Amity Shlaes writes in the latest Forbes magazine about facts that contradict the popular view among left-of-center partisans about John F. Kennedy’s political views.

Buried under a progressive monument built by such historians as Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Kennedy cries out from the grave for a second look at his record. Yet to date most historians and textbook authors have contented themselves with carving details onto the Schlesinger edifice. The latest troop seem happy to march around the Kennedy tombstone, sounding triumphalist bugles. This matters because it sustains a fallacy: that Democratic policy today, so progressive, is identical to Kennedy policy and that today’s policy will yield the same splendid results that Kennedy policy did. …

… In an early speech, “Why I Am a Democrat,” Kennedy explained simply: “Because I was born one”–in other words, “an accident of birth.” Given that accident, JFK opted for the most conservative and Jeffersonian definition of Democrat he could find, that which “stood firmly opposed to a strong centralized government. … It championed states’ rights, and strict constitutional interpretation.” …

… The standard picture of the Kennedy economic policy is of a Keynesian Camelot, “Keynesian” here meaning always favoring big spending and larger government. A hard-currency hawk, JFK expressed views on spending reminiscent of Calvin Coolidge: “I don’t believe in big expenditure for its own sake.” He agreed to allocate hundreds of millions to the space race only to beat the Soviet Union: “Otherwise we shouldn’t be spending this kind of money, because I’m not that interested in space.”

A true Keynesian treats government spending and tax cuts as the same thing–more cash for consumers. Kennedy drew a distinction and favored tax cuts, saying, Laffer-esque, “The soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now.” When Kennedy’s star Keynesian, John Kenneth Galbraith, insisted on opposing tax cuts, Kennedy ignored him. As Galbraith reported, “The President told me to shut up.” The point isn’t whether Kennedy had progressive traits. It’s that Democrats have betrayed Kennedy by using his name to apply policies he abhorred. In his day Kennedy shot down those who abused his name, saying, “I’d be very happy to tell them I’m not a liberal at all.”