JFK: History of an Image - Study Notes
Publication Details (1988)
Title: JFK: History of an Image
Author: Thomas Brown
Publisher: Indiana University Press, Bloomington Indianapolis
Copyright: ©1988 by Thomas Brown. All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced without written permission, with the exception of the Association of American University Presses' Resolution on Permissions.
Manufacturing: Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Author: Brown, Thomas, -.
Title: JFK, history of an image.
Bibliography: p.
Includes: index.
Subjects:
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, .
Presidents - United States - Biography - History and criticism.
United States - Politics and government - - Historiography.
Identifier: I. Title.
LC Classification: E842.1.B76
ISBN: 0-253-33194-3
Dewey Decimal Classification: 973.922'092'4
LC Control Number: 87-45373
Printing History: 1 2 3 4 5 92 91 90 89 88
Dedication: To my mother and the memory of my father, with a quote from Goethe's "Dedication" to Faust, lines : "Ihr bringt mit euch die Bilder froher Tage, Und manche liebe Schatten steigen auf; Gleich einer alten, halbverklungnen Sage Kommt erste Lieb und Freundschaft mit herauf; Der Schmerz wird neu, es wiederholt die Klage Des Lebens labyrinthisch irren Lauf Und nennt die Guten, die, um schöne Stunden Vom Glück getäuscht, vor mir hinweggeschwunden." (Translation: "You bring with you the images of happy days, And many dear shadows arise; Like an old, half-faded legend, First love and friendship come up; The pain is new, the lament repeats The labyrinthine erratic course of life And names the good ones who, deceived by fortune for beautiful hours, vanished before me.")
Afterword: The Evolution and Durability of JFK's Image
Overview of Images Since Kennedy's Death
The book provides a schematic chronological survey of prevalent American images of John F. Kennedy that have emerged since his assassination.
These images have arisen due to changes in the country's intellectual, political, and social life.
The Orthodox Liberal Image (Post-Assassination)
Shapers: Mostly northeastern elites, including JFK's family.
Reflection: Pragmatic liberalism fashionable in the early s.
Depiction:
JFK as the ideal personification of cultural modernism and instrumental rationality.
A uniquely "autonomous" and dynamic leader.
Emancipated from "irrational" prejudices and preconceptions.
Destined to lead the United States away from complacency and provincialism.
Aimed to prepare the nation for an "Augustan" age of cultural and political ascendancy in the world.
Significance of Assassination: Had an almost totemic significance, viewed as the sacrificial offering of the "prince of Camelot" to forces of bigotry, irrationality, and fanaticism.
Dissenting Views: Existed but were mostly expressed by individuals at the margins of the political spectrum with little political consequence.
The Revisionist View (Reaction to Liberalism's Failures)
Formation: Took shape in reaction against the perceived failures of American liberalism.
Depiction:
Rather than an invigorating break with the past, JFK was seen as a cleverly stylized and updated adherent of conventional assumptions and attitudes.
Chief Failure: His failure to question (or not question in sufficient depth) the underlying premises of American politics of his time.
The Cold War against communism.
Faith in the beneficence of corporate capitalism and technology.
Gradualism in social policy.
Contributions (from Revisionist Perspective): A sophistication of technique and a grandiloquence of rhetoric, which often led to disastrous results, particularly in foreign relations.
The Impact of Mid-s Revelations
Effect: Had a complex influence on the Kennedy image.
Credence to Revisionism: Seemed to support the revisionist critique of JFK as a cold warrior with a compulsion to prove his masculinity.
Trivialization: By obscuring the line between Kennedy's private and public lives, the revelations reinforced the tendency to view JFK through the lens of melodrama and soap opera, thus trivializing him.
Emergence of a Balanced View: The middle and late s saw a more balanced and detached view of Kennedy, most evident in scholarly literature.
Reflected a lengthening of historical perspective on his presidency.
Indicated a heightened sensitivity among liberal intellectuals regarding the "limits" on the capacity for purposeful social change.
Persistence and Variety of Kennedy Images
No Single Evolution: The chronological structure of the argument does not imply an "evolution" where one image supplanted another.
Coexistence: All modes of analyzing JFK — orthodox liberal, revisionist, revelatory, and "balanced" — remain evident in contemporary debate.
Profusion of Images: A wide variety of approaches is paralleled by a profusion of Kennedy "images," each tailored to a particular audience:
Conservatives and Neoconservatives: Kennedy as a hard-line Cold Warrior, tax cutter, and advocate of national discipline.
Leftists: Kennedy as an incipient populist radical.
Liberals: Kennedy as a high-minded statesman.
Neoliberals: The tough and "realistic" politician whose primary virtue was being a Democrat who won elections.
Malleability of JFK's Image and Public Perception
Congenial Subject: JFK has become an accommodating subject for projecting disparate ideas and values because his own legacy represented a compound of conflicting imperatives:
Strove to release countrymen's energies while maintaining social discipline.
Admired public stewardship of enlightened elites while exhorting citizen activism.
Vigorously asserted American power abroad while conceding its limitations.
Public Opinion: The malleability suggests the public has been relatively unmoved by, if not impervious to, the prolonged debate over JFK.
Polls reinforce that the public's admiring image of JFK transcends ideology and flourishes despite (or even because of) popular ignorance of his life and achievements.
Polls are not helpful in determining what specifically the public admires.
JFK's Subconscious Role and Consumer Culture
Caution Against Psychohistorical Analysis: Speculating about Kennedy's subconscious role in the American psyche (a "psychohistorical" analysis) is cautioned against due to dubious assumptions about the "collective unconscious" (a highly questionable concept).
Role of "Images" in Mass Consumer Culture: A more sensible and modest inquiry draws attention to the role of "images" in mass consumer culture.
The Kennedy image has become a commodity, exhibiting chief traits of images disseminated by advertisers.
It projects fantasies of omnipotence and wish fulfillment.
It fosters the illusion that choices can be made without consequences and commitments.
Its underlying intellectual vacuity and infinite adaptability are consistent with consumer images having no specific ideological content.
Deep Cultural Roots of Kennedy's Popularity
American Ideals: While mirroring consumer society, the Kennedy image also derives popularity from ideas and ideals deeply ingrained in American culture.
Symbol of Youth and Hope: The "eternally young" Kennedy, rescued by premature death from the ravages and disillusionments of age, symbolizes how many Americans traditionally see their country:
As a land of boundless hope and promise.
Free of the burdens and limits of the past.
The "New Frontier" Label: This label, firmly attached to the Kennedy era despite JFK himself disliking it, signifies how symbols often embody needs that render literal facts irrelevant.
Concluding Thoughts: Realistic Views vs. Fantasies
Pessimistic Conclusions: These reflections could lead to pessimistic conclusions about propagating a more realistic view of JFK and raising the level of popular political thought in the U.S.
Freud's Insight: However, as Freud suggested, fantasies can have positive value when brought to light, contributing to rational insight into our less rational selves.
Highest Value of Inquiry: The inquiry into collective images of a figure like JFK may ultimately contribute to a better understanding of how "we see—or, rather, would like to see—ourselves."