Many people of my parent's generation look up to Kennedy and realize his true importance as a real American hero, especially the African-American population. Kennedy played an important role in getting the Civil Rights Movement headed in the right direction. He influenced people to act with enthusiasm in everything they did, and he gave off a sense of hope that spread through America. As you can tell John Kennedy was an ambitious leader with high expectations of himself, his country, and everyone else he was involved with. He tried to resolve problems that high officials before him were scared to talk about like racism, equal pay for women, communism, foreign affairs, and hunger around the world.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy truly is a twentieth century American hero. If you are considered a hero there are two basic categories that you could fit into. First, there is the Rogue-Hero. In our text the rogue-hero is referred to as, ".one whose primary characteristics are an exceptional vitality and an assertion of a radical individual freedom over the communal democratic values associated with the cultural mainstream-.
(Nachbar and Lause 320). In other words a rogue-hero is someone that lives life without limits, acts rebellious, and often gets into trouble. The second category of hero is the citizen-hero. In our text the citizen-hero is referred to as, "The first condition is that the person must be gifted in some way. The second necessary condition for heroic status: the hero must possess qualities the culture values highly.The third necessity for the citizen-hero is his duty to the mainstream culture itself- (Nachbar and Lause 317). After researching both topics of heroism I feel that John Fitzgerald Kennedy fits into the realm of citizen-hero. Kennedy had special individual gifts no other president in American history had before him. All presidents throughout American history have attempted to manage the news to serve their political interests.