JFK

Unless you've been Rip Van Winkling the last half century, you know that it was fifty years ago today that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. It was a pivotal moment in U.S. history, a gaping wound in the American psyche that has left a permanent scar.

There are many aspects of the assassination that still resonate, with two of them the most common: the suggestion of a conspiracy, and the "where were you" questions. The latter will fade in time, as already in 2013 you have to be in your mid-to-late fifties to properly answer the question. In a few decades it will relegated to the "where were you when you heard about Pearl Harbor?" questions.

To answer the question, I have no memory of the event, as I was only two and a half. I did quiz my parents in the last few weeks. My mother recalls that she was shopping for linens at J.C. Penney's in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and they made an announcement over the loud speaker (you wouldn't know a Penney's would have a loud speaker) and she went home. My father was registering for classes at Eastern Michigan University, and has a recollection that a Beatles' song was interrupted by the news. Neither of them remember having me with them. My mother tells me my reaction was indignation that for the next few days the constant news coverage pre-empted my cartoons.

This was the first major news event in the era of television. By the time Kennedy's body arrived back in Washington, most Americans had heard the news. Contrast this to news of the Lincoln assassination, which would have spread out slowly, sometimes in the increment of days. Kennedy's death galvanized the nation in a single, flashing moment, something we hadn't experienced since until 9/11. For the generations who were alive and aware at the time, it has never quite been shaken.

As for the conspiracy, most Americans still believe there is something that they're not telling us. There are more than 500 books about various conspiracies, involving the Cubans, the CIA, the Mafia, or Lyndon Johnson. The crackpot element has been so embedded in the idea of a conspiracy that its hard to believe it could be possible any more. I read a book titled Case Closed some years ago that convinced me that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but that he was murdered by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner who had mob ties, sure is suspicious. I mentioned last week that the Jack the Ripper murder spree is the most famous unsolved crime of all time; if this assassination is indeed unsolved, it would trump Saucy Jack.

The assassination also permanently captured Kennedy as he was--a youthful, dynamic figure who was hero to millions. We have found out more and more about him since then that has tarnished the image, and some people feel we dodged a bullet (sorry for the pun). There have been almost as many "what if" books as conspiracy theories, wondering how things would have gone if he had lived. Most think the Vietnam War would have never happened. It's a great parlor game, but it reinforces the notion that a martyred man is frozen in time.

One thinks of Caroline Kennedy today, the little girl on the pony, who is now in her fifties, the Ambassador to Japan, and the keeper of the Kennedy legacy. She has experienced a lot of tragedy in her life. May this day pass peacefully for her.