To Orwell Today,

Dear Jackie,

Thanks for your enlightening web site. It was partly your essays that renewed my interest in the JFK presidency. I recently purchased "The Speeches of John F. Kennedy" four disc set from the JFK Library and Museum. I never realized how much I missed by being born in '65! I do remember my parents telling me about "the day"...... And how they wept.

I have been trying to figure out where he stood in relation to the U.N. In listening to his speeches, I get the impression that he was an internationalist who fully supported the U.N. as a tool of world peace. In comparison with today's leaders, he seems more like an isolationist! Would he have agreed with the current U.S. trade policies with regard to China? The current agenda of the U.N.?

Any web references or suggested reading will be much appreciated.

Regards,
Michael

Greetings Michael,

You don't have to have been alive while JFK was here to get an appreciation of his life or a feeling for his death. Although you can't remember "where you were" on "the day" (having not yet been born) you can share in the admiration and respect the man engendered in the world by doing exactly what you're doing, ie reading about him and listening to his voice on tape and seeing him live on documentaries (although you've got to be able to see through the mud they sling all over him).

The whole world, as you know, cried over JFK's death.

Even Russia - representing the Communist system that JFK hated - was broken-hearted over his death:

Canada's Prime Minister at the time was Lester Pearson who happened to be a person JFK really liked (and much preferred over the previous PM, John Diefenbaker). Here's the condolences Canada sent:

The only country in the world that didn't cry or send condolences was Communist China. It didn't even report the news to its 1 billion citizens. Here's a copy of the Reuters report appearing in newspapers on November 23, 1963:

The Communist government of China, which calls itself "The Peoples Republic", hated JFK because he had always been outspoken about his adament belief that Red China should not be given a permanent spot on the U.N. Security Council. In the years when he was a Representative and Senator there were American politicians lobbying for non-Communist Taiwan (the Nationalists or the Republic of China) to be deprived of its seat and replaced with Communist China (The Peoples Republic). Finally it happened in 1971. Free China (Formosa/Taiwan) was kicked out of the United Nations and replaced by Communist China (Mainland).

Wikipedia on Red China on UN: In 1971, the People's Republic of China was awarded China's seat in the United Nations by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, and the Republic of China (which had lost mainland China and was limited to Taiwan since 1949) soon lost membership in all UN organs.

In their book JOHNNY WE HARDLY KNEW YE Kenny O'Donnell and Dave Powers say that starting back in 1947, as a freshman Congressman, JFK stood up in the House of Representatives and spoke out against the State Department's China Policy, criticising their trade agreements. He offended both the Republicans and the Democrats by doing this. They say that when he became President JFK read everything he could about China and even used to quote Chinese proverbs like "the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step" etc.

In his thousand-page book A THOUSAND DAYS Arthur Schlesinger says: "The problem of China was increasingly on the President's mind -- indeed, on the minds of everyone except those in the Department of State who were still babbling about the 'Sino-Soviet' bloc. By 1963 Kennedy and Macmillan [England's Prime Minister] were reaching the conclusion that China presented the long-term danger to the peace."

In his book KENNEDY Theodore Sorensen discusses JFK's thoughts on China:

"He knew the Chinese would soon threaten again, in India or elsewhere. 'These Chinese are tough,' he remarked in one off-the-record session. 'It isn't just what they say about us but what they say about the Russians. They are in the Stalinist phase, believe in class war and the use of force, and seem prepared to sacrifice 300 million people if necessary to dominate Asia.' He read all he could about the Chinese (at times enjoying streaks of quoting pertinent and impertinent ancient Chinese maxims). But since the day of his inauguration the Red Chinese - unlike the Soviets - had spewed unremitting vituperation upon him. He saw no way of persuading them to abandon their aggressive design short of a patient, persistent American presence in Asia and the Pacific. Consequently, even if Red China had not become an emotional and political issue in the United States, he said, any American initiative now toward negotiations, diplomatic recognition or UN admission would be regarded as rewarding aggression. He was prepared to use whatever means were available to prevent the seating of Red China in Nationalist China's seat at the UN."

Your observation that JFK is perhaps an isolationist even though he supports the internationalist United Nations organization is very astute. He was isolationist as regards to not getting the USA into wars except to preseve America's best interests. For example, he was willing to go to war to protect Germany from Communist invasion but not Vietnam. See JFK VISITS BERLIN and MACARTHUR ON CHINA, LAOS & CUBA.

JFK would have gone to war (that's what the Cuban Missile Crisis was all about) rather than allow Communists to be parked in Cuba pointing nuclear weapons at us, a far cry from present-day policy which sees them controlling the Panama Canal and the Carribean. See PANAMA CANAL DEATH KNELL and USA APPLAUDS CHINA TAKE CARRIBEAN

It is my opinion that JFK considered the United Nations a good idea in THEORY but had doubts as to its success in PRACTICE. He was by no means a believer in sovereign nations handing power to a world body, but rather that sovereign nations join a world body to share ideas and contribute jointly to aid countries in need. No doubt if JFK were alive today he would be speaking out against the UN's morphing into the BIG BROTHER organization it has become and its usurpation of sovereign power through its "little brothers" like the World Trade Organization etc, similar to MCCARTHY'S UN THOUGHTS which have proven sound.

JFK was actually present as a 28-year old reporter for the Hearst newspaper chain at the conception of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945. The following is a page from the three-page entry he made in his diary (cover and dedication pictured above) of the event. It's in his own typing, and I transcribe some of it below:

"The Conference at San Francisco suffered from inadequate preparation and lack of fundamental agreement among the Big Three; from an unfortunate Press which praised it beyond all limit at its commencement which paved the way for subsequent disillusionment both in England and in this country. The finished Charter is a product of these weaknesses - but it is also the product of the hope, and even more, the realizaton that humanity can ill afford another war. In practice, I doubt that it will prove effective in the sense of its elaborate mechanics being frequently employed or vitally decisive in determining war or peace. It is, however, a bridge between Russia and the Western world and makes possible discussion and a personal relationship which can do much to ease mutual suspicion..."

I hope this little smorgasboard of reflections and references somewhat satisfies your appetite for JFK's thoughts on China and the UN. There isn't anything written dedicated to the subject, just a matter of foraging around in the indexes of general JFK books.

All the best,
Jackie Jura

A Thousand Days, John F Kennedy in the White House, page 1027 (...In Peking the DAILY WORKER ran a savage cartoon entitled KENNEDY BITING THE DUST showing the DEAD President lying in a pool of blood, his necktie marked with dollar signs)

Chinese Ignore Dallas Tragedy, Reuters, Nov 23, 1963 (The assassination of President Kennedy went completely unnoticed here this morning. The news came too late for morning papers but early-morning broadcasts ignored the news too. In answer to questions the foreign ministry said its reaction to the news would be made known when it was available. Kennedy's death is unlikely to cause much sorrow among Communist Chinese or cause a halt to continuous attacks on United States.

watch JFK say USA won't trade with Red China, JFK's Last Press Conference, Washington DC, Nov 14, 1963, YouTube at 5-minute mark (...Question: What are the pre-requisites or conditions for resumption of some form of trade with Red China? President Kennedy answer: We are not planning to trade with Red China in view of the policy that Red China pursues. When the Red Chinese exhibit a desire to live at peace with the United States and other countries surrounding it then quite obviously the United States would re-appriase its policies. We're not wedded to a policy of hostility to Red China. It seems to me Red China's policies are what create the tension between not only the United States and Red China but between Red China and India, between Red China and our immediate neighbours to the south and even between Red China and other Communist countries...)

listen JFK OPPOSED MONOLITHIC CONSPIRACY

GOOD BOOKS ON JFK & FAMILY

JFK TRUTHS & UNTRUTHS & JFK ASSASSINATION PUZZLE PIECES