Thoughts on responsibilities of young American citizens - my reflections on remarks made by the great JFK at Amherst College in 1963

Thoughts on responsibilities of young American citizens. My reflections on remarks made by JFK at Amherst College in 1963.

by Donald H. Marks, physician and scientist

Let me put on my non-medical hat and speak as a casual student of history and the Arts, as I discuss remarks made by President JFK in 1963 at Amherst College upon receiving an honorary degree. Yes I was alive that long ago, as I was born when I was very young. I am a great admirer of JFK who, along with FDR, are my two favorite presidents. I have long thought about those words from the past, and over several years I have worked to put pen to paper, as people used to say.  A man from a wealthy powerful family, a man of means, a politician with good intentions, someone with a global vision, a man connected to the famous, the wealthy, the powerful, the educated, the connected, a man presented at birth with the opportunity to achieve greatness by his birth, a man who put his life on the line for the United States in combat, truly a man for all seasons. To this day, I remember his greatness, the day he died, and I still grieve his loss, especially in the context of current aggressive, highly partisan, take-no-prisoners political life.

In his speech at Amherst, President Kennedy explained the responsibilities and the importance of public service for all citizens, and especially  educated citizens. Addressing the class at Amherst, JFK described his view of the role of an artist in society, noting his personal friend Robert Frost’s contributions to American arts, culture, and ideology. “When power leads men 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 existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses."

Robert Frost and other artists, Kennedy said, make a vital contribution “not to our size but to our spirit, not to our political beliefs but to our insight, not to our self-esteem, but to our self-comprehension.”

Those memorable words, as well as Kennedy’s call that day for Amherst students to consider how they might serve their country, inspired students at Amherst, and throughout the USA. Five percent of the Amherst senior class of 1964 joined the Peace Corps, the overseas service organization Kennedy had initiated in 1961.

The gridlock and dysfunctional partisanship in Washington, D.C. today poorly compares to the optimism and progressive spirit that seemed to animate the years of the Kennedy administration, at least insofar as I remember it.

 

The friendship between Kennedy and the poet Robert Frost, dating back to when Kennedy first ran for president, turned cold in the early fall of 1962 after Frost returned from a visit to the Soviet Union and a lengthy talk about cultural exchange with then-Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

Frost had a cold and a bad case of jet lag when he returned to the U.S.. Many of us have been there. He gave what appeared to have been a somewhat confused interview, during which he related that Premier Khrushchev had claimed to him that the U.S. “was too liberal to fight.” Frost’s remarks angered Kennedy, causing him to cut off contact with Frost.  Only a month later, the Cuban Missile Crisis developed, with a potential nuclear war. How many of us have similarly cut off a relationship due to a hasty remark, an inopportune comment, thoughts taken out of context or misunderstood, religious or political disagreements? Breaks in friendship can mend, but the pain swirls like a memory underneath, waiting for a fitful rebirth and revenge.

Yet, Kennedy buried the hatchet when he came to Amherst, praising Frost’s poetry and his contribution to the American spirit. Frost was an artist who, Kennedy said, “saw poetry as the means of saving power from itself."

The president also told Amherst students that, given the benefits they enjoyed in attending an elite private college in a country that had great disparities in wealth, he hoped they would put their education toward some kind of public service. And back then, many did. Not at all like today.

I hope that my comments won't just be viewed as a snapshot of the past, but as how those issues and ideals that Kennedy spoke about during his visit to Amherst can apply to our lives today … across the political spectrum. The responsibilities of the wealthy, the educated, the fortunate, the artists, the creative entrepreneur, and those lucky enough to live in Western society and in America in particular are a treasure.

References

JFK speech at Amherst College https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/remarks-at-amherst-college-on-the-arts

You're probably misreading Robert Frost's most famous poem, "The Road Not Taken." https://lithub.com/youre-probably-misreading-robert-frosts-most-famous-poem/

Additional writings of Donald H. Marks, physician-scientist can be found on this blog site