This Friday, we arrive at the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. What hasn't already been said about it? Despite the Warren Commission report, many still believe Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. We'll never absolutely know, one thing is certain. Anyone old enough to remember another Friday - November 22, 1963 - will recall where they were when they heard the news. Admittedly, I wasn't really sick that day when I decided to skip a day in fifth grade at Jerome Harrison Elementary School in North Branford, CT. We had a new black couch delivered to our house that day and I was in the living room watching a rerun of the Gale Storm sitcom "Oh, Susannah!" on WNHC-TV Channel 8 when they interrupted for an ABC News bulletin. I relayed the news to my mother in the other room while everyone waited to hear about the President's condition. We didn't have to wait long. Even at that young age, I found myself glued to the TV for days.
Our political beliefs are often imprinted on us early in life, and I have no doubt that the result of the groundbreaking election of 1960 had a profound effect on how I thought about Vietnam, civil rights and so many other issues of the turbulent sixties. Kennedy's shortened Presidency is hugely significant for his handling of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis alone. To me, his legacy is an idealism that still refuses to let go. This Friday morning, I get to discuss JFK when I fill in for local radio veteran Wayne Norman on Willimantic's WILI (1400 AM).
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