A Confederacy of Hegemons: The Project for the New American Caliphate -- Part Two

As for "events", British Prime Minister Harold McMillan, Kennedy's UK counterpart at the time of his tenure, was once asked (by, some say, an unidentified journalist; others say by JFK himself) what were the things that kept him awake at night, or queries to that effect. The British PM (seemingly giving full rein to his inner 'Winnie'), is supposed to have replied along the lines of, "Events, dear boy, events!"

Now whilst there is still some who doubt as to whether the anecdote -- and the 'quote' itself -- may be true, either way there is no doubt JFK would have appreciated the PM's droll, yet enigmatic response, regardless of whether he was McMillan's 'interrogator'. For Kennedy there would have been no better signifier of the times. It would be "events" that not only kept JFK awake at nights, they would in more ways than he might have anticipated or the bulk of his fellow Americans might have expected in their wildest nightmares, overwhelm and define his presidency, and the future of their country. That it would be a combination of these "events" and his own personal shortcomings that brought him fatefully and tragically 'unzipped' is well documented. Yet, in terms of what might have been, that he did not get an opportunity to prove his mettle in such a climate with so much at stake may be one of America's, the world's and history's most lamentable tragedies.

And we should keep in mind Kennedy did not corner the market on reckless behaviour that in varying degrees rendered ineffectual, compromised or tarnished any number of presidential tenures and legacies. In a number of instances some were effectively destroyed as a result. As far as 'skirt-chasing' and "reckless behaviour" in general went, he wasn't President 'Pat Malone' by any means! Both his immediate successors in particular each in their own inimitable ways were exemplars of "reckless behaviour", both before and during their times in office, an observation one might effortlessly make without resort to moral relativism. But ultimately, it's the damage we all have to live with after they ride off into the political sunset, it being a not unimportant theme herein. In the final analysis, his -- or any other president's -- personal shortcomings, vices and peccadilloes don't really matter, other than the not insignificant fact that in JFK's case for example, it compromised the promise of his tenure and undermined his potential ability to make wise(r) use of power.

What Billy the Bard -- someone who knew a thing or three about fate, tragedy, destiny and history -- would have made of the story of JFK's life and presidential tenure is anyone's guess. And whilst the same could be said more or less of many of his predecessors and successors, it would be fair to say if we could bring Stratford-upon-Avon's favourite son back from the wrong side of the grass and present him Kennedy's story from go to woe -- within the context of the overarching historical narrative that both preceded and followed his time in office -- he'd have enough material for another Macbeth, Othello, King Lear and Hamlet and possibly one or two others of his all too famous dramatic/tragic epics rolled into one.

This would mind you be well after Western literature's greatest composer of the amorality tale recovered from the shock even for him of discovering he had not one but several of history's greatest such tales to tell complete with oodles of treachery, deception, malice, corruption, moral decay, megalomania, lust, greed, betrayal, avarice, and unbridled, ruthless, imperial and imperious ambition coupled with every other fatal, tragic, ugly and generally unwholesome yet all-too-human characteristic 'Old Shakey' himself ever had any enthusiasm for showcasing, of which the few mentioned earlier, are but the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, when one thinks about at length -- and if there is a singular objective in mind herein, it is precisely that, to provoke a different way of thinking about the Great American Narrative, what it has meant up to now, and what it might mean for later -- tragedy doesn't even begin to describe it. 'Fatal' may be getting a bit 'warmer'.

Either way, even the resurrected, freshly minted, newly inspired and trans-Atlantically transplanted Shakespeare would have his work cut out for him! Of this we can be reasonably certain. It'd be an embarrassment of riches to service his creative muse for the rest of his second life, a rediscovered labour of love indeed for the author of Love's Labours Lost.

All of which is to say, if only The Bard were still around to turn the mirror on the follies, tragedies, trials and tribulations of the Empire du jour and its life and times, in the only way he knew how.

End of A Confederacy of Hegemons: The Project for the New American Caliphate -- Part Two

To be continued.....