56th anniversary today of JFK death

[wnylib]

Glad that DU does not allow conspiracy theories because I think I have heard them all and do not want to hear any more.

I bring up this anniversary only out of respect for his memory.

Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment
That was known as Camelot.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Thank you. It occurred 2 years before my birth, but it's an event I feel I've lived thru...

...if merely because his legacy is so powerful that you almost believe you knew him first-hand.

[virgogal]

3. What legacy?

I voted for him and mourned his death,but do not understand the legacy.

[wnylib]

14. I can think of some things I would consider his legacy.

Remember the idealism? It affected most of us, but especially younger people not yet old enough to vote. Youth are already disposed toward idealism so we lapped it up. But then felt the disillusionment when he was murdered. Switched to people like Eugene Mc Carthy and Bobby in politics.

A whole generation was inspired to activism in the challenge of "Ask what you can do for your countryy" through Kennedy's establishment of the Peace Corps and Vista. A movement not directly connected to JFK but part of the idea of doing something was environmentalism. A number of people were inspired to go into local, state, or national politics by the idealism and activism that he inspired.

He worked to move US foreign policy toward diplomacy and away from militarism, with military backup as a last resort instead of a first one and made enemies in the process among military brass and Congressional hawks.

He is someone we can still quote today on topics like national service, military action, and American values and principles. He worked across the aisle to get things accomplished. He sought qualified people for his administrstion. He and Jackie promoted good will internationally with state dinners. Domestically they promoted the arts and humanities with WH performances by Americans and American artists as dinner guests.

[virgogal]

15. Thanks for a great summation...and answer to my question.

[wnylib]

10. That's interesting that you would feel like you

knew him. But I guess you would hsve heard about him early since you were, born so soon after his death. I was born 4 years after WWII ended, but grew up hearing a lot about it -- not from vets like my father who did not want to talk about it, but in movies, books, and school.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. House Select Committee on Assassinations found Conspiracy.

Their conclusion in 1979 was bipartisan.

Warren Commission said “Oswald did it.”

Their conclusion was based on a corrupt investigation.

I’ll go with HSCA, thank you.

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. HSCA also said Oswald did it

their finding of "conspiracy" was based on a faulty analysis of a Dallas Police Department Dictabelt recording:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination_Dictabelt_recording#National_Academy_of_Sciences

[Kid Berwyn]

7. True, based on information limited by FBI and CIA.

CIA didn’t even bother to mention their own liaison to HSCA — George Joannides — had been Oswald's handler in New Orleans.

I am no longer confident that the Central Intelligence Agency co-operated with the committee...

SNIP...

I was not told of Joannides’ background with the DRE, a focal point of the investigation. Had I known who he was, he would have been a witness who would have been interrogated under oath by the staff or by the committee. He would never have been acceptable as a point of contact with us to retrieve documents. In fact, I have now learned, as I note above, that Joannides was the point of contact between the Agency and DRE during the period Oswald was in contact with DRE.

That the Agency would put a “material witness” in as a “filter” between the committee and its quests for documents was a flat out breach of the understanding the committee had with the Agency that it would co-operate with the investigation.

The committee’s researchers immediately complained to me that Joannides was, in fact, not facilitating but obstructing our obtaining of documents. I contacted Breckinridge and Joannides. Their side of the story wrote off the complaints to the young age and attitude of the people.

They were certainly right about one question: the committee’s researchers did not trust the Agency. Indeed, that is precisely why they were in their positions. We wanted to test the Agency’s integrity. I wrote off the complaints. I was wrong; the researchers were right. I now believe the process lacked integrity precisely because of Joannides.

SNIP...

Significantly, the Warren Commission’s conclusion that the agencies of the government co-operated with it is, in retrospect, not the truth.

CONTINUED...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/biographies/oswald/interview-g-robert-blakey/#addendum

That’s not all they forgot to mention.

Bay of Pigs

40 Years After

National Security Archive
George Washington University

SNIP...

AUG 1960: Richard Bissell meets with Colonel Sheffield Edwards, director of the CIA's Office of Security, and discusses with him ways to eliminate or assassinate Fidel Castro. Edwards proposes that the job be done by assassins hand-picked by the American underworld, specifically syndicate interests who have been driven out of their Havana gambling casinos by the Castro regime. Bissell gives Edwards the go-ahead to proceed. Between August 1960, and April 1961, the CIA with the help of the Mafia pursues a series of plots to poison or shot Castro. The CIA’s own internal report on these efforts states that these plots "were viewed by at least some of the participants as being merely one aspect of the over-all active effort to overthrow the regime that culminated in the Bay of Pigs." (CIA, Inspector General's Report on Efforts to Assassinate Fidel Castro, p. 3, 14)

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html

There’s lots more we know today than was known when officially reported in 1964 and 1979, despite the best efforts of so many.

[USALiberal]

11. Nope, Oswald did it, boring but true! nt

[Kid Berwyn]

13. You may want to read more, especially if you've read Bugliosi.

Try these:

“JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters” by James W. Douglass;

“The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government” by David Talbot;

“JFK and Vietnam: Deception, Intrigue, and the Struggle for Power” by John M. Newman.

They’re in the library. So, as a Democrat who cares about Democracy, I feel there’s really no excuse for not reading them.

[asiliveandbreathe]

4. I would say that some of us at DU can remember exactly where we were

when the news of JFK being shot was reported...I was in Algebra class, with Mr. Wendall, last class of day..born and raised in Mass, my Mom loved JFK..I would say it affected all of us..not just Massachusetts...

Jackie Kennedy lit the eternal candle after the funeral.

Thank you for this...in memory of the late John Fitzgerald Kennedy...

[wnylib]

18. Yes, I remember very well.

I was 14 and in 9th grade. His election and inauguration were the first ones I had followed a few years earlier. Just becoming aware of the larger world and being encouraged by teachers to follow current events. I remember the news conferences, his wit and humor, promotion of physical fitness, and so much more.

I was home sick on 11/22/63 but felt well enough just before noon to move from bed to living room couch where I watched Groucho Marx on NBC. They broke in with a report of shots fired but no news yet if anyone was hit. Several more updates until they gave up programming altogether. Watched when Oswald was shot. Remember the funeral well -- all the figures of state from around the world, the riderless horse, Jackie in her veil walking with Bobby, the eternal flame.

But although those scenes are indelibly imprinted on my mind, I also remember well the things he did and said, the upbeat tone of those early 1960's. The things accomplished and those that were started and followed up on by Johnson. The hopefulness of the Kennedy years.

I also remember the comedy record about the Kennedy's by Vaughn Meeder. Do not recall specific lines from it, only that it was very funny. Nailed the JFK accent perfecrly. Not derogatory humor, just good fun. My civics teacher played the record for us in class. Not long afterward the same teacher was discussing the line of succession with us after Johnson was sworn in.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. A day I will never forget.

[H2O Man]

8. Recommended.

I think it is better to concentrate on JFK's life.

[wnylib]

9. Very true.

[sandensea]

12. Proof that some great crimes can go unpunished - at least in the perpetrators' lifetime

"May history judge me," the joke goes.

"Since in 100 years, I won't be around anyway!"

[wnylib]

16. RE: The Camelot verse that I quoted

from the musical, Camelot, for people who forgot and those who never knew.

The Kennedy years were not called Camelot until after his death. Jackie said in an interview, after he died, that he liked to sing from the Camelot musical and she referred to the lines that I quoted. She was reported as saying, "It was like just like that. It was Camelot. It was a brief shining moment."

Fast forward a couple decades. My husband and I were watching a film of Camelot on TV. He was 7 years older than me. We did not meet each other until 10 years after Kennedy and grew up in different cities and states. But when those lines from the film were being sung, we both fought back tears and both knew why. The administration and the way it ended affected so many people that way.

Some years after that, I was working when JFK, Jr's plane was lost. There was a TV on the premises which my coworker and I kept tuned to news of the search. She was a couple years older than me.

When confirmation came in that he and his passengers had died, she turned to me and said,"OMG, wnylib, I can't believe all of them are gone -- Jack, Jackie, and now John--John." I reminded her that Caroline was alive and well, but I knew what she meant. Losing JFK Jr. was a reminder of losing his father in a tragic way, too.

[Buckeyeblue]

17. Oswald did it. But it was set up by the mob.

Which is why Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby. Bobby Kennedy made the mob's life hell. But Jack paid the price.

[Ron Green]

19. This Joke Was Going Around My High School Within a Week of JFK's Death:

As the motorcade moved through downtown Dallas, there came the noise of gunfire. Lyndon Johnson, riding in one of the cars, quickly asked his Secret Service man what was happening.

“There have been shots fired at us, Mister Vice President.”

“Did they hit the President?” Johnson asked.

“Yes sir, they did.”

“Oh my God,” cried LBJ. “Did they hit the Governor?”

“Yes, Governor Connally has been shot also.”

“Did they get Ralph Yarborough?”

“No sir, Senator Yarborough has not been shot.”

Lyndon turned and looked squarely at the Agent. “Make the block.”