JFK & LBJ

September 8, 2022

President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson,

Dear Mr. Presidents:

I usually write to our Founders, Signers and Framers to keep them informed on how we are following their advice. I very rarely write to people from the past who were alive in my lifetime but with all the divisiveness that exists today your simple but direct thoughts are right on.

There is no need to remind either of you that you both served as President in the very turbulent decade of the 1960’s. The issues of the Viet Nam War and Civil Rights along with political assassinations were the major cause of unrest which has not been seen until recently. Today we have political parties that are more interested in their own concerns than those of the people they serve and all sides have locked arms against one another. Everything is done in a partisan manner rather than working to compromise so all sides benefit. This leads to the animosity which we are currently seeing.

Here President Kennedy is where your simple thought would go a long way in helping to remedy this problem:

“Let’s talk to one another instead of about one another.”

John F. Kennedy

Today, all sides hurl insults, barbs, gossip and sling enough mud to cover all 100 Senators and 435 Representatives from head to toe and then some, instead of just talking to one another. Maybe they all need to clear the mud from their eyes and take a good hard look at themselves and their methods.

President Johnson, your thought which is so obvious that it is amazing that none of our mud-covered so-called leaders of today haven’t once thought about it or even mentioned it.

“There are no problems we cannot solve together and very few that we can solve by ourselves.”

Lyndon B, Johnson

President Johnson, you have firsthand experience with this method of problem solving with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which legislation first proposed by President Kennedy, was done through compromise and in a bi-partisan manner.

President Johnson, two of your successors did heed your advice and we had periods of success and harmony as compared to today. President Reagan worked with Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neil while President Clinton Worked with Speaker Newt Gingrich proving that we can indeed solve our problems together rather than by ourselves. Looking back, even President Lincoln assembled his “Team of Rivals” and worked together.

What is truly sad is that our politicians today who claim to admire both of you don’t seem to know how to take your advice and follow your lead.

Once again, if we all were to just learn from our past and take heed of what our Founders and others thought, we would all be much better off. The problem is how can we get through to the single mindedness of today’s politicians and other policy makers that there is so much to learn from the past?

Thank you for your time, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Sincerely,

Andrew J. DeMarco

Somers, NY