Thoughts On The 42nd Anniversary Of President John F. Kennedy's Assassination

In an age where terrorism is easily recognized and shrugged off like an overused word, the very thought of terrorism had yet to enter the minds of Americans and the world for that matter on this day, 42 years ago, with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

I was very young then; one year and eleven months to be exact when Kennedy was gunned down in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas.

I can’t say I remember much about the event, other than what I hear from my mom, The Arizona Babe, that she and my only sister Naomi cried their eyes out upon hear the news.

Kennedy was by all accounts a well-liked man, mostly by the American public; he had charisma and youth on his side. He had his lovely wife Jackie and his beloved children as he entered office in late 1960.

Yet there were those who hated, rather disdained him, for what he stood for, who he was; after all he was a Kennedy, part of the ruthless Kennedy clan that seemed to dip their fingers into everything. He also was a victim of a vicious rumor that of being linked up to “doing” Marilyn Monroe.

Before Kennedy became a politician he was a journalist and he himself said at some point that he’d rather be on the inside developing, planning and executing dreams and goals, than just writing about them.

Kennedy like his other brothers Bobby & Teddy later followed started off in politics as a senator. Running for office seemed to be an easier occupation back then it didn’t involve the astronomical hard-pressed politics of money like it does now.

And yet Kennedy did what any president could have done during his first 100 days in office; seemingly now that’s what United States presidents are measured by. But Kennedy had a lot on his plate; a lot of crisis and soothing to do. The word assassination although old, is a familiar term in within Washington. a couple of presidents have been assassinated while in office, while others have had attempts made on their lives, including Gerald Ford and the late Ronald Reagan. It's just too damn bad that Hinkley missed, but I'm straying.

Vietnam was already in place, although not widely known until Johnson took office after Kennedy’s death. Of course, Kennedy’s death widely affected many people from around the world. To say that people were deeply saddened by his death would be an understatement.

I’m personally not so well-versed on the particulars of the conspiracy theories regarding his death, but I know for certain that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone; there’s no way he could have. Having been to Dallas, Texas several years ago and seeing the various angles that anyone with a gun could have taken, was just too easy.

There was no true protection for him. It was too open to begin with. What was the government thinking when they proposed an open-air motorcade to go through a virtually empty locale in Dallas, Texas, anyhow? And then yes even that kangaroo court called the Warren Commission of course concluded that Oswald acted alone.

Even as there are hundreds of conspiracy theories abound with regards to Kennedy’s assassination, sadly we’ll never get to know the truth. Oswald was knocked off the very next day by Jack Ruby, a strip-club owner that was somehow able to get into the basement of the jail in Dallas that housed Oswald. I think he knew the police department fairly well to do that. And Ruby got off scott-free.

And the witnesses to the assassination; where did they all disappear to? Mysteriously, they either died suddenly or from odd circumstances. Even as the government released several hundred papers a few years ago on the Kennedy assassination it didn’t do much good. As far as anyone can tell, Oswald didn’t act alone.

But to the witnesses who are left, like George Bush’s father who was in the CIA at the time, why doesn’t he come out and speak about it?

Who would have so much hatred for this man, a man who had so much hope about the future that they would want to kill him, other than Fidel Castro, the Mafia or anyone else? Ignoramuses, ignoramuses who couldn’t be bothered with such things, that’s who. And those ignoramuses moved on and helped wreck one of the greatest, most noble of countries in the universe and by that of course, I mean the United States.

Some people I speak to could care less about what they could do to better themselves or the surroundings the live in. I believe it’s called apathy; in that no one cares about anything anymore, just as long as they get something out of the big picture. It’s selfish and piggish to think such thoughts.

Funny, but our current presidential administration behaves this way. The way they keep carrying on is one step closer to the grave than would ever be thought and yet, they don’t care as they feed us lines to soothe us.

Jack (John) Kennedy didn’t think that way; he believed in himself and didn’t take advantage of his country like George Bush Jr. does. We need more men like Kennedy and less men like Bush whose intent on screwing his own country just to for fun and his own self-gain, is anything but American or patriotic.