trump’s Dark Ages
At an April 1962 dinner, honoring American Nobel prize winners, President Kennedy welcomed the group with the following words:
“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House — with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” — President John F. Kennedy
President Kennedy’s use of wit and charm to “bring people together” was renowned.
Following is a picture of the event with Mary Welsh Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway’s widow, “grilling” the President on Cuba policy and Mrs. Kennedy engaged in a heartfelt conversation with former Poet Laureate, Robert Frost.
Among the other guests were J. Robert Oppenheimer, Linus Pauling, who had picketed the White House that very afternoon; James Baldwin, who would later discuss civil rights with Attorney General Robert Kennedy; John Glenn, who had recently orbited the earth aboard Friendship 7; historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., who argued with Ava Pauling at dinner; and many others. Actor Frederic March gave a public recitation after the meal, including some unpublished work of Hemingway’s that later became part of Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream novel.
As Joseph A. Esposito writes; “Held at the height of the Cold War, the Kennedy dinner symbolized a time when intellectuals were esteemed, divergent viewpoints could be respectfully discussed and the great minds of an age might all dine together in ‘the people’s house.’ ”
Contrast President President Kennedy’s comfortable relationship with intellectuals with that of donald trump’s White House dinner for evangelical christian leaders pictured here.
As might be expected trump has to be center stage at a lectern. At a trump dinner he’s the only one being honored. The absence of “intellectuals” is obvious. Trump becomes quite uncomfortable among intelligent people. It’s unlikely he even knew who Thomas Jefferson was until he arrived at the White House and found his portrait among those of other Presidents.
Leonardo da Vinci believed there were no precise boundry lines visible in nature. Sfumato is an artistic innovation, meaning “to evaporate like smoke,”which Leonardo perfected. It’s a painting technique that produces soft, hazy transitions between tones — the visual opposite of a sharp outline. The most famous example of sfumato is da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503–1506), which features smoky, almost-imperceptible gradations between light and shadow.
Some leaders, like President Kennedy excelled at “political sfumato” as they led us “from dark to light”. Others, like trump, excel at creating sharp lines of division among us leading us “from light to dark”. The “Dark Ages” lasted 300 years before the glory of the Renaissance began and light overcame darkness. We hope and pray “trump’s dark ages” won’t last that long.
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Notes:
Joseph A. Esposito, “Dinner in Camelot: The Night America’s Greatest Scientists, Writers, and Scholars Partied at the Kennedy White House”, University Press of New England, 2018
