Originally Posted By jonvn Here is an interesting site. People talking about what they were doing on November 22, 1963. And what happened when they learned of Kennedy being assassinated. The country basically shut down. How would we react if that happened today? Would the new President come on TV and tell us all to go shopping? Would people even be bothered to care anymore?
Originally Posted By jonvn OH, left off the url. <a href="http://message.alturl.com/" target="_blank">http://message.alturl.com/</a>
Originally Posted By DAR Well knowing how certain people in this country feel about Bush I'm sure there'd be a few high fives.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>That's what happened back then, too. Though you don't hear about it much.<<< It would seem pretty obvious that if someone kills you, you have made some enemy's along the way. I am sure that many people were not crushed by his death but the vast majority, like him or not, didn't feel that this was the way it should have ended. I believe that is why we have a democracy in place. You didn't hear much about those that might have been less that sad about his death because that would have been totally without any human compassion. He had a wife and two kids and a family left behind and in spite of what anyone thinks about the Kennedy's they were people. No one deserves to have his head blown off simply because one doesn't like him. That goes for Bush as well. Another factor, not talked about much, is that since there were not 70 zillion cable channels all desperately trying to fill air space, the "uglies" about a presidents personal life were not common knowledge. Beyond that it is, or should be, an extreme embarrassment to a country that calls itself an democracy to feel that the right way to effect change within your government is to kill it's leader. It wasn't a perfect time back then, by any means, and Camelot was just a myth, but as a nation I think we had more ability to be shocked by bad things that today we just shrug our shoulders about and then go to Starbucks and pay 5 bucks for something that is 99% water and 1% bean juice. Sometimes there is just no way to explain things.
Originally Posted By jonvn "It would seem pretty obvious that if someone kills you" I believe Oswald never really espoused any particular hatred of Kennedy. He just wanted to kill the President, no matter who it was. I've been reading about this online a bit. A lot of rememberances. And quite a number of people said their parents or grandparents were not all that broken up over the thing. I was actually pretty surprised. But no one is saying his killing was in any way a good thing, of course. I just wonder that with today's apathetic and disenchanted and disenfranchised public, would the aftermath be so emotional? I kind of think that most people would simply shrug it off at this point. I don't think that's good, but I think that's what would happen.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo It's funny, apparently in my family, JFK's assassination caused tears for a couple of days. So different strokes. I know I was heavily affected when Dianna was killed in the Paris crash.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost >>>I believe Oswald never really espoused any particular hatred of Kennedy. He just wanted to kill the President, no matter who it was.<<< Amazing how you know that. Oswald had many secrets and I doubt that he would have ever stated anything about it. He did nothing but deny involvement at the time which really only amounted to a few hours until he was no longer able to speak. If anyone knows exactly what happened, they aren't talking or are presently pushing daisies themselves. I don't believe that anyone in my family actually shed tears but there was a good reason for that. The entire thing was absolutely surreal. Most of us were numb. We walked around in a fog for a number of days. We watched everything on TV. It was like watching a train wreak. No one wanted to see it but we couldn't stop watching. My time frame is confusing jonvn. You have stated that your father was a hero in WWII and yet you don't have any personal memories of the Kennedy event only things you read on the internet? Wouldn't you need to be at least in your 50's or are you a late in life child? If you were there and know first hand what was happening at the time then I apologize but if you were not, with all due respect, you just don't know.
Originally Posted By jonvn "Amazing how you know that." No, it's not amazing. That is what we have historical record of. If you have some other evidence that suggests there is a record of him making statements about Kennedy, then feel free to show them.
Originally Posted By jonvn "you don't have any personal memories of the Kennedy event only things you read on the internet?" Whre did I say this? My chief memory is our family putting up an American flag draped in black cloth.
Originally Posted By jonvn "It's funny, apparently in my family, JFK's assassination caused tears for a couple of days" Would that happen today, though? That's actually my question. I don't think most people would care anymore.
Originally Posted By gadzuux >> It would seem pretty obvious that if someone kills you, you have made some enemy's along the way. << Only if your enemies are criminals. I think I've told my JFK assassination story here before, but here goes ... My mom was absolutely flattened by this event. Not only was she a (sunday) catholic, but we're also 'scot/irish' and lived on cape cod. She always felt that kennedy was "one of us". Another tie is that JFK Jr and I share a birthday -comin' right up. She spent two days on the couch with a big box of kleenex, watching the TV and the wall to wall coverage. Somewhere in the whole course of events, barbara walters announced that jackie was throwing a birthday party inside the white house for 'john-john'. A bell went off in my mother's head, and she got up off of the couch, went into the kitchen, and made me a birthday cake. If jackie could do it, so could she. Honestly, I think if it wasn't for the fact that 'junior' and I have the same birthday, I never would have gotten my seventh birthday cake. So thank you - 24 years later - to jackie kennedy onassis.
Originally Posted By ecdc It's impossible to know for certain what went through Oswald's head. But what little information we have suggests that he liked Kennedy. Marina (his wife) said they followed the First Family and that Lee was upset when Jackie lost the baby. But Oswald was obsessed with Cuba and Castro. He had an obsessive personality (despite having a superficial understanding of Communist Russia, he defected there only to leave deeply disillusioned) and couldn't let his love of Cuba go. I suspect Oswald had no personal grudge against Kennedy, he just thought this would somehow help Cuba.
Originally Posted By jonvn "It's impossible to know for certain what went through Oswald's head." I guess we can't say the same thing of President Kennedy.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost OK, jonvn...I apologize! It just seemed to me that you were always quoting what you read about it and what research that was done via internet. If you do have first hand knowledge then I am truly sorry for misinterpreting your statement. >>>Would that happen today, though? That's actually my question. I don't think most people would care anymore.<<< Probably not because since that time we have been hardened to everything. 50K dead in Vietnam, JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King and those from 9/11 most recent in our memories. Nothing surprises us anymore and we do not feel the same depth of emotion as back then unless it is an immediate family member involved. >>>I guess we can't say the same thing of President Kennedy.<<< Yup! That's over the top, but it does speak volumes about where you are coming from on this topic!
Originally Posted By twirlnhurl I disagree. The kind of people who voted for Bush in the first place (even if they don't like him now) are patriotic, and any sort of thing that symbolically hurts the country (killing the president, regardless of who that president is) would be taken very seriously. I doubt it would be national grieving on the scale of 9/11, but it would be quite severe. Also, regardless of one's feelings towards the president, he is a known quantity, loosing him because of something like an election (where instability is expected) is different from an overnight change in the political scene. They may not be sad that he's dead, but they'll be sad that change is happening fast and outside of the voters hands.
Originally Posted By gadzuux I think almost everyone of any political stripe would be apprehensive about cheney being president. The difference between that and what he is today may be paper thin already, but handing him the oval office would be bad news no matter who you are.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I can't imagine most Americans would be happy about losing a president to the hands of an assassin, regardless of whether or not one agrees with his policies. I may be wrong, of course. We live in short-tempered times, when people at the extremes control the tone of most political debates. But what an ugly place we would have become if anything close to joy at the assassination of a president would be felt, much less expressed.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>I may be wrong, of course. We live in short-tempered times, when people at the extremes control the tone of most political debates. But what an ugly place we would have become if anything close to joy at the assassination of a president would be felt, much less expressed.<< Perfectly said. Nobody loathes Bush more than me (well, except maybe actual assassins) but I would be deeply saddened and troubled if he were killed. I would hope that we would all mourn, if not the specific person, the disrespect shown to the office and mourn the loss of the will of the people.
