Today marks the 46th anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. I remember the day very well and without a doubt it was one of the most tragic occurrences in the history of this nation and a day I will never forget.
I will always commemorate this day as it was of the most indelible memories of my childhood. I was in the 4th grade and we were getting our weekly Spanish lesson on closed circuit TV. It was 11:15 AM on the west coast when the bulletin broke on the TV. At 11:30 we took our lunch as usual when a teacher announced President Kennedy had died. When I got home from school that gloomy Friday I found my mother weeping in front of the television. My father was as quiet and somber as I have ever seen him that weekend. We sat transfixed in front of the television for the next 4 days and I also watched as the murder of Kennedy's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was broadcast .to the grieving nation. Like I said I will never forget that day as long as I live.
What died that day was more than just a head of state. What died was the hope, promise and potential of dynamic and courageous leadership that we may never see again. We can only speculate about what might have been had President Kennedy lived to serve out his term. I would like to think that we would have achieved the true greatness this country is capable of. We lost our innocence that day and as a nation we suffered a tragedy that is still fresh and still painful to all of us living then.For those of us that remember President Kennedy, he will forever be our handsome young president forever frozen in time at the age of 46 with Jackie in her pink suit with matching pillbox hat......Truly we hardly knew him.
I too remember that day..I was 10 at the time. Your rememberance strikes a serious chord. Thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteEric