As Thanksgiving and final exams approached in the fall of 1963, I was walking toward Aycock Hall Dormitory at West Georgia College, when a friend shouted from an open, second- story window, “They have killed Kennedy.”
The days that followed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy were among the saddest of my life, spent grieving over the end of Camelot and watching the mournful preparations for Kennedy’s funeral. I sat in my room studying for final exams, while constantly listening as the TV recounted the tragedy in an unending stream…the riderless horse … the gun carriage carrying the young president’s body… the salute of his son John-John as the cortege passed … the interment at Arlington … the lighting of the eternal flame… the poetic eulogies…the relentless rattle of drums. It was too much for any of us to bear -or so I thought.
Completing my college work only a few days later, I was able to find a temporary teaching job in one of the nearby schools. I was welcomed with accounts of how the school principal had announced the assassination of our president over the school’s loudspeakers -and how the classes erupted in cheers and applause. Their parents had hated the martyred president it seems; and, had convinced their children to hate him as well, something I was too naïve to comprehend. It was my first encounter with the cruel animosity that would envelope our national politics for the remainder of my life, a struggle for the soul of an America that seemed at times to have lost its soul.
Of course, many of us were young and susceptible to Kennedy’s brilliant manner of speaking and the handsome charisma he projected with such easy grace, a war hero, a sailor home from the sea, a man in full with a lovely wife and adorable children, a millionaire’s son who campaigned afoot in khaki pants and charmed the members of the Boston ladies clubs to win his seat in the US Senate. And, he was the author of an inspiring book on political heroism, Profiles in Courage -required reading for many college students.
Our cynicism would grow in the decades ahead, as endless war in Vietnam drained our idealism. The violent 1968 Democratic Convention was a turning point, followed by Richard Nixon’s defaming of the presidency in the Watergate Scandal. The collapse of the Soviet Union made us feel invincible for a fleeting moment, but without an enemy to unite us, we began to devour each other politically. Politics came to hinge on television ads and debates, so money came to dominate elections, fueled by corporate- donations on a scale few could have imagined. The rise Political Action Committees and corporate funded “Think Tanks” fostered a lock-step deadlock in the halls of congress, impeding meaningful legislation as the twentieth century ended.
Then, tragedy struck again. The desire for revenge after 911 reshaped our view of the world. While democracy was being challenged at home, we entered new decades of war -this time to bring about regime changes in the Middle East, to defeat the radicalizing influence of resurgent religious fundamentalism… ironically just as religious fundamentalism became resurgent in America. A culture war was on and politicians were eager to exploit it.
Still, there persists the memory of a more promising world, one in which we could expect sophistication, grace and honor in our political leaders.
Postscript: Our vacation plans this year took an unexpected turn, offering us a few hours in Boston. We used the opportunity to visit the nearby John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. It brought back many memories of the pride my generation took in having a dynamic and eloquent young president. Cynics of course abound, claiming Kennedy was all myth and mirrors fueled by wealth. Instead, I choose to believe that the ideals we admire in our leaders are mostly reflections our own virtues and ideals. Standing before the beautifully displayed and recreated White House images of the Kennedy years revived some of my own idealism. Reliving the exhausting sorrow felt when Kennedy was murdered also called to memory the beautiful sadness the country so openly expressed at the time. We were united by tragedy.
Most of our generation can recall where they were on that fateful November day. I was in high school and we were told in an announcement that the president had been shot. I didn’t hear any cheers, but, I was told that some in the elementary schools cheered. I don’t think that they understood the implications of what happened. As you said, they were mirroring what they had heard at home. When Pres. Kennedy died, the school office personnel went from room to room with the sobering news. The atmosphere was quiet and sad. Those were frightening times.
Pam,
Thanks for reading. Those days will never leave me -among the sadest of my life. We loved our country and our young, confident and bright president.
Joe
This is history in a “nutshell” bringing back memories of those sad days when President Kennedy was killed and memorialized. Then more sad memories to follow, his brother Ted Kennedy, who was running for office, was also killed as well as Dr. Martin Luther King. One began to wonder what was happening to our illusion of a democratic society. When I grew up, I had never heard of a classroom of students cheering because our President was killed. This was an “eye opener” for me. I was a Yankee living in Florida. This was truly sad. Was it a turning point in our country politically? You continued to recap more US history and this writing should be shared with high school and college students. It might give them “food for thought” and lead them to read more about these times.
Many thanks-I would enjoy doing that!
Haven’t a clue as to what school you attended Mr. Kitchens, but I find it IMPOSSIBLE upon news of JFK’s assassination that ANY educational institution in the US reacted as you’ve described on that fateful day! That kind of twisted commentary is what TODAY’s leftist media & their confused follower’s would espouse & promote w/their outspoken rhetoric!
Thanks for your response. I agree that overblown rhetoric by politicians inhibits action on behalf ofthe public they serve. The reaction I described occured among the students not the school officials. Back at my college, the respose was only incredible sadmness. Our president had been murdered. Those were years in which political rhetoric was often irresposnsible and violent-the era of George Wallace and Lester Maddox and the revival of the KKK. I appreciate your reading and criticism.
While being much younger, my experience that day happened when I was a freshman at Allegheny College in PA. It was a snowy day and as I was leaving class a classmate shouted down from the dorm window, “Someone shot the President.” My first thought was whom in the world would want to shoot the President of our college? The the awful truth set in. A terrible sense of loss. Most young people in PA had rallied to the inspiration of the young JFK. He debated Nixon in my home town–they were close friends at the time and had traveled together to my small steelmill town by train from DC. Thesn before the Missle Crisis JFK visited again and we all got out of school to go listen to him. So on that day in November 1963 I felt like someone had suckered punched me. Our local theater was staging the Fantastics and the words of Try to Remember still evoke a sense of loss for me. As a teenager I had proudly displayed a poster with JFK’s campaign slogan “Let’s Get America Moving Again”. That day in November 1963 I felt the movement had stopped. That the promise of JFK’s other slogan “A Time for Greatness” had died with him.
At that time I was doing a research paper on Adlai Stevenson so I happened to read his speech to the UN about the loss of JFK. One thing he said struck me, “John Kennedy never believed any man was indispensable.” I took heart from those words. Tonight 20 inches of snow cover my old campus, much like that night in November 1963 and there is still “A Time for Greatness” and I am certain we can “Get America Moving Again.”
Steve,
Thanks for your response. We were young and in love with our country, inspired by our young president. Adlai Stevenson was in my opinion, the last intellectual to campaign for the presidency with any success. I loved his self deprication and eloquence.
Joe
Joe