Nov. 22, 1963 - JFK, A Remembrance

[stowe1]

50 years later it is the same day of the week that the 22nd fell on in 1963. I can remember that day as if it were yesterday. I was getting out of a class at Loyola College in Baltimore the city where I was born and raised. It was 12:50 pm est and I was walking over to the librarby building when someone came running by and said that the President had been shot, but he didn't say Dallas he said another city. I said that was just a crazy rumor because the President was in Dallas. (Oh, that he might have been in that other city.) I'm in the Library when someone came in and said that the President had been indeed shot in Dallas. I rushed over to the Student Center where there were televisions. I got there just a few minutes before Cronkite made that awful final announcement. There were only two things happening then, crying or silence. I ran down to the cafeteria on the first floor to see how the cafeteria workers were. They were all African-Americans and many of us had gone to MLK's March on Washington that August and also participated in the March for Baltimore in the early fall not long after school started. Everyone, myself included, just screamed and cried. So many of us were just walking around in a daze watching tv and flipping channels, perhaps hoping that a different outcome would be on a different channel. Loyola was at that time basically a day college, no dorms. Students lived at home and the few out of towners lived in private homes near the campus. A bunch of us went over to the local watering hole that was popular for our class, the Elite (pronounced colloquially as the E-light). And the drinking began. But we were so glued to the television, that our intention of getting drunk really never happened. At some point we just went home.

I worked at the May Company department store in Downtown on Monday and Thursday evenings and all day on Saturdays. It was open that Saturday. Of course we weren't very busy. I worked in Men's Furnishings and one of my co-workers, a fulltime female employee who didn't like Kennedy because he was a Catholic and she was a vehement anti-Catholic said she didn't know what all the fuss was about. I can't remember to this day what I said to her, but I do remember my co-workers were stunned that I said anything to her, but she said the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time. She was particularly perturbed when the store announced that it would be closed on Monday, the day of the funeral and a national day of mourning. I took great satisfaction in her being perturbed.

One of my college friends, Danny Whelan, lived in Bethesda, Maryland a near-in suburb of DC. So he and I and two others decided that we would take the Greyhound to Bethesda and his Dad would drive us down to the Capitol to get in line to pay our respects to JFK as he lay in state in the Rotunda. So we got the bus, his Mother picked us up and drove us back to their home so we could get some provisions to aid in our wait; we walked in the door just as Oswald was being shot on live TV. We were just frozen in our disbelief that this was happening. But undeterred and with a portable radio in hand, off we went to the Capitol. We waited in line for many hours, but we made it into the rotunda and that just made it all too real. We went back to Danny's, rested for a while, and with the transportation system all in disarray, his parents drove us back to Baltimore Sunday night. Danny stayed over at my home, and on Monday, he, my parents and I watched TV all day and night. And there was nary a dry eye in the house for much of the time.

It might be difficult for some to understand why this man and his death are such a touchstone for so many in this country. I am 71, born in 1941 - a member of the so-called Silent Generation, that small group of people born after the Greatest Generation and before the Baby Boomers. American was in period of somnolence after the War and Korea. We had been a country of old men. Then along comes this young, vibrant, vigorous man who said it is time to get moving again; that we were on a New Frontier of science, technology that could take us to the Moon, that we had to be ever vigilant in the world but that we also had to give peace a chance; and that we were all called to help our country This appealed to the Greatest Generation who fought the War, the silenters who wanted to breakout of status quo, and the early boomers who were just getting started. For me, I came from a working class family. My father worked 2 jobs for 40 years to gives us a chance at a bigger part of the American Dream. We were union Democrats. And we were Catholic. And in school, we were taught about the 1928 election when a Catholic, Al Smith, ran against Herbert Hoover. And how viciously anti-Catholic that campaign had been; Smith's defeat; and the general view of so many historians that a Catholic could never be elected President. So that gave me extra incentive. I campaigned for him in the Maryland primary. After the convention, a friend of mine at Johns Hopkins and I got a group of students together from the Baltimore area colleges and started Students for Kennedy-Johnson which worked under the aegis of Citizens for K-J. We did a variety of things leading up to the election and on election day itself we were tasked with driving seniors to the polls so they could vote. When the polls closed we spent the long night and morning down there waiting for the final results and really let loose when JFK was declared the winner. The irony for me was that given my birthday is Dec. 30, 1941, I couldn't vote (voting age was 21 in those days). But I didn't care. My guy won and he was going to be President.

And that's how I got involved in politics. As I have written on this forum many times, I am a JFK Democrat. We got but a glimpse of the greatness within him and what he could have accomplished. A little piece of my self died on that November day and that it is why I will never forget the man, his politics, and his promise.

Finally, just an anecdotal story. In those thousand days of his, I don't think America has enjoyed such popularity and regard throughout the world because he represented a new approach to the world where we all share in the hope for the betterment of all humankind. My brother was a Navy Dr. assigned to the Marines in VietNam during 1965-67. One of the things he did was outreach to help the South Vietnamese in whatever area he was assigned. And he wrote me several times how he would go into these remote villages, poor, thatched huts for homes, and invariably there would be a picture of JFK attached to the inside of the hut. He marveled at how they could be so remote but yet they knew JFK and honored him with a picture. He always wondered where they got them from. He later found out that many of them were from US installations that replaced JFK's picture with LBJ's and the Vietnamese workers would take them and sell them.

This is long enough now; but I just couldn't let this day go by without a remembrance. After all these years, it is still hard to write about, but I can not forget and don't want anyone else to forget either. And hopefully this will help some to understand why so many people in this country and around the world can't forget either.

To President John F. Kennedy - My his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God, Rest In Peace. Amen.

 

[joeychuck2]

I too was in a college class at NYU in the Washington Square campus. A professor got a note and said go home to your families and ran out of the room. We weren't told what happened. As I left all the students were leaving. No one spoke. I had no idea what was happening. I got to the subway which was packed a lot earlier than the usual rush hour. Then I saw one of the tabloid newspapers headlines someone had. The headline was "JFK DEAD". I, like everyone in the subway didn't say a word. Just stood there in shock. It had to have been the longest ride home ever. No cell phones then. couldn't call anyone to share my feelings or ask questions. The mourning period was the same as if a family member died. It took years to get over it. What I remember most about JFK was his news conferences. Watching him on tv on my sofa it was like a big brother. His family was mine too.
It can't be 50 years. Where did all those years go? DOES truly feel like yesterday. So many theories of how and why it happened. I feel the Warren Committee's version is not complete. I wonder if we will ever know what happened?

 

[jamesxx1]

May he rest in Peace
Note* he was the last conservative Democrat

 

[tampa24]

Thank you for sharing all of your poignant stories my friends.

 

[Kylebrand]

Beautifully written Stowe. I too was in school. A radio was opened on the P.A. system. Like you said, we just tried to breath through the tears. It is so important that JFK's lessons be taught. It was peaceful and tranquil during his 1,000 days. It has really never been that way since. I sat in front of the TV for four days. When we returned to school after a week, all the inside flags were draped in black for a month. I remember wearing his campaign button and bumper sticker to the ire of my Protestant relatives. It truly was Camelot. At times I think the younger crowd thinks of the 60's as vile. Hippies, riots, assassinations, Vietnam, and more. Those things came after he was killed. Like you, I identify with him more than any President since. I get angry when I think what might have been.

 

[mikeyank]

Beautifully written Stowe. I too was in school. A radio was opened on the P.A. system. Like you said, we just tried to breath through the tears. It is so important that JFK's lessons be taught. It was peaceful and tranquil during his 1,000 days. It has really never been that way since. I sat in front of the TV for four days. When we returned to school after a week, all the inside flags were draped in black for a month. I remember wearing his campaign button and bumper sticker to the ire of my Protestant relatives. It truly was Camelot. At times I think the younger crowd thinks of the 60's as vile. Hippies, riots, assassinations, Vietnam, and more. Those things came after he was killed. Like you, I identify with him more than any President since. I get angry when I think what might have been.

I felt and still feel that way today Kyle. Beautifully stated.

 

[tim114114]

Thanks for sharing guys. I too was in college at the time and spent days glued to the television.

 

[another1]

I was in high school, my last year. the world seem to be in for a great future. I remembered shaking his hand and his words of encouragement. and now he was gone. I wept not just because of the death of the president, but also for the death of a promise and dream. it wasn't until 1969, july 21st that I began to believe in dreams again. those 1000 days were not perfection, they represented progress.

 

[cumrag27]

Hail to the Chief!

Dear Stowe1,

I was born 7 years later than you, yet I too have shared in so many aspects you discussed. Since the late 50's, I have always been a JFK Democrat, a union Democrat, and a true believer in JFK's forward thinking and progressive views for America's future. Being in parochial schools since the 4th grade, naturally I was schooled on the Al Smith debacle and the existing hatred for and lack of trust afforded ALL CATHOLICS in the early 20th Century, who were "commonly known for hiding guns in the basements of all catholic churches", and who were incapable of putting their country first over the "Pope's wishes"! JFK was the new and improved "Great Catholic Hope" for a Catholic Presidency(heretofore unachieved feat) and claiming our personal stake in the American Dream. JFK represented someone we all could relate to, regardless of his privileged background OR one's faith! Truly, JFK and Jackie were, in every sense of the word, the "International Superstars of their day"! After Mamie Eisenhower, America was ready to see a pretty face once again in the White House! Both of them achieved near-royalty status for a country without royals. In my 65 years, I know of no other administration that had these accomplishments!

With all of the civil unrest throughout this country in the 50's and 60's, the pecking order of undesirables started with Blacks first, then Catholics and/or Jews (interchangeably), and somehow they worked in those dreaded "Communists", both homegrown and foreigners. The times saw the likes of Sen. John Marcarthy capitalizing on finding us completely surrounded by those Pesky Commies; The John Birch Society followers weren't far behind, who had the luxury of endless conspiracy theories working overtime to support their political insecurities and paranoia; and the mule-headed segregationists who loved wallowing in ignorance and reveling in the status-quo, who opposed societal progress at all costs but in God's Name, of course! Biblical Quotes came in handy for these opportunists seeking to support their unsupportable positions!

Growing up in a state where Catholics were a definite and unwelcomed minority, I found it only natural to support other unpopular positions. During the time of JFK, the US was polarized, especially in Texas. Of the two stops, Fort Worth was very supportive and Dallas was just the opposite, popularity wise. JFK went down to TX to mend fences as this trip was mostly political in nature. As it was back then and still is today, in my opinion, Republican views represented a preference for a political view that was "glass half-empty"(pessimistic), whereas JFK and the Democratic view was "glass half-full"(optimistic instead)!

It seems that little has changed in these past 50 years. I have always been my view that, with the three major assassinations taking place in the 1960's, America has never succeeded in recapturing the optimistic Kennedy-Spirit that JFK blessed us with beginning with his administration. LBJ had significant accomplishments in civil rights during his terms but, try as he may, he couldn't ever muster the kind of charisma that the beaming, confident face of JFK blessed ALL of us with in his day!.

I think the loss of "national innocence" best sums up what resulted from this historic day of November 22, 1963!



Sincerely,

P.S. I really appreciated your comments!

Stimpy