# JFK Effect We tend to think highly of great things that end while they are still good. Morbidly, John F Kennedy is a prime example of this. The cultural perception of him crystalized around him in the moment he died: Vietnam was not yet a morass, the space program had just started, he was young and vibrant. Would our collective perception be the same if he died of cancer at age 80? Probably not — he would have had time to preside over the decline in Vietnam, sexual scandals may have come to light, and more blandly, the shininess would have come off. Firefly, killed after its first season, and Calvin and Hobbes, ended voluntarily by Bill Watterson are other good examples. Calvin and Hobbes is especially interesting because it was voluntary, and Watterson stuck to his guns. He didn’t try to continue milking it.