John F. Kennedy -- In Memoriam

This is about the only mention anywhere I have seen about the 51st anniversary, no one had forgotten, I just think about all has been said.

The evidence is there for anyone who doesn't have preconceived notions- Oswald did this with no help. He was a chronic misfit with severe emotional disorders. I happen to think he may indeed have been some sort of double agent for military intelligence, for awhile, but never more than a low level one- expendable. He may have been sent to Russia to fake a defection just to test how easy it would be. He then got back home and was angry that he'd been used- which he had been, if so. Once he knew JFK was going to be passing right under his window I think he just couldn't control himself.

All the shots came from the rear. If one looks at the Zapruder film there is one frame just before JFK's head explodes- you can see the head start to move forward from a rear impact, the bullet hit a blood vessel which exploded.

I was an employee of the Yakima Post Office working in the basement on the 'sack' pile. One of the carriers came by and told me about it, and I thought it was a joke, waiting for the punch line. He told me it had actually happened. I will never forget that terrible day.

regards, Theron.

I was on my way to work and heard it on the car radio. I couldn't believe my ears. I cried all the rest of the way to work. I was 17 years old then. When I got to work of course it was the talk of the town/City what few people that were out. Flint Michigan. Almost everything closed or was already closed. The city Population over 169,000 looked like a Ghost town. I worked at a Walgreens Drug store and the manager decided to stay open since every thing else was closed. It was one of the saddest days of my life. As sad as the Twin Towers bombing.

It couldn't have been just the mafia. They wouldn't have had the power to have depleted the Secret Service protection for the President or to get the route of the motorcade changed. All those open office building windows with the President of the United States driving in an open car at 15 mph? Give me a break.

...sigh... ...51 years...


_IBFS

It was the mafia backed by LBJ.

I was not even born until 1974 so have no recall of the moment. However, I have followed this event closely and indeed what a terrible sad day for America and the world. JFK's loss will be felt by every generation of individuals who take the time to study it, just as 9-11.

There's a really good Stephen King book about a guy going back in time to try and stop it. It's called 11/22/63. I read it will be turned into a mini-series as well

I really don't know why this is such a massive issue. The assassination had no consequences for America or the rest of the world, so far as I can see. No domestic policy changes happened, international relations were unaffected, they carried on their involvement in Vietnam. Why was it such a monumental loss? Sure, it's sad if someone gets killed, but it happens every day.

Incidentally, this is one of the reasons to suppose there was no high-level conspiracy. Nothing was, or could have ben "achieved" by killing him.

Ringo.....one thing was achieved...four different investigations into LBJ corruption were halted immediately by the man who succeeded JFK and allegedly the fingerprint of an LBJ man was found in the Book Depository....but I could never imagine a nice man like Lyndon doing anything bad

Postulating LBJ did it isn't much different from postulating that Lee Harvey Oswald did it. The point is, there were no significant gains or losses for the American people, nor the rest of the world. Why are people so affected by it?

It's difficult to say if America's Vietnam policy would have been different had JFK lived to serve a second term. I would like to think so. LBJ certainly had a very tarnished military record with an undeserved silver star. I had and have no respect for him or Westmoreland. I have no LBJ stamps in my collection.

Same reason as people mourned Lennon, Spencer, and millions of others....they say or do things that meant something to us as individuals.....there is probably someone you think is of significance that other people look at you and think "Why?" with JFK, he was the first politician who was not "old" to most of us and actually acted as if young people existed and mattered...yes he was flawed and yes, things didn't change much, but the guy gave us hope for a short while and that meant something to some of us...just not you

Ringo makes a good question, and him posing it does not mean JFK does not resonate with him too. How the world would have been different could never be known. Could it have been worse, with nuclear Armageddon? Perhaps that might have been. Kennedy was no pushover from a military point of view from what I have read about the Cuban missile crisis. But I would leave the what-could-have-beens up to the JFK scholars to debate.

To answer Ringos question why does it resonate so much. I think Kennedy was the first and last president to date who was a hero figure in the Campbell sense of the word. He inspired and compelled Americans to a greater meaning of what it meant to be an American. The space race, service to others, standing up to communism and crisis with nuclear arms, and civil rights. America was making a change to a new era rung in by Kennedy. So he resonated greatly with people far and wide, he even was charming to many republicans. And despite his flaws, as we all have some, when he was assassinated it was a bullet to many, if not most, of America. Since that time, today and even forward in time, I doubt a presidential assassination would draw as large an emotional response for as many people of all ages and ethnicities. Nor resonate more than fifty years later.

Back to my hero comment. JFK's assassination completed the requirements of becoming a hero, and perhaps inspired America to not forget all that was manifested through Kennedy. Is any president studied, memorialized, more... other than Lincoln? Camelot. A president loved and respected. Loving a president is a rare thing. And the aftermath and poise with how the First Lady was strong through it all, the children, the other relatives who also sought to inspire America, are other factors contributing to the affect.

So to Ringo you are right, it is an odd thing how it resonates through time and more to it than even I have touched on, but you are right it cannot be known that the world would be different or better, worse as a result of the JFK assassination. Thanks for pushing the response further through your curiosity! Clearly you are a philatelist!

This is an interesting thread and makes one think
about the past.

Some one said previously in here.



What/who exactly is an LBJ man that you're referring to?

I myself have been interested in JFK's assassination since
that Friday in 1963 when I came home from High School
exams and saw on the TV screen President John F Kennedy 1917 - 1963
Wow, I thought what happened?
Then Walter Cronkite came on all shook up and I learned
what happened just a few hours before.

Since then I've read numerous books and seen dozens of
film and TV programs about it.

Only ones with the wildest imagination have suggested that Johnson
had anything to do with it.

There are enough suspects besides Oswald and some for good reason... the Mafia,
Castro, the CIA, the Pentagon, the Soviets; maybe even
some unhappy husband, boyfriend or lover of one of the women
JFK was having an affair with.
There is no shortage of people who hated him and wanted
to see him dead.

I think one of the reasons he is so glorified today is the fact
he died so young and had a pretty good record and some
achievemnets in only 1000 days in office.

Then again how would he be viewed today had he finished
his firts term and be re - elected?
Would he even have been re - elected?

Yes, time froze for many of us on that day and our Nation changed forever.