A word from JFK

Talking about the outrage of the day with a friend, I was reminded of JFK “fat-shaming” the youth of America in his speech at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Children’s Bureau held at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Dallas, Texas (April 9, 1962, video below). In the speech, JFK spoke out against childhood obesity. Indeed, he went so far as to say that “[t]here is nothing, I think, more unfortunate than to have soft, chubby, fat-looking children who go to watch their school play basketball every Saturday and regard that as their week’s exercise.” JFK thought we could do better! However, as a famous Roman orator put it, “O tempora, o mores,” i.e., times have changed. There was a time when this could be said by the President of the United States.