This Thursday will mark the 44th anniversary of the death of President John F.
Kennedy. To put that event in perspective: Kennedy died before Ed Sullivan
(or most Americans) had ever heard of a rock group who called themselves The Beatles; and before a young man named Gene Roddenberry ever lauched
a starship named Enterprise on a new television show called STAR TREK. Walt
Disney was very much alive and still making family movies--but his amusement
park Walt Disney World, in Florida, had yet to open its doors. And the first
time a human being from Earth set foot upon the moon was nearly six years in
the future. (Kennedy himself had announced that the nation should commit
itself to landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely to earth, before
the end of the decade.) There was no "Star Wars," no disco, no such place
as Sesame Street. It was the early 1960s and the age of "Camelot."

One of the qualities that I remember most about Kennedy was his sense of
humor. He was the first U.S. President in history to schedule regularly televised press conferences; and, with Ronald Reagan, was certainly one of
the most charismatic chief executives in front of the camera. (Of course,
it was no surprise this was true of Reagan, a former actor.) Those press
conferences were the occasion for some of J.F.K.'s best ad-libs. Here are
just a few ...

Question: Mr. President, you have said, and I think more than once, that
heads of government should not go to the summit to negotiate agreements
but only to approve agreements negotiated at a lower level. Now it's being
said and written that you're going to eat those words and go to a summit
without any agreement at a lower level. Has your position changed, sir?

President Kennedy: Well, I'm going to have a dinner for all the people who've
written it and we'll see who eats what.

**********

It was during a Presidential Press Conference that President Kennedy received
the news that the U.S. had successfully launched a chimpanzee into space.
The President interrupted the press conference to announce the event to the
assembled reporters:

This chimpanzee who was flying in space took off at 10:08. He reports that
everything is going perfectly and working well.

**********

Question: The Republican National Committee recently adopted a resolution
saying you were pretty much of a failure. How do you feel about that?

President Kennedy: I assume it passed unanimously.

(Press conferences quotes from THE KENNEDY WIT, by Bill Adler (1964))

At 15 months old, I was too young to know about the JFK assassination, however, when i was almost 7 in 1968, I did see his younger brother Robert's assassination on live TV, while at my Granmas house.....For years, I thought it was a rerun of JFKs murder, until I saw the film of Bobby's death again (Years later), and realised they werent the same person , but rather brothers killed in a similar manner.

President Kennedy died 2 years before I was born and would probably have been President then if he wasn't killed. It was a real tragedy and I think America lost it's innocence when he died. I wonder if the rest of the decade would have turned out differently too. He might have done things different in Vietnam than what Johnson did. I guess we'll never know.

If you're ever in Dallas, visit the Sixth Floor Museum (www.jfk.org)...

It's a remarkable place with a lot to see. Although you can't look out the actual window Kennedy was shot from because it is enclosed in glass (you can see it through the glass), you can look out of the window right next to it. It's chilling to see the approximate view Oswald had.

I vaguely remember the day JFK was assasinated. I was in third grade and we all got dismissed. I remember bits and pieces here and there from the funeral...the only thing I remember vividly is John-John saluting.

JFK was a wonderful and charismatic president, beloved by many.

I remember that day well. I was in the 8th grade in Math class when it was announced over the P A system. I watched the coverage all weekend. It was very moving. RIP Mr. Kennedy:(

it has been 44 year's since JFK passed Away

I've been to the Museum in Dallas, and a friend of mine is doing a presentation on him Wednesday, one of the few that I'm looking foward to.

If you're ever in Dallas, visit the Sixth Floor Museum (www.jfk.org)...

It's a remarkable place with a lot to see. Although you can't look out the actual window Kennedy was shot from because it is enclosed in glass (you can see it through the glass), you can look out of the window right next to it. It's chilling to see the approximate view Oswald had.

Yes, my brother and I were in Dallas this past January and took an entire day to visit the 6th Floor Museum, as well as took walks all over Dealy Plaza, saw the memorial Jackie commissioned for him, took pics of "X"s on the road, behind the wall by the grassy knoll, etc.. It really was fascinating.

I was just about 2 myself when it happened, but my mom told me the t.v. wasn't turned off for a week. She actually watched Ruby get shot. I still have the "Life" and "Time" magazines (as well as the ones that were issued after Bobby was shot in '68).

I always feel this day was the day "America lost it's innocence". Very sad.

If you're ever in Dallas, visit the Sixth Floor Museum (www.jfk.org)...

It's a remarkable place with a lot to see. Although you can't look out the actual window Kennedy was shot from because it is enclosed in glass (you can see it through the glass), you can look out of the window right next to it. It's chilling to see the approximate view Oswald had.


What did you think of that? (We even tried to get into the same position and angle in the next window that Oswald was supposedly in). If he truly was the lone gunman, that guy could have shot a fly off a dog's back running at full speed 5 miles away. ;)

I remember that day. I was in 1st grade, and that afternoon our nun was in the middle of teaching something to us when someone from the 8th grade came to our classrom and inturupted her. He told her something, then she turned to us and said "Boys and girls, the presidents been shot".
Then I remember after I went home that day, the TV was on, and we kept it on for a week. I remember when Oswald was shot, my father was in the next room; and my mother shouted "OH MY GOD; JACK (his name) THEY SHOT HIM"!!!
Then, I remember once a few years later, we were unpacking Xmas decorations, and in the bottom of a box was the front page of our local newspaper from when Kennedy was shot!:) Needles to say, we saved it, but, sadly, it's dissapeared somewhere over the years.

I was a sophomore in high school, walking to my next class, when a friend
told me he had heard on the radio that someone shot the President. I
scoffed, thinking it was someone's idea of a sick joke ... until I got to my
next class and the principal's voice made the announcement over the public
address system. That day was, for me, "the end of the innocence."

Thank you for starting this. I am a HUGE JFK fan...


Although I wasn't born until 1981, I've been fascinated by JFK for over 10 years now, doing massive research on him, his presidency, and his assassination in particular. I have an essay published on him, too.

But, as a teacher, I take the last 2 days of class before Thanksgiving break every year to do a huge presentation to my students about the assassination, etc. It's a 140 slide power point followed by me bringing some of my memorabillia, etc. in. It's strange, but it's probably the lesson that my students remember and get into the most.

I teach them the Warren Commission's findings and the alternative views to this report. My personal bias is that Oswald may have been involved, but he did not act alone, but I encourage the students to think for themselves.

I find it interesting, however, that a fair number of their parents and a few teachers around the school think that I'm wrong and that the Lone Nut Theory is the ONLY theory that has any merit. What do you all think?

What did you think of that? (We even tried to get into the same position and angle in the next window that Oswald was supposedly in). If he truly was the lone gunman, that guy could have shot a fly off a dog's back running at full speed 5 miles away. ;)

I agree. For some reason, when you're down on the street looking up at the window, it doesn't seem so far. But when you're inside looking out the window down at the street, you can tell you'd have to be a pretty good shot to hit something at that distance, especially while moving as Kennedy was.

Thank you for starting this. I am a HUGE JFK fan...


Although I wasn't born until 1981, I've been fascinated by JFK for over 10 years now, doing massive research on him, his presidency, and his assassination in particular. I have an essay published on him, too.

But, as a teacher, I take the last 2 days of class before Thanksgiving break every year to do a huge presentation to my students about the assassination, etc. It's a 140 slide power point followed by me bringing some of my memorabillia, etc. in. It's strange, but it's probably the lesson that my students remember and get into the most.

I teach them the Warren Commission's findings and the alternative views to this report. My personal bias is that Oswald may have been involved, but he did not act alone, but I encourage the students to think for themselves.

I find it interesting, however, that a fair number of their parents and a few teachers around the school think that I'm wrong and that the Lone Nut Theory is the ONLY theory that has any merit. What do you all think?

Thanks for posting. It's interesting that even people born twenty years after
J.F.K. took the oath of office as President (January 20, 1961) are among those who are "fascinated" by this remarkable young man whose life and
political career were cut so tragically short.

Some key events in his life:

Fall 1936 - attended Harvard
Sept. 1941 - joined U.S. Navy
Apr. 25, 1943 - assumed command of PT-109
Aug. 2, 1943 - PT-109 rammed by Japanese destroyer "Amagiri"
April 1945 - honorable discharge from U.S. Navy
1945 - awarded Navy Medal, Marine Corps Medal, and Purple Heart
Nov. 5, 1946 - elected to 80th Congress
Jan. 3, 1947 - sworn in the U.S. House of Representatives
Nov. 4, 1952 - elected to U.S. Senate from Massachusetts for term ending
Jan. 3, 1959
May 6, 1957 - awarded Pulitzer Prise for literature ("Profiles in Courage")
Nov. 8, 1960 - elected President of the United States

Administration - Important Dates
Jan. 20, 1961 - Inaugural Address (" .. ask not what your country can do for
you; ask what you can do for your country")
Mar. 1, 1961 - Peace Corps created by executive order
Mar. 6, 1961 - Kennedy established Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, with Vice President Johnson as chairman
May 5, 1961 - Alan Shepard became first American astronaut in space
Feb. 7, 1962 - almost total embargo on Cuba declared
Feb. 20 , 1962 - John Glenn orbited the earth three times
Oct. 22, 1962 - Kennedy announced "quarantine" on Cuba because of
construction by Russians of offensive missile bases
Oct. 28, 1962 - Khruschev agreed to halt construction of missile bases in
Cuba and to remove Soviet rockets under U.N. supervision
Dec. 23-24, 1962 - 1,113 prisoners captured in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion
of Cuba released by Premier Castro
Feb. 28, 1963 - Kennedy's special message on civil rights to Congress
June 19, 1963 - strong civil rights legislation urged by Kennedy
Nov. 22, 1963 - Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas

(Source: FACTS ABOUT THE PRESIDENTS, by Joseph Nathan Kane (1964))

Thank you for starting this. I am a HUGE JFK fan...


Although I wasn't born until 1981, I've been fascinated by JFK for over 10 years now, doing massive research on him, his presidency, and his assassination in particular. I have an essay published on him, too.

But, as a teacher, I take the last 2 days of class before Thanksgiving break every year to do a huge presentation to my students about the assassination, etc. It's a 140 slide power point followed by me bringing some of my memorabillia, etc. in. It's strange, but it's probably the lesson that my students remember and get into the most.

I teach them the Warren Commission's findings and the alternative views to this report. My personal bias is that Oswald may have been involved, but he did not act alone, but I encourage the students to think for themselves.

I find it interesting, however, that a fair number of their parents and a few teachers around the school think that I'm wrong and that the Lone Nut Theory is the ONLY theory that has any merit. What do you all think?
I agree completely! This was a mafia hit (Robert Kennedy had more or less declared war on the Mafia as Attorney General), with Oswald and Ruby both taking gunman positions (Ruby was positively identified by several people as being on the grassy knoll that day); I have no doubt that Oswald was one of the gunmen, but, not the only one, which is why Ruby was sent to eliminate him, to cover that up. (Ruby had very deffinate mob connections) Also, VP Johnson just HAPPENED to cancel the trip to Dallas that day, at the last minute...I'm sure he was warned by informants in his home state of Texas.

President Kennedy has been one of my heros since I took a recent American History course in college back in 2000. I've read quite a few books on him. He was an amazing man.

President Kennedy has been one of my heros since I took a recent American History course in college back in 2000. I've read quite a few books on him. He was an amazing man.

If you want a great Kennedy book, read Crossfire. It's amazingly well-researched (and was partially the basis for Oliver Stone's JFK)

If you want a great Kennedy book, read Crossfire. It's amazingly well-researched (and was partially the basis for Oliver Stone's JFK)

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look for it. :)

It was well before I was born but it still makes me sad thinking about him. The Kennedy's are just about my favorite historical figures. JFK a great man. He did things that will never be replaced. I'll never forget the first time I heard his inguration speech just his words Ask not what your country can do and we choose to go to the moon man it was just something. It's really ashamed that some people just remember him as the president who got shot. It was a conspiracy he was a threat and they conspired to take him out so sad. Other's try to bring down his legacy by saying how evil he was because he was a womanizer and that whole thing with Ms. Monroe. I for one will remember him as one of my biggest hero's and influences the way he spoke and interacted with people and how he just took a stand during the dark 60's. He accomplished a lot in 3 years now just imagine what he would've accomplished had he not been killed. Bobby and John deserved to live but they were killed. Such good men. They will live on forever in our hearts and spirit!
R.I.P.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
May 29, 1917–November 22, 1963

I just want to leave you with one final thought on J.F.K., getting back to his
wonderful sense of humor. On one occasion, during his presidency, at a
special ceremony Marilyn Monroe sang (in her own breathy, sultry style) "Happy Birthday, Mr. President."
Afterwards, President Kennedy made this remark:

"I can now retire from politics, after having 'Happy Birthday' sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way."