For many people, “Camelot” is more familiar as a metaphor than as a musical — it depicts a noble effort to create a just society, often associated with the Kennedy administration, because Jacqueline Kennedy, in an interview shortly after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, mentioned her husband’s fondness for the show, and quoted a final lyric: “Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot.”

For the great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie–deliberate,contrived, and dishonest–but the myth–persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts toa prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinionwithout the discomfort of thought.Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Commencement Address at YaleUniversity, June 11, 1962.