and had little interest in funding the arts. We have had political leadership that showed little leadership and instead joked about the tiresome old codgers or daft old men with a pen.
President Kennedy celebrated the greatest agent for freedom - art and music; while some celebrate the status quo, he pushed for change in a world ever in flux, that may have been easy. Kennedy often slept through recitals. It was his wife who pushed for and in the end won the day on arguments over whether to have Marie Callas to the White House or have another old codger do a sonatas or partitas from Bach. Kennedy had little interest in the arts, but for the public spectacle and interest created by his feigned interest. Kennedy loathed Robert Frost and never wanted him as the speaker for the Inaugural. He had little interest in Frost, ignored the opportunity to meet with him, was quite unwilling to take the time when the time did avail itself for a meeting. It was also uncertain whether Frot would make it on time to the Inaugural and Kennedy was not to distressed. The myth created around his passion for the arts, is just that, a myth.
Kennedy understood that some may have an interest in the arts and that was fine, but the arts never kept a Chinese or North Korean or Soviet soldier from hesitating before an advance. It was, President Kennedy understood, the American military that permitted the Frosts and Callas to do what they did and do so freely. The American military did not have the luxury of such ideas for they stood ready at any given moment to fighting overwhelming odds and most likely dying in an effort to allow Frost to sputter on with his poetry and Callas to sing out to the birds. The American fighting man stood between us and them and they do not receive the respect and honor they deserve.
These men left their families to stand in the dead of night or lie in Asian mud for one reason - to allow us the luxury of reading poetry, making art, singing, or reading, sleeping, and raising families without fear. They did not volunteer to die for us, and what mortal man would ever volunteer to die for strangers - yet it is a cross they bear so that we might live.
We did not raise our sons to murder and pillage. Have faith in the character of America for America is revealed on the faces of the American military man. President Kennedy understood that the greatness of America came from all sectors - the poets and the artists, but most importantly, all who reveled in thought and ideal did so because the soldier or marine stood ready at a moments notice.
It is true what the president said, that "a nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers." The president understood the sacrifices made by men of honor that permitted men of leisure the time to expand their minds and idle away their time contemplating utopia. It was never a this or that - he appreciated art, but was not consumed by it. He understood the limitations of poetry and compromise.
With his death, the party of Kennedy, became the party of surrender and compromise - it preferred the academic to the man who provided the academic with the freedom to rant about government and the limitations of democracy. It became the party of whiners - the generation of the 60s who expected and demanded and wanted and ultimately were the most self-absorbed generation in our history. It become the party of accommodation and compromise - negotiate and talk and talk and negotiate and they cheered regardless of whether it accomplished anything. Their education had left them numb to reality and they idled away their time on drugs, expanding their minds while men died to protect that right. When those men returned home, it was not to a heroes welcome, but scorn and ridicule. While not as damning today, the hypocrisy is astounding. They proclaim their support, but they know in their hearts they do not support the military now or ever. They prefer to attack the government for its lack of sensitivity or for an appreciation of any number of things they espouse, and that is fine - the American men and women in our armed forces, none the less, stand ready to bear the cross if needed, to enable the feckless wonders who inhabit our ivory towers the chance and opportunity to attack everything the American soldier fights and dies to protect.
We do not take the time, as a nation, to reflect often enough on what is given to us, and at what cost. If we did, we would most assuredly all be poets.
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