You might have noticed this week has been all JFK all the time. Every broadcast network and almost all Cable Channels seem to be doing something to mark the 40th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. There was a time when you asked the question, "Where were you when Kennedy died?" people flashed back to 1963. With the death of JFK Jr., now more than one generation has a Kennedy reference point. My personal flashback is to being a 10th grade student. On that particular day, we were all in the auditorium watching the movie "Masters of the Universe" starring Vincent Price. Suddenly, the projector was shut off, the lights came on and one of the teachers announced, "President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas, Texas." My blood ran cold, and I mean that in all seriousness. Never again did I have that feeling. For the next three days, it seemed the world went silent. All we did, all anyone could do, was watch the continuous stream of tragedy on television. More assassinations and disasters would follow, but none has ever shocked me more. After Kennedy was killed, it was a different world.
I bought the above postcard of Dealey Plaza in the little souvenir shop next door to the school book depository about four months after the assassination. Today, Dealey Plaza, like most tourist spots in the US, has been Disneyfied, so to speak. The old railroad yards behind the depository are now filled with restaurants, bars and stores. The School Book Depository itself has been turned into a museum that offers tours. You can even look out the window from which Oswald supposedly shot Kennedy, the area has restored to look just as it did on that fateful day in 1963.
Posted by Tush at November 20, 2003 12:20 AM