主题：《茗谈》五十九：下届美国总统 -- 本嘉明

1)为什么JFK能当选？

一，新教和天主教是同源于基督教。天主教罗马教廷相对更加反犹，但在美国的天主教徒还比较温和。所以WASP是勉强可以接受一个天主教徒为总统的。

--first, America was a racist society before 1960s, for sure. So was Canada. I have to say that America was even worse than some Nordic nations before then.

--Anti-semanticism was not a key issue before 1960s. Actually, Jews were not accepted by the WASP elites at all before that EVEN IN AMERICA--THAT'S WHY jews and blacks were solid allies in the civil right movement. There was a common joke: one Jewish lady paid a big sum and became a member of the local country club(a very Scotish/WASP establishment). She reserved a slot to play tennis and was blocked by a staff there. Staff asked what's her last name. She replied: Cohen. Then the staff told her that there was no reservation under that name at all...

haha.

Jewish Americans right now controlled 2/3 of tenured professor jobs at American universities. Before 1960s, that number is very very low.

--Irishmen are very powerful (in terms of block of votes) in New England. WASPs have social status/old money, but Irishmen have votes, ethnic solidarity and controlled political machine, esp., in the New England region. For example, NYC mayor was for long time controlled by Irishmen through Tammany Hall.

--WASPs have to compromise because of the political reality. And we all know Englishmen/Scots are well known for their political acumen: entice, embrace and extend.

二，兄弟连认为这是官二代自己人。

--JFK is from Harvard. BTW, he is not a member of some WASP secret societies--who actually controlled a large chunk of political power through administration branch (e.g., FBI, CIA) and judicial branch.

三，老约瑟夫和民主党内的盟友们做了大量幕后操纵，利益博弈。JFK的当选，不是纯洁无瑕的。

--let me be blunt here: Joseph Kennedy was one of the big bosses of the Irish mafia. He did horse-trading with many mafia bosses in Chicago to rig the presidential election of 1960. BTW, Boston is Joe's home base, and JFK took the state of Mass. by large margin, but NOT in middle-west, where state caucus votes were bitterly contested between JFK and Nixon.

JFK's opponent, Nixon, had a very poor PR with journalists and was not welcome by the press.

四，JFK本人的资历(党国战斗英雄，普利策奖得主)，--he was already a senator before the 1960 election.

风度--JFK was the idol of female voters, every mother's son, every young lady's fancied husband. Look at Nixon in 1960s(boring, depressing face) and you know that JFK would be the winner for sure.

5. More importantly: America went through the extreme depressive period under McCarthy in 1950s and the whole society was turning left then when baby boomers were entering their voting age en masse. JFK joined the election at the right moment and democrats chose the right person.

他和弟弟罗伯特(BOBBY)搭档，向风车挑战，在激怒权贵资本家(兄弟连)的同时，也使美国的平民和底层知识分子逐步认识到他们俩是真心为屁民着想的。

--yes, without their contribution, I would never be able to step into America and realized my American dream (or put in another way, the existence of American dream would be questionable since no Asian talents were be admitted into American universities. America might have nothing but "American nightmare" for colored people and 2nd class white people, such as Polish/Irish/Jewish/Latin Americans). Asians as an ethnic group might have been treated like shit in America, with social status as low as that of the blacks and chicanos... I am still grateful to the two Kennedys because THEIR BLOOD PAVED THE WAY FOR THE PASSING OF SEVERAL CIVIL RIGHT BILLS AND VOTING RIGHT BILLS in 1960s.

所以当JFK遇刺，BOBBY站出来竞选时，选民的感情接近了爆炸点。这一次如果顺利的话，BOBBY基本是笃定当选的，以上的4个支持因素都不需要。因为这是美国底层人民唯一的一次觉醒，

--yes. Bobby was the Uniting force among the divided Democrats after an extreme unpopular war expanded (NOT initiated) by LBJ. Bobby IS the man if he is elected.

• 《茗谈》五十九：下届美国总统-4