The Kennedy Assassination

Reading about it today brought back some very intense childhood memories. For people of a certain generation it is a common question to ask where were you on the day President Kennedy got shot or what was the first national news story you remember as a kid.

I am currently reading Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service by Carol Leonnig and I just finished the section on the Kennedy assassination. I've certainly read a lot about that incident over the years and also experienced it on television as the events unfolded over time but this was a very intense personal perspective from the men who were responsible for his safety. The book goes into excruciating detail on the failures of the service on that day in Dallas. It was actually very upsetting to read. The book also went into some detail about the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King in 1968.

On the day Kennedy got shot, November 22, 1963 at 12:30 CST in Dallas, I was 11 years old and in seventh grade at St. Francis of Assissi School in Philadelphia. It was in the afternoon and our teacher, Sister William Aloysius, an elderly nun, left the classroom for a few minutes when another nun waved to come with her. After a little bit everyone was talking and making a lot of noise when she suddenly reappeared in the room. Everyone knew immediately that something was wrong. Sister William was crying. We had never seen her cry before and she was obviously very upset. 

Then she announced to the class that the president was shot. President Kennedy was a hero to the Catholic community in the early 1960's and his shooting was shock to the nation and to Catholics in particular. The class was stunned into silence and some of the kids in the class started crying. About an hour later the principal came on the PA system and announced to the school that the President was dead. We were all sent home shortly after that and then there began a long week of mourning via live television.

The book I'm reading has revealed many details about events within the secret service leading up to the assassination and the many repercussions following the many investigations. Another sad detail of the event was Mrs. Kennedy following her husband's body to the hospital emergency room and giving a doctor the pieces of his brain and skull she had be carrying around since the shooting.

And of course Lyndon Johnson was a complete jerk as usual.