Dear HCN, I just read the article “The West has a bad
hand” by Jon Margolis (HCN, 10/23/00: In presidential politics, the
West has a bad hand), where he stated that “Life is not fair …”
is generally attributed to John F. Kennedy.
Not
exactly. No doubt it was said at some earlier time (perhaps more
than once), but where U.S. presidents are concerned, the above
quote can be attributed to Jimmy Carter, but the paraphrasing is
not quite right. He said, “Who said life is fair?” The press made a
big deal of it at the time. In fact, I was watching his speech on
TV when he said it. It brought some laughter from the audience, and
no doubt chuckles across the TV audience – as it is a truth they
had grasped (and experienced) long before Carter said it. JFK
perhaps said this line, but at the time it was not “played up” by
the press.
Elaine
Morrall
Flagstaff,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Life was never fair.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
