the technologist

“In short, we must face problems which do not lend themselves to easy or quick or permanent solutions. And we must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent or omniscient – that we are only 6 percent of the world’s population – that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind – that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity – and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.” - John F. Kennedy - University of Washington - Nov. 16th, 1961

I was so moved by a recent TIME Magazine article on John F. Kennedy that I tracked down the speech from the University of Washington’s 100th anniversary that provided some of the most compelling quotations found in the article (including the one above).

There are numerous striking similarities to the challenges we faced as a nation as well as those JFK did as a president more than 45 years ago during the Cold War. One could argue that JFK was afforded a more black-and-white approach to foreign policy during the Cold War as “the enemy” was clearly defined as the Communist Soviet Union, much unlike the entity of “terrorism” we face today.

Yet, JFK maintained an approach that was nuanced and complex - presumably one that would be shot down as “too confusing,” “not clearly defined” and risking the perception of “lacking a clearcut stance” by the focus group driven policy makers and speech writers in the current administration’s White House staff.

From the TIME article:

…Americans are still trying to figure out nearly half a century after his abbreviated presidency who Jack Kennedy really was. Was he a cold war hawk, as much of the history establishment, Washington pundit class and presidential hopefuls of both parties—eager to lay claim to his mantle of muscular leadership—have insisted over the years? Or was he a man ahead of his time, a peace-minded visionary trying to untie the nuclear knot that held hostage the U.S. and the Soviet Union—and the rest of the world?

As the U.S. once again finds itself in an endless war—this time against terror, or perhaps against fear itself—the question of Kennedy’s true legacy seems particularly loaded. What is the best way for America to navigate through a world where its enemies seem everywhere and nowhere at the same time? What can we learn from the way Kennedy was trying to redefine the U.S. role in the world and to invite Americans to be part of that change? Who was the real John Fitzgerald Kennedy?

The conundrum begins with Kennedy himself, a politically complex man whose speeches often brandished arrows as well as olive branches. This seemingly contradictory message was vividly communicated in J.F.K.’s famous Inaugural Address. While Kennedy vowed the nation “would pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty”—aggressive rhetoric that would fit right in with George W. Bush’s presidency—the young leader also dispensed with the usual Soviet bashing of his time and invited our enemy to join us in a new “quest for peace, before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all of humanity.” It would be hard to imagine the current occupant of the White House extending the same offer to Islamic jihadists or Iran’s leaders.

What is perhaps most striking about Kennedy is his clear regard for the intelligence of his audience. He talked up - not down - to the American people. And rather than possessing the cavalier stubbornness of W that mandates reducing even the densest of international affairs to simple black and white terms that can justify whatever position the White House chooses, Kennedy did not profess to have any sort of definitive solution - much less an easy one.

(Side note: for an interesting dissection of Bush’s search for his legacy, check out this Washington Post article)

Instead he speaks of his guiding principles when considering America’s position in the world. He discusses the two ends of the polarized national opinion spectrum and concludes that staunchly residing in either pole is to commit a costly error when choosing the course of the nation. On the surface, his message may appear contradictory, but I believe it is simply the sign of a man who realizes there is no cookie-cutter, black and white answer (”Either you are with us, or against us…”) to something as complex as defining America’s role as the dominant, hegemonic superpower in the world.

I urge everyone to read both the TIME article as well as the full text of the speech (after the jump). The article is great at providing contemporary context for Kennedy’s challeneges and ideals as a President. It gives chilling historical accounts, such as the famous incident where Kennedy narrowly avoided all-out nuclear warfare with Russia as his cabinet was urging a strike based on the 100% incorrect intelligence that there were no Russian warheads in Cuba, ready to strike the US at a minute’s notice. (If we could have just swapped WMD intelligence conclusions between eras…)

With regard to the speech, it’s startling how Kennedy even verges on a philosophical discussion with his audience. Compare that to the heavy-handed, spoon-feeding, over-simplification of Bush rhetoric. I’ve read several articles on how political research institutions and focus-group based politicking has sucked out what little earnest life was present in 20th century politics, but comparing this speech to any of Bush’s really sharpens the contrast between previous and current levels of respect for the American public’s capacity to think.

While W is avoiding college campuses all-together in the twilight hours of his presidency (for fear of protests and boos…check the Washington Post article for more details), Kennedy begins his speech by touching on the relevance of education in securing America’s future and then deftly transitions into his larger-scale points about American foreign policy.

An excerpt:

“We cannot, as a free nation, compete with our adversaries in tactics of terror, assassination, false promises, counterfeit mobs and crises.

We cannot, under the scrutiny of a free press and public, tell different stories to different audiences, foreign and domestic, friendly and hostile.

We cannot abandon the slow processes of consulting with our allies to match the swift expediencies of those who merely dictate to their satellites.

We can neither abandon nor control the international organization in which we now cast less than 1 percent of the vote in the General Assembly.

We possess weapons of tremendous power–but they are least effective in combating the weapons most often used by freedom’s foes: subversion, infiltration, guerrilla warfare, civil disorder.”

The text of the speech - and its lasting relevance to today’s climate - is inspiring to say the least. It makes me hopeful of returning to the complexity of thought that once characterized the dialogue between the President and the people he represents to the world. It’s refreshing to see a President open in his uncertainty but steadfast in his conviction to a set of principles that represent a thorough analysis of the situation at hand. Eschewing the positions held by the extreme right and left of his time, Kennedy found refuge in his own plot of ground somewhere in the middle.

Learning his lesson the hard way when coerced by the military branch of his staff to invade Cuba, JFK decided to act singularly from that moment forward. Singular in thought, though…not unilateral in policy. And that just may be the most critical aspect missing from Bush’s presidency…the power and the will to adapt conviction to what is right based on weighing as many facts available at that moment and not, as Kennedy put it, “substituting rigidity for firmness.”

I believe JFK would be appalled at how the democratic ideals of this country have been violated by the people in the Bush Administration who are crafting communications to the American public. It seems that the research behind these communications portray an American public that simply wants superficial reassurance that the powers-that-be are dealing with all things outside the borders of the country and that the forces of good will prevail, just as they do in neat little episodic bunches in 24.

If it was the collective desire of Americans to be engaged, I have to believe that it would be reflected in all of the polls being taken daily to determine what the hot-button issues of the moment are. The onus has to be on us as well to demand more of our President.

Perhaps this is both naive and idealistic on my part. New media is revolutionizing politics in ways so that there is no turning back. Stumping can be done from anywhere and reach everyone in an instant thanks to the Internet. The fireside chat is replaced by streaming video and our attention spans are reflective of the neatly packaged byte size bits that information is delivered to us. Would a policy-laden speech such as Kennedy’s even be made in as isolated a forum as a college campus? Has presidential face-time gone the way of the dodo?

Still…

I do not think it is unreasonable or antiquated to demand a pensive, intelligent figurehead for our country. Regardless of Bush’s intelligence behind closed doors - the persona he projects is the strong, alpha-male that speaks in broad strokes and offers no room for interpretation - or insight - in what he says. He is the stern parent - not the college professor.

If we can’t count on our own President to have inherent faith in our capacity to understand and engage him/her…what is left of our democracy? And if we no longer care enough to treat our President’s addresses as subject matter for debate rather than as gospel…do we have the ability or the wherewithal to rebuild it?

[Click on the “Continue Reading…” link below to get to the full text of the speech from the main page]

University of Washington’s 100th Anniversary (November 16, 1961)

President Odegaard, members o/the regents, members of the faculty, students, ladies and gentlemen:

It is a great honor on behalf of the people of the United States to extend to you congratulations on the Centennial Anniversary of this University, which represents 100 years of service to this State and country.

This nation in two of the most critical times in the life of our country, once in the days after the Revolution in the Northwest ordinance to which Doctor Odegaard referred, and again during the most difficult days of the Civil War, in the Morrill Act which established our land grant colleges, this nation made a basic commitment to the maintenance of education, for the very reasons which Thomas Jefferson gave, that if this nation were to remain free it could not remain ignorant. The basis of self-government and freedom requires the development of character and self-restraint and perseverance and the long view. And these are qualities which require many years of training and education. So that I think this University and others like it across the country, and its graduates, have recognized that these schools are not maintained by the people of the various States in order to merely give the graduates of these schools an economic advantage in the life struggle. Rather, these schools are supported by our people because our people realize that this country has needed in the past, and needs today as never before, educated men and women who are committed to the cause of freedom. So for what this University has done in the past, and what its graduates can do now and in the future, I salute you.

This University was rounded when the Civil War was already on, and no one could be sure in 1861 whether this country would survive. But the picture which the student of 1961 has of the world, and indeed the picture which our citizens have of the world, is infinitely more complicated and infinitely more dangerous.

In 1961 the world relations of this country have become tangled and complex. One of our former allies has become our adversary-and he has his own adversaries who are not our allies. Heroes are removed from their tombs–history rewritten–the names of cities changed overnight.

We increase our arms at a heavy cost, primarily to make certain that we will not have to use them. We must face up to the chance of war, if we are to maintain the peace. We must work with certain countries lacking in freedom in order to strengthen the cause of freedom. We find some who call themselves neutral who are our friends and sympathetic to us, and others who call themselves neutral who are unremittingly hostile to us. And as the most powerful defender of freedom on earth, we find ourselves unable to escape the responsibilities of freedom, and yet unable to exercise it without restraints imposed by the very freedoms we seek to protect.

We cannot, as a free nation, compete with our adversaries in tactics of terror, assassination, false promises, counterfeit mobs and crises.

We cannot, under the scrutiny of a free press and public, tell different stories to different audiences, foreign and domestic, friendly and hostile.

We cannot abandon the slow processes of consulting with our allies to match the swift expediencies of those who merely dictate to their satellites.

We can neither abandon nor control the international organization in which we now cast less than 1 percent of the vote in the General Assembly.

We possess weapons of tremendous power–but they are least effective in combating the weapons most often used by freedom’s foes: subversion, infiltration, guerrilla warfare, civil disorder.

We send arms to other peoples–just as we send them the ideals of democracy in which we believe–but we cannot send them the will to use those arms or to abide by those ideals.

And while we believe not only in the force of arms but in the force of right and reason, we have learned that reason does not always appeal to unreasonable men–that it is not always true that “a soft answer turneth away wrath”–and that right does not always make might.

In short, we must face problems which do not lend themselves to easy or quick or permanent solutions. And we must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent or omniscient–that we are only 6 percent of the world’s population–that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind–that we cannot right every wrong or reverse each adversity–and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.

These burdens and frustrations are accepted by most Americans with maturity and understanding. They may long for the days when war meant charging up San Juan Hill-or when our isolation was guarded by two oceans–or when the atomic bomb was ours alone–or when much of the industrialized world depended upon our resources and our aid. But they now know that those days are gone–and that gone with them are the old policies and the old complacency’s. And they know, too, that we must make the best of our new problems and our new opportunities, whatever the risk and the cost.

But there are others who cannot bear the burden of a long twilight struggle. They lack confidence in our long-run capacity to survive and succeed. Hating communism, yet they see communism in the long run, perhaps, as the wave of the future. And they want some quick and easy and final and cheap solution–now.

There are two groups of these frustrated citizens, far apart in their views yet very much alike in their approach. On the one hand are those who urge upon us what I regard to be the pathway of surrender-appeasing our enemies, compromising our commitments, purchasing peace at any price, disavowing our arms, our friends, our obligations. If their view had prevailed, the world of free choice would be smaller today.

On the other hand are those who urge upon us what I regard to be the pathway of war: equating negotiations with appeasement and substituting rigidity for firmness. If their view had prevailed, we would be at war today, and in more than one place.

It is a curious fact that each of these extreme opposites resembles the other. Each believes that we have only two choices: appeasement or war, suicide or surrender, humiliation or holocaust, to be either Red or dead. Each side sees only “hard” and “soft” nations, hard and soft policies, hard and soft men. Each believes that any departure from its own course inevitably leads to the other: one group believes that any peaceful solution means appeasement; the other believes that any arms build-up means war. One group regards everyone else as warmongers, the other regards everyone else as appeasers. Neither side admits that its path will lead to disaster–but neither can tell us how or where to draw the line once we descend the slippery slopes of appeasement or constant intervention.

In short, while both extremes profess to be the true realists of our time, neither could be more unrealistic. While both claim to be doing the nation a service, they could do it no greater disservice. This kind of talk and easy solutions to difficult problems, if believed, could inspire a lack of confidence among our people when they must all–above all else–be united in recognizing the long and difficult days that lie ahead. It could inspire uncertainty among our allies when above all else they must be confident in us. And even more dangerously, it could, if believed, inspire doubt among our adversaries when they must above all be convinced that we will defend our vital interests.

The essential fact that both of these groups fail to grasp is that diplomacy and defense are not substitutes for one another. Either alone would fail. A willingness to resist force, unaccompanied by a willingness to talk, could provoke belligerence–while a willingness to talk, unaccompanied by a willingness to resist force, could invite disaster.

But as long as we know what comprises our vital interests and our long-range goals, we have nothing to fear from negotiations at the appropriate time, and nothing to gain by refusing to take part in them. At a time when a single clash could escalate overnight into a holocaust of mushroom clouds, a great power does not prove its firmness by leaving the task of exploring the other’s intentions to sentries or those without full responsibility. Nor can ultimate weapons rightfully be employed, or the ultimate sacrifice rightfully demanded of our citizens, until every reasonable solution has been explored. “How many wars,” Winston Churchill has written, “have been averted by patience and persisting good will! …. How many wars have been precipitated by firebrands!”

If vital interests under duress can be preserved by peaceful means, negotiations will find that out. If our adversary will accept nothing-less than a concession of our rights, negotiations will find that out. And if negotiations are to take place, this nation cannot abdicate to its adversaries the task of choosing the forum and the framework and the time.

For there are carefully defined limits within which any serious negotiations must take place. With respect to any future talks on Germany and Berlin, for example, we cannot, on the one hand, confine our proposals to a list of concessions we are willing to make, nor can we, on the other hand, advance any proposals which compromise the security of free Germans and West Berliners, or endanger their ties with the West.

No one should be under the illusion that negotiations for the sake of negotiations always advance the cause of peace. If for lack of preparation they break up in bitterness, the prospects of peace have been endangered. If they are made a forum for propaganda or a cover for aggression, the processes of peace have been abused.

But it is a test of our national maturity to accept the fact that negotiations are not a contest spelling victory or defeat. They may succeed–they may fail. They are likely to be successful only if both sides reach an agreement which both regard as preferable to the status quo–an agreement in which each side can consider its own situation to be improved. And this is most difficult to obtain.

But, while we shall negotiate freely, we shall not negotiate freedom. Our answer to the classic question of Patrick Henry is still no-life is not so dear, and peace is not so precious, “as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery.” And that is our answer even though, for the first time since the ancient battles between Greek city-states, war entails the threat of total annihilation, of everything we know, of society itself. For to save mankind’s future freedom, we must face up to any risk that is necessary. We will always seek peace–but we will never surrender.

In short, we are neither “warmongers” nor “appeasers,” neither “hard” nor “soft.” We are Americans, determined to defend the frontiers of freedom, by an honorable peace if peace is possible, but by arms if arms are used against us.

And if we are to move forward in that spirit, we shall need all the calm and thoughtful citizens that this great University can produce, all the light they can shed, all the wisdom they can bring to bear. It is customary, both here and around the world, to regard life in the United States as easy. Our advantages are many. But more than any other people on earth, we bear burdens and accept risks unprecedented in their size and their duration, not for ourselves alone but for all who wish to be free. No other generation of free men in any country has ever faced so many and such difficult challenges-not even those who lived in the days when this University was founded in 1861.

This nation was then torn by war. This territory had only the simplest elements of civilization. And this city had barely begun to function. But a university was one of their earliest thoughts–and they summed it up in the motto that they adopted: “Let there be light.” What more can be said today, regarding all the dark and tangled problems we face than: Let there be light. And to accomplish that illumination, the University of Washington shall still hold high the torch.

Stumble it!

~ by Kent Francisco on July 16, 2007.