Political Paper Dolls

This morning I recalled a story from my childhood. I used to like playing with paper dolls. One time I got my mom to buy me the "John F. Kennedy And His Family" paper dolls (see pic. on L.). I didn't particularly know that much about the Kennedys, but they were pretty so I played merrily with them. Then my older sister saw them and got upset, and told my parents that they should not have bought them for me. Looking back, I think they must have disliked him because of his alleged extra-marital affairs.

As a kid, I didn't fully understand why there was such disdain for this president by some of my family. Even if he wasn't a good president, he was still a president and that office should have the utmost respect. As it says in Romans 13:1-2:

"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves."

There wasn't a lot of open hostility towards the Kennedys, but occasionally there would be hidden currents of hostility. A few times, there would be some interesting tidbits. I remember my mom telling me how shocked she was, when she heard of his assassination. She had been home ironing some clothes not too long after my parents got married.

She also commented on what she thought was an inordinate interest in the Kennedy family by my Grandma Evans. Apparently, my Grandma loved them and watching them on TV. She also had a habit of naming her kids after movie stars or famous people. So, I guess it shouldn't have come as a surprise when my Grandma named her youngest child after Jacquelyn Kennedy.

I didn't think too much about it though, just grew up with a negative bent towards the Kennedy family. Then in high school, my Spanish teacher commended JFK for starting the Peace Corp. That caused me to re-evaluate my thinking.

Regardless of any scandals or moral issues that might have occurred, a little bit of research will yield some interesting results. JFK was the only president to receive the Pulitzer Prize (although that book was supposedly written by his speechwriter), he was a commander on a torpedo ship during WWII (he received the Purple Heart), and was the youngest president ever elected to office in the US. Interesting reading to say the least...