Where were you when you heard the news? For me, hearing the news in the principal's office when reports were broadcast that shots rang out, froze much for me at that time. And one hour later, when the worst was confirmed, this 12 year old kid understood that the country and the world changed forever. You have read this line many times before in my previous commentaries. And now you know what it means.
Forty days or so from now, the nation will commemorate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on a bright sunny Friday afternoon in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. That day, for me, is frozen in time, as I am sure it is for anyone who could remember where they were when the first news stories came across the TV.
Ironically, the calendar this year will comply with history to mirror the day and date for us to augment it all for us, making it all that much more significant.
And President Kennedy? Well, he was born on May 29, 1917 and if he were alive today, which he probably would not be, he would be 96 years old. While his mother died at the age of 104 years old, his siblings, who died of natural causes, and his father, died in their 70s and 80s. But since time froze the day he died, he will forever be but only 46 years old.
For me, who lived during his presidency and fell in love with politics and history during this time, I know that for some of you, my views of JFK, his presidency and the "what-if's" are skewed in his favor. For me, Kennedy, and Reagan, really were cut from the same cloth; strong on defense, anti-communists, compassion for the little guy, great communicators. They were really the same political soul.
Understand that this is not a commentary of his presidency or his personal life. This is a retrospective of how he shaped, via his life and death, one 12 year old's views on history and politics, and how all through my life, I asked the question, "What would Kennedy (Reagan) do?"
When you ask the question, "if Kennedy lived and served a second term, what would be different or would never have happened?", I think the following:
- 55,000 never would have died in Vietnam, because we would have been out in 1964
- Race riots would not have happened, because the pace of the Civil Rights movement would have been accelerated
Forty days or so from now, the nation will commemorate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on a bright sunny Friday afternoon in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. That day, for me, is frozen in time, as I am sure it is for anyone who could remember where they were when the first news stories came across the TV.
Ironically, the calendar this year will comply with history to mirror the day and date for us to augment it all for us, making it all that much more significant.
And President Kennedy? Well, he was born on May 29, 1917 and if he were alive today, which he probably would not be, he would be 96 years old. While his mother died at the age of 104 years old, his siblings, who died of natural causes, and his father, died in their 70s and 80s. But since time froze the day he died, he will forever be but only 46 years old.
For me, who lived during his presidency and fell in love with politics and history during this time, I know that for some of you, my views of JFK, his presidency and the "what-if's" are skewed in his favor. For me, Kennedy, and Reagan, really were cut from the same cloth; strong on defense, anti-communists, compassion for the little guy, great communicators. They were really the same political soul.
Understand that this is not a commentary of his presidency or his personal life. This is a retrospective of how he shaped, via his life and death, one 12 year old's views on history and politics, and how all through my life, I asked the question, "What would Kennedy (Reagan) do?"
When you ask the question, "if Kennedy lived and served a second term, what would be different or would never have happened?", I think the following:
- 55,000 never would have died in Vietnam, because we would have been out in 1964
- Race riots would not have happened, because the pace of the Civil Rights movement would have been accelerated
- Johnson never would have been President to lie and get the Congress to enact the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- Nor Nixon. And no Watergate
- Bobby would have succeeded him. And no Carter or Iran or 20% mortgage rates. Because, no Nixon
- Russian Communism would have died a quicker death. The Wall would have come down earlier
- We would not be shunning Cuba by 1967. Hence, no socialist wars of liberation
- A black man and a woman would have been elected President long before now
And so much more would have been different, too. All because the world and the country changed on November 22, 1963.
Who knows? He would have been not quite 52 when his second term ended, and like John Quincy Adams who returned to the House, he could have returned to the Senate and have been a powerful and respected voice for social change and international good.
But since the country and the world changed on November 22, 50 long years ago, we will never know.
And that, friends, is the real tragedy of three bullets being fired and hitting the target, changing what might have been to never was.
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