JFK Re-Visited, Creep or Worse?

 

As a father of young women who have just graduated college I am a bit confused by the lack of interest JFK's affair with a 19-year old intern has had on young people. I have many conflicting feelings about what allegedly happened. Where is the conversation, concern or basic interest in this salacious relationship by the young women and men across America? 

I am a fairly liberal individual with a great respect for freedom and accepting consenting behavior between adults. But in this case I feel like the president abused one of my own daughters,“girls’, who are between youth and adulthood. If this account is true, and no one had come forward to deny it, how does one of the most powerful men in the world justify coercing a young, inexperienced virgin into a first sexual encounter in his own bedroom in the White House? I certainly can get past his other affairs with contemporaries or experienced adults but to use the power of his office to influence a young woman’s decision is really a poor character flaw. It makes me angry to think that men in power can be so disconnected to ethical and moral behavior. I feel outraged by his presumptuous, arrogance and predatory behavior.

We are not living in the past or other countries where this behavior is tolerated. Look recently at resignations for top executives when they have been responsible for unwanted sexual advances. Look at all the policies, and the laws in place now in government and private industry making this type of behavior subject to fines and possible jail time,

Maybe it is the effect of young people today being overexposed to incredible sexual behavior on the Internet or numbness to the reoccurring stories in the media of this politico or other businessman making poor moral decisions. Maybe it is the fear of losing one’s job that more young people don’t step forward to report continuing creepy behavior? Maybe it just isn’t something additional they want to think about.

I look at my daughters who are smart, motivated and hip. But I also look at them across from the breakfast table and see and hear the inner voices of girls as they struggle to come to terms with life’s fears and dreams. I can understand why this woman has waited for over 50 years to tell her story. I think she is still coming to terms with the enormity of the situation and is airing her decision as a relatively innocent 19 year old trying to  make her way in the world. I asked my daughters what they thought. “ It was so long ago” they both answered. Perhaps my strong reaction to this is because I was a kid and looked up to JFK. Who do young people look up to today? If president Obama was accused of this on CNN, would it matter? As parents we owe our children conversations on this type of behavior. If for nothing else to let them know that growing up is complex, being awestruck is normal but behavior like this is unacceptable. It is a shame that this story has not had more impact on the young people engaging on social media. Shame on us. Shame on JFK.