General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: John Fitzgerald Kennedy 11-22-1963 Where Were You? [View all]BlueMTexpat
(15,390 posts)I was in my senior year of college and had just exited a class, when a classmate I knew well came running by with tears in his eyes and told me that the President had been shot. Everything on campus literally stopped as we all gathered anywhere we could find a TV.
The only other comparable day was 9-11: two of the worst events ever on US soil in my lifetime!
I had been accepted as a Peace Corps Volunteer after graduation the following summer and had been inspired to volunteer by JFK, although I later learned that the PC was initially an idea of Hubert Humphrey's and that its successful implementation was largely due to the foresight of another wonderful man, Warren Wiggins, who was a Deputy Director in those early years. JFK had also visited my state in September 1963 and I will never forget the sight of his burnished head in the sun! He literally radiated light! Later, when I was actually a PCV in Morocco, it was amazing to me that often I would find his photograph on the wall of even the most rudimentary of dwellings, together with Morocco's King Mohammed V, who had also died in controversial circumstances in the early 1960s.
I simply cannot imagine that happening with ANY other US President, except Prez O! Frankly, that was one reason why I always feared an attempt on HIS life as well.
IMO, one of the BEST - if not THE BEST - books about the events of that day and the circumstances of the time (and yes, there were several who were happy with this tragedy - many of those in the John Birch Society fringe group who seem now to run rampant in today's GOP: "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters" by James Douglass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JFK_and_the_Unspeakable
I encourage anyone who has not read it to do so. A reread would also be in order, especially considering events since 2016.