President John F. Kennedy Assassinated 50 Years Ago Today

Amy SF

Amy SF

Dweller in nature
Supporter
Joined
Jun 4, 2012
Reaction score
19,493
Age
64
Location
I'm liek, in Cali, dude.
Lifestyle
  1. Vegetarian
So today is the day. Fifty years ago today, November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. When it happened, I was four years old. I don't remember anything of that day. I was probably in nursery school that day, having nap time or play time, perhaps.

So many books, movies, TV programs, discussions about the assassination. So many conspiracy theories. The FBI did it. The CIA did it. The Mafia did it. No, Lee Harvey Oswald did it alone. A second shooter on the grassy knoll shooting a "magic bullet". (As an aside, I totally loved the Seinfeld episode spoofing Oliver Stone's movie JFK in which baseball player Keith Hernandez got spit on, and in describing the trajectory of the spit, Jerry says "that's one magic loogie!")

So, what do YOU think?
 
It changed this country forever. I heard it happen live on the radio. It's hard for me to imagine it's been fifty years already.
 
I think we will never know the "truth" about what happened and who was behind it. Personally, I wouldn't spend any time on finding out the details, but I understand people's need to understand what happened and have "closure". I have my own ideas, but they aren't worth sharing.

I was 3 1/2 years old and have no recollection. I was probably put down for a nap so the grownups could watch the coverage. I have vivid memories of when his brother, Robert, was killed because I was 8 years old that time, it happened in the city where we lived and there was this dreadful "deja vu", "oh no, not again" feeling.

My only recollection was on the 10th anniversary. My dad talked about the conflicting feelings he had that day. He was a staunch Nixon supporter (Nixon grew up about 5 miles from where I did and it was before Watergate, so this was not uncommon) and the 1960 election was a close, bitter one. But now Kennedy was shot dead and it seemed improper to harbor any ill-will against him as his legend and presidency quickly reached mythic proportions.

P.S. Yes, that's probably my favorite Seinfeld episode. The "second spitter on the grassy knoll"...
 
I'm 37 so I wasn't alive when it happened but I watched a piece about it on the BBC news today, it was interesting to see that so many people seemed genuinely upset in the footage when they showed the reaction of the public. I think it is one of those significant moments when people remembered where they were when they heard the news. I remember where I was when I heard of the River Phoenix, Kurt Cobain, Princess Diana and Michael Jackson deaths.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thefadedone
I was in 7th grade and in school when it happened. I remember being in the library and hearing someone say "the president is dead." or something like that. And it was on TV constantly. I remember there being a lot of sadness and a lot of speculation about what happened. It was a very very sad time. :(
 
I was 5, and we were at my grandparents visiting. I remember being sad because of Caroline and JohnJohn being so young to lose their dad.

My grandfather was not a Kennedy supporter (aside from the politics, my family's hat factory made the hat for his inauguration, and then JFK didn't wear it, with his glorious hair...putting the nail in the coffin on men wearing hats all the time outside.)
 
I've had CNN on a lot today.

I was 3 and don't remember. I remember my oldest brother telling me he was in high school, in woodshop and the radio was on when it was announced.

I do remember exactly where I was driving when I heard about Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk on the car radio. My home town is Santa Cruz, south of San Francisco so this was also big big local news.
 
C. S. Lewis and Aldous Huxley were assassinated on the same day. I smell conspiracy.
 
Ruby had some connections with the FBI. Is it possible they didn't want Oswald talking, so they had a person who was ill(Jack Ruby) kill him? It's possible. My father is big into this conspiracy theory, but I haven't done much reading about it generally. It's definitely possible from the little reading I've done.

The reading I've done, it seems like he didn't get along with the Federal Reserve. It may have cost him his life, but he did seem to have a lot more bravery than other recent Presidents. The last President to have any good qualities. It's sad what happened. I wasn't alive then, so I can't comment much otherwise.
 
I certainly remember being at home and watching it on the BBC. Even in those days they had news alerts.

I also believe that it was a conspiracy and the truth will never be disclosed.


 
Last edited:
ledboots said:
Nixon was pretty good with the whole China situation. Can't think of much else off the top of my head.
Click to expand...
Yes, he defused something that could easily have turned into another cold (or hot) war, with all of the costs that would have entailed.

Bush I was a competent manager. Bush II did a lot to fight aids in Africa.
 
I was also not yet born when JFK was assassinated. What seems strange to me is that we seem to know so little about Oswald's motives and actions in the months just before the assassination. The article I've linked below suggests this limited knowledge is due to the cover-up, that the FBI and CIA were aware of Oswald's actions and intentions as he was under heavy surveillance, and yet they somehow failed to prevent the assassination.

Today the remaining documents are supposed to be released from the National Archives. I must admit I'm quite curious to see if they can shed more light on what happened.

Files will shed light on Kennedy shooting conspiracy – but not the one you think (26. October 2017)
 
As far as I understand, so far what has been found in the newly released documents has not been very interesting.
Key points from released JFK files

That begs the question of what is hidden in the files Trump was persuaded to keep classified!

The main question I have is: why didn't US intelligence orgs do more to protect the president given all they knew about Oswald from surveillance? Was it a case of too any subjects being monitored to effectively stay on top of the situations? Or an honest mistake? Or did they deliberately look the other way?
 
Top Bottom
Back