November 22, 1963

1963

Thanksgiving Getty ImagesKeystone-France

President John F. Kennedy with the turkey, who is ready to be pardoned.


I remember that day so vividly. I was a freshman in high school and the announcements were made over the PA system. Our principal was crying as she made the second announcement, the one of his death. She told us all just to go home, not to wait for dismissal. On the streets and bus going home, everyone was so shocked and quiet. It seemed unreal. Unfortunately, violence became more real in the years to come, but that day it all seemed so impossible.


For a brief shining moment there was Camelot............


Its interesting because, as a child of the 70s, on an emotional level, I have never understood why this event impacted people the way it did.  I suspect that some of the shine of the office of POTUS was lost with Nixon.  

It makes you wonder how things will proceed after Trump.


To try to answer Klinker's question (above), I think the impact had to do with our illusion of safety and rationality being so suddenly shattered. I was born soon after the end of WWII, a horrible, brutal war, and I think that society was trying to put that behind it. We had comfortable suburbs, lots of GIs had come home and were finding a good job market and educational opportunities, Europe was being rebuilt, and if there were still unpleasant aspects to our society (segregation, for one), we were still looking forward. And then, one afternoon, one man with a rifle shattered that illusion of safety by killing the person who represented our country. It was shocking. My parents were not Kennedy supporters, but they were stunned and mourned. In just a few years, we would see the killings of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther KIng, Jr., the violent protests against the Vietnam War and the political establishment and would see young children killed in churches in our southern cities. These later events numbed us, for want of a better word, to the brutal violence we were seeing, but JFK's death came after a period of seeming calm and rationality. And that impacted each of us who heard the news that day.


Yes, to above. Also, JFK was a relatively young man with a young family, which was a contrast to his predecessors and the leaders of the House and Senate. And some of the darker aspects of his life - womanizing, health problems - were hidden from and by the press, so it was easy to make him a martyr.


Yes again to what cody said.  I think we thought assassination was something from long ago, or far away.  This pulled the rug out from under us, really cut into the sense of security.  I was a h.s. senior at the time.  Like everyone else from the time, i will never forget.


And 55 years later, assassination files are still being withheld from the American people for reasons of "national security."


Klinker said:
Its interesting because, as a child of the 70s, on an emotional level, I have never understood why this event impacted people the way it did.  I suspect that some of the shine of the office of POTUS was lost with Nixon.  
It makes you wonder how things will proceed after Trump.

I wasn’t around either but it’s certainly not too hard to understand how the murder of your president, especially a popular one, might be a devastating emotional trauma. How it all played out with the added personal aspect of a very young wife and small children is heartbreaking even to me now. The uncertainty of the loss of a president, the fear of who/why, must have also been scary. I’m not sure how you could wonder how it had such an impact?


Even here in Australia it was more than major news at the time, replaying over and over on our relatively new TVs. I was quite young but I remember that day clearly, and shock of my parents, my big sister. 

(A couple of years later our Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming at a family picnic at Cheviot Beach. He's never been found or seen since, giving rise to all kinds of speculation. )

The ripples of instability such events rocket through government and through society take so long to heal - now we have lightning-fast social media, impacts would be even more traumatic. 


conandrob240 said:


Klinker said:
Its interesting because, as a child of the 70s, on an emotional level, I have never understood why this event impacted people the way it did.  I suspect that some of the shine of the office of POTUS was lost with Nixon.  
It makes you wonder how things will proceed after Trump.
I wasn’t around either but it’s certainly not too hard to understand how the murder of your president, especially a popular one, might be a devastating emotional trauma. How it all played out with the added personal aspect of a very young wife and small children is heartbreaking even to me now. The uncertainty of the loss of a president, the fear of who/why, must have also been scary. I’m not sure how you could wonder how it had such an impact?

I should probably have phrased that differently.  I do understand intellectually "why" it effected people the way it did, its just that, on an emotional level, I don't quite get "how" it effected them.  

I think there is something different in the way my generation and the generations that have come after us regard the Presidency. The institution has been soiled in the years since JFK was killed and I suspect that a similar event today would be perceived in an entirely different way (and I'm not just talking about Trump).


I was six days away from being born (coincidentally, on Thanksgiving), so it was a bittersweet time for my parents.

My dad’s mother, an old Norman Thomas fan from an immigrant Yorkville family, would occasionally wonder out loud late in life how anyone could bring children into this crazy world. Dad and I would remind her that she had him during the depths of the Depression in a world on the cusp of conflagration, and that I — though pretty much a done deal — arrived at the start of a violent, tumultuous decade.

Hope endures, and lucky am I, and thankful.


This day always gets some attention in San Antonio because the Kennedys were here on 11/21 before going to Dallas. A few pictures ...


paulsurovell said:
And 55 years later, assassination files are still being withheld from the American people for reasons of "national security."

Yes, we should be able to know this stuff now.  I remember the day JFK was killed.  I was in second grade and everyone was crying and hung his picture on the doors of their houses.  We all assumed what we read in the papers about Lee Harvey Oswald was true and that they caught the bad guy.  Then I remember in the 80's all those conspiracy books came out and I thought they were nuts but reasonable people read them and could not shake the evidence.  And now we get bits and pieces and it seems like everyone now accepts that it was sort of an inside job.  Highly recommend the book, "The Devil's Chessboard."  Very disturbing. 


Klinker said:

I should probably have phrased that differently.  I do understand intellectually "why" it effected people the way it did, its just that, on an emotional level, I don't quite get "how" it effected them.  

I think there is something different in the way my generation and the generations that have come after us regard the Presidency. The institution has been soiled in the years since JFK was killed and I suspect that a similar event today would be perceived in an entirely different way (and I'm not just talking about Trump).

You have to have been there and lived through the events before, during, and after the assassination and following media coverage to understand how the nation as a whole reacted to what happened.  Most of the people I knew at the time reacted emotionally more than intellectually and the emotional reaction was a very strong and widespread one.  Today we would have said it went viral.


I was due to be born that day


Klinker said:


conandrob240 said:

Klinker said:
Its interesting because, as a child of the 70s, on an emotional level, I have never understood why this event impacted people the way it did.  I suspect that some of the shine of the office of POTUS was lost with Nixon.  
It makes you wonder how things will proceed after Trump.
I wasn’t around either but it’s certainly not too hard to understand how the murder of your president, especially a popular one, might be a devastating emotional trauma. How it all played out with the added personal aspect of a very young wife and small children is heartbreaking even to me now. The uncertainty of the loss of a president, the fear of who/why, must have also been scary. I’m not sure how you could wonder how it had such an impact?
I should probably have phrased that differently.  I do understand intellectually "why" it effected people the way it did, its just that, on an emotional level, I don't quite get "how" it effected them.  
I think there is something different in the way my generation and the generations that have come after us regard the Presidency. The institution has been soiled in the years since JFK was killed and I suspect that a similar event today would be perceived in an entirely different way (and I'm not just talking about Trump).

I don’t think so. Sounds like we’re the same age. I have the utmost respect for the institution of the Presidency. I love this country, despite its warts. I’m not sure how it’s “been soiled” since JFK. There have been men who have made mistakes, some whose policies were completely against my beliefs but I respected all and would shed a few tears if any of them died. I’d imagine I’d be very emotional if someone murdered one, even ones I didn’t like. (All these comments are Trump exempted)


joan_crystal said:


Klinker said:I should probably have phrased that differently.  I do understand intellectually "why" it effected people the way it did, its just that, on an emotional level, I don't quite get "how" it effected them.  

I think there is something different in the way my generation and the generations that have come after us regard the Presidency. The institution has been soiled in the years since JFK was killed and I suspect that a similar event today would be perceived in an entirely different way (and I'm not just talking about Trump).
You have to have been there and lived through the events before, during, and after the assassination and following media coverage to understand how the nation as a whole reacted to what happened.  Most of the people I knew at the time reacted emotionally more than intellectually and the emotional reaction was a very strong and widespread one.  Today we would have said it went viral.

I liken it in my mind to 9/11 to a certain extent. The fear, the devastation, the widespread sharing (especially as NYers) of that experience.


referring to a comment above, I have to admit I’d be horrified if another President, including the present, were to assassinated. For one thing, it would cement the present incumbent’s martyr fantasies. For another, it would just lead to more despair at the crumbling of society’s values, and modern inability to resolve differences with resorting to gun violence.


Nah, he’d be dead so I don’t think it’d have any impact on his own martyr fantasies. And I don’t think it would lead to any more “despair”. I don’t want the current president assasinated but I don’t think there’d be any “despair” if he were. If children being shot in the back with an AR-15 in as they run for their lives doesn’t convince you on gun violence, the killing of one man with a gun isn’t going to make you think twice on that subject either. 

What we would have is a greater left- right divide (unless a republican were to shoot him) and the horror of a Pence presidency. 

Anyone being murdered is a horror even a man like Trump. Especially because he’s our president like it or not.


(what I meant was he's probably already recorded 'if you're watching this, then they shot me' clips and instructions on how to remember him and preserve his legacy)

Someone else reminded me that the first episode of Dr Who was broadcast on the same date. Such contrasts, yet if you're a certain age and personality type these differences could start defining your philosophical views.


Klinker said:


I should probably have phrased that differently.  I do understand intellectually "why" it effected people the way it did, its just that, on an emotional level, I don't quite get "how" it effected them.  
I think there is something different in the way my generation and the generations that have come after us regard the Presidency. The institution has been soiled in the years since JFK was killed and I suspect that a similar event today would be perceived in an entirely different way (and I'm not just talking about Trump).

To understand why people were so emotionally effected by JFK's shooting and death, you really have to understand how much people loved JFK and his family. He came into our lives through television (in exactly the opposite way that the current president comes into our lives through television.) He loved press conferences, and the press and the public loved him.  He was handsome,  at ease with himself, a wonderful smile and wit. We loved Jackie and John Jr. and Caroline. When he was shot and killed, it was if a member of the family had been taken away from us. 

My wife and I were dating at the time - we were numb. We went to a movie to try to get some relief - it was packed. We saw someone that we knew who was there for the same reason. 


Given America’s place in the world it’s a blessing our Presidents have been assassinated as infrequently as they have. Such a horribly corrosive act to a free people who select their leaders to have them over ruled by one person.


When you stop and look post war, Truman, Ford and Reagan all survived  attempts on their lives. Kennedy of course did not. That’s 4 out of 13- a pretty frightening percentage.


Yikes. It appears every president post war has had some close calls- some closer than others. 


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots






cramer said:



To understand why people were so emotionally effected by JFK's shooting and death, you really have to understand how much people loved JFK and his family. He came into our lives through television (in exactly the opposite way that the current president comes into our lives through television.) He loved press conferences, and the press and the public loved him.  He was handsome,  at ease with himself, a wonderful smile and wit. We loved Jackie and John Jr. and Caroline. When he was shot and killed, it was if a member of the family had been taken away from us. 

 Exactly.


There has always been a fair bit of discussion about the relationship between the Kennedy Assassination and the rise of the Beatles in America, with some believing that their appearance on Ed Sullivan on 2/9/64 helped to get kids out of their collective funk.


 


On 11/22/63, in the UK, this album was released.  Beatlemania was everywhere.   

Image result for with the beatles


And on the morning of 11/22/63, CBS aired this five minute long piece about what was going on in England.  It ran on the CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace.  It was supposed to have run again that night during Walter Cronkite's Evening News but it was, obviously, preempted by the Kennedy assassination.  


(the date on the Youtube video is incorrect)


I agree JFK was loved by many, and he certainly charmed people through his press conferences, photos of his young family and so on. But he wasn't necessarily hugely popular across the board. He barely won the election and arguably if it weren't for some campaign maneuvers influenced by his family's wealth and contacts, Nixon would have won. Many resented that he gave his brother such influence. And his administration had some big screw-ups. That said, for the reasons discussed, of course people were shocked when he was violently murdered. And part of the shock was that it wasn't immediately clear who exactly was behind it, and when and if they would strike next.

And I agree the institution has been diminished somewhat - LBJ not running when he could have, other incumbents not being reelected, the resignation, Clinton scandals, that Reagan might have been ill in the final years of office, the veil lifted on secrets about JFK, FDR and others, and of course Trump, and some might even say minor things such as seeing ex-Presidents doing skits with Jimmy Fallon - it all adds up to contribute to a changed perception of the institution for some if not many.


conandrob240 said:


 I have the utmost respect for the institution of the Presidency. I love this country, despite its warts. I’m not sure how it’s “been soiled” since JFK. 

 Nixon?  Clinton?  TRUMP???? If you aren't appalled, you haven't been paying attention.

By contrast, before JFK you had Eisenhower, the man who liberated Europe and, shortly before that FDR.


All of which combines with the steady shift of power towards the Presidency and the Executive Branch.  The character and the nature of the institution has been fundamentally altered in the years since 63.


That and the way that someone born in 1950 understands Pearl Harbor differently than someone born in 1930.


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