Well, as I said, I was very young and very poor on the day of his Inauguration so I must have missed this news. It wasn’t mentioned in Time magazine (where I read the speech) at the time. I didn’t even have a phone. On the day of his assassination and later burial I did have a TV, (and a phone) but I also had a new baby and 2 other young children. I thought I watched every minute of the multiple national grief productions afterwards, but I heard no mention of it then either. I’ve read numerous books about JFK’s successes and failures in the 50 years since, and I had never heard this allegation mentioned. Those who revere Kennedy NEVER mention anything about his failures. Plaigiarizing an old prof, without giving credit, ranks among his failures, IMHO.
Most of the negatives against the Kennedy family have centered on Teddy and Old Joe. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve read on JFK and family, and this never came up. Certainly I remember numerous references to Joe paying Ted Sorenson(?) to write “Profiles in Courage” (supposedly his Harvard Sr. Thesis) for him and then buying up enough copies to push it to the Best Sellers List. But, I’ve never heard this Inaugural quotation (one of the most memorable lines ever spoken) debunked before. I must travel in the wrong circles.
Incidentally, my husband was in NYC for a symposium with the Atomic Energy Commission the day Kennedy was shot. He was in a cab heading to the UN when he noticed people stopping in the street in tears. He asked the cab driver what had happened and was told. Since the UN was closed for the day, he went to his aunt’s home in Brooklyn and she entertained him for the rest of the day. She went out shopping and sent home 2 toy drums for my 2 oldest children — then 2 and 3. By the time he got home (to California) with those drums, the kids had already memorized the dirge that had been playing on TV all weekend as the Caisson carrying JFK’s body rolled through the streets of Washington. The kids picked those drums up and played that dirge over and over until I thought I’d scream. LOL
I don’t remember what ever happened to Aunt Mary’s drums, but somehow, I don’t think that they met a very good end. I don’t remember the younger 2 kids ever having drums. Since all toys and clothes were “passed down” in the family, it seems strange that drums came up missing. ;’)
I was 13-year old just entering teenage-hood when Kennedy ran in 1960 and his look and wit won me over but by the time the 1964 election rolled around, I had matured enough to honestly see both the forest and the trees. I was then Press Chairman for the Harris County Youth for Goldwater & Des Berry. I continue my conservative politics to this day.
BTW watch the 2011 mini-series "The Kennedy's" DVD or streaming on Netflix as Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes hit home runs as Jack and Jackie.