The old JFK hand has died. This NYT story on his passing, however, fails to mention that Salinger left the United States to live in France as a way to protest the election of George W. Bush. (The Wash Post story on Salinger doens’t skip this detail.) I know a lot of people were upset when Bush won in 2000, but most of them didn’t feel the need to flee America. Salinger’s decision always has struck me as a revoltingly unpatriotic act.