Some Good Links Associated With the Kennedy Assassination

It is hard to believe that this event was just a little over a decade before I was born, because it always felt like much, much longer ago then that.

Part of the reason for that, I think, was due to the rapidity of the changes ushered in such a short time afterward. I mean, even in November of 1963, the nation, in retrospect, seemed to still be living under what was a de facto extension of the conformist fifties, when Eisenhower was still in office.

Given how quickly the nation seemed to change, starting with the assassination of JFK in November of 1963, perhaps is the reason for why it feels like it was just so long ago. I always thought it would have been amazing to see just how quickly everything changed, from the assassination and transition of power, to the introduction of the Beatles (I learned that a program introducing the Beatles was actually originally supposed to air on the evening of November 22nd, although it was pushed back for obvious reasons, to the quick increase in American military involvement in Vietnam, the assassination of other prominent figures like Medgar Evars and Malcolm X, to the expanding experimentalism in rock music, the continuing civil rights movement and the legislative acts that at least eliminated official segregation, to the rise of the anti-war movement, and the blossoming of artistic creativity that cannot be entirely separated from the rise of drug culture. The Summer of Love, then, more prominent assassinations in the first half of 1968, the explosive revolutions the world over, including those in the United States, France, Czechoslovakia, and other nations, as well. The disasters n Vietnam becoming prominent, with the Tet Offensive and My Lai, and the transition of power from LBJ to Nixon. Man walking on the moon, and then Woodstock. And all of that in the sixties, without even getting into the seventies!

What an unbelievable period of tumultuous change, probably unlike any other period in the nation's history! I think that it is more than fair to say that the United States has never been the same since!

But really, it all started with the one event, the assassination of a President. It shook the country - and indeed, the word - like no other single event before had, because it was covered live. This was the event where people really began to turn to television first and foremost for updates, as well as images. Granted, the actual images of Kennedy being shot, such as the Zapruder film, would not be released until ten years after the event, and this itself kind of renewed shock and anger and indignation (and skepticism) about what happened, and the official interpretation of it by the Warren Commission, which many people had not believed to begin with.

The Kennedy assassination was the one, huge event where people remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when it happened. Probably the only event that occurred in my lifetime that can truly compare was September 11th. There were other huge events where most people can remember, such as the space ship blowing up, or the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the Tiananmen Square protests crackdown, and some even suggest the decision in the OJ Trial. But the Kennedy assassination was such a universal piece of news, that it affected everybody.

For maybe about a week now, in the lead-up, and then the immediate aftermath of the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, I have been a bit obsessed with studying the event, reading articles and watching film, and wrote some of my thoughts on earlier blogs. But some of the following links were also pretty fascinating and, if you are studying this for whatever reason, could prove helpful in understanding what happened, and getting a better idea.

So, here are some that are most certainly interesting, and should be revealing, about one of the most iconic events of the 20th century.




Walter Cronkite On The Assassination Of John F. Kennedy by NPR STAFF November 22, 2013

http://www.npr.org/2013/11/22/246628793/walter-cronkite-on-the-assassination-of-john-f-kennedy



This is a link that shows the first time that the Zapruder film of the assassination was shown to the general public:

"JFK's Assassination Video Was Kept From The Public For 12 Years. Here's What We Saw When It Aired." The Huffington Post  |  Posted: 11/22/2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/22/jfk-assassination-video_n_4318532.html



Here is a story about Abraham Zapruder, the man who actually took the film that captured the only footage of the assassination from beginning to end:

"The man who shot the Zapruder Film" CBS NEWS October 21, 2013

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-man-who-shot-the-zapruder-film-57607086/




Kennedy’s Assassination: How LIFE Brought the Zapruder Film to Light:

http://lightbox.time.com/2013/11/13/kennedys-assassination-how-life-brought-the-zapruder-film-to-light/




Iconic film records JFK assassination USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/22/film-records-jfk-assassination-50-zapruder/3674199/




Exhibit to show Connally's clothing when JFK shot Associated Press By MICHAEL GRACZYK October 15, 2013

http://news.yahoo.com/exhibit-show-connallys-clothing-jfk-shot-210915107.html