For those who remember JFK...

[msallied]

Can you offer your perspective on what it was like when he was running? How he inspired you? Is it similar to anything you feel today if you are an Obama supporter? I'd love to hear from the older and wiser DUers on this. This 28 year old would love to at least feel like she's a little closer to that kind of magic.

[JVS]

1. Oh wait, I thought you said RFK

Nevermind

[rurallib]

2. JFK not RFK

[grantcart]

3. JFK??

[msallied]

4. lol... which half?

I should add that my parents are not much help here. They were born in 58 and 59, so don't remember much at all of that time period. I guess if I want to know all about Nixon and Ford and on, then I turn to them.

[mth44sc]

5. And it would be all good

if you could tell the difference between RFK and JFK...

Just sayin'

[Road Scholar]

6. Tommorow. It's late

[Road Scholar]

101. I PM'd you. I hope that's OK. nt

[msallied]

104. I got it. Thank you.

[k8conant]

7. I didn't know any better at age 11...

I was for Nixon x(

OTOH, my dad was for Nixon then yet by 1964 he was a Democrat and later a Democratic precinct delegate.

[grantcart]

8. I was 7 at the time and in a goldwater type home that hated

FDR and was better red than dead. However there was a genuine angst about JFK and so people gave him a second listening to.

For many magic of JFK started at the innauguration.

[msallied]

9. When he was assassinated, was there a general

grief among people of all political types? I have a feeling that if the same thing happened in this day and age, there wouldn't be very much decorum...

[rurallib]

14. I heard a few years later that there was celebration in some

western states when they heard JFK had been shot. It was on a newsmen's panel discussion in the early 70s. I was honestly shocked. Had never heard that. One guy said he was working in Denver at the time and people were dancing in the street.

[Arkansas Granny]

105. I don't remember anything like that being reported at the time of his assassination.

I was in high school and classes were canceled until after the funeral. We were glued to the tv almost nonstop and the coverage was around the clock. I never saw or heard of any rejoicing or dancing in the streets.

[rurallib]

121. I know - it blew me away - probably wasn't reported

I was listening to WGN in Chicago to the Wally Phillips show one morning. Wally and his newsmen were discussing he Kennedy assassination. One related that he was a young news guy at KOA in Denver and he was appalled at what he saw from the windows of his office. So he went down to the street and heard people cheering etc. that Kennedy was dead. He said that was not reported as the news from Washington pretty much took up all their time.
I admit I have never gone back to verify his account. The internet would probably have something to corroborate, but there are simply too many other things that take up my time.

[mth44sc]

17. My god...

the whole world grieved. Well maybe not the Soviets. But I'm not even sure of that...


Oh, sure enough - there were super right wing elements back then that most likely let out a cheer.

But anyone who cared - even a little - was rocked to the core.

Frankly, this nation has never recovered from that moment in my estimation.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Our neighbor cheered; I will never forget that

And I have read DUers post stories of their families and friends cheering when JFK was killed.

What I remember is not that people mourned so much that JFK was killed, but that our president was murdered. It was a major wake up call for America, that our president was vulnerable to a murderer. It just hadn't seemed possible.

[grantcart]

26. absolutely crushing and the with the Oswald shooting right on live TV

most of the country saw it there was complete shock.

You have to understand that the culture had endured a great deal of tension with the hysterical anti-communism and it was just starting to come out of that with Kennedy and then gone in a minute.

It did allow Johnson to pass revolutionary legislation - the Civil Rights Act for example.

[TheDoorbellRang]

34. Oh, God. Yes. It was devastating

Think how you felt on 9/11 -- that's what it was like. Didn't matter what party you were. My parents were Republicans and yet there was a lot of crying at our home. Here's some tinfoil for you -- my mom was convinced that LBJ had him assassinated because when LBJ was sworn in as president there was a picture of him in the paper with Ladybird standing next to him with a big ol' grin on her face.

I think everyone seemed to love JFK regardless of party -- he had boatloads of charisma.

[better tomorrow]

38. I agree with your Mom.......

[msallied]

41. I think that your mom was on to something...

It definitely wasn't Oswald acting alone. Oswald's assassination by Jack Ruby alone proved that he was a stooge who knew too much.

[better tomorrow]

45. yes, I wish they would come out more about the two guys in the front seat....

[TexanDem]

40. It was a moment you remember where you were and what ...

.. you were doing. I was in the 10th grade at lunch. The announcement came over the loudspeaker that Pres Kennedy had been shot. Everyone - a school of about 1300 -- became very quiet and somber, only whispers about how horrible and hoping he would be okay. Soon after I got to my next class, Texas history, it was announced he was dead. Many of us cried. There was such a sense of loss in the air that it was almost tangible, even though most of us were not really interested in politics. School was dismissed, and we all went home, turned on our black and white TVs and stayed glued to the coverage for days till after the funeral. Many people who remember feel that our innocence as a nation was lost that day. Indeed, I do believe that's so true.

[better tomorrow]

46. our innocence as a nation was lost that day....just think about

the comparisons of that statement to 911 kids today......

[Hepburn]

84. OMG....

...you and I are the same age. I was in 10th grade, too. In math class ~~ that was the period after lunch. I can even tell you what I had on and where I was sitting and who was the teacher. That whole thing was like a freeze frame in time.

I was watching TV when Ruby shot Oswald ~~ and I saw it happen live. I was in the family room sitting on the floor at this giant oak coffee table that my dad had made out of my grandmother's center post dining room table and I was doing my nails.

My parents were not home and it was a MEGA no-no to have nail polish and nail polish remover on that table. Well, yeah, Ruby shot Oswald and I dumped all that shit all over that solid oak coffee table. My ass was grass for about six months after that.

That coffee table is now in my living room...and the stains from what I did are still on it. And, yeah, when I sit by that table, I alwways recall the time Kennedy was killed and I watched Ruby shoot Oswald.

[rurallib]

10. I was @11 and a catholic in a catholic school

The campaign was not on TV all the time 24 hours a day. There were snippets on TV during the primaries and the summer convention was a true riveting spectacle. The nomination was still up for grabs and there was drama by the minute.
After he won the nomination JFK seemed to take on a glow, an aura perhaps. Since I was catholic, everything JFK said was golden and all the Nixon did was dark and foreboding.
Best I can recall, if he came to or near your town it was a happening, electricity everywhere.
And yes, I compared the young Obama to JFK well over a year ago working with some of his staffers in Iowa. And I meant it. I felt the same PRESENCE with Obama that I (vaguely) remembered with JFK.
Hillary didn't have it. Edwards had RFK's boyish charm and ideals. But Obama has that JFK presence and political knack.

[papau]

11. It is the same I feel today as a Hillary supporter - "change" is coming - but Obama with

the NAFTA ending that won't happen per private discussion with Canada, social programs that won't cost anything because Obama does not expect them to pass as told to Kudlow at CNBC, and out of Iraq in 16 months being a big difference from Hillary as claimed in debate followed by statement to EU paper that its just campaign talk and a best case senario and he would think about actual plan once elected - well - I trust Hillary to produce change


Obama - not so much.

As to JFK rallies- the Post Offive Sq "100,000" in Boston in 60 was amazing and perhaps like the Obama rallies.

By Spring 63 we formed SDS in Boston in opposition to JFK's increasing Ike's adviser count in 'Nam from 2000 to 18,000.

I do not recall JFK "love" or adoration being at the level of the Obama posts on DU.

[better tomorrow]

22. maybe because there was no Internet back then? (love on DU)

[AX10]

31. Thanks

[mth44sc]

12. and now to the question at hand...

Government was good. Government was honorable Public service was something worthy of the very best in us. There was the peace corps - America putting its best foot forward in the world. There was the Cuban missile crisis - where a strong and young President saved our bacon at a moment when it could all have gone so very wrong.

He wasn't perfect. He missed the mark on more than one occasion. He inspired the nation.

He inspires some us us still...

[better tomorrow]

23. ah, I remember "Duck and Cover" and hiding under our school desks.....

[mth44sc]

27. and ya lived to tell about it

all because of that young President that lacked the experience to be Commander in Chief - and all that who haw...

[better tomorrow]

32. yeah, but I almost peed my pants during a drill one time because I was scared it was real....

[Hepburn]

86. Oh, yeah....

...that terrified me. I was in grade school in the 1950s...and that duck and cover was a big deal. I would wake up at night and get out of bed and hide somewhere cuz I thought the Russians were coming. I usually went to the basement and hid the hell under something.

[better tomorrow]

91. once my Mom went into a store downtown and I stayed in the car and

the noon siren went off (it was like an air raid siren) and I freaked. I locked the door and started crying, thinking it was the air raid siren. People walking by just looked and most kept on walking. Finally one nice lady stopped and told me to open up the door and began talking to me and stayed with me until my Mom came out. We all got a good laugh, but today the lady stopping to talk to the little girl would be hauled away by Child Protective Services (as would my Mom for leaving me alone in the car)....

Oh, and my aunt and uncle had a full service air-raid bunker....which today is a fruit cellar.

But, I should talk. After 911, I bought thyroid uptake pills and water purification tablets from the Civil Defense here in case of biological/nuclear attack. Guess I'm just paronoid from those days of being prepared....

[Hepburn]

93. I remember the deal with people building underground bomb shelters, too.

One of our neighbors had one. But I just figured later that he was totally nuts. He would get up on his roof and look around the sky with binoculars. It scared the hell out of me each time he did that ~~ so I can identify with you locking yourself in the car. Later I realized, that this neighbor probably just had a few screws loose...and he was a drunk.

I remember all the "red" scare biz all too well. And I remember watching that asshole McCarthy on TV.

[msallied]

106. Wow! I can't imagine how that must have felt...

I mean, we live in a different era of fear, but it seems different somehow. Like, I'm not afraid at all of terrorists. Probably because they are individuals and not governments. I'm more afraid of governments who can mobilize their forces (or their nuclear arsenals) against us, which is why N. Korea, etc scare me so much.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. More like RFK

because of the way both have drawn in the young voters. I was only 7 when JFK was elected but I don't remember him being as appealing to the young as RFK was. IIRC, the nation didn't really fall in love with JFK until he was in office.

[VolcanoJen]

15. Kick for a good thread, and a question I'm very curious to hear answered by our own DUers!

:dem:

[JanusAscending]

50. I can tell you a little about JFK.

It was my very first time voting. I was 21 yrs. old, and lived here in Ct. When he was nominated at the Convention, I watched eagerly with my Dad.(on TV) Dad was a diehard Union Dem.from way back, and he LOVED JFK, as did I. JFK made numerous trips to Ct. I remember standing out in front of my parents house as his "bubble top" limo drove by, and slowed down to wave at us as they passed. I don't remember where they were heading at that time. I did go to a rally in Waterbury Ct. to see him speak to a HUGE crowd on the Waterbury green in the center of town. There was a balcony on the facade of the Elton Hotel from which he spoke.(it's still there. I rode by it yesterday) He was introduced to the crowd by Victor Borge. Remember him? He was a nationally renouned pianist/comedian. He's had one man shows on broadway, and was a frequent guest on Ed Sullivan's Show. At the time he was a resident of Southbury Ct. where he had a farm that raised cornish hens. I'm sorry if I'm rambling, but the memories are flowing like it was yesterday!!! The crowd was so dense that as the police pushed us back from the barriers, an elderly man standing next to me fainted, and he couldn't fall to the ground. We were packed like sardines in a can. We screamed at a cop, and eventually they were able to get to the guy. To this day, I HATE LARGE CROWDS!!! It was a brilliant speech and recieved much as Obama's are today. there was electricity in the air that warm summer night. In my mind he was our most charismatic President EVER! His wife and family were idolized by the people so much they called it Camelot. When he was assinated, I heard the news when it broke in on my soap opera. I ran out of the house screaming, telling everyone that "they killed the President"!! I'm still not over it, like many from my generation. A few years ago I had the chance to go to Hyannisport to see the compound, and visit his Memorial there. My daughter was living there at the time and she took us there.Strange thing is, when "John John" died in his plane crash, it was my daughter that went to the compound, and tied yellow ribbons on all of the power poles and fenceposts! John Jr. was her exact age. That is my Kennedy connection and remembrance. The whole nation was in mourning, except maybe a few idiots out there that didn't know when they had a good thing!!

[msallied]

52. Thank you

I loved that story. Every little detail. I love reading history through the eyes and words of the people who were right there.

[VolcanoJen]

100. Thank you SO much!!

I love posts like this. :-)

[UALRBSofL]

16. I can't tell you much about JFK beause I was too young to remember a lot

But I know a lot from my partner. He as read tons of books written about JFK and the Warren Commission. It get's boring to hear about it sometimes. Anyway, if you want me to say he's like JFK I can't say. My partner doesn't think he is.

[mth44sc]

21. I'd likely quible a little bit

RFK certainly appealed to the young. But there was a war on and there was a draft.

JFK called a generation into public service... Many of those also flocked to RFK.

[crankychatter]

19. not so nice

RFK's California Chairman was my Captain for a short while in the Army. When he was helping Bobby, I had been involved in the anti-war movement. We didn't talk about it much, but just looking in his eyes, and sharing that unspoken grief, was enough. Obama makes me think of RFK and the hope we had for peace.

earlier in my life... regarding JFK

In 1959 or so, I transferred to a middle class school from my blue collar, barrio school. I had a new teacher… big beefy guy, Korean Veteran. He once asked us with a show of hands, who we would vote for, Kennedy or Nixon? I was one of only a few with a hand up for JFK. He told us that he knew who our parents would vote for, because children always say they'll vote the way their parents do. My parents were Dust Bowl Okies/Texans, now Californians, Union and Roosevelt Democrats.

Another time he showed us a black and white film about Communist Russia… children all in uniform with bald heads… marching into class… left face… saluting the Icon of Lenin. It was a silent movie… he narrated. He told us all the little children, even the girls had to shave their heads. They were “brainwashed” with “propoganda” to be like robots, determined to kill all all good Christian Americans. They worshipped their dictator as a god. They weren’t allowed to go to church. They didn’t get to decide what to be when they grew up. They had to be what the Dictator told them to be. This film was probably produced by the CIA in South America or something, I don’t know.

I was the “new kid,” precocious AND stupid. At question time I asked, “What’s the difference between their salute and our own flag salute? Are we being brainwashed?” and… “Isn’t this film itself “propaganda” to make us hate the Russians?”

He turned purple… dragged me from the class by my neck… slammed me against a wall in the hall and began hitting me with his fist in the bottom of my chin. Every time he hit me my head banged the wall and the whole building shook, terrifying ME, and all the children inside the room. They told me later they could here him cursing. I don’t remember what he said but he told me to “keep your filthy tongue in your head.” I guess he didn’t want to chop off my tongue with my teeth. He beat me like that until I passed out, unconscious on the floor. When I came to he was spraying spit on me… yammering to go to the Principles Office.

I ran out of the class and that was my first hookey. It was a month before the school called my parents.

What I remember is that in Seventh Grade, our home room teacher told us that the President had been shot, and that if we were Catholic, we could go home. Two months later, the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. We all washed the fifties out of our hair and two years later they were calling us "hippies."

There is no point. If you read that, thanks for hanging out with me.

[LiberalAndProud]

29. No words.

How did you ever manage to walk back into that classroom after that?

:hug: for you, for then :hug:

[crankychatter]

39. my father's razor strap

my mother's love

she never told him... afraid that he'd murder the SOB and we'd all go hungry.

it was like they cosigned what he did to me, actually.

Some years later, while vandalizing a school with my gang, I leapt off the stage in the auditorium and tore down the giant flag. My friends were shocked... and I made the excuse that I was not thinking and I was sorry... but NOW, the flag had to be burned, to do it honor.

They all followed me out to the traindocks... where I put the flag up on an iron upright and set it on fire. I will never forget the reflection of that flag, burning in their eyes, and their horror, when they realized, this was not about honor.

[EFerrari]

33. That sonuvabitch.

:hug:

[better tomorrow]

35. I hung...oh how different our schools are today, huh? or, not!

[msallied]

37. Wow! I definitely enjoyed reading your story...

It's amazing how much the world has changed. And your observations on our propaganda vs theirs were and still are spot on.

[better tomorrow]

20. I was only 11 then but I do know that it captured the whole country

when he ran. The day he was shot we were sent home from school and then for the next fives days the whole country was in mourning. Stores closed down, no school, non-stop TV. Everyone went out and bought the book "The Torch is Passed", which I still have a copy of today. While I can't speak much of the campaign before he was elected since I was non-voting age, I know that he was like a rock star and yes does remind me of the throngs out for Barack today. A lot of focus was on Jackie, too, as she was modern and "hip" and they spent a lot of time on her fashion and the two little kids, John John and Caroline. They truly did seem like a royal family in Camelot, as the phrase was coined and seemed like a difference from previous Presidential material.

And, I do believe that it was a conspiracy and that Oswald was not the only shooter. And, on a further note, I also believe that RFK AND John, Jr. (plane went down) met the fates they did or they would have been a phenomenon like Barack, too....

[better tomorrow]

30. addendum.....

has anyone heard about the new theory that it was the driver or the other person in the front seat who shot the "other" shots. If you look carefully at the Zapruder film, you can almost see it happening as the guy turns in his seat. They said he had a small handgun. Too bad the film is so grainy......I'd really love to put things to rest finally. At least that might put the "grassy knoll theory" to bed.

And, Reagan is the next one we need to reinvestigate. Remember the ties to Neil Bush with Scott and John Hinckley, his shooter. One of them was to have dinner with the Bushes the next night and of course had Reagan passed then Daddy Bush would have come into office. I know, I know....but.....living through JFK, RFK, Martin Luther, Reagan, and John, Jr. makes one think too much. For those of us who have lived through all of these things, it makes 911 so much smaller at times.

[msallied]

44. I think that was the governor of Texas in the front seat, right?

I fear we will never know what really happened. I trust no commission reports. Never trust a government that investigates itself, and that goes double for 9/11.

[better tomorrow]

51. yes, it was the Governor, but they said they think it is the driver...but

when you watch the film, it is the Governor who seems to turn and hold something up and it is throat high to JFK....but he got shot, too, right, when a bullet, probably Oswald's, went out Kennedy's shoulder and struck him.

[msallied]

54. That's right...

I remember seeing the commission reports on the bullet trajectories trying to prove the single bullet theory. Their explanation seems to make it fit, but there are WAY too many questions still surrounding it. The thing is, even if it was a single bullet, the way it got there is still highly suspect. I will never buy that Oswald acted on his own. Never.

[better tomorrow]

57. I mispoke...Connelly was in the middle row of seats.....but

there was another guy next to the driver. Anyway, I posted the new film with the driver theory from YouTube. You be the judge. Sorry if I misled anyone. I thought Connelley was up front.

[TexanDem]

68. Two in the front were Secret Service - can't find the youtube??

Link went to your channel, but I didn't see it.

[better tomorrow]

69. the link is here....

You went to MY YOUTUBE videos on Obama. I don't or didn't make one of Zapruder, but I did find this one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RMbsdh_N8w&feature=rela...

Let me know if this one does not work....

*****************************************************

[TexanDem]

75. Thanks, but...

no, I don't buy that at all. Kennedy was shot in the BACK of the head. The driver was just turning as you would turn if the president in the back seat just got shot! lol They're really reaching on that one... ;) I've heard of the magic bullet theory, but that would really be some magic bullet!
Interesting, though.

[better tomorrow]

77. I thought he had a throat shot, too....

[TexanDem]

79. one magic bullet - throat was exit wound...

I saw a documentary where they tried to figure out the path of the bullet because of how it went in back of Kennedy's head, out his neck, into Connally's hand and foot. So, there was and is much controversy about a 2nd shot. I don't know. But this docu set up exactly the car the distance of the shot, the angle of the dummmy for JFK, Connally, the position of his hand on his foot (crossed on his knee), didn't have it right and then had to slump him down a little -- it was a fascinating study! But they did it. The recreated the path in their study.

[better tomorrow]

82. unless they were trying to cover up that throat shot....

you can see him flinch twice in the movie. He grabs his throat first, then the shot in the head.

[msallied]

83. one thing we do know...

Two very prominent forensic pathologists (Dr. Michael Baden, who was on the original investigation, and Dr. Cyril Wecht) disagree on the magic bullet theory and both have very compelling points to prove their sides of things.

[better tomorrow]

85. Wecht...that is the guy doing the RFK thing.....I said Wexler earlier but

he is Anna Nicole's forensic guy, isn't he? Anyway, which side is Cyril on?

[msallied]

87. Cyril believes the magic bullet theory... definitely smells something fishy.

Baden is establishment all the way.

[better tomorrow]

92. that's good. He is on to the RFK thing, too.....

I hope he calls it. The Establishment has a lot to hide.....

[msallied]

70. I'm going to go check the YouTubes now

I had to reboot my stupid computer because it isn't streaming media very well lately.

[better tomorrow]

72. YouTube is doing maintenance so maybe that is why....

[TexanDem]

53. Good lord -- no, Gov John Connolly did not shoot JFK!

There's plenty of conspiracies around about JFK's assassination, but please don't waste brain power on that one.

It was in the news today that forensics prove that Sirhan Sirhan did not shoot RFK! I sure hope this gets more coverage.

There's plenty of conspiracies about 911 as well.

[msallied]

55. I've been on the forefront of a lot of the 9/11 questions...

and there is so much that stinks there I wouldn't even know where to begin.

Sirhan Sirhan is still alive isn't he? If forensics exonerate him, then this is huge...

[msallied]

58. Oh and here is the Sirhan article... wow!

http://www.nbc30.com/news/15712020/detail.html

That is very interesting!!

[better tomorrow]

61. Wexler (or whatever his name is...the guy who autopsied Anna Nicole) was

interviewed about this today and he agreed that the shot was too close...Forensics today will prove a lot.

[better tomorrow]

59. there is a lot on a lot of things that have happened...I am a tinfoiler, for sure....

[TexanDem]

71. links to story - Sirhan Sirhan Did Not Kill RFK

Experts: Sirhan Sirhan Did Not Kill RFK
http://www.nbc30.com/news/15712020/detail.html

New evidence suggests second shooter killed RFK
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Scientists_Multiple_shooters_in_RFK_assassination_0326.html


Lol on the 911 conspiracies -- me too!!

[Ammonium]

99. JFK II - The Bush Connection

Perhaps you've seen this film? It's widely circulated on the internet.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2928756561478705121&q=jfk+II+the+bush+connection&total=98&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[FrenchieCat]

24. My husband remembers.......

that when he was a little boy (10 years old - I'm wayyyy younger than him..lol!), JFK came through the West Oakland Projects in the California Bay Area (where my husband grew up) and he said that it was all every exciting. Everyone came out of their home to go and see him. My hubby didn't attend the speech, but he remembers the excitement in the air, and remembers all of the campaign slogans.

Even though he was just a young boy, he remembers feeling that JFK's candidacy was special. He says that he can see the same feeling in the young people with Barack. It wasn't about the policies of JFK as much as having the opportunity for someone fresh, young, different, and who seem to care about the people in a genuine manner.

Remember that this was a time where national politicians didn't come to the "projects" to campaign for the Black vote (Black folks didn't have to wait till 1964 to vote in the west).
But JFK, who must have been smart as well as caring came to these Black projects. That's why my husband remembers it all so well.

The slogan he best remembers goes like this"
Kennedy, Kennedy, he's our man...Nixon belongs in the garbage can!

Also the "he's got high hopes" song.

[better tomorrow]

36. omg, I remember both of those phrases/songs.....thanks for the jolt

only ours went something like, "...if he can't do it, nobody can..."

[TheDoorbellRang]

48. Kennedy, Kennedy, he's our man...Nixon belongs in the garbage can!

God, I'd forgotten that one, Frenchie! I heard that one in Illinois, too.

And we think maturity has sunk to new lows in this day and age! :rofl:

[NEOhiodemocrat]

25. I am an 'older' DUer, not sure about the wiser

I clearly remember when JFK was running for president. Actually the first campaign I really connected to. He was a lot like Obama in my eyes. Charismatic, eloquent speaker, young and presented a presidential air. Also the religious problem for both. In JFK's case the perceived taint of being Catholic. Obama also faces the same questioning if his religious 'leaders' would be too large an influence on his leadership. I am completely for separation of church and state, especially since the bush takeover. I never feared the pope ruling the US from Rome, the fear pushed about Kennedy's Catholicism; and I will not be steamrolled into fearing Obama's personal religious beliefs. I feel Obama has the potential to be every bit as magical as Kennedy. In my opinion the JFK magic came from the citizens of this country feeling his true caring for the American people. Although he came from a privileged background he made us feel that he actually cared about the less fortunate. It was not that we felt he would take care of us in a paternal way, more of a perception that he actually believed that all of the country benefited from the gains of the least of us. I saw him as a politician who was on the side of right, justice and the common good. I can only hope that we see that feeling rise up in the US again. I think with Obama it can.

[surfermaw]

117. excellent.. I have a reply below, you added some things I forgot.

[surfermaw]

118. I have already replied twice but more that I have thought of

I was doing my house work at the time of the convention, the time before Kennedy won the nomination, I remember thinking when he was speaking or doing something at the Convention, he will probably be our next person to nominate, and they did nominate him at the next Convention.

[EFerrari]

28. I was only four or so but it's one of my earliest memories

because my whole family was so into it. I remember my mom translating for my grandmother what must have been clips from the convention -- on our turquiose sectional and from the little black and white teevee.

lol

[better tomorrow]

43. something else we are missing folks is that......

JFK was SO young. Wasn't he only 35? Barack is in his mid 40's. But, I think that part of the charisma of JFK was his youth, too. That is why I am so baffled over McCain's age and why it isn't affecting more people.

[EFerrari]

The duel between Obama and Clinton has allowed the Republicans

to forget how much they don't like McCain.

Imho, as soon as we "have a candidate" that will change.

[kskiska]

98. No. JFK was 43 in 1960.

Jackie was 31 and expecting JFK, Jr. The Kennedys were a breath of fresh air and it was great to have small children in the White House. They brought the place back to life.

We'd just had 8 years of an old, sick Dwight Eisenhower and his dowdy wife Mamie. Ike had had a heart attack, a mild stroke, and surgery for ileitis. Their favorite entertainment was Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians. Jackie was aghast to find that the house was furnished with Sears-Roebuck and took it upon herself to restore the White House, searching the basement and warehouses for original furniture and using donations and proceeds from a guidebook to purchase period pieces. She brought art, music, and culture back to Washington with performers such as Pablo Casals, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Count Basie, and Isaac Stern.

[dailykoff]

42. I've read and watched some of his campaign speeches,

the most famous being the Houston Ministerial Assn. speech on religion and of course his inaugural, and one thing that's often left out of the history books are the jokes. He was always cracking jokes before and after his speeches, even the really serious ones, and in the questions afterward, which really added to his appeal.

[mth44sc]

47. and things like this

"Those of you who regard my profession of political life with distain should remember that it made it possible for me to move from being an obscure lieutenant in the United States Navy to Commander-in-Chief in fourteen years with very little technical competence."

[housewolf]

49. Some info for you...

I was quite young also and don't remember much about the campaign. I grew up in a Republican household so everyone was for Nixon. I think it was JFK's Inauguration Speech that generated much of the positive feelings about him.

JFK was one of 14 Dem candidates for the presidential nomination that year. I don't think the Dems responded to him the way many respond to Obama today. Something that he had in common with Obama is that he was criticized heavily as being too young and immature. Many thought he would more appropriately serve as a VP than a presidential candidate. Going into the convention, he didn't have the nomination locked up (short a few delegates). Unlike Obama, he had an old, established, moneyed, powerful Democratic family political machine that helped him win the nomination and the GE.

It was an extremely close election. How close was it? JFK won 49.7% of the vote, Nixon 49.5% and a 3rd party candidate 0.4%. Look how different the electoral map was in 1960! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_1960

JFK won the campaign against the sitting vice-president to a well-respected 2-terms president, Richard Nixon, who of course came back in 1968 and won the presidency.

Much mythology has grown up around JFK over the years that I think has increased the affection we hold for him today. Much of that is the result of his short time in office and how he led the country rather than something that carried him into the office.

[better tomorrow]

56. here is the Zapruder film and the new theory.....

BTW, Gov. Connelley was in the middle row of seats and not in the front, so it couldn't have been him, but WHO WERE THE OTHER TWO IN THE FRONT?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RMbsdh_N8w&feature=related

[msallied]

60. Prolly Secret Service...

[arrested_president]

62. John F. Kennedy Speech On Secret Societies

THIS is why they blew him away - MUST SEE!!


http://www.metacafe.com/watch/374938/john_f_kennedy_speech_on_secret_societies

[better tomorrow]

64. BRAVO and I watched the whole thing without the hat....a history

of all I have read about in the last five years on the Internet in a succinct video.

It makes me think....maybe that is why the youth of today are enamored to Obama....and the older folks have more trouble. The youth have access to all of this and maybe they see through the smoke and mirrors of the Secret shadow government. The older folk who only use the MSM only get the surface oil.....You need to swim through the muck to see clearly when you emerge.

Thanks for posting this.

[Voice for Peace]

120. Thanks for posting this. This speech ought to have its own link or be posted in the political videos

It's so relevant today.

[housewolf]

63. You guys!!!! This is a GREAT thread!!! It's like

sitting around the dinner table after Thanksgiving Dinner with all the older relatives telling stories and everybody laughing and remembering and sharing...

I love it! This is my most-favorite-ever thread on DU!


:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[better tomorrow]

65. I agree. I always think that the people on DU are young kids. It is refreshing to see so many

of us all of the same generation......

[Hepburn]

94. I was just thinking the same thing. I am gonna be 60 in a few months...

...and when I am on here, I keep thinking how young everyone is...or at least a ton younger than me!

Glad to see that there are some on here who also lived through the 60s!

:evilgrin:

[msallied]

107. I am glad you are here...

Goes to show that it's not only us kids who spend time on the internets. lol

And I hope it isn't patronizing at all asking you guys to recall those difficult times. I truly am fascinated by history as told through the eyes of the "regular" people who lived it. I can read every history book until my eyes bleed, but none of it will hit me more than getting a first-person perspective. We have so much to learn. It is my hope that my kids will be as inquisitive of my generation when it comes to what we're living through right now. I used to tap my grandfather nonstop for information on the WWII days. lol

[msallied]

66. I'm glad you like it!!

I think it's good for everyone to remember that at the end of the day, we're still Democrats, dammit! lol

[better tomorrow]

67. Democrats except me....I'm a lone Independent....BUT I support Obama

[msallied]

74. Well, lemme get something clear.

I predominantly vote Democrat. I am more of a left-leaning Libertarian. My stances on gun control and health care would make a lot of the people here vomit I think, but it is my rather extreme advocacy for civil liberties that keeps me on the left and always will. I just shy away from big government (of any kind).

[better tomorrow]

78. I bounce back and forth....depending upon if it is relavant to me....

and how my pocket book is at the present time......

I originally registered Repub in PA because you almost had to where I then lived (NW state line). Then, I moved to FL and registered Dem as I thought all old folks in FL were Dems. But, in 2003 we registered Independent when I thought that Bush was making a list of what party you belonged to when he was making his Patriot Act such big time news. I took an online Party Preference test and ended up Libertarian, too, but decided just to reregister No Party so he could not track me anymore.

Anyway, I voted for Kerry and definitely will support Obama. It will be hard to vote for Clinton so I don't know what I will do if she is the official. Only if she has Obama as VP would I cast my vote for her. And, if Barack has her as VP I will still vote for him but will pray hard.....

[msallied]

81. Sounds like we're in a similar vote.

And I know a lot of people here would chastise me for saying so, if Hillary gets the nomination, I will vote third party. I have to vote my conscience. Hillary isn't even a Democrat in my eyes. If the Dems want people to vote for them, then it would behoove them to put a Dem rather than a dino on their ticket. lol

[shifting_sands]

73. JFK

I remember him. I was 18 when he ran in 1960, just coming of age, to young to vote for him but knew I would be able to vote in his next election. All my generation had known was Harry Truman and Eisenhower, although I was born during WWII I didn't have a memory of it but our parents were still hanging under the cloud of the Depression and WWII and the Koran "Police Action." Harry Truman and Eisenhower were all part of that and there was a big group ready to break out and be young again or for once. John and Jackie Kennedy represented all we wanted to be, young, beautiful, rich, vibrant and charismatic, Jackie was in her 30's and JFK was actually 43 years old. John Kennedy was mesmerizing in his speeches, he was such a contrast to Richard Nixon. People could not get enough information about the Kennedy's, they could not look at enough pictures or hear enough about their whole family.

Jack Kennedy talked about the continuation of the FDR programs, he wanted to take a space ship to the Moon (and did) he wanted to start a Peace Corps where young people or old could go to third world countries and help people there plant their crops, build hospitals, community centers, kind of a mini "Marshall Plan." (and he did start it) He inspired people to work within their communities in non-profits to help the most vulnerable of society stand. He brought a vitality and energy to America that people had not felt since FDR was elected President in the 30's. He brought hope. Jack Kennedy was special because he was trying to make us special.

He tried to shine a light on all that was wrong with this government. Jack Kennedy and his wife were stars, it wasn't until after he was killed that Bobby's star began to rise, it was years before any of realized that Bobby Kennedy was his brother's keeper.

Jack Kennedy was inspirational because he inspired us to go beyond and be better, do better, we were included in his vision for America and we grieved mightily when that vision was shot down. Oh yes, there were Republicans who clapped and cheered when he died, but there were more who mourned here and around the world. For millions of us, it was indeed the "day the music died." I have read articles about his assassination being the wound that would not heal in America, I think that's true. It's been 45 years since his assassination and they are still studying and investigating his death. The conservatives have spent 45 years trying to marginalize him and dragging his every flaw (and those were considerable) into the open, his memory still remains powerful with everyone who remembers those years.

I don't see Jack or Bobby Kennedy in Obama, but I do see the same powerful inspiration passed on by Obama to the younger generation. Obama talks about "we" not me or I, but "we" so did the Kennedy's. Obama represents a movement, something and someone new, someone who brings hope, that's what the Kennedy's brought. He isn't the speaker that Jack Kennedy was, but he does have the ability to inspire and bring other people to the table, my hope is that the people of the future will allow themselves to go forward with him instead of backward into the darkness in which we've been living.

[msallied]

76. Thank you for sharing this..

So beautifully put. I almost felt like I was there. And I can imagine how it could almost have been MORE tragic when RFK was shot. He seemed like maybe he could have been another chance for redemption, lost once again. One thing I always liked about JFK in my studies of him was how the first televised debate between him and Nixon starkly highlighted their differences and forever altered how we perceive our politicians. Nixon had been sick and looked haggard and worn. Kennedy looked fresh. He looked directly into the camera, engaging America, almost as if he had been doing TV his whole life and knew how to interact with the audience. It probably took America by storm.

[Hepburn]

80. 1960: I was 12 years old and and living in the mid-West.

It was like nothing I had ever known to listen to him. And then....there was JACKIE KENNEDY! Of course, I had a pill box hat and I wore my hair in a bouffant page-boy just like hers! I always hated my dark brown hair....until Jackie came along. With hair the color of mine, I thought my page-boy hair-do looked just like hers!

I would catch the city bus downtown and work in the JFK headquarters. There was not much for a 12 year old to do...but I was tall for my age and looked more like a high schooler than a grade schooler. So, I got to answer the phone now and then and hand out buttons and make neat piles of pamphlets and things. I really did not care what I did...I was working for JFK! And...I got to listen to the adults talk about issues and they would actually talk to me and tell me about things.

I watched the debate with JFK and Nixon....we had a black and white TV and I can remember sitting in the den in my parents home and wishing we had a color TV. He was soooooooo handsome and such a great smile! I was beyond happy when he won. I loved him, his family, those cute kids, and I could not get enough.

Then, there was that certain day when I was in the 10th grade and the principal came on the PA sobbing about something that was going on in Dallas, TX....

[Oldtimeralso]

88. My JFK Story

I was 11 years old at the time and was and airplane enthusiast and living close to Chicago's Midway airport. In 1960 it was the world's busiest airport. In the summer of 60 I would ride my bike to Midway and even hang around. (probably why I get the special search every time I fly now) I would hang around the airport fire station and one early summer day a DC-3 landed and taxied to ramp near the fire house. Three people got out and there was an older black Cadillac nearby waiting for them. One of the fellows looked over at the fire house and saw the firemen outside the house enjoying the nice weather. He walked over and shook everyone's hand including the 11 year old that was just hanging around. He said to everyone that he is John Kennedy and he was running for President and would appreciate their support. He instantly became a hero to me.

[msallied]

89. My goodness. Wow!

Your story is really a sign of the times and how much things have changed... You're very lucky to have that memory to keep with you.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

90. I WAS A FRESHMAN IN COLLEGE.

JFK ENERGIZED THE YOUTH OF AMERICA.... OVER SLIPPERY DICK NIXON.

[FightingIrish]

95. I remember the magic well

I was in high school when JFK came to our town in Oregon. We had never had a major candidate in our part of the state. My father was mayor and that meant my mother got to sit next to JFK at dinner. My parents had just returned from a Hawaii vacation, where on a whim, my mom had her hair dyed blonde. Our family heirloom photo is my blonde mother with JFK. It wasn’t until years later that we learned of his penchant for blondes.

The idea of Camelot was overwhelming even though the world was not in the horrible shape Bush will leave it in. Kennedy’s New Frontier shaped the way we saw our future. We had no idea how soon it was to be taken from us. I was in class at a Catholic university when the horrible news hit me. A few years I was in survival training preparing for service in Vietnam when the blow of RFK’s assassination was delivered. For a long time since, hope has seemed like a bad idea.

Last weekend I got to attend Barack Obama’s town hall in that same Oregon town. It really took me back to the magic of the Kennedy years, and I decided I am going to start hoping again.

[hfojvt]

96. I don't think Kennedy was all that inspiring

After all, he only won by 112,827 votes, and even more closely, if you flip Illinois, Hawaii, and Missouri, which Kennedy won by 8,858; 115!, and 9,980 votes, Nixon would have won the Electoral College with just a swing of 10,000 votes.
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/index.html

Perhaps the press gushed about him, and especially Jackie when he was in office, but my guess is that the whole myth of Camelot was built up because of his tragic assassination, and then even more so because of the assassination of his brother.

[msallied]

110. It seems that a lot here feel that it was only after he took office

that he became a lot more of an inspiration for people.

And yeah, that was one heckuva close election.

[garthranzz]

97. I came of age politically...

I was 9 when JFK was elected and supported him because my parents did. I remember Nixon as slimy. We moved from PA to LA three months before the assassination. My father was in aerospace. The peace corps, putting a man on the moon, the Cuban missile crisis - JFK epitomized something special, energetic. I was in 7th grade, gym class, and before they announced it - or maybe after - the coach warned kids not to laugh or cheer. Some did anyway; I did not understand it. A devastating moment. At home, I mourned as if a family member had been killed.

RFK: He seemed to be the only one who could pull things together - the Democratic Party, the country, the races. He had energy, and the burden and hope of fulfilling the legacy that might have been. But I didn't mourn for him as I did JFK. I was angry and all that - beginning to move from reading and learning about politics to getting involved.

Obama - There is a similar energy, similar inspiration and I think, rhetorically, it comes from the same place: Kennedy and Obama talk about the future, about choices, about hope outweighing fear, about our ability to transform and transcend overcoming our need to defend and obstruct.

[msallied]

111. Wow... what a tumultuous time, huh?

JFK, RFK, MLK. It was an ugly decade for Democrats (or anyone who believed in hope and freedom for all). Yeah, LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act and I will always applaud him for that, but he effed up big time on Vietnam.

Sorry to veer off course there...

[ensho]

102. he didn't talk like Obama does. he came at the same subjects but

from a different direction and attitude. he was more specific in what he would do.

he also cheated on Jackie.

[msallied]

112. I think a lot of great Presidents

cheated on their spouses or had other personal failings.

[WinkyDink]

103. 1960 was a while back! IJFK turned a corner

for the nation, being the first president born in that century. He was "vim and vigor", and all that, a young man with a young family. The man met the moment (60's).
JFK inspired via the Peace Corps, the lunar missions, the embrace of higher culture (e.g., Robert Frost, Pablo Casals), "Profiles in Courage".

Bobby inspired in a different way, of course, not being President. He touched our souls.


(Edited, because I really AM old and forgetful.)

[msallied]

113. Yeah, I should have asked about RFK too...

Seems that he was more memorable for a lot of the people here.

[Arkansas Granny]

108. I was in high school when JFK was elected. My parents followed the election

process much closer than I did, but I remember watching the convention coverage that year and seeing Kennedy speak on tv. Although he was a good speaker and inspired many, it wasn't with the same kind of enthusiasm that I see from Obama supporters. It seemed more measured and based on issues and much less emotional and certainly not with the magic that you mention. One of his biggest hurdles was that he was Catholic. There was a lot of discussion about that.

[End Of The Road]

109. I don't see alot of parallels.

My Catholic friends were all pro-JFK since he would be the first Catholic pres, so there is a similarity there for both Clinton and Obama supporters.

But JFK was not a new kid on the block, his family had been in politics forever. Nor do I recall his speeches being especially geared to youth.

The candidacy of RFK is a different matter.

[msallied]

114. Now I'd love to hear more about that...

The candidacy of RFK, that is...

It's interesting how it was a huge deal that he was Catholic, as well.

[JimGinPA]

115. JFK 's Motorcade Went By My School When I Was In Second Grade...

I went to a Catholic school on the main street of town and they took us out of class and lined us up along the street and it seemed like we waited a long time before he came by. His car slowed down to a couple mph when as they drove by us and even stopped a couple times so he could shake hands with some of the older kids. So I saw him up close for maybe 10 minutes, as close as five feet away. He seemed to really be enjoying himself and his smile was electrifying. He gave a speech in the town square a little later and they showed a lot of it on the evening news that day.

My mom had been a volunteer for his campaign and it was pretty exciting around our house when he won the election. Someone had sent her that famous presidential photo of him and a thank you letter after his inauguration. She still has it up on her wall at home.

I was in fifth grade when he was assassinated. I lived close to school and we were allowed to go home for lunch. The news came sometime during lunch time and when I came back into my classroom kids were crying and there was a lot of general confusion. There was an announcement that President Kennedy had been shot but they didn't have a whole lot of information at that time. They dismissed school and when we got home and we told my mother so she turned on the TV it was only a little while before they said that he had died. We camped in front of the TV the whole weekend watching the news. We saw Oswald get shot as it happened and we watched the entire funeral procession. There used to be a well-worn question "Where were you when Kennedy got shot" because everyone living at that time had that memory of where they were etched in their mind. It's one of my most vivid childhood memories even now.

[surfermaw]

116. I remember clean and clear

he was young, he gave hope, he had a ready smile, well educated a war hero, and the people knew even though he was young he had people in the government to keep him on the right track, however I remember some voters were against him, and there was some talk..not proven that votes in the south were bought. I am thinking that ?) can't honestly remember that Black voters weren't that warm to him, however after he was elected the Black democrats loved JFK as did most democrats, but remember this the Kennedy family had connections to FDR from way back I think formed by old Joe Kennedy. You will have to remember this Jack Kennedy didn't get his legislation passed, Lyndon Johnson known for twisting arms and having information on most all in Washington, got Jack Kennedys legislation passed.

[LWolf]

119. I was too young.

I felt the grief of those around me.

I remember the magic of RFK, and the grief felt more profound then, maybe because I could, though still young, participate in it.

I don't find any connection between Obama and RFK, or JFK, for that matter.

I find political inspiration elsewhere.

[hedgehog]

122. I remember that my Mom went out and bought a TV set just so she could

watch the Kennedy-Nixon debates!

We had had a set before. I remember that Eisenhower was very boring, but that JFK was interesting.