Blogtrek

The Kennedy Assassination

Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy on 1963 November 22. Where was I when the shooting happened? I was a 17 year old high school senior. It was Friday and I went through my usual sequence of classes including Advanced Placement Calculus at a school in upstate New York. At the end of that Friday, classes were rearranged to accommodate an assembly to honor and cheer the school's athletic heroes. One by one they came with cheers for everybody: the track and field team, the basketball team, and the football team. At about 14:10 EST, suddenly we were all called to either give the Pledge of Allegiance or sing "America, Tis of Thee". After that the assembly ended and we went to our homerooms. I thought it was rather strange. It was too early. Otherwise it was normal. The homeroom teacher went through some administrative things, and then dismissed us. We all went out to the bus, walking on the pavement outside. Then I heard what had happened. Students were talking to each other about what had happened to President Kennedy. I got onto my bus and sat near the front. The bus driver said that there was a bullet in his brain. I did not know what that meant, except that it seemed serious. She was listening on the radio. The people in the back were talking about Senator Goldwater; apparently about his chances for getting elected after this.

The bus drove by a nearby Catholic school and I saw the flag there at half mast. I wanted to know if it was true. It stopped on my street and I walked out with a neighbor girl. She said that was an awful thing to do to him. I got into the house, which was empty. My parents were both working. I turned on the TV and saw it. There was a picture of President Kennedy on the screen, and below it, it read "1917-1963". So it was true. I wanted to know how my parents would react. My brother kept making my life miserable with music from a rock station, but now the station was playing church organ music, saying that after this event it would not want to play its usual popular music. When she got home, she said ti was awful what happened to him but it was what one would expect from appealing to the crowds like that. There was a Senior Night dance scheduled for that night. I could not get a date but was intending to go single. I called someone and found out it was cancelled.

Most of the time I was home that weekend and Monday, watching the TV for new developments. I turned on the radio on Sunday and got the announcement that Oswald had been shot. The headline the next day read "Pro-Castro Gunman Held in Assassination of Kennedy", and two days later, "Millions watch: Revenge Bullet Kills Oswald".

It did not seem to affect my life that much, but it did help set up the Johnson-Goldwater presidential election of 1964. In that election, Johnson won every state except a strip of five states in the Deep South and Arizona. But suppose Kennedy had lived? From what I have heard, some of the sexual experiences of him may have come to light, along with his association with the Mafia. This may have led to his impeachment and possible removal from office or resignation. If it did not lead to that, there is a possibility that another Democrat, maybe Johnson, would have challenged him for the nomination. If this challenge had been successful, the Democrats would have lost three Lichtman keys: challenge to nomination, incumbency, and scandal. They had already lost four. The loss of seven keys would have meant a Goldwater victory, and the history of our nation would have been substantially different.

The Kennedy Assassination, along with the Moon Landing, Planeattack, the start of the two Iraq wars, and the Cuban Missile Crisis were events that I, and most other people, will always remember.