USD Magazine, 1993 Winter-Spring 1994

!Atter

lust seconds after the assassin fired, Jacqueline Kennedy reached out to the president (in the lead car) while bystanders were stiU unaware of the tragedy unfolding before their eyes.

three decades, the assassination of John F. Kennedy remains as contro– versial, painful and unresolved an issue as ever. Millions of pages of official transcripts and documents have been released, thousands of unofficial books and essays have been published and a multitude of documentaries and docu– dramas have been aired. For better or worse, the events of Nov. 22, 1963, have been institutionalized in this society, becoming an integral part of contempo– rary American culture. Computer imaging and other state-of– the-art reconstructive techniques notwithstanding, "Who killed JFK?" is, at this point, a question that cannot and will not be answered to many people's satisfaction. A half-million pages of gov– ernment-held documents were recently made available to the public, but chances are they will neither verify nor disprove any theories about the events. Those who originally accepted the Warren Commission's finding of a lone assassin will continue to do so. Those who origi– nally saw a conspiracy will find yet another manifestation of that conspiracy in action. People will continue to make of the evidence what they want or need to make of it. Why are so many people still analyz– ing and theorizing about JFK's death? What is it about John F. Kennedy that continues to make us search for an answer that probably will never surface? Why does the JFK assassination strike an emotional chord that is nearly as painful today as it was 30 years ago? For the most part, the continuing concern appears to be centered among members of the so-called baby boom generation, those of us now in our 30s to mid-40s. It would be a mistake to assert, however, that all baby boomers have such a driving need to know the final truth about the shooting in Dallas that it controls and directs their lives. Even so, for those of us with a sustained interest in the Kennedy assassination, the question "Who really did it?" is far more than just an academic puzzle to be solved and then forgotten. After all this time, it as much an emotional burden as an intellectual challenge. If one were to judge this sustained interest solely on the basis of contempo– rary political analyses of John F. Kennedy's presidency, it would seem that much of the attention is misguided. His presidency, which is legendary in the public's eye, is rated by many histo– rians and political scientists as "low– average," while the publicly unpopular Richard Nixon scores higher marks with

respect to knowledge and policy accom– plishments in both foreign and domestic affairs. Kennedy the man does not fare much better. Allegations of marital infidelities and other personal problems have surfaced

recently in the media. Why, then, do so many people continue to mythologize his life? 7. understand the lasting and haunting impact of the JFK assassination on an entire generation, one first must under– stand the spirit of the time. Popular cul– ture analyst Harold Schechter described the 1960s as a "magical" time, heavily infused with eastern-inspired mysticism (and, perhaps, some hefty doses of hallu– cinogens). If we include the naive ideals that characterized the time - but were often lacking a rational foundation - "magical" is probably as good a descrip– tion as any. The innocent hopes and beliefs of the generation passing through junior and senior high school helped create a John F. Kennedy who was larger than life, both then and now. And it is the residue of those beliefs that largely keeps Kennedy's death an open topic for so many of this now-aging generation. Growing up amid the apparently limit– less affluence and optimism of the post World War II era, the young adults of the 1960s were raised with what social biographer Landon Y. Jones has called "great expectations" about the world and their place in it. America was the greatest country in the history of the world, and they were the greatest (that is, the largest) generation in the history of America. Schechter argues that this self-definition of being blessed with a unique destiny was as much responsible as any other factor for the decade's "magical" quality.

Sprawled in front of televisions in the new suburbs that came to define life in the 1950s and 1960s, the baby boomers saw the world as theirs for the taking. The same televisions that became their electronic nannies played an enormous role in creating and maintaining their sense of a special destiny. More often than not, television shows offered slices of life as the generation wanted and. expected it to be, rather than life as it actually was. And it was no different when it came to television's portrayal of Kennedy, the man and the president. 7.e John F. Kennedy splashed across our television screens and the rest of the media was the embodiment of the all– American success story. He had been born into an Irish immigrant family whose father had risen to a position of wealth and power by virtue of hard work and fierce determination. Not content to rest upon his father's laurels, Kennedy prepared for a life of public service, first at Harvard and then in the turbulent waters of the South Pacific. His heroic exploits on the PT- 109 later were recounted in the film of the same name, with Hollywood star Cliff Robertson as the young JFK. As husband to a beautiful and cultured woman who was a success in her own right, and devoted father to two adorable children, Kennedy seemed to be all that an entire generation hoped and believed it could become.

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