Free Republic

When newly elected President John F. Kennedy was flying out of Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, he looked down at his father and said to a nearby assistant, “There’s the man who did all this.” Kennedy’s dad, like most fathers of presidents, played a massive role in the identity of his son. And as the 2012 presidential election approaches, it would be helpful to look closely at the dads of today’s candidates. As psychologist Dr. Dale Atkins put it, “Our relationship with our parents is the ‘original’ relationship of our lives, the template for all other connections.” There is no better place...