John F. Kennedy

WASHINGTON -- Politicians are rarely competent writers. In fact, they are rarely writers. That is why they have speechwriters. John F. Kennedy was supposed to be a great writer. He actually won the Pulitzer Prize for his book “Profiles in Courage,” though Ted Sorensen wrote the book. Sorensen was one of his speechwriters, of course.

Journalists love to use past presidents to measure today’s politicians, either to build up those who exemplify their historical liberal heroes, or to belittle conservatives with whom they disagree. Here’s a deep dive into the MRC’s archives showing how the media have used presidents from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to JFK as talking points in today’s political battles.

WASHINGTON -- I am engaged in reading a very fine book by my colleague, Paul Kengor. It was written six years ago, so do not feel bad if you missed it. You still have time. It is called “A Pope and a President.” It covers the lives of John Paul II and Ronald Reagan, and, as its coverage is chronological, I just read its treatment of the assassination of President John Kennedy. This will be the…

This week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went to Taiwan, determined to make a statement about American support for the democratic country under constant threat from its tyrannical Chinese neighbor. That trip prompted spasms of apoplexy from the Chinese government, which vowed serious consequences; China, in the end, engaged mainly in some military posturing. There is no question that Pelosi is…

The vile new TV series Gaslight has mercifully ended. The show, centered  around Richard Nixon and the Watergate burglary, went out in gross fashion recently. Even considering how Hollywood hates Republicans, the Starz series went way beyond, finding it necessary to feature Nixon farting, showering, and a shot of his bare behind. 

Led by White House correspondent Ed O’Keefe, the cast of Thursday’s CBS Mornings reacted to President Biden’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! not by lamenting Biden only sitting down for softball interviews, but that Biden was following in the history of presidents using late night shows to appear more relatable.

As with many things, propaganda can be used for good or for ill, depending on who dispenses it. During World War II, American propaganda was considered a necessary tool in the pursuit of victory in a moral cause. Germany and Japan had their own propaganda machines to advance an evil agenda. The Nazi propaganda effort was headed by Joseph Goebbels to whom the term “The Big Lie,” meaning if one…

President Biden’s speech from Warsaw Saturday night, reminded me of two previous presidents who delivered speeches confronting the autocracy that was then the Soviet Union and is now Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, a man Biden has rightly called a war criminal. On June 26, 1963, Kennedy spoke before the Berlin Wall which the Soviets had erected to stem the flow of Berliners out of the communist…

In his address to Congress on Dec. 8, 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt said: “… we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us. Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With…