Part 8 (1/2)
One hundred and seventy years after the first president wrote those words pledging freedom of religion in the United States, the thirty-fifth president was elected. John Winthrop would have been delighted that the new president came from a Boston family. That is, until Winthrop learned that that Boston family was Catholic.
In a kind of microbial comeuppance, the Protestant bastion Winthrop was able to build in the 1630s because a plague had wiped out its original Indian inhabitants by 1620 would become the Catholic capital of America after an infectious mold destroyed the Irish potato crop in the 1840s, flinging the refugees of the resulting famine, among them the ancestors of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, to Boston in droves, bringing their ”popery” with them.
On January 9, 1961, eleven days before his inauguration, President-elect Kennedy gives a speech at the State House on Boston's Beacon Hill to a Joint Convention of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Ma.s.sachusetts. His opening remarks, including the fact that his grandparents were born there and the hope that his grandchildren will be, too, seem sentimental on the page. But in the sound recording of that event, the tone of his voice is solemn, nearly fu nereal. He claims it is not a farewell address, but that is how it sounds. He calls himself a ”son of Ma.s.sachusetts,” and here that does not come off as boosterism. To be a son of Ma.s.sachusetts is to carry the c.u.mbersome weight of history, though Kennedy is proud to bear that burden.
”For no man about to enter high office in this country can ever be unmindful of the contributions which this state has made to our national greatness,” he tells them. ”Its leaders have shaped our destiny long before the great republic was born. For what Pericles said of the Athenians has long been true of this commonwealth: 'We do not imitate-for we are a model to others.' ”
For a man who always looks so crisp and modern on film, that last opinion could not be more antique. Nowadays, I cannot imagine that an American president from Ma.s.sachusetts would ever be allowed to stand up in his home state and evoke Pericles in order to put forth the notion that the rest of the country should look up to the place nicknamed ”Taxachusetts,” the place where men are allowed to marry other men. Nowadays, I cannot imagine an American from Ma.s.sachusetts could get elected president period, much less a Harvard grad p.r.o.ne to elitist quotations from ancient Greece.
Kennedy goes on to say, The enduring qualities of Ma.s.sachusetts-the common threads woven by the Pilgrim and the Puritan, the fisherman and the farmer, the Yankee and the immigrant-will not be and could not be forgotten in this nation's executive mansion.
”Allow me to ill.u.s.trate,” he says. He talks about how he's spent the last couple of months planning for his presidency. As he makes ready, one man has been on his mind.
”I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his s.h.i.+pmates on the flags.h.i.+p Arbella Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier,” Kennedy says. three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier,” Kennedy says.
Then he boils down the two phrases from ”A Model of Christian Charity” that mean the most to him: ”We must always consider, [Winthrop] said, that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.”
I fall for those words every time I hear them, even though they're dangerous, even though they're arrogant, even though they're rude.
”Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us,” Kennedy points out. He does not mention that the whole world is staring in America's direction because we have a lot of giant scary bombs, but I am guessing that is partly what he meant. He says that he hopes that all branches of government, from the top on down, are mindful of ”their great responsibilities.” Responsibilities that include trying not to use the giant scary bombs.
”For we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the Arbella Arbella in 1630,” he continues. ”We are committing ourselves to tasks of state-craft no less awesome than that of governing the Ma.s.sachusetts Bay Colony, beset as it was by terror without and disorder within.” in 1630,” he continues. ”We are committing ourselves to tasks of state-craft no less awesome than that of governing the Ma.s.sachusetts Bay Colony, beset as it was by terror without and disorder within.”
He then paraphrases the same verse from the Gospel of Luke that John Cotton evoked in 1630 in his farewell sermon to the pa.s.sengers on the Arbella. Arbella. ”For of those to whom much is given, much is required.” He says that history will judge him and everyone else on four things-courage, judgment, integrity, and dedication, ”the historic qualities of the Bay Colony and the Bay State,” Kennedy adds. ”For of those to whom much is given, much is required.” He says that history will judge him and everyone else on four things-courage, judgment, integrity, and dedication, ”the historic qualities of the Bay Colony and the Bay State,” Kennedy adds.
He does not sound entirely steady. ”I ask for your help and your prayers, as I embark on this new and solemn journey,” he pleads. At this grave moment, he is not a man merely talking about the Arbella. Arbella. He is on the dock in Southampton, ready to board the He is on the dock in Southampton, ready to board the Arbella, Arbella, along with the people before him. The mood is ominous and the fear is real. But this is a new beginning and he is not alone. along with the people before him. The mood is ominous and the fear is real. But this is a new beginning and he is not alone.
MOST USEFUL PRIMARY SOURCES.
The Complete Writings of Roger Williams, edited by Perry Miller, seven volumes (Russell & Russell, 1964; based on the Narragansett Club edition of 1867). edited by Perry Miller, seven volumes (Russell & Russell, 1964; based on the Narragansett Club edition of 1867).
The Correspondence of Roger Williams, edited by Glenn W. LaFantasie, two volumes (Rhode Island Historical Society/ Brown University Press, 1988). edited by Glenn W. LaFantasie, two volumes (Rhode Island Historical Society/ Brown University Press, 1988).
John Cotton, ”G.o.d's Promise to His Plantation” included in The Puritans in America: A Narrative Anthology, The Puritans in America: A Narrative Anthology, edited by Alan Heimert (Harvard University Press, 1985). edited by Alan Heimert (Harvard University Press, 1985).
The Journal of John Winthrop, 1630-1649, edited by Richard S. Dunn, James Savage, and Laet.i.tia Yeandle (Harvard University Press, 1996).
John Mason, A Brief History of the Pequot War, A Brief History of the Pequot War, included in included in Puritans in the New World: A Critical Anthology, Puritans in the New World: A Critical Anthology, edited by David D. Hall (Princeton University Press, 2004). edited by David D. Hall (Princeton University Press, 2004).