Always Living and Learning

Eight months and nine days following my birth in 1963, one of the greatest U.S. Presidents in the relatively short history of our country, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), was shot down during a campaign vehicle caravan in the streets of Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. The anniversary of his death is coming later this month.

Kennedy, our 35th President, has always held a special fascination to me. Growing up and on into adulthood, I have read numerous books on his life and times.

Kennedy was born into a prominent family in Brookline, Mass., in May of 1917. He would grow up second oldest of nine children – including famous future political figures Robert and Ted. He attended the prestigious Choate Prep Boarding School in Wallingford, Conn., before going on to college at Harvard in 1936, the same school his prominent, controversial father, Joseph Kennedy, had once attended. (Joseph had become wealthy making films in Hollywood in the early 1900s and would go on to become Franklin Roosevelt’s Ambassador to England).

JFK was always the classroom cutup/clown in both prep school and most of college. He was a happy go-lucky prankster, but always showed his true colors in his loyalty and love for his friends. Eventually, at his Ivy League college, he buckled down in his academics and, in 1940, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government. He loved history, geography, and current events.

He planned on attending Law School at Yale. But America’s inevitable entry into World War II and the fight against Nazi Germany changed all those plans. Kennedy, known as Jack throughout his life, always had terrible, debilitating health issues. But he was determined to serve in the U.S. military. He attended Army’s Candidate Officer School in 1940, but, following months of training, was medically disqualified due to chronic lower back problems. But Joseph Kennedy, Jack’s father, pulled strings to get his determined second son into the U.S. Navy in 1941. Jack, in the Navy, endured stints behind the desk in both Washington, D.C. and Charleston, S.C. But he desperately wanted to be involved in the war action.

He finally got his wish and in April of 1943 was assigned to the Motor Torpedo Squadron TWO. Later that month, the handsome but always thin and sickly looking young Kennedy became Commander of the PT-109 – a little, 80-foot speed sub that could travel at 41 knots. The PT-109, at the time, was located on Tulagi Island in the Solomons.

On the night/day of Aug. 1-2, on its 31st mission, Pt-109, was rammed and cut in half by a Japanese Destroyer. Kennedy, courageous despite his physical limitations, became famous for risking his life to save several of his boat companions. He was a national hero.

Following the war, at his father’s persuasiveness, Jack entered politics. He campaigned in his home state of Massachusetts and – behind his father’s money and Jack’s own natural charm, good looks, and political savvy - was elected to the 11th Congressional District of Massachusetts where he served as a Democratic Congressman from 19471953. He would go on to serve Massachusetts as a U.S. Senator from 19531960 before running and eventually narrowly defeating Republican candidate Richard Nixon for the U.S. Presidency in 1960.

Kennedy was the youngest President ever at 43. He was also the first Roman Catholic President of the United States. There were plenty of skeptics, but, in time, he won over “A new generation of Americans,” with his staunch leadership and optimism. He helped ignite the U.S. space program and displayed his leadership during the Cuban missile crisis. He never had a chance for a second four-year term because, while campaigning in Dallas, he was shot and killed at age 46. His Inauguration words, `Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country,” seemed empty.

Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy’s Vice President, would become the new president as the country agonized and reeled over the death of Kennedy and the ending of the `Camelot’ era – a reference to JFK’s Administration which was idealistic, brief, and eventually doomed to end in tragic fashion.

Kennedy, while in office, eventually won a skeptical nation over with his great looks, guts to make difficult decisions, his beautiful family, and his lust for life. He had an aura that simply won people over. During his campaigns over the years, he would meet and talk to all kinds of people, rich and poor, old and young, men, women, the latter who would often swoon over the good looking politician. He looked people in the eyes, shook their hands, talked to them, and earned their votes. It’s not overstating that he sincerely cared for people.

A friend of mine, a musician, met Jack inside a high school gym at a mid-western campaign event. My friend was playing in the on-hand reception band and met the future President during a break. A few years later, Jack came back to the same gym, spotted my friend – Bill – walked right up and said, `Bill, great to see you again.’ He remembered him – by name!

Jack, throughout his adulthood, could walk into the most prestigious, formal parties or banquets and simply bring the room and its onlookers to a gasp and then a hush. He mesmerized people, was blessed with an aura that is, well, simply, a gift from on High. His onetime friend, the great Frank Sinatra, was even at Jack’s whim.

Yes, he was a womanizer and even cheated on his delightful wife, Jackie. But she stuck with him and, shortly before his death, the couple seemed to be as close as ever.

Kennedy was a Superstar. Iconic singers Presley and Sinatra, actors James Stewart and Marlon Brando, and even the great Joe DiMaggio, to name a few, could not hold a candle to him. (Marilyn Monroe? Hmmm.)

`Camelot’, looking back, was a `Moment in Time’ never to be experienced in our country again. As is the way it should be. Time moves on and we move on from the past, but we shouldn’t forget. Kennedy was a special man – loved and embraced the pressures of the Presidency. Most of all, he loved his country and died for it.

No pushover, Jack was dead serious about keeping the United States a beacon of light and freedom for all the world to see. And he knew how to conduct himself as President – serious-mannered and respectful to citizens, cabinet members, and leaders abroad. But he was also prone to fits of righteous anger when it was needed.

How would the 1960’s decade emerged had Jack not been struck down? Vietnam? The radical hippies’ generation? Jack’s future in the White House had he gained a second term? We will never know.

Tuesday, Nov. 22 will mark the 59th anniversary of his assassination – most likely from a bullet shot by the enigmatic, Communism sympathizer Lee Harvey Oswald. Americans, especially those who were a part of Jack’s times, will mourn his death. Older citizens will recall that `worldchanging day’ when their President’s life came to a complete stop and everything changed forever. They will recall the details and where they were on that fateful day and pass on their knowledge to younger people.

Thanksgiving is around the corner! I’m thankful for Jack Kennedy’s Presidency and the hope he brought to the United States.

But let us never forget what occurred on the day of November 22, 1963.