On November 22nd, many Americans paused to remember the terrible tragedy on that day in Dallas in 1963. President John F. Kennedy was gunned down while his motorcade slowly rolled through Dealey Plaza.
The nation was shocked – and I would argue has never truly recovered from that moment – when, in a split second, so much optimism and hope was extinguished.
I won’t argue for a special place for Kennedy in history, nor engage in a retrospective of his accomplishments during his brief time as president. My intent is to use his words and leadership as contrast with the present occupant of the White House – specifically in how the two men saw America’s place in our world.
In his historic inaugural address, Kennedy declared that America would “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” That rhetorical position led this nation into foreign entanglements that brought about disastrous results, especially in Vietnam.
But such a commitment was in line with this country’s perception of itself and the perception of others around the world: America was the ultimate defender of democracy. People looked to us – though flawed internally and in its international policies – as the democratic example to the world. A nation to which to aspire.
As many somberly marked the 62nd anniversary of Kennedy’s death, Donald Trump and his minions were chaotically proposing a means by which Russia would emerge victorious in its nearly three-year war against Ukraine.
Much has been written and said about the now-scrapped 28-point peace plan the Trump administration tried to force on Ukrainian leaders. Regardless of who developed it or how it was propagated, it represented America’s wholesale abandonment of Ukraine and a surrender to the aggressive expansionism of the Russian dictator Putin.
The petulant president threatened to walk away from the “ungrateful” Ukrainians in late November if they didn’t quickly agree to the plan. But it was soon scrapped after European leaders correctly called it a capitulation to Russian demands. A new 19-point plan – with Ukrainian input – emerged, and U.S./Russian discussions on this proposal have begun. The Russians aren’t making any promises, and they don’t have plans to stop fighting.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to lash out against any and all, with no discernable grasp on reality. The people of Ukraine – continuously and indiscriminately bombed by the Russian military – fear the worst for their nation and their future as a democracy. They have reason to be afraid.
How different are these times from the past? When Kennedy confronted the Soviet empire in Berlin in 1963, he declared to the people of West Berlin, encased by the Soviet’s wall, that he was proud to call himself a Berliner – as all those who believe in liberty should call themselves.
Over 25 years later, President Ronald Reagan challenged Soviet President Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Gorbachev didn’t have to. The people of Berlin east and west did, ending decades of Communist oppression throughout eastern Europe.
Today, the people of Ukraine are fighting the same kind of fight. Those of us who love freedom and liberty should be proud to call ourselves Ukrainians. But Trump neither cares about the Ukrainians nor their freedom.
Instead, he sends troops as an occupying force into American cities. He sends thousands of masked goons to grab Americans and those seeking to be Americans off the streets, out of their houses and their places of work, constitutional rights be damned.
He threatens opponents with arrest. Late last month, Trump called members of Congress traitors for stating the truth: U.S. soldiers are duty-bound to disobey illegal orders. He is a Putin wannabe.
Writing in the New York Times, columnist Thomas Friedman stated that Trump and his minions would be shoe-ins for the “Chamberlain Award.” The award doesn’t exist, but if it did it would be named for British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. It was Chamberlain who sold out Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler to ensure “peace in our time.” We all know how that turned out.
Still, Chamberlain couldn’t know what was to come, how Hitler’s war would cause the deaths of millions, Europe’s destruction and the wholesale slaughter of Jews and others targeted by the Nazi regime. He may have known what Hitler was doing to Jews in Germany in the 1930s, but the worst was yet to come.
Trump and his minions know Putin. The Russian despot has waged bloody war on the people of Ukraine for over a decade. His desire to extinguish that nation is clear to even a casual observer. Putin is cruel and unrelenting, engaging in atrocities that have seen civilian areas bombed, the kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children and the torture and execution of POWs.
Peace is needed, but not peace through appeasement. History will judge Trump harshly should such a peace result. Certainly, Trump will eclipse Chamberlain in terms of perfidy and in abandoning the values of humanity, decency, democracy and liberty.
I close by quoting from Kennedy’s inaugural address again. “In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.”
The Ukrainians have welcomed it. So do I. I hope and pray all Americans do and that we reject the Trump regime’s abandonment of freedom in Europe and here in America. It’s now on us to stand strong for those values so many have fought and died for – in our nation’s past and in Eastern Europe today.
Dr. Fred Kowal is President of the 35,000 member United University Professions, which represents faculty on 29 New York State Campuses. UUP is an affiliate of NYSUT, The American Federation of Teachers, The National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.
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