Tag: John F Kennedy

Sixty-five years ago, on this day, August 22nd, 1960, Life Magazine published a story about the coming presidential election.

 When Life asked both presidential candidates in 1960 to define the national purpose, only John Kennedy mentioned environmental problems. “The good life falls short as an indicator of national purpose unless it goes hand in hand with the good society,” Kennedy wrote. “Even in material terms, prosperity is not enough when there is no equal opportunity to share in it; when economic progress means overcrowded cities, abandoned farms, technological unemployment, polluted air and water, and littered parks and countrysides; when those too young to earn are denied their chance to learn; when those no longer earning live out their lives in lonely degradation.”15 ; 

John F. Kennedy, “We Must Climb to the Hilltop,” Life, Aug. 22, 1960, pp. 70B–77, esp. 75 cited in Adam Rome 2

“We Must Climb to the Hilltop,” Life Magazine, 22 August 1960 | JFK Library

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 316ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.

The broader context was that although Silent Spring was still to be published, there were incipient worries – about the spread of car culture, of litter, of the Thanksgiving berries being 

The specific context was there was a tight Presidential election going on, and candidates will say whatever will help them get the votes…

What I think we can learn from this – politicians will say whatever will help them get the votes (though to be fair to JFK, he did then try to make “the environment” an issue, but nobody was paying any attention.

What happened next – JFK won the 1960 election – persistent rumours about his dad having stolen Illinois for him remain…

Kallina, E. 1985. Was the 1960 Presidential Election Stolen? The Case of Illinois. Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 113-118  https://www.jstor.org/stable/27550168

What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.

Also on this day: 

August 22, 1987 – “Civilisation and Rapid Climate Change” – a short book

August 22, 1988 – scientists say “Australia, expect #climate refugees”

August 22, 1981 – New York Times front page story costs #climate scientists their jobs.

August 22, 2000 – Minchin kills an Australian Emissions Trading Scheme

August 22, 2011 – anti-carbon pricing rally flops

62 years ago, on this day, June 5th, 1963, the administration of US President John F Kennedy,

“ announced a large-scale cooperative program between industry and government to build a commercial passenger aircraft that would travel faster than the speed of sound…. Over the course of the 1960s, however, Kennedy-era military-industrial aerospace projects fell out of favor with an increasingly skeptical public, and support for the SST waned.”

(Howe, 2014:45)

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 319ppm. As of 2025 it is 4xxppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The broader context was the Cold War had almost gotten rather hot in October the previous year, and the generals wanted as many toys as they could get their hands on.

The specific context was the dreams of limitless power were still so very powerful – it would take defeat in Vietnam and a lot of “impact science” (not yet named so) for that to change – and really, it still hasn’t (Mars colonies, anyone?).

What I think we can learn from this is that while Kennedy was at the same time doing a certain amount of hand-wringing about “Conservation” things like SST, a Boeing dream in part, had a lot of weight. Politicians and their testeria eh?

What happened next  The SST – with its sonic boom and ozone implications became a VERY hot potato.  Eventually Congress imposed a moratorium (this was after Boeing had realised their blueprints were non-starters, and Concorde was having test flights). The Congress moratorium so enraged right-wingers that the Heritage Foundation (Project 2025 guys) got set up…

xxx

What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.

Also on this day: 

June 5, 1993 and 2011- let’s have a march for #climate… It will make us feel good. – All Our Yesterdays