remembering 61 years ago

a day that changed our country forever

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the youngest man to hold the office of President of the United States, was also the youngest to lie in state.

Our 35th Commander In Chief was shot and killed 61 years ago today while processing down the streets of Dallas with his motorcade. He had not served even 1000 days in office before his life was taken from him and from our country at the age of 46 years old.

I think about that event all the time. About a year ago, there was a trend on social media where wives asked their husbands how often they thought about the Roman Empire. It turns out that men think about it quite often. The assassination of JFK is my Roman Empire. It’s on my mind frequently, and I think the reason for that is that our country lost a sense of innocence that day. Our President was gunned down with his wife, First Lady Jackie Onassis, sitting next to him, Texas Governor John Connally and his wife also in the car, and thousands of onlookers witnessing what has only happened in our nation’s history three other times. It must have been horrifying for each and every person involved.

The day was beautiful - just a week until the Thanksgiving holiday. Thousands of excited Americans lined the streets where President Kennedy was scheduled to drive and they all were hoping for a glimpse of the dashing young leader and his beautiful bride. Their campaign was in full swing, the mood in the air was festive, and flag-waving was in abundance.

As the motorcade turned past the Texas School Book Depository at Dealey Plaza, it was hit by a barrage of rifle shots, two hitting the President - one in the head and one in the neck. The Texas Governor was also struck. In radio recordings, you can hear the chilling tone that the broadcasters instantaneously adopted - knowing that this was an absolutely crushing day in our history.

An hour later, the President was pronounced dead at a nearby Dallas hospital, and the country was thrown into collective morning. This was, after all, the first shared tragedy of the new television age. For four days straight after the shooting, the three major television networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS) all provided live coverage of the national crisis, and citizens from every city and state remained glued to their television. It’s reported that 300 million people globally watched our President’s funeral, and that number included 95% of all Americans. Imagine that. It’s hard to think of something happening today that would garner the attention of nearly all of our countrymen. It was a different time.

Just hours after the assassination, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office as President of the United States aboard Air Force One (he had also been in Texas with JFK), standing next to a shocked and heartbroken Jackie Kennedy, still wearing the bloodied suit from the motorcade horror.

The very next day, President Johnson made his first presidential proclamation and declared that November 25th, 1963, would be a national day of mourning. This would also be the day of President Kennedy’s funeral. Across the country, almost every school and business was closed. The streets remained bare, and shop lights dimmed. Americans were shocked and scared.

- - - - - - - - -a photo of downtown Milwaukee on the day of the funeral. It was all but empty - - - - - - -

In his address, President Johnson stated eloquently:

“I earnestly recommend the people to assemble on that day in their respective places of divine worship, there to bow down in submission to the will of Almighty God, and to pay their homage of love and reverence to the memory of a great and good man.”

Could those words be uttered today? I don’t believe so, no.

- - - - - -From left: Senator Edward Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy (age 6), Jackie Kennedy, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and John Kennedy (age 3) - - - - - - - - -

When the day of President Kennedy’s funeral and procession arrived, dignitaries from over 90 countries attended and over a million people lined the streets. The stoic Jackie Kennedy had ordered the Chief Usher of the White House that the entire day be orchestrated and executed with the same protocol that had been used for Abraham Lincoln after his assassination in 1865.

- - - - - The Kennedy family at the burial which was held at Arlington National Cemetary. His mother, Rose (center left), his brother Robert, and widowed wife, Jackie. - - - - - - - -

The 1960s was such a tumultuous time. John F. Kennedy's assassination was the first of four major assassinations during the 1960s and another horrible event in a string of unsettling events that shook Americans. It’s hard for me to imagine living in the 1960s. It was a moment in world history where uncertainty was a constant emotion, I would imagine.

The assassination of a President, regardless of your politics, is unequivocally damaging to a country’s stability, and it’s heartbreaking on a personal level for so many. It’s a reminder that we can’t control everything - something I think Americans struggle with uniquely. It’s a reminder that evil exists. It’s a reminder that change can occur in a flash. And it’s a reminder that life is a vapor.

This post is not (by any stretch) a comprehensive look at the details of that day and the days that followed - I didn’t even touch on Oswald, the Warren Commission, the details of the funeral, or the “conspiracy” theories that were born out of President Kennedy’s death.

My intention was simply to remind us all about a pivotal moment in United States history, and perhaps to encourage us to think about the brevity of life and bask for a moment in healthy nostalgia for a bygone era in our country’s history.

I want to believe that if (God forbid) something similar happened now, we would all gather together and mourn, pray, and stand together united.

I’m just not certain that we would, and that makes me sad.

For all of us.