Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Kathi Zimpleman's avatar

I was sitting in my 5th grade classroom when we heard the news about President Kennedy being shot. Two brothers in our class who arrived at school after the lunch hour told us what had happened. Many of us started to cry. We had one old black and white TV in our school and the 5th and 6th grade students had permission to watch TV it they chose to do so. My memory was that I was thinking how horrifying it was that this had happened to our President and his beautiful wife and children. At home the TV was on and we all watched every minute of the next 3 days with the images of the First Lady and Caroline kneeling at the coffin in the Rotunda, the riderless horse named Black Jack in the funeral procession, the show, steady cadence being marked by muffled drums being seared into my heart and soul. I remember "John-John" saluting the men of the military. I remember the First Lady lighting the flame at Arlington.

Our family did get together for Thanksgiving that year because I grew up in an Irish Catholic family and John Kennedy was one of us. There were no bridge games that year, no parade watching, no loud laughter; just our big Irish family crying and telling stories about the President being one of us and how proud we would always be of John Kennedy.

Expand full comment
Steve Hanken's avatar

I remember walking into my home room From gym class and some of the girls were crying, I had heard nothing of the assination and couldn't figure out what had happened, As everyone got into the class room the teacher told us that the President had been shot and that he had passed away as a result. All in that same moment came like a bolt from out of the blue. Who would do such a thing and why? To this day I still don't feel we know the truth about either of those questions. The result of which remains, after my 73 trips around the sun, that my trust in government has been completely hollowed out from things that happened to me since; in Vietnam, the CIA wars in Central America, The capture of Noriga in Panama, the bombing of Libya, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, it seems to never end, and often is caused by fear. Fear of the unknown, the primary thing the Republicans work on to do what ever they want with us, there canon fodder. How many more "riderless horses" does it take before voters actually vote to protect Democracy? How many suicides, how many mental health beds, how many 100% disabled before we stop counting the dead and start investing in the living, breathing people of this country and not the war profiteers?

Expand full comment
12 more comments...

No posts