All the ironies

It is ironic that Donald Trump should release another batch of documents on the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It is ironic because of the huge difference between the two men.

Trump is a divider and destroyer while Kennedy sought to unite and build. Trump courts controversy and chaos in his effort to “Make America Great Again.” Kennedy called on fellow citizens to serve their country rather than demand their country serve them. Dour Trump is bullying, while serious, charismatic Kennedy was persuasive.

Nearly the end of his life and career, Trump, 78, is rolling back essential domestic health, pension, and educational programmes while isolating the US on the international scene. The youngest ever president, Kennedy, 43, looked to the future and promoted positive change at home and engagement with the world.

Trump is backed by reactionary Republicans while Kennedy was supported by progressive Democrats and independents. Real estate mogul Trump is the first convicted felon to dwell the White House, Kennedy was a popular Senator who in 1960 defeated dodgy Republican Vice President Richard Nixon who was forced to resign while president in 1974. Trump depends for policymaking on Elon Musk and is surrounded by mediocrities and yes-men, Kennedy by high-profile, intellectuals and experts in their fields of endeavour.

Trump describes himself a nondenominational Christian, Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic to become US president (Joe Biden, was the second). Trump is beginning his second term in office, Kennedy served only half his first term. Trump escaped assassination during the 2024 presidential campaign, Kennedy was shot to death in November 1963 in Dallas, Texas, while riding in an open convertible with his wife and the state governor who was wounded but survived.

Trump is reviled around the world; Kennedy was celebrated and beloved by people everywhere. When a Beiruti friend was told by her shocked mother, “The president has been shot,” my friend shrugged. thinking the Lebanese president had been killed. “No,” her mother cried, “Kennedy.” He was president for many peoples. Many years ago, I was touring rural Karnataka to report on the campaign of a young parliamentary candidate where in one remote village the welcoming committee had put up a poster portrait of Kennedy to mark the visit of a US citizen.

His death was a backward turning point for the US. The Kennedy presidency was seen by many in the US and abroad as an era of Camelot, a legendary British city ruled by the mythical King Arthur, a hero who represented courage and dignity. Handsome President Kennedy and his beautiful wife Jacqueline held court in the 1960s Camelot at a time of aspiration and promise. The legend of Camelot was current in 1960 because acclaimed US actors, Richard Burton as the king and Julie Andrews as his queen starred in a highly popular musical presentation of Camelot.

While dwelling in Camelot. Kennedy signed the first nuclear weapons treaty and established the Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress with Latin America. He continued the Apollo programme with the goal of landing a man on the Moon by 1970. He appointed his brother Robert attorney general who promoted the civil rights movement. On the negative side he continued to pursue previous administration policies which increased tensions with the Soviet Union, attempted to overthrow the Cuban government, and deepened US involvement in the Vietnam conflict.

Kennedy was succeeded by Vice President Lyndon Johnson, an old-style politician from Texas who skilfully secured the adoption of some of Kennedy’s domestic policies, including in the hotly contested field of granting civil rights for Blacks. Trump represents the US White majority and has voided legislation protecting Blacks, women, and disadvantaged people.

As soon as Trump ordered the release from the National Archives of the final collection of 1,123 documents on Kennedy’s assassination, experts began examining the 80,000 pages in search of new clues about the motivations and connections of the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the conduct of the investigation. While dramatic revelations are not expected, interest in the case has never flagged during the six decades since he was slain. The US had previously released hundreds of thousands of Kennedy documents, but some have been retained as they could breach security while material in others has been blacked out.

A year after the assassination, the Warren Commission, which investigated the event. concluded that Oswald was the sole shooter who the fired three bullets that killed Kennedy. Oswald had positioned himself at a sixth-floor window of a building overlooking the street on which the presidential party was driving slowly to greet the throng gathered to see Kennedy. Despite the Commission’s dismissal of speculation that the killing was “part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign,” conspiracies abound and the tragic death of the young president remains a mystery for many in the US and elsewhere.

The sequential release of documents by the Obama, Biden and Trump administrations has provided new information and insights for Kennedy historians but has not deterred conspiracy theorists who continue to weave fantastic tales. The latest batch of documents has revealed the identities of some Central Intelligence (CIA) agents and personal information on individuals whose lives had nothing to do with the assassination and have complained. Writing in “The Atlantic,” Kaitlyn Tiffany said, “Relatively few of the [new] documents even mention Kennedy.” One document, she said, revealed that 1,500 CIA agents posted abroad had state-approved cover stories,” including foreign service posts. But this is nothing new. She asked, “...when the count of secret things ticks down to zero, how will we know that was really, really all? We won’t, of course. We never will.”