"Some historians say that to focus on the personality of a famous figure is to neglect the context in which he/she lived. My argument is that personality provides a way to attract students to history because it allows them to make a personal connection to the past." - Joe Illick
John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1961-1963
To a new generation the torch did pass,
To a Roman Catholic with more class than Mass.
Let the word go forth for all to hear,
Said the Harvard cowboy of the New Frontier.
We’re taking the reins from the well-dressed, the tightest,
And passing them on to the best and the brightest.
We don’t have the votes for domestic reform.
The civil rights movement we’ll barely keep warm.
The band of poor will play last year’s tuba.
Our focus right now is on Russia and Cuba.
That’s tough talk. We also show our ideals:
Ask not for a handout but the Peace Corps with wheels.
The nation that drank of the Camelot chalice
Confronted the Reaper one sad day in Dallas.
To a Roman Catholic with more class than Mass.
Let the word go forth for all to hear,
Said the Harvard cowboy of the New Frontier.
We’re taking the reins from the well-dressed, the tightest,
And passing them on to the best and the brightest.
We don’t have the votes for domestic reform.
The civil rights movement we’ll barely keep warm.
The band of poor will play last year’s tuba.
Our focus right now is on Russia and Cuba.
That’s tough talk. We also show our ideals:
Ask not for a handout but the Peace Corps with wheels.
The nation that drank of the Camelot chalice
Confronted the Reaper one sad day in Dallas.