November 22, 1963
My recollections about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy fifty years ago today. Also, some thoughts about the inspiration of his presidency.
1. It's hard to believe that I can remember something that took place 50 years ago! The advantages of getting older! I was 13, by the way, so I can actually remember things farther back than that!
2. Like most everyone who remembers this event, I know where I was and the things that happened that day and the days following it. I was in Mrs. Nell's Language Arts class in the old Jr. High building in Greenfield, Illinois, on that Friday afternoon in November, 1963. I'm a little fuzzy on this, but I think she actually wrote the message on the blackboard instead of telling us. Anyway, it was in her room that I first knew the news.
3. Before the school day was over, we had a worship/prayer service in the High School auditorium led by our Guidance Counselor, Rev. Thornton, also pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Greenfield.
4. I remember watching everything I could on TV and then reading everything I could about Kennedy and the assassination since. (In fact the other day I just finished the book The Kennedy Half-Century by Larry Sabato. Several chapters were on the assassination and other chapters were about how that event has influenced the presidents since JFK. It is a fascinating book!)
5. My interest in Kennedy really started when he was running for president and then his being elected. The 1960 Kennedy-Nixon contest (when I was 9) was the first presidential election to which I paid attention. That was the beginning of a life-long sort of hobby of reading about presidents.
6. I remember reading about PT 109 and about his older brother, Joe, Jr, who was killed in the war. The Kennedys thought he was the one who would become president.
7. In my expanding knowledge of presidents I discovered that while JFK was the youngest elected president at 43, President Theodore Roosevelt was actually the youngest president at 42 when he, as vice-president, took over after the assassination of President William McKinley.
8. I remember an argument I had with my 5th grade teacher when she made the statement that JFK was the youngest president we've ever had. I told her she was wrong. I got out the encyclopedia and proved that I was right! Not sure I had much tact, but I had the right fact!
These are just some of the things I've thought about on this anniversary of a sad day.
