Author’s program note. When the White Hope of a great dynasty reveals
himself and his intentions, it is only fitting that this moment of
significance be marked and marked well. Thus, gentles all, I give you
Sir William Walton’s stirring prelude to the 1944 film of Shakespeare’s
Henry V. It is everything such music about such a king and his great
deeds should be: audacious to a degree, soaring, stirring to the depth
of your soul.. It’s the kind of music that great sovereigns must have….
but cannot always summon; the necessary genius of such music not at
hand.
But that genius and his talents are here now… go now to any search
engine to find this music. It delivers just the right mood of challenge,
courage, grandiloquence, and awe that this tale and its subject deserve
— and which I aim to tell in this way:
“O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of
invention A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold
the swelling scene!”
(Prologue to Henry V).
I am that Muse of fire…
A state that grew too slow, a House seat lost, a petulant miscalculation, an opening seized.
Every ten years, by law and custom, we the people must be counted and
counted carefully, for the great things of the Great Republic,
including who will get and who will lose seats in the House of
Representatives, are fully determined by this census. And once the
census is taken its immutable dictates go out to the several states
which have either lost population, seats, and influence, or gained them.
And this census stripped Massachusetts of yet another seat… and
inaugurated a deadly game of musical chairs amongst the current
Congressmen as to who would stay and who would go. And the legislature
(which controls the size and contortions of each district) degreed that
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) would be handed the fight of his
political life; that he would have to fight and fight hard, with
absolutely no guarantee of victory, to retain his place amongst the
Solons of the nation.
And so this 16-term Congressman, grown puissant and corpulent in
office, a man whose every lightning-fast quip offended someone of
consequence who awaited the opportunity to revenge, this man, the man
who thought himself too good, too powerful, too venerable to suffer the
indignity of campaigning and meeting the people, disdained his high
office, thereby opening the way for the Heir Presumptive of The Legacy
and a lifetime of regret for himself.
The Plantagenets at 83 Beals Street, Brookline, Massachusetts.
You will never understand the Kennedys (who neither disclaim nor
deprecate their designation as America’s dynasty), until you see them at
83 Beals Street, where John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in 1917; for it
was here that Patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy and his adamant wife
transformed a mere family, Irish at that, into a gifted and determined
cadre trained to seize a great nation and rearrange its history to their
eternal benefit.
… Just as another ambitious family planned, plotted and persevered.
These were the Plantagenets of the 12th century and of England; they are
the truest dynastic comparison for the Kennedys; not the timid souls of
the House of Windsor who can only imagine the glamor and significance
of these royal princes, for they will never have either.
The Plantangents had everything great dynasts and their dynasties
must have to rise and prosper. They had grit, personal magnetism and
charisma, great ideas, a deft hand at murder and chastisement, and a
fortitude and grace that are the very definition of royalty.
These Plantagents, from Geoffrey of Anjou (d. 1151), used their
undeniable talents and insistence, catapulted themselves to power and
glory, using every stratagem, every while, every expedient, cruel and
refined. And so unwittingly not only defined themselves but the
Kennedys, too; for every Kennedy knows the power of History… and gladly
does what it takes therein to cement their unassailable position…
whatever the cost, the inconvenience, or laborious tergiversations.
And now, thanks to the petulance of soon-to-be-ex-Congressman Frank,
and the practised and exquisite timing of the Family Kennedy and their
now hopeful and expectant again adherents, Beals Street and its environs
will again be part of their patrimony, thanks to young Joseph P.
Kennedy III, for with such a name as his calling card, can there be
anything other than invigoration, restoration, renaissance at hand?
Meet Joseph P. Kennedy III, Heir Presumptive.
To understand the optimism and even joy with which this hitherto
virtually unknown man has been lately received you must know this: for
64 years, until the somewhat clouded retirement of U.S. Representative
Patrick J. Kennedy (D-Rhode Island), son of Senator Edward M. Kennedy
(D-Massachusetts), there had always been a Kennedy in the federal
legislature; each one a household name.
When that ended in 2010, there was a sense that this storied family
had reached its conclusion, not with a bang but a whimper. But this
conclusion, it appears, was premature. For developing in the wings was…
the next chapter of this family and its tale that has never ceased to
rivet the nation…
But now this tale has every sense of continuing, yea verily even unto
the fourth generation. For now young Kennedy (31 years old) is
“exploring”, letting the people know he is inclined to run, but not yet
quite ready to say so. However the Kennedys are expert at the business
of enticement, inciting expectations and anticipations; they want the
people to embrace this lad, who constitutes their next best chance to
regain federal office and re-ignite the flame of destiny…
Some facts.
Joseph P. Kennedy III was born July 3, 1980 and was handed his
destiny along with his name, The Name that firmly marked him as a
consequential Personage; a prince in readiness for the good of Family
and the Great Republic. Implicit in The Name is this: great grandson of
The Patriarch himself, Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy; grandson of Robert
Kennedy; son of ex-Congressman Joseph Kennedy. And that’s just the
direct line. There are cousins, aunts, uncles of renown… Names
themselves, ensconced in History, each desiring restoration; for only
with restoration will they fulfill their own destinies, enhance their
names, burnish their futures and ensure their immortality.
Thus you can be sure the reshaped Fourth Congressional District will
see, as soon as the all-important announcement is made, an infusion of
energetic, toothsome, photogenic Kennedys, certain to enchant, delight
and capture hearts…. for these Kennedys are past masters at such
seductive, vote-snagging techniques and are now refreshing them in honor
of the Heir Presumptive on whom perforce their own futures rest.
All that stands between this man and radiant future are the people of
Newton, Brookline, Fall River and all the other towns and cities of the
reshaped Fourth Congressional District. The man, the Kennedys, the
dynasty itself are in their hands, to do with as they wish. But they,
too, have been awaiting the next installment of this great story, and to
get it must welcome the man, who with his celebrated name, can provide
it. So far these people are curious about what’s happening, ready in
their dull purlieus to be touched by the Kennedy magic. And this is
enough for today, for after all just a few hours ago not one of these
people knew of Joseph P. Kennedy III or could point him out in a police
line-up. Now, already, things are different, primed for success, as they
always are when Kennedys stride the stage…
*** What do you think? Submit your comments below.
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