Happy Birthday, President John F. Kennedy! Today, Kennedy turns 98, and it’s as good a day as any to celebrate the liberal icon as a powerful force for conservatism in the United States.
Ira Stoll made the case for JFK’s conservative bent in his 2013 book JFK, Conservative.
Here are six times when Kennedy showed his conservative colors while president:
1. Deeply Religious
During Kennedy’s presidential run, anti-Catholic sentiments dominated mainstream America, and many believe that his narrow victory over Richard Nixon (the election was decided by only 118,000 votes) could have been avoided if he had abandoned his Catholicism. Not only did Kennedy keep his faith, he became an advocate for the Catholic church’s teachings throughout his presidency, antithesis to some Democrats’ understanding of religion as damaging to a nation’s prosperity and freedom.
2. Pro-Life
Now, on the question of limiting population: as you know the Japanese have been doing it very vigorously, through abortion, which I think would be repugnant to all Americans. –President John F Kennedy
As part of his Catholic morality, Kennedy hated abortion, and while he failed to pursue policies that would outlaw it, he used his status as president to publicly dissuade Americans from practicing abortion. As an added defense of the president’s conservative stance on abortion, Justice Byron White, one of the two Supreme Court justices to dissent on the Roe v. Wade opinion, was appointed by none other than JFK in 1962.
3. Reagan’s Hero
When John F. Kennedy was president, he understood the Soviets. He understood Castro. He won passage of a law calling on the United States to prevent Cuba from extending its aggressive or subversive activities to any part of this hemisphere. Were he alive today, I believe he would be ashamed of those in the liberal Democratic leadership who would weaken our defenses, endanger our security, and sell out the cause of freedom in Latin America. –President Ronald Reagan
The nation’s 40th president, Ronald Reagan, often spoke of Kennedy’s policies to illustrate the issues with the modern Democratic Party, since JFK was so radically right as a liberal. In a 1984 re-election speech in Macon, Ga., Reagan said “whenever I talk about … John F. Kennedy, my opponents start tearing their hair out. They just can’t stand it. And, of course, they can’t, because it highlights how far they themselves have strayed from the strength of the Democratic political tradition.”
Reagan’s tax cuts and supply-side economic theories, colloquially known as Reaganomics, were often compared to Kennedy’s, since both programs saw economic prosperity for the nation. Reagan, simply, wanted to illustrate that Kennedy-style leadership is what America needed in the time of Castro and Communism.
4. Pro-Small Government
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. –President Kennedy
Immediately upon assuming office, Kennedy made a name for himself in his drastic reduction of federal spending. Encouraging his budget directors to deny spending increases and slicing the pay of White House staffers made Kennedy a clear-cut fan of small government, lower taxes and less spending.
5. Cut Taxes
In addition to his personal views of decreased government spending, Kennedy famously championed tax cuts, proposing in 1963 that income taxes would be cut from 20 percent to 91 percent to 14 percent to 65 percent and that corporate taxes would cut down by five percent. This was part of the president’s aggressive attack on the plunging American economy that Eisenhower and the second World War left him with. The tax cuts were largely favored among voters, and most of Kennedy’s success with turning the economy around is owed to his Reaganomics-styled tax program.
6. Increased Army Spending
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty. –President Kennedy
Although he cut spending across the board while in office, one area he left alone was military spending. Citing Eisenhower’s inability to keep America in step with the Soviet threat, Kennedy assured Americans that he would do whatever it took to be “tough on Soviets” and “tough on Communism.” He took this position while running for president, making sure Americans knew that he would be ramping up military spending (fromKennedy and the Cold War). Before elected president, he fully supported all of America’s pursuits toward Cuba, knowing that it was most important to be strong in the face of such an international threat. Kennedy was an outlier among his Democratic contemporaries, and his position on the military was unique for a liberal.
So wish the late President Kennedy a Happy Birthday today, and thank him for all he did to further the Conservative cause. His prosperity in office further proves the importance of small government, morality, and a strong America in the face of Her enemies.