US: Letter from Boston: The last vestige of innocence was taken away when I heard that the bar in Cheers, the weekly TV comedy series, was actually a Hollywood soundstage.
It was meant to be in Boston, of course, and part of its charm was listening to the weary witticisms of the regular drinkers at the end of their day's work, or maybe a day avoiding work. But the Cheers exterior was filmed at the incongruously named Bull and Finch Pub in Boston, and it's a popular tourist attraction today. Even though the interior isn't the real thing, the place was packed as I went by and there was a sign advertising memorabilia. How you can have memorabilia of something that didn't exist, such as a fictional television comedy, is a question for the philosophers. While they're at it, they might explain the fact that a "reconstruction" of the Cheers bar at Boston's Faneuil Hall is also a tourist attraction.
I didn't go there, either, because I could not come to terms with the idea of people toasting imaginary characters in a replica of a bar that never was but where nevertheless, in the words of the Cheers theme-song, "everybody knows your name". As the barstool philosophers would say, "Go figure!" Nor did I get to the Irish bar in Boston that was advertised as "handcrafted in Ireland and shipped to America". But that, as Americans say, was a scheduling problem.
However, it was gratifying at last to discover that "fan-u-well" is the correct pronunciation for the name of one of the city's most historic buildings. Faneuil Hall was a major meeting place for leaders of the American War of Independence over 200 years ago, and came to be known as "the cradle of liberty".
Compared to many other cities, Boston has done a good job in preserving its historic sites which, unlike the Cheers bar, have real connections with people who actually existed. One of the highlights is the old Massachusetts State House, where you can see the balcony from which the original Declaration of Independence was read out in July 1776. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . ." Stirring stuff. So, too, were the speeches of John F. Kennedy, who hailed from Boston, of course. The man who said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country", is fondly remembered, notably by an elegant bronze statue at the "new" Massachusetts State House, which was built in 1798 on Beacon Hill.
Kennedy's "greatest hits" still resonate after four decades. People who weren't even born at the time can recite: "Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation . . ." And the blood of succeeding generations is still stirred by Kennedy's clarion call for liberty at the Wall on June 26th, 1963: "Let them come to Berlin."
In conversation with friends we wondered why most contemporary politicians cannot rise to the occasion like Kennedy did, with the obvious exception of Nelson Mandela. One explanation was that they had better speech-writers in those days. But another might be that people are too cynical nowadays and would simply laugh if the rhetoric became too high-flown. Tony Blair got away with his Good Friday remark about feeling "the hand of history" on his shoulder, but only just. At an exhibition entitled "Campaign!" in Boston's JFK Library and Museum, visitors can relive the 1960 presidential election between Kennedy and Richard Nixon, even down to a page from the old-style teleprompter used by Kennedy during his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention. At the time people wondered if a young, relatively inexperienced senator was right for the job and, in the end, the margin of victory was extremely narrow.
Nowadays, people in Boston are wondering if their man, Senator John Kerry, has the right stuff to beat his republican opponent. Nobody I met was prepared to guarantee this outcome, at least for the present. Even strong Democrats conceded that Bush had the common touch, compared to Kerry's more patrician demeanour. Why did Kerry have to be filmed taking part in activities perceived as elitist, like windsurfing? No wonder ordinary Americans felt closer to the President, who also seemed to be perfectly at home with them. But Kerry supporters have not lost hope: the debates might turn it around and their man has a history as a strong finisher.
The best president the US never had, according to his admirers, Senator Edward Kennedy, was busy at the weekend in Boston, presenting the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, with an award for services to Irish emigrants. The ageing lion does not hit the rhetorical high spots to the same extent as his brother, but he possesses the same resonant voice and clear diction. Even now, he barely needs a microphone, the last courtier from JFK's Camelot.
