AMERICANS HAVE been marking the fortieth anniversary of the assassination in Texas of John F. Kennedy, perhaps their most popular President and someone held in high esteem by most Jamaicans. Many can vividly remember where they were when the dreadful news came by radio at about noon, local time, and some gathered on sidewalks, weeping.
It seems as if America has never fully recovered from that tragic event on November 22, 1964, followed as it was by the Vietnam disaster. Had President Kennedy lived, would he have withdrawn from the conflict before it spiralled out of control? He had the wisdom to end the Cuban missile crisis on an acceptable defensive strategy and managed the Berlin crisis without shots being fired in anger, although Russian tanks were rumbling at the Berlin Wall and had cut off supplies from the city.
Perhaps it is because Kennedy so skilfully managed the affairs of his presidency that his assassination came as such a shock. Mystery was another ingredient, part of the debate being whether Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, acted alone or was part of some grand conspiracy. Whatever information could have been elicited from Oswald was cut off when he was shot to death by Jack Ruby, an emotional nightclub operator, the event witnessed by millions on public television and one that added to the bizarre circumstances of the assassination.
In retrospect, the Kennedy era, often referred to as 'Camelot', was a time of great hope, symbolised by President Kennedy's challenge for America to send a manned spacecraft to the moon, which it eventually did. It was marked by significant progress in the field of civil rights which began the process of racial integration in America generally and specifically in the transportation and school systems.
There were rumours of sexual adventures and other Kennedy peccadilloes but overall the era seems innocently playful in comparison with the sleaze and corrupt ethics that are now an ugly part of American life. America's reputation in the world has come crashing down from its apogee during the Kennedy presidency. This adds to the personal sorrow of his passing and lends a bitter note of regret to the nostalgia which still surrounds his life and times.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
