Profile in Courage

A Democratic President, optimistic about America's Role in the world, confident that any struggle is worth fighting in the interest of Liberty, and conscious of America's Destiny as Man's Last, Best Hope.

It sounds like a throwback to an earlier era - and it is.

But it was an era that proved decisive, and Freedom might not have prevailed if it hadn't been for courageous, patriotic Democrats like Harry S. Truman or John F. Kennedy.

Truman courageously took on the Soviet Union, at a time when many, even in America, did not see the need to be so "confrontational".

Kennedy made it clear to every Free European that the United States would not surrender them. And he initiated the Alliance between the United States and Israel, which still shines a light for freedom among one of the darkest and least hospitable regions. For that alone, we salute the first Catholic President of the United States.

His Inaugural Address remains one of the greatest speeches in American History:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge—and more.

It is hard to imagine any Democrat making a comparable pledge today.

It is not hard to imagine that JFK would feel very much at home in today's Republican Party.

His spirit lives on, tirelessly committed to the survival and success of Liberty, on the Seven Seas, as part of the greatest Navy ever. A fitting tribute.