It is a pretty widely held opinion that John F. Kennedy was a good man and a great President. Okay, not everyone thinks so, but a lot of people do. He did good things and was a great orator and had a fascinating personal life. I'm not going to debate any of that. But I do have a bone to pick with the former president.
Hats.
Specifically hats worn out of doors.
Prior to Kennedy's term in office, people wore hats outside. It was considered polite and appropriate, and people knew (especially men) that it was proper to take your hat off when you went inside. But JFK and his wife were fashion icons and he stopped wearing hats out of doors. He had quite the fashionable quaff and didn't want to cover it up or something, I guess, so he stopped wearing hats out and the rest of the country followed suit
And we know this is an American thing because hats are still worn in other countries, at least to fancy events. Just look at the amazing fascinations they wear in the UK. But in the United States? We have stores that carry "every hat under the sun" which amounts to baseball caps from every major league sports team. That doesn't count! Hats have brims all of the way around; caps have bills. What about cloche hats and bowlers and newsboy caps and pillbox hats and top hats sombreros and fezzes and fedoras? You can't say you carry ALL THE HATS if you only carry technicolor baseball caps. You're missing out on dozens of amazing hats.
I love hats. I like wearing hats. I like wearing hats out of doors. Baseball caps are not the best hats for my noggin, and I believe the lack of hats in modern American culture can be traced back to John F Kennedy's presidency when America stopped wearing hats. And somewhere along the way, we decided that baseball caps were appropriate headgear for any occasion, including spending time indoors. No. I want a better selection of hats to be readily available these days, and I wish we, as Americans, took better advantage of this fashion goldmine.
So thank you, Mr. Kennedy, for all of the amazing things you did for this country. But could you bring back the hats out of doors? If, for no other reason, so rich white guys will stop wearing toupees that are sad attempts to recreate your luscious headsuit *cough*DonaldTrump*cough*?
Thanks!