Last week the marketing offensive for F/N finally embraced The Colbert Report. Host Steven Colbert had originally thought the movie was about RN teaming up with Jack Frost to save Christmas. He was disabused of this notion by his guest Kevin Bacon, who plays RN’s White House Military Aide and San Clemente Chief of Staff Jack Brennan in the film.
Amidst all the snarkiness is, I think, an interesting insight into the current state of play regarding RN’s reputation, his mind, and his legislative legacy. If nothing else, the relatively restrained responsiveness of the young audience to many of the jokes indicates that, except for the committed and/or the interested, the late 1960s and early 1970s are about as ancient history as the 1860s and ’70s.