Project President by Ben Shapiro

Author:Ben Shapiro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2010-09-08T16:00:00+00:00

THE ELECTION OF 1960 pitted one of America’s wittiest presidential candidates, John F. Kennedy, against one of its gloomiest, Richard M. Nixon. JFK’s sparkling repartee contrasted sharply with Nixon’s dogged issue pounding. After Kennedy was able to counter Nixon’s “experience” advantage in the debates, his personality made him a stronger candidate than the darker, more foreboding Nixon.

Kennedy’s humor was subtle and stylish. In 1958, Kennedy humorously twitted President Eisenhower’s optimism about the economy. “As I interpret [President Eisenhower],” said Kennedy, “we’re now at the end of the beginning of the upturn of the downturn. Every bright spot the White House finds in the economy is like the policeman bending over the body in the alley who says cheerfully, ‘Two of his wounds are fatal—but the other one’s not so bad.’ ”83

He was a master of disarming one-liners. JFK’s father, Joseph, was an ultra-wealthy mover and shaker, an anti-Semite, and a proNazi defeatist. He was also a brilliant politician. He informed Jack that if he wanted to be president, he would have to “get yourself plenty of laughs . . . keep smiling whenever you take a crack.” And that’s precisely what JFK did. During the 1958 Gridiron Dinner, JFK sat through a lampooning at the hands of a speaker who credited Joseph with attempting to buy the 1960 election for his son. When it came JFK’s turn to speak, he pulled out a note from his “generous daddy” and read it aloud: “Dear Jack . . . Don’t buy a single vote more than is necessary—I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide.”84

JFK would use that same wit to great effect during his shortened presidency. Early in his presidency, Kennedy read answers to press inquiries from note cards. When asked why he did so, Kennedy quickly responded, “Because I’m not a textual deviant.” After Kennedy appointed his brother attorney general, the media demanded an explanation. “I’ve been criticized by quite a few people for making my brother Bobby attorney general,” he stated. “They didn’t realize that I had a very good reason for that appointment. Bobby wants to practice law, and I thought he ought to get a little experience first.”85

But JFK didn’t solely rely on his own wit. During the 1960 campaign, JFK’s tremendous speechwriters also pulled their weight. Before the Gridiron Dinner in 1958, JFK speechwriter Ted Sorenson called together the entire speechwriting staff to come up with humorous material. In one session, the team voted on 112 jokes and anecdotes.86 It worked to perfection. During the speech, JFK told a joke written by speechwriter Clark Clifford targeting one of the 1960 frontrunners, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson.

“I dreamed about 1960 the other night,” said Jack, “and I told [Missouri Senator] Stuart Symington and Lyndon Johnson about it yesterday. I told them how the Lord came into my bedroom, anointed my head, and said, ‘John Kennedy, I hereby anoint you President of the United States.’ Stu Symington said, ‘That’s strange, Jack, because I had a

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