https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQhROr1zdas&t=239s

John F. Kennedy's Legacy In San Diego

KPBS Public Media  72K subscribers

233 views  Nov 21, 2013
Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. We explore his legacy in San Diego

KPBS Amita Sharma interviews Seth Mallios, Prof Anthropology

Transcript  Follow along using the transcript.




0:00 San Diego State was still a young West
0:03 Coast College when it played host to the
0:05 young educationm minded President John F
0:08 Kennedy the year was 1963 the Cold War
0:11 was at its height and so was the Civil
0:13 Rights Movement it remains a Shining
0:15 Moment for the campus at one that came
0:17 five months before Kennedy was
0:19 assassinated in Dallas no country can
0:22 possibly move ahead no free Society can
0:26 possibly be sustained unless it has an
0:29 educated citizen
0:30 whose qualities of mind and heart permit
0:33 it to take part in the complicated and
0:35 increasingly sophisticated decisions
0:38 that pour not only upon the president
0:40 and upon the Congress but upon all the
0:43 citizens who exercise the ultimate
0:48 power joining me to remember the visit
0:50 is Seth malos chairman of San Diego
0:53 State's anthropology department and the
0:55 University's historian welcome to the
0:57 program thank you so president k was
1:00 here to give a commencement speech what
1:02 did he say it's very interesting because
1:05 he was campaigning and he had three
1:07 stops along the way and at American
1:10 University he talks about world peace at
1:13 Vanderbilt University he talks about the
1:15 Tennessee Valley Authority and about the
1:16 power of the WPA and pulling the country
1:19 out of the depression but when he comes
1:21 to San Diego State it's all about
1:23 education and educational opportunity he
1:26 starts his speech by celebrating the
1:28 Golden State as he calls calls it
1:30 because California invests so much in
1:32 education and then he very cleverly uses
1:35 that as a platform to talk about
1:37 minority opportunity in education those
1:40 are the points that he wanted to get
1:41 across the importance of Education not
1:43 only for wealthy individuals white
1:46 individuals male individuals but for
1:48 everyone in the United States how big of
1:51 a moment was his speech for San Diego
1:55 State and the city one of the great
1:57 things about this event is it was isn't
2:00 just for Democrats in San Diego over a
2:03 quarter of a million people saw him in
2:06 San Diego in a 24-hour period it was a
2:09 celebration of an icon this was the
2:12 height of his presidency the summer of
2:15 63 was was a moment where the country
2:18 had come out of the Cuban Missile Crisis
2:20 it was a first victory in the Cold War
2:23 civil rights legislation was about to be
2:25 introduced even though there were still
2:27 quite a lot of problems this was a
2:29 moment of of enthusiasm of optimism and
2:33 when he comes to the campus he's
2:35 celebrated and the motor kid goes all
2:37 the way down the eight miles of elone to
2:40 the campus and then Aztec Bowl where he
2:43 gives the commencement address is just
2:44 overflowing with students with parents
2:46 and just with interested onlookers now
2:49 you say that it wasn't just a moment for
2:50 Democrats but at that time you know this
2:53 area was probably largely Republican did
2:57 that in any way shape how he was
3:00 received here that's a great point
3:02 because so many people fall into the
3:04 Trap of thinking California often votes
3:06 democratically now so it must have
3:08 always been that way but for decades it
3:11 was a Republican state in fact in 1960
3:14 JFK did not carry the state of
3:16 California the only time the Democrats
3:18 carry California in many decades from
3:21 the 60s through the 80s ironically is 64
3:24 with Johnson and it was the campaigning
3:26 that JFK did during 63 that led to the
3:29 vict in 64 the celebration though was
3:33 that Kennedy represented something very
3:35 different than just his Democratic party
3:37 you mentioned he was young he was
3:39 good-looking he had amazing oratorical
3:42 skills people who are at the event talk
3:44 about the fact he glanced at his notes
3:46 once and then smiled to himself and put
3:49 them away and then gives this amazing
3:51 14-minute address where he's quoting
3:54 Jefferson and Thomas luck very very
3:56 fluidly and again this is not his
3:58 standard speech he was giving a
4:00 different speech at each local and I
4:02 think that's part of the lore one other
4:04 anecdote that I love is that at these
4:06 graduation ceremonies they want you to
4:08 wear the mortarboard hat Kennedy really
4:11 liked his hair and he didn't want to
4:13 wear a hat he tries it on and then
4:15 immediately puts it off to the side and
4:17 people who are at the event talked about
4:19 the sun sparkling in his copper hair and
4:22 and that's that celebration of an icon
4:24 that's beyond mere politics do we have
4:27 anything like that today have we had a
4:29 president visit San Diego State in
4:31 recent times at Compares we we really
4:34 haven't JFK was the only sitting US
4:36 president to be at San Diego State and
4:38 all of its history Ronald Reagan did
4:40 visit but that was when he was governor
4:42 of California there have been other
4:45 dignitaries Elanor Roosevelt came in 62
4:48 but Kennedy was the only sitting US
4:50 president and it's it's funny there's a
4:52 list of of the everyone from the Surgeon
4:55 General to Hillary rodm Clinton to vice
4:58 presidents but I don't think anything
5:00 compares to this singular moment Seth
5:03 malos thank you so much for sharing this
5:05 on the program