although lincoln was talking about a literal slavery democracy -- literal slavery to messick late and candidate was referring to -- lincoln was talking about a literal slavery domestically and kennedy was talking about the world. in large part it is grounded in his service in world war ii. paul: there was another incident during world war ii i think had enormous influence on john f. kennedy. that was the death of his brother joseph. , he was quite a hero. alan: yes and according to the family dynamics of that time, his older brother was to be the one who went into politics. and jfk was the to play a supportive role. when his older brother passes away, unfortunately, in a bombing run in which the bombs , went off prematurely, his father, joseph, turned to him. it was now his turn to the the family into politics which was an interesting identity shift for him. much of his younger life he gets away with being friendly and well-liked but not all that series a student and not all that serious a player in the world. it is only through seeing the war develop and then his last couple of years