This day in history

If you're my age or older or even a bit younger, you probably have often been asked "Where were you when JFK was killed?"......and most people can probably tell you and seem to remember that day as if it was yesterday and yet it's hard to believe that today marks 45 years since that terrible event! On November 22nd, 1963 I was 19 years old. My friends and I were not really into Politics at that time but when John Fitzgerald Kennedy had become the new American President just about three years before we all had sat up and taken notice. He was young, (for a President), handsome, charismatic and had a glamorous wife and family. He seemed to have it all. On top of that we saw him as a sign of hope for better things to come in the World. He was different to the usual fuddy duddy older Politicians that we had in Britain at that time! We wished he was our Prime Minister. We watched him on the TV as he gave his speeches in places like Berlin and London, and we were full of hope for peace and prosperity and equality in the World. So it was with great shock and disbelief that on the Friday night of November 22nd we learned of the assasination in Dallas. I was at home getting ready to go out with friends to our usual Friday night haunt...a jazz club in Newcastle. As I was getting ready my Mother was watching a popular TV program 'Double Your Money' (a quiz type show) and I was half listening to it. Around 7:15pm (British time is five hours ahead of the Eastern United States) the program was interrupted by a BBC announcer........."the news is just coming in that John Kennedy, President of the United States has been shot....we will bring you further information as we get it...we return you now to the program already in progress"......I came dashing out of my bedroom and asked my Mother had I heard right, and she said yes! Just then the program was cut into again and the announcer came back on and told us all the terrible news and immediately the program was switched to the newsroom, and so began the constant 'updates' and reports from reporters as fast as the technology would allow in those days! Finally when they told us that in fact the President had died......my mother and I just looked at each other and cried! About an hour or so later I was with my friends, Marilyn and Marie, and as we walked to the bus stop to catch the bus into Newcastle, the assassination was the total topic of conversation! When we went into the Jazz Club that seemed to be all that people were talking about. Everyone was in shock! Some seemed to think there would be trouble over this, some even mentioned the possibility of War.....maybe it was the Cubans, maybe it was the Communists, maybe it was just a 'one off' crazy man....constant speculation. Of course 45 years later there is still no clear answer and we will probably never know! It won't be till long after that this generation....my generation....the ones who remember...are dead that the truth will come out! Who knows? Little did we know that JFK would not be the only good and decent man to be gunned down by a madman...or a bunch of madmen......within five years John's brother Robert would be gone just a short time after the great Civil Rights Leader, Martin Luther King! Gone but not forgotten. Now we have another charismatic, intelligent, handsome and articulate man preparing to step into the Presidential shoes and I pray to God that he will be kept safe. Surely this time peace, truth and hope can survive?!