Quotes about John Kennedy

Ever since John Kennedy, Democrats have had a weakness for dashing younger men like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and, I suppose, Jimmy Carter. They balance their tickets with senior statesmen – Lyndon Johnson, Joe Biden, Walter Mondale. (Al Gore was young but played ancient).

Kennedy had been assassinated a month or so before. So we walked to the grave of John Kennedy and ended our walking symbolically at the Arlington National Cemetery.

I would like to see ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ by John Kennedy Toole adapted.

I believe Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill John Kennedy. I believe that.

John Kennedy really did extend the reach of the American people and said, like Lincoln said in a way, that our reach is farther than our grasp – and we should aim high.

John Kennedy led us on a journey to discover the moon. Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.

‘George’ exploits John Kennedy Jr.’s cult of celebrity at a time when Americans are hungry for icons, not heroes.

Rock stars generally don’t last in the Senate, starting with John Kennedy. Too much work, too slow, too little juice. Getting something accomplished takes a remarkable amount of tedious work. Rock stars who become senators either run for something else or retire on the job. They certainly don’t make a mark.

I told them how excited I would be to go into space and how thrilled I was when Alan Shepard made his historic flight, and when John Kennedy announced on the news that the men had landed safely on the moon, and how jealous I was of those men.

The grand jury, composed of 12 eminent New Orleans citizens, heard our evidence and indicted the defendant for participation in a conspiracy to assassinate John Kennedy.

Like John Kennedy in 1960, Obama combines youth, vigor, and good looks with the promise of political change. Like Kennedy, he grew up in unusual circumstances that distance him from ordinary American life.

I’ve learned to appreciate the thinking of John Kennedy.

Certainly I think the election of John Kennedy and all he stood for was one that really was an inspiration.

I respect John Kennedy for saying that he had a dream that we’d go to the moon before the end of the decade.

There’s a great book about John Kennedy and his relationship to civil rights called ‘The Bystander.’ The title alone suggests that he did as little as possible, any minimal critical effort, to really facilitate civil rights in the White House.

The language has changed. When I grew up and watched the campaigns of John Kennedy, even with Richard Nixon, there was a lot higher level of civility. Now we describe a disagreement as an attack.

The murder of John Kennedy in broad daylight in the streets of an American city remains, to me, an unsolved crime.