First of all, let me start off by saying right off the bat that this is not an article focusing on who was responsible for Kennedy's death, one way or the other. While I will delve into the topic of who may (or may not) have shot Kennedy, that is not the point of this particular post. My larger point is, generally, that this event seemed to usher in, or at least to symbolize, exactly when the dream of the American Golden Age died, and the beginning of a real decline settled in.
To me, it seems that many people have mythologized John F. Kennedy since the assassination. There are all sorts of theories as to what he would have done, and what it might have meant to the country, had he survived. For example, some people argue that he would have ended American involvement in Vietnam. But then again, we might not have had the end to Jim Crow segregation like we did with Johnson, who was surprisingly much less constrained by political considerations than one might expect him to have been. Kennedy seemed on considerably less solid ground when it came to that issue. And, of course, there are other question marks, too. Kennedy was actually not a shoe in to win re-election in 1964, and there are reasons for that. Truth of the matter is that the more we have learned the reality of the man, the less we probably should idealize him. Yet, it is hard to resist not idealizing him in some way, and I believe that it because he indeed did symbolize to many people the very best that the United States had to offer, whether or not such notions were greatly exaggerated or not are almost beside the point. He was young, looked energetic, seemed to have the ideal life, was highly intelligent and seemed idealistic and very capable. In short, he was exactly what people would want a President to be, to sound like and look like. His time in the White House is seen by some as the most glorious time in American history, the peak of American power and prestige, as evidenced by it being referred to as "Camelot". Here was a politician who welcomed artists, poets, writers and thinkers into the White House, a man who dared America to aim for the moon, literally.
On many levels, Kennedy was a paradox. Many historians felt that he acted irresponsibly at times, particularly with the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
But my purpose here is also not to judge his presidency, but rather to judge the impact that he had on the American people, and how much his assassination killed much of the good feeling around the American Dream at it's peak. It is this, I believe, that has allowed this event to be remembered to the extent that it has been remembered. Ironically, it can be argued that Kennedy was, in a sense, immortalized by his very assassination.
It's pretty amazing how much this one event continues to resonate, to live on not only in the popular American imagination, but worldwide, about the American renaissance, if you will.
In many ways, this signaled the end of that renaissance, that golden age of America.
Things might not have been ideal in the country at that time, but the problems that existed were on a smaller scale to what the country now faces.
I have heard that the beginning of the American decline, which many people would agree not only is real, but has been developing for quite some time now, started in 1973. Indeed, I have been working on and off on a blog entry about this year, and it's relation to the decline. This was the year that the standard of living in America truly began to turn, when it began a decline. This was around the time of the energy crisis, and this was when Watergate was heating up, as well. This was also the time that the Vietnam War was essentially wrapping up. So, 1973 may seem a fitting year for the end of the American Dream of old, if you will.
It seems to me, admittedly as an outside spectator, that the beginning of the real decline occurred a decade earlier, in 1963. On one specific date - November 22nd. At around 12:30pm local time in Dallas, Texas. Surely, I don't need to say anymore than that for people to identify the event that I am referring to. Everybody knows that date, that event, even if, like me, they were not even around. And it seems that a strong case can be made that the real beginnings of a true decline, the first real cracks of the formerly purely idealistic American renaissance, can be traced to the first gunfire shots heard on that day. Seven seconds that would change American history, and the nation, and perhaps even the world, would never be the same again.
But I'm not so sure. Yes, I may not be the best judge, since I was not yet born for 1973, let alone for November 22, 1963.
So, what do I base this judgment on? Well, it's in the way that people talk about that event, and the man at the focal point of it: John F. Kennedy.
We've all seen the documentaries, and most of us probably know someone in our lives who lived through that day. Like September 11th, it was one day, one moment, when everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when they first heard the news. It was a day that would live in infamy in the history of the country, much like the attack on Pearl Harbor more than two decades earlier, in an event that would launch the United States into World War II.
The way people talk about that day, and the America that existed before that day, and after that seminal event, you can just tell. Things were different. It might sound very cliche to say this, but it does indeed seem to be the day that America lost it's innocence, much more than on September 11th. I personally cannot imagine an event more shocking than September 11th, and I recognize that America changed forever on that day. But it was not the first, or second, terrorist attack that the United States had seen on it's soil. Hell, it wasn't even the first attack that the World Trade Center had seen, in ten years. Yes, America changed, even radically, and that is part of why we remember it.
Yet, America before September 11th was hardly as innocent as the America that existed prior to the Kennedy Assassination, an event that ripped that innocence from the country. Not just the assassination itself, but the seeming cover-up, the sinister mystery that would continue to surround the event, and darken many people's perceptions of the government.
Much like September 11th not being the first terrorist attack on American soil, likewise, the Kennedy Assassination was not the first assassination of a President. Obviously. Lincoln was shot. McKinley was shot. Other Presidents had died while in office, and during more trying times, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt less than twenty years before, as the theater of war in Europe was coming to a close amid the rubble of the capital of Nazi Germany, Berlin, and with Japan still fighting.
I believe November 22nd was different, because it seems that up to that point, there was a glossiness to the United States that had existed since at least the fifties, if not since the immediate aftermath of World War II. The United States was far and away the most powerful and prestigious country in the world, and everyone knew it. Yes, the Soviet Union was technically considered a superpower at the time, although we know now that it was hardly as rich and powerful as it may have seemed. In point of fact, it's economy was possibly not larger than some of the western European allies of America, a fact that once seemed shocking, but makes sense, when you really think about it. There can be little doubt that the Soviet powerhouse was exaggerated, because the people of the country were generally much poorer than Americans were. They may have been the only country that could compete with the US in terms of military power, and by extension, political influence. But there was no comparison when comparing prestige of culture, of lifestyle. Whatever problems existed in the United States, it enjoyed a standard of living that was second to none, at the time.
The general sense of people from around that time was that the country was different and, it seems, by and large, people believed in the country. They believed the country was in a good place, and going in the right direction. Sure, like at every point in history, surely their existed detractors of the government. In fact, it would be very strange if they did not. But the fact of the matter is that, by and large, Americans seemed to like their government, particularly their Presidents. They had adored FDR, and Truman, though not as well liked, was still respected, even admired. Many people liked Ike, too, and he was very well respected, as well. People seemed to trust him. And, of course, people liked Kennedy. He looked young and energetic, and thus, he symbolized the energy and enthusiasm and sense of hope that people held for the country, and indeed, the world. He was a very intelligent and capable man, with stirring words and an ability to deliver those words in memorable style. Indeed, Kennedy did seem to represent the very best ideals and image of a country at the absolute height of it's power and prestige.
In an instant, all of that change. In a matter of seconds, that man, and that dream, that sense of identification with the man, was struck down forever.
All that was left were questions. Did Lee Harvey Oswald actually do it? If so, did he act alone? Were there other shooters there on that day? Was Oswald framed, or did he indeed have an actual role in the killing of Kennedy? There seems to be evidence that he was responsible, since he took off his ring that morning and left money for his wife, in a marriage that was crumbling.
But then again, how could one man have done that, from the distance he was at, and with the gun that he was using? Why did he not take a shot when Kennedy was closer, and the range and shot far easier. Even more damning (at least it seems to me), why did everyone run towards the grassy knoll, apparently looking for the source of gunfire there? If Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for all of the shots, particularly the one shot that did Kennedy in, then how could Kennedy's fly backwards, and part of his brain fly to the back of the car, when Oswald took the shot behind Kennedy?
Obviously, I do not know all of the answers, and the point here is not to forward any theories. There are plenty of theories about such a huge event, on both sides of the argument. Sometimes, the evidence seems compelling that Lee Harvey Oswald indeed did it, or at least was a significant part of it. But there are other times when the evidence seems to counter this, when it in fact seems impossible that one man could fire the shot from all the way on top of the Texas Book Depository.
The point is that this started the very significant skepticism of the government, as a majority of Americans rejected the Warren Commission from the very first poll taken about it in 1966.
According to a Gallup Poll piece from November of last year (see link below):
"Americans were skeptical about the "lone gunman" theory almost immediately after Kennedy was killed. In a poll conducted Nov. 22-27, 1963, Gallup found that 29% of Americans believed one man was responsible for the shooting and 52% believed others were involved in a conspiracy. A majority of Americans have maintained that "others were involved" in the shooting each time Gallup has asked this question over the past 50 years, except December 1966, when exactly half of Americans said someone in addition to Oswald was responsible."
That doubt has not only remained over time, but has grown.
Here is a part of an article from CBS from back in 1998 (see link below):
"Most Americans still remain suspicious of the lone gunman conclusion of the Warren Commission Report and skeptical that the truth will ever be learned. Only one in 10 Americans believes that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. More than seven times as many think Oswald did not act alone."
This issue not only has not been resolved, but remains a heated point of contention right to this day.
Perhaps a bit surprisingly, thirty percent of Americans today believe that Oswald acted alone, compared with just ten percent in 1998.
In fact, more Americans than ever before believe that Oswald acted alone - although hardly a majority of Americans believe it. Here, according to an article by Art Swift for the Gallup Poll at the 50th anniversary approached last year, is what people believe in more modern times:
"As the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination approaches, a clear majority of Americans (61%) still believe others besides Lee Harvey Oswald were involved. But this percentage is the lowest found in nearly 50 years."
The Warren Commission, it can be argued, only raised more questions, and suspicions, than it resolved. 98% of the information from the Warren Commission has been released, with the remaining slated to be released in 2017. Yet, will that remaining 2% provide us with more answers, or more questions? Time will tell.
Obviously, the opinions have changed over the course of time, although one thing has remained consistent: a small minority of Americans believe the official accounts of what happened on that November day in 1963.
When you add the brutal crackdown on peaceful civil rights protestors that were taking place around the time of the Kennedy Assassination, and other political assassinations, then the Vietnam War fiasco, with the war going badly in Asia, and American leaders lying about it back at home, and then the energy crisis and beginning of an outright decline in the standard of living for Americans beginning in 1973, followed shortly by the Watergate scandal and the secretive tapes from the White House in the mid-seventies, and you have a series of events that absolutely shook the country to it's core.
The nation would never be the same again. But it all started with the Kennedy Assassination, when bullets struck down the youthful Kennedy, whether shot by the rifle of one lone gunman in Lee Harvey Oswald, or shot by more than one according to various theories ever since the event itself.
Everything changed on that one day, and the country, and the way it was viewed around the world, would forever change. And not for the better.
What got me on this topic, months after the actual 50th anniversary? Well, I happened to stumble on this documentary, "JFK: The Final Hours. A National Geographic Documentary", which can be seen in it's entirety on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfmU0dv1qdo
Of course, watching the video, and then writing about my impressions of it, and of the event itself and it's significance, led to a small amount of further online research, and these are the articles that I used in this blog entry report:
A recent article from the lead-up to the 50th anniversary "Majority in U.S. Still Believe JFK Killed in a Conspiracy", by Art Swift, November 15, 2013:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/165893/majority-believe-jfk-killed-conspiracy.aspx
CBS article from 1998: "CBS Poll: JFK Conspiracy Lives" by CBSNews.com staff, November 20, 1998:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-poll-jfk-conspiracy-lives/
This was a fascinating piece from back in 1988 that shows all of the flip-flopping and, frankly, mishandling of the investigation into the assassination, and why so much doubt and skepticism still persists about the event to this day:
"THE WARREN COMMISSION: Why We Still Dont's Believe It" by David W. Belin, a senior partner in the Des Moines law firm of Belin Harris Helmick Tesdell Lamson McCormick, and who was counsel to the Warren Commission. He adapted this article from ''Final Disclosure: The Full Truth About the Assassination of President Kennedy,'' to be published this month
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/20/magazine/the-warren-commission-why-we-still-dont-s-believe-it.html
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