Tag: assassination of JFK

Boomers Remember the JFK Assassination

It’s incredible to believe that this past week, the U.S. marked the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. It was November 22, 1963, when Lee Harvey Oswald shot the President from a sixth story window of a book repository in Dallas, Texas as he rode in his motorcade.

The youngest boomers — those born in the last four years of the Baby Boom — were either too young or not yet born in 1963, so their recollection of the day is by historical records rather than personal observation. Those boomers born in the first half of the Baby Boom in the mid-40s and 1950s, however, recall vividly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news that the President was dead.

Mister Boomer was in elementary school. The first inkling that something big was happening came when he heard what can only be described as wailing and sobbing in the halls of the school. It was the teachers who got the news and were the first to react. Mister Boomer had only heard such an outpouring of sorrow once before, at the death and funeral of his grandfather three years earlier.

Very shortly after Walter Cronkite made his historic announcement on TV that the President had been killed, the school principal got on the PA system to inform the students. Quickly, Mister Boomer’s class was ushered into another classroom in an upper grade, where the students were instructed to sit on the floor while a black-and-white TV on a cart was rolled in. There, the combined classes of kids watched coverage of the assassination on television. A short time later, the students were sent home.

It is sometimes easy to forget that John Kennedy had only taken the oath of office in January of 1961. When he was killed, JFK was looking forward to campaigning for his re-election to a second term. In three short years, his presidency was marked by stunning victories and disappointing failures. Here are some facts about his short time in the White House:

• He was the youngest U.S. President elected; he was 46 at time of his death
• First Roman Catholic President
• Set a goal to surpass the Soviet space program by landing a man on the moon
• Started the Peace Corps and Alliance for Progress to bring American idealism to developing nations
• A student of American history, together with his wife, Jacqueline, highlighted American arts and culture in the White House
• His children (Caroline and John) grew up playing on the White House grounds, and the President was often seen playing with them. The President even had a treehouse built for them on the grounds
• The Bay of Pigs incident in 1960 was a failed covert attempt by Cuban nationalists to overthrow Fidel Castro in Cuba
• Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was a successful embargo around Cuba to prevent the Soviet Union from bringing nuclear weapons into Cuba; led to a test ban treaty in 1963
• Aspired to pass civil rights legislation, which ultimately was championed by his then Vice President and ultimately, his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. When President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he said he was doing so to finish the work of JFK
• Proposed and won from Congress a tax cut in 1963 to bolster recovery from an ongoing recession
• Proposed and won legislation to study the causes and possible prevention of intellectual disabilities and treat mental illness

JFK is such an important figure in American history, made even more so by his tragic death. Boomers were there to chronicle the good and the bad.

How about you, boomers? Were you old enough to remember JFK?

Boomers Watched the Events Surrounding the Assassination of JFK

By now the entire country is aware that this week marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. TV reports, newspapers, magazines and Internet articles are all looking back on the historic events of November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. It is an especially poignant anniversary for those of us born in the first half of the Baby Boomer Generation, as we recall the events as they unfolded.

Mister Boomer’s connection to JFK began the year before the president was assassinated. Every year Mister B’s family would embark on a summer vacation, and every year it was a camping trip that included his cousins, aunts and uncles. In 1962, Mister B’s father wanted to “see the U.S.A.” and decided to treat the family to an educational trip to Washington, D.C.

The family toured all the sights in Washington, and stood in line with other tourists for a White House tour. John Kennedy was president, and Mister B’s mom was very excited to see the place where Jack and Jackie lived, even though she knew their private quarters were strictly off-limits. As the family waited in line, buzz circulated that Mrs. Kennedy had been known to come out on occasion to greet visitors who were waiting for the tour. This news made Mister B’s mom even more excited, but it was not to be. Mrs. Kennedy did not appear at the line, nor on the inside visit. Nonetheless the family thoroughly enjoyed the tour, in which the tour guide pointed out the changes that Mrs. Kennedy had made to the decor and furnishings. The family later heard that the Kennedys were not even in Washington on that day.

Mister Boomer visits the White House in 1962
Mister B waiting in line to visit the White House with his mother, Brother Boomer and Sister Boomer in the summer of 1962.

Just under a year and a half later, Mister B — a grade school student in the Midwest — was at school like every other boomer his age when news filtered out about the happenings in Dallas. Mister B attended a Catholic school where most of the teachers were nuns. They had a particular affection for the president since, aside from being a young, handsome man in their estimation, he was the first Catholic to be elected president. Kennedy’s womanizing was not public knowledge at the time, as the press took a gingerly approach to the president’s private affairs. So it was completely understandable to Mister B and his classmates that their teacher would start crying when another nun entered the room and, in what was more of a stage whisper that all could hear, told her the president had been shot.

It was probably less than a half an hour later when the principal got on the PA system and, sobbing, announced that Kennedy was dead. It was the afternoon when the announcement came, and we were dismissed for the day.

Mister Boomer was too young to comprehend the politics of the day or understand why someone would want to kill another human being, let alone the President of the United States. But he knew the entire country seemed to be in mourning, including his own parents.

Young boomers like Mister B watched on TV as Lee Harvey Oswald was captured as a suspect in the murder of a Dallas police officer on the same day Kennedy was killed. Oswald was subsequently shot dead by Jack Ruby two days later as he was being moved for an arraignment. It was, to young boomers, surreal imagery appearing on black & white television screens. A couple of days later we watched as President Kennedy’s flag-draped coffin was marched through Washington to his final resting place in Arlington National Cemetery. Mister B especially recalls the time in the parade as shown on TV when John-John, Kennedy’s son, saluted his father’s casket as the horse and carriage passed the Kennedy family. TV newsmen remarked on the incident and it became a story within the story. Life magazine later published a picture of the young son saluting his father as an iconic image from the historical events.

In the summer of 1963, Mister Boomer’s father decided the family would vacation at Niagara Falls. The family visited all the pertinent sights on the Canadian side, and included Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. Mister B recalls how Brother Boomer was infatuated with the life-like replica of Elizabeth Taylor, dressed as Cleopatra. A photo was taken of Brother Boomer standing alongside the wax statue since the museum was set up to allow visitors to walk among the statues. For Mister B, however, the exhibit that was forever etched into his mind was the recreation of the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald. The museum had staged the entire incident with life-size replicas of everyone on the scene, as it had been recorded in the Life magazine photo. There was Lee Harvey Oswald clutching his stomach with his handcuffed hands, with Jack Ruby still pointing his gun just three feet away. It was like walking into the famous photo, only now it was in three dimensions, and in color.

The assassination of President Kennedy was one of many historical events that occurred during the young years of the Baby Boomer Generation. There has been much speculation as to what might have been if Kennedy had lived and served a second term. One thing is for certain, however, and that is, things were never the same. Whether it was Kennedy’s election, as some suggest, or his death that ignited the cultural revolution that followed, it marked the end of boomer innocence. The times were definitely changing.

What do you recall about November 22, 1963, boomers?