The Assassination of John F. Kennedy
By Vanessa Lace, Second Year History
A piece of each of us died at that moment. Yet, in death he gave of himself to us. He gave us of a good heart from which the laughter came. He gave us of a profound wit, from which a great leadership emerged. He gave us of a kindness and a strength fused into a human courage to seek peace without fear. He gave us of his love that we, too, in turn, might give. He gave that we might give of ourselves, that we might give to one another until there would be no room, no room at all, for the bigotry, the hatred, prejudice, and the arrogance which converged in that moment of horror to strike him down.
An extract from the eulogy of President Kennedy, delivered in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building by Mike Mansfield, Majority Leader of the United States Senate.
There is no easy way for a president to leave office, but being violently taken before you were able to deliver the mandate on which you were elected must be one of the most unjust. President Kennedy was a man with a vision. During his inauguration he highlighted his desire to overcome the ‘common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself’.
At just 43, JFK remains the youngest ever elected President, often remembered for the verve and spirit that he brought to the White House. He was on the go all day, frequently wearing his aides out whilst working 16-hour days on the campaign trail. This drive was partly instilled by his family, their Catholic Irish heritage was a source of ridicule they overcame through grit and determination, and partly perhaps because he was making up for the extended periods which he spent bedbound with illness as a child.
Yet in remembering Kennedy’s period of office, we must not forget the work of his wife Jacqueline Bouvier, who not only gave support to the President but achieved a lot in her own right. In particular her work renovating the White House to fill it with the finest examples of American art and culture stands as a lasting testament, a source of education for the citizens of America to discover the history of their country.
As with every president Kennedy had his flaws. In the first of his comprehensive two part-biography JFK, Harvard Professor Frederick Logevall expresses how Kennedy could have been more pro-active towards advancing civil rights or impugning McCarthyism. However, we must remember that in just three years in office he enacted great change, including the establishment of the Peace Corps, the passing of the Equal Pay Act and leading the country out of recession.
On the 22nd of November 1963, JFK was shot in the back of the head whilst riding in an open top car through the streets of Dallas, Texas where he was building support for the upcoming election.
Official findings from the Warren Commission report and an FBI investigation state that the gunman was Lee Harvey Oswald, a mentally troubled former US marine, and that he acted alone. Evidence has however been found to suggest that there is far more to his death than what has been disclosed, resulting in the tragedy of Kennedy’s death remaining shrouded in a degree of mystery. This has been further compounded by President Biden announcing earlier this month that there will be further delay in the release of files containing key information on the case.
Kennedy’s legacy lives on, perhaps because in the face of increasing polarisation in America, famous words from his inauguration speech still hold relevance today: ‘And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.’
John F. Kennedy by Aaron Shikler, 1970, The White House Historical Association