Sharon Kennedy: Remembering our assassinated president

It’s hard to believe it’s been 59 years since the assassination of President Kennedy.

We all remember where we were and what we were doing that fateful Friday in November. We remember Walter Cronkite removing his glasses and telling us JFK was dead. The newscaster kept his emotions in check. There was no hysteria in his voice. No accusing the president’s foes of gunning him down. It was a calm deliverance of the most unthinkable crime any of us had witnessed either firsthand or via the Zapruder film.

It still amazes me that the only film ever released of the killing was taken by a Ukrainian-born amateur photographer. I often wondered where the local television crews were. Did they forget the president was in town that day or did they consider the motorcade just another boring political stunt and not worth their time and effort?

Twelve years ago, I attended a conference in Dallas. While there, I went to Dealey Plaza where the Texas School Book Depository is located. It’s now home to county government offices, and the sixth floor is a museum. The area around the window where the shots were fired is enclosed in a glass tomb. It was a surreal experience. I’ve been to many museums, including Chicago’s famous Field Museum that has some rather disturbing displays, but none as eerie as the one in Dallas. I also saw the grassy knoll and the X on the pavement where the president was killed.

Those of us old enough to be aware of what was happening on Nov. 22, 1963, knew we were watching history in the making. Four days in November — from the fatal shots to the burial — are etched in my mind at this time every year as I remember our own American tragedy.

In 1965, the senior class of Brimley High School went to Washington, D.C., for our class trip. We had the opportunity to visit Arlington Cemetery and see the president’s gravesite. The eternal flame was put there at the insistence of his widow. It was also her idea to have the caskets of his two deceased children moved to Arlington, where they flank either side of their father. Patrick died shortly after birth in August 1963. Their daughter, Arabella, was stillborn in 1956.

Unfortunately, the memory of JFK is sullied by his many trysts, but there was more to the man than adultery. Whether or not you agreed with his New Frontier agenda, he was a leader. He was a patriot, not just a Democrat. He had visions for our country that reached beyond the insatiable appetites of demanding lobbyists. Was he too much of an idealist? Could our tragic involvement in Vietnam have been avoided?

Who ordered the assassination? The CIA or FBI? The Cubans or Russians? The Mafia? In 1992, Bonar Menninger wrote a book called “Mortal Error,” based on ballistic research conducted by Howard Donahue over a 25-year period. The book is a detailed account of why it was logistically impossible for Oswald to have fired the fatal shot.

Colin McLaren’s book, “JFK: The Smoking Gun,” further expounded Donahue’s theory that Oswald shot, but did not kill our president. The authors believe Secret Service agent George Hickey fired the third shot. The impeccable research of these professionals suggests the assassination was an accident. A terrible, unplanned, lethal accident. Many disagree, but like other unsolved assassinations, this one will be dissected by generations well into the future.

— To contact Sharon Kennedy, send her an email at authorsharonkennedy.com. Kennedy's new book, "View from the SideRoad: A Collection of Upper Peninsula Stories," is available from her or Amazon.

This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Sharon Kennedy: Remembering our assassinated president