What is an American Hero?

I was seven years old when President John F. Kennedy delivered the line that lit up a generation: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Even as a child, I felt the electricity of that moment. The early days of the Kennedy administration carried a sense of youth, vitality, and possibility. America stood at the apex of its postwar power — confident enough to promise the moon and bold enough to believe we could get there. It was exhilarating.

There was a swagger to the country then — not arrogance, but a deep, instinctive pride. America had defeated Nazism and imperialism, helped rebuild a shattered world, and emerged as a force for stability and prosperity. The promise of America felt inevitable, and for a time, it seemed the world was better for our being in it.