It is only appropriate that I make my first official post for this blog on (the day before) JFK’s birthday – what would have been his 95th. I have been fascinated with the person of John F. Kennedy since I was a young boy. I was raised in a typical Roman Catholic household by parents that took pride in the election of the first Irish-American Roman Catholic president in the history of the US. Like most Americans, I grieved his murder on November 22, 1963 even though only 8 years old. The Mother Superior entered our 3rd grade classroom to tell us the sad news that he had been shot, then later that he had been killed. He was now a martyr for the cause. Irish know something about martyrs. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, reacted to President Kennedy’s death. ”I don’t think there’s any point in being Irish if you don’t know that the world is going to break your heart eventually. I guess that we thought we had a little more time.” Even now, with all of the revelations of his indiscretions, Kennedy is still meaningful to me. Especially now as I commence the second half of my life as a researcher of social movements.

The inspiration for this blog and my research interests in political science, is JFK’s now famous speech in Los Angeles in the summer of 1960. In his acceptance speech for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the president of the United States he states that:

“…the problems are not all solved and the battles are not all won; and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier… the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats…The New Frontier is here whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink from that new frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric…That is the choice our nation must make — a choice that lies between the public interest and private comfort, between national greatness and national decline, between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of “normalcy,” between dedication or mediocrity.

All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we shall do. And we cannot fail that trust. And we cannot fail to try…”

In this blog I want to add my modest contributions to the research and discussions about the struggle of a variety of social movements – mostly violent ones – that are seeking to open their own new frontiers.The mission that JFK spoke of was for the USA to emerge as a truly great power in the international arena: to rival the USSR as a nuclear power and as an alternative to how to organize society, to confront centuries-old racism and bigotry domestically, to confront ignorance and complacency in our country. JFK stood for ideas that were intended to be transformative but he knew they would be costly. He so famously said in his inauguration speech in 1961: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Big ideas usually cost a lot and their payoff is even less certain. Nonetheless, he implored us – and we generally listened – “we cannot fail to try.”

I have chosen to import the logic and intent of JFK’s words into a very different context – the world of revolution, civil war and insurgency – in places and contexts that may or may not have meant much to Kennedy. Some of you who read this blog, maybe most, will have difficulty with this linkage. I would ask your indulgence and read along and engage in a friendly exchange about the issues at hand and then render your judgment. Your feedback can only make this conversation better. Let’s see how it goes.