The Striker Report

In her eulogy for American President Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher observed that during his tenure in the White House, the President "sought to mend America's wounded spirit, to restore the strength of the free world, and to free the slaves of communism."

As Britain's 'Iron Lady' saw it, "these were causes hard to accomplish and heavy with risk. Yet they were pursued with almost a lightness of spirit. For Ronald Reagan also embodied another great cause - what Arnold Bennett once called 'the great cause of cheering us all up'."

It is true that sunny optimism appears in short supply these days, as dark economic clouds find their physical expression in the oily Gulf of Mexico, but it may be worth re-visiting another time period for some historical perspective: the dark days following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Many still recall November, 1963, when a stunned nation tuned in to CBS news to see Walter Cronkite solemnly reporting the unthinkable – 'Camelot' was no more.

Around the world, people openly mourned the loss of the handsome young President; it seemed to some that American innocence had been lost forever.

According to a recent comparison study by Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, Kennedy's death seems to have had a more negative emotional impact on the nation's psyche than did the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Yet Americans ultimately survived this terrible loss, and some historians have pointed to an unlikely source of comfort that helped tide some of them over- a British singing group from Liverpool whose first album "With the Beatles" had been released the day of John Kennedy's death.

By now the legend is well known: the Beatles took the country by storm, charmed journalists, topped the pop charts and played to mobs of screaming teenagers.

And they loved America, especially her music.

Their dominance of the popular culture ruffled some feathers, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, and they appeared genuinely humble.

Their zest for life was contagious.

Of course the Beatles' story now reads as myth, but few would deny their massive influence. They took the American teenage market by storm and their story was shouted from the rooftops.

They helped distract America from a terrible trauma. They brought enduring pleasure to thousands – later millions. Before we shrug and close the history books on them, we might ask if economists and policy makers can say the same.