Remembering JFK

On this day forty-six years ago I was in my Geometry class when the teacher was called out of the room. She returned a minute later with tears in her eyes and told us the President had been shot. I couldn’t believe it. The world sank into a surreal state of shock. We went into several days of national mourning. Nothing happened. No school. No work. Nothing. It was as if the country wasn’t sure what to do next. The funeral capped days of sadness. The horse drawn casket lumbered from the Capital to Arlington Cemetery. We all watched John-John salute his dad.

Even with the Cold War, life was rather light hearted, and people were excited about the direction the President was taking us. He declared a New Frontier. We were going to the moon. He started the Peace Corps, VISTA, and many other programs. Everyone was obligated to figure out what they could do for their country as he had challenged us in his inauguration speech. That day, it all seemed to grind to a halt.

President Kennedy was well liked, but he had enemies too. He wasn’t popular in the south. There were the Limbaughs of the time, the John Birch Society, and many right wing hate groups. They tried to put him down, but they didn’t get much traction. They couldn’t overcome his charisma. Opponents claimed he would put his Catholic religion before the interests of the country, called his father a bootlegger and gangster, accused Jacqueline of being more partial to France and everything French than America, and proclaimed him too soft on Communism. Conservatives claimed sole ownership of patriotism during the Cold War, even more so than today. Any ideaology left of center was viewed as potentially subversive. He was accused of taking us down the road to Socialism- even though he hadn’t passed any landmark legislation- that came after his death.

I remember his television debate with Richard Nixon. Nixon didn’t look good on black and white TV- he looked dour and sinister. TV must have been a window into his soul- an omen of things to come. His makeup was poorly done. He was noticeably uneasy with the new format for campaigning. In contrast, Kennedy looked young, relaxed, and happy to be there. Neither candidate had to say a word. JFK won the debate by his demeanor. I remember it so clearly because I was more conservative than liberal at the time, and my guy blew it.

His inaugural speech rallied America. I remember watching him. I remember watching Robert Frost, a very frail man of 86, struggling to read his poem that he wrote for the occasion on that cold, blustery day in January. His papers wouldn’t lie flat and he couldn’t read the poem, so he recited another poem from memory instead. I felt sorry for him. He was too old to be out in that weather. I don’t think an army could’ve kept him away though. He died two years later.

Later, I had an opportunity to participate in an oratory contest at school. I recited President Kennedy’s inaugural address. A local nun was one of the judges. I remember looking at her while I recited the address; she had tears in her eyes and was beaming at me at the same time. I knew I had her vote.

We had barely recovered from the Cuban Missile Crisis the year before. Racism was still running full tilt in the south, with lynchings, murders of civil rights workers, segregation, and all the Jim Crowe laws that denied African Americans their rights and freedoms. Jack Kennedy wasn’t powerful enough to tackle those issues. After all, he was a junior Senator when he ran for President (sound familiar?), and had little political capital to work with. His tragic death did create a tidal wave of good will that enabled civil rights and Medicare legislation. Lyndon Johnson spent all of his political capital pushing those landmark bills through Congress. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy would’ve been very happy.

Rest in peace Mr. President.