On Nov. 22, 1963 — 60 years ago today — the 35th President of the United States was riding in the presidential limousine, a Lincoln with the top off, through the city of Dallas, Texas, when an assassin’s bullet killed him. President John F. Kennedy, the youngest person elected President of the U.S., was 46-years old.
Arrested for JFK’s assassination was Lee Harvey Oswald.
Kennedy’s untimely death had a profound effect on our nation, both cultural and political. Every adult at that time remembers where they were and what they were doing when they heard this tragic news.
I was six days away from my fourth birthday. Children my age were shielded from this dark news, learning of it in history class later in school.
Many believe that we are currently living in a society full of hate. We are, but our country has seen hatred before.
JFK’s assassination was one of nine in a ten-year span that would become known as the “Decade of Assassinations.”
Other prominent figures who lost their lives by a bullet in the 60s include Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and JFK’s younger brother, Robert F. Kennedy.
JFK defeated Richard M. Nixon in one of the closest presidential elections of the last century, 49.7 percent to 49.5 percent of the popular vote. The Electoral College — which is what counts — was not as close, 303 to 219, with 269 needed to win.
A piece of trivia for history buffs: Fifteen Democrat electors from Mississippi, Oklahoma and Alabama refused to place their vote for Kennedy because he supported the civil rights movement. They voted for Virginia Democrat Senator Harry F. Byrd.
Byrd (not to be confused with Democrat Senator Robert F. Byrd, who was a member of the Klu Klux Klan in his 20s and 30s) was known to be a racist and an avowed white separatist.
Perhaps President Kennedy is best known for his 1961 inaugural address when he said, “And so, my fellow Americans: “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
This statement has been turned around by many Democrat leaders, starting with Kennedy’s replacement, President Lyndon Johnson, when he declared a “War on Poverty,” and his reforms for the “Great Society.”
Since his reforms, many Americans have asked the Federal Government to take care of them from the cradle to the grave with endless handouts.
Many believe that Kennedy would be considered a conservative in today’s climate.
Before Ronald Reagan’s famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate, Kennedy gave a speech in Berlin where he also took a tough stance against communism, saying, “There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future, let them come to Berlin.”
Kennedy was also conservative with his tax policy. In 1962, at the Economic Club of New York, Kennedy said he was committed to “an across-the-board, top-to-bottom cut in personal and corporate income taxes.” Another of JFKs famous sayings is, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
In addition to conservative ideas of peace through strength and lower taxes, Kennedy believed in an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. He was a lifetime member of the NRA.
On the issue of abortion — which was not an issue during his campaign for president — he said, “Now, on the question of limiting population: As you know, the Japanese have been doing it very vigorously, through abortion, which I think would be repugnant to all Americans.”
“JFK appears more conservative to us today than he appeared to his contemporaries,” according to author Ira Stoll, “because liberalism moved so far to the left in the years after he was killed.”
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On Sunday, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter died at her home in Georgia at the age of 96. “Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” President Jimmy Carter said. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”
May she rest in peace.
