A
few weeks ago my partner and I were doing a little bit of weekend antique
shopping in Charlotte when I came across an old photograph in a store
on Central Ave.
It was a scene of uptown (or downtown, depending on your perspective — Charlotte’s
never quite gotten that down pat) at the corner of Trade and Church, taken
sometime in 1960.
I was immediately attracted to the image just because of its antiquity,
but also because it gave you a glimpse into the visual details of life
in the city at a specific moment in time.
The focal point of the image is President John F. Kennedy, seated on the
backseat edge of a 1960 Ford Galaxie convertible — I’m guessing
the other two men in the photograph are then-Charlotte Mayor Stanford Brookshire
and possibly the state governor of the time, Terry Sanford.
A close inspection of the photo revealed a particularly fascinating image
of a little black girl frozen in time. She’s standing by herself
to the right of the president on the sidewalk beside the motorcade. Her
hair is in pigtails and she’s wearing a skirt and sweater with her
hand placed firmly on her hip and her head slightly tilted — as if
she’s thinking who does he think he is?
Housewives out shopping are waving gleefully and shopkeepers and businessmen
have all stepped out to see the newly-elected boy wonder president.
Later that evening, after attending a showing of “Bombay Dreams” at
the Blumenthal, we headed over to a restaurant/bar called Arpa for drinks.
As we sat at the bar talking about the play we’d just seen, I glanced
out the window and realized we were at the very corner President Kennedy
had been 46 years before.
That, of course, got us to thinking. Especially considering the political
atmosphere of the day.
What would the world be like had President Kennedy never been assassinated?
Had he lived, he would today be 89. Had he not been gunned downed — in
all likelihood — he would have been easily re-elected in November
1964. His approval rating just prior to his death was almost 60 percent
(far higher than George W. Bush’s now), the economy was thriving
and Vietnam caused only minor anxiety.
A frequently raised question is whether Kennedy would have escalated the
war in Vietnam, as President Johnson did — but let’s speculate
that Kennedy would have pulled the troops out.
An interesting blurb I came across in the British newspaper The Independent
offered the following possible scenario:
A Democrat, rather than Richard Nixon, would probably have won in 1968.
Thus no Watergate, and no President Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan might have
come to power, but as Sean Wilentz argued in [the] New York Times, there
might have been no Republican “Southern Strategy” along the
lines conceived by Nixon, which has produced the most important shift in
the U.S. electoral map of the past half-century.
As Ted Sorenson, Kennedy’s former close aide and speechwriter, said
in a 2003 press conference: “In JFK’s day, people admired the
United States not because of him, but because of the values of the U.S.,
not its military might, not its wealth. But that’s not quite true
of America these days.
“This country’s role has suddenly changed from being the leader
of freedom to being the country that often acts like a schoolyard bully,
insulting our old allies and turning our back on the United Nations.” |
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