November 22, 1963

I have to agree with Cramer. I was one of those Kennedy lovers. I admired him as a senator and was so glad to have him as our president. Some thought it wouldn't happen because he was our first Roman Catholic president but it did. It wasn't just our country that admired him.Many countries throughout the world felt close to him. Portraits of JFK were found in many living rooms and store windows. I remember seeing him and Jackie in Hyannis and in his car visiting Arlington on Veteran's Day just a short time before his assassination. As a young schoolteacher, like many other women I loved Jackie's fashions. We would purchase copies of her pillbox hat and those chic dresses.  I was a teacher in my classroom when he was shot. The principal called me out of the room to tell me the news. He said just to tell my fifth grader that when they got home to turn on the radio.I guess he was afraid they would be too upset if they heard the news.. It was difficult for me to continue teaching knowing what had happened.. I think there was about an hour left of school time and he hadn't died although death seemed imminent. It was a tragedy.

Klinker said:

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.

 I didn’t know Nixon as a president. 

Klinker said:
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.

 Meh. We had a bad apple with Nixon. Doesn’t at all affect the way I view the presidency. Clinton was a great president. I consider the whole Clinton scandal to be a ridiculous period in history but nothing that scarred my views of the Presidency or even of Clinton. I still think he was one of the greatest of our time.

conandrob240 said:
 Meh. We had a bad apple with Nixon. Doesn’t at all affect the way I view the presidency. Clinton was a great president. I consider the whole Clinton scandal to be a ridiculous period in history but nothing that scarred my views of the Presidency or even of Clinton. I still think he was one of the greatest of our time. 

Agreed

November 22, 1963 was my parents' 17th wedding anniversary, and a small party had been planned for that evening. It never happened. Yesterday would've been their 72nd...

-s.

In 1963, on that day, I was sitting before the television in the living room, folding diapers from a basket of laundry. Those were the days when diapers were made of cloth and worn under vinyl diaper covers to protect from leakage- not foolproof. 

The programming was interrupted and the image of Walter  Cronkite appeared on screen. What followed was unbelievable and shocking. It just could not be true. JFK, so young, so brave, was dead. 

In the days and weeks which followed, there was a national wake. Virtually, for the first time, people were able to watch every detail for days on their black and white television sets.  I remember, I had to go to the grocery store on Springfield Avenue, I think it was an Acme, and the Avenue and surrounding streets were empty of both cars and people. No one wanted to step away from their television sets and the American tragedy unfolding.

America was united in its grief. Millions watched -live - as Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald before our eyes. So many images of that time are imprinted in my mind to this day.

On 9/11, I saw that raw emotion and national pain again.

While discussing the importance of voting , I always emphasize the fact that our parents took us to the polls with them to set an example. In fact my mom was a poll worker in 1960 and I sat with her that day for a good number of hours. I was twelve but stayed up all night. There was such excitement because there was no “early calling” of winners. It went right to the wire. As working class Catholics, we were elated in ways I could not describe when Kennedy won the presidency. I would compare it only to the night Obama won. Kennedy was the first celebrity-like president and much of America and the world were enthralled for the short time he was in office. Of course the end was catastrophic and I believe affected my generation to this day.

Kennedy's greatest achievement was saving the world by asserting control over a military brass that was not concerned about the consequences of nuclear war. Some wanted to launch a pre-emptive strike against the Soviet Union. This was real life, not Dr. Strangelove:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/08/jfk-vs-the-military/309496/

You tube just does not want to cooperate

annielou said:
While discussing the importance of voting , I always emphasize the fact that our parents took us to the polls with them to set an example. In fact my mom was a poll worker in 1960 and I sat with her that day for a good number of hours. I was twelve but stayed up all night. There was such excitement because there was no “early calling” of winners. It went right to the wire. As working class Catholics, we were elated in ways I could not describe when Kennedy won the presidency. I would compare it only to the night Obama won. Kennedy was the first celebrity-like president and much of America and the world were enthralled for the short time he was in office. Of course the end was catastrophic and I believe affected my generation to this day.

There will be more nights like that in the future. In the end, good always overcomes evil.

I was 7 when Kennedy was shot. It affected me deeply - but for the life of me, I can't figure out how my 7 year old self could feel so strongly about that.

I still remember kids yelling "Yay! Kennedy was shot!" as we were being dismissed from school. I've always assumed they were simply cheering the fact that we were being sent home early. But who knows? I do know that I thought what they were saying was horrible.

sbenois - Thanks for the video.  A different world.  Looks like home, now all gone.

gerritn said:
 In the end, good always overcomes evil.

 Tell that to the Native Americans. I think it is safe to say that this assertion is not supported by History.

GoSlugs said:

gerritn said:
 In the end, good always overcomes evil.

 Tell that to the Native Americans. I think it is safe to say that this assertion is not supported by History.

 That assertion results from the fact that the winners write the history.