Footnote

Yesterday passed by with hardly a mention. The date was November 22nd. It was the 46th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I was 17 years old, and a Senior in high school at the time of his death. He was inaugurated when I was a Freshman in high school, and a good part of his campaign took place during the summer immediately prior to my entering high school, after completing my elementary education at a Catholic school.

Being of Irish descent, and a Catholic to boot, JFK, the young, handsome Senator from Massachusetts was revered by my family. As I've often said to friends, aside from pictures of family and Jesus, the only other person whose picture adorned the walls of my family home was President Kennedy. All of us, my parents, grandmother, brothers, and I, cried at the news of his death, and remained glued to the television during the next few days in a period of national mourning and shock.

It has often been said that everyone can remember where they were when they heard the news that JFK had been shot. I know I can. I was in Mr. Lanzarotta's class when our principal broke in over the P.A. system to give us the awful news, and then left the radio on for the entire school to hear the ongoing reports.

After his death was confirmed, a full school assembly was called, with all students and faculty gathering in the gym. It was somber. My teacher, Mr. Lanzarotta, recited Walt Whitman's poem, "O' Captain, My Captain". I remember many students and teachers alike with tears streaming down their cheeks. I, like a lot of the males in the senior class fought back our own tears. After the assembly we were dismissed for the day. It was then, in my 1955 Buick, driving home from school, listening to the radio reports, I released my pent up tears.

His death, like his election as the first Catholic, was a seminal moment in my lifetime. It inspired me some 5 years later to work for his brother Bobby's campaign for President - only to be crushed again when he was struck down by another assassin.

Yesterday, though, it was incredible to me that the only mention I heard of JFK's assassination was as an afterthought to a story about the son of his younger brother Ted. Representative Patrick Kennedy was apparently denied communion by a bishop of the Catholic Church because he supports the rights of women to choose abortion. That was the story - and, oh, by the way, "...this occurred on the 46th anniversary of the assassination of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy."

I guess time marches on, but it does seem to me that this should have been a bit more than a footnote to a story. For those of us who lived it, JFK"S assassination will indelibly be marked on our minds forever.

Old Fart Mike