When JFK Died

The assassination of John F. Kennedy was one of the defining moments of my generation and I almost forgotten to mention it.

My parents were huge supporters of JFK. There were pictures of him all over the house - my mom almost worshiped him. And, of course, he was Catholic... Yes - there was a time in America when moral issues were not subject to cynical exploitation by political parties... And most Catholics were Democrats. Now, I'm sure there must have been Republican Catholics back then - I just didn't know of any. But I digress...

On the morning of November 22nd, 1963 I wasn't feeling very well and I talked my mom into letting me stay home from school. By early afternoon I was feeling better and was playing in my room when I heard my mom crying... I ran downstairs to see what was going on - and she told me Kennedy had been shot.

I can't really describe the emotions I was feeling. Disbelief and shock. Disbelief and horror. Did I mention disbelief? It was a nightmare... Things like that just couldn't happen in America.

Mom and I sat there together watching the news - praying and hoping - and then Walter Cronkite announced the death... and we both broke down crying...
How could it have happened??? It was as if all of our hopes and dreams and aspirations were suddenly gone. It's hard to explain just how much JFK meant to my generation - something truly significant had been lost - everything had changed...

The whole affair became more and more surreal as the days passed. Ruby killed Oswald. There was speculation about other shooters. There were concerns about a possible Soviet attack - this was barely a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis. The future had been bright but it suddenly seemed dark and frightening again...
Then there was the nationally televised funeral procession... I cried when John Jr saluted the casket... The thought of losing a parent was one of my worst nightmares - I couldn't bear to imagine what those children were going through...

We had one of those brass perpetual desk calendars in the kitchen. It stayed set to "Friday 22 Nov" for the rest of the time we lived in Havertown.