Today Is The 47th Anniversary of JFK's Assassination In Dallas

The happy scene above, in Dallas, was taking place a little less than 47 years and two hours ago. November 22, 2010 marks the 47th Anniversary of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, the 2nd or 3rd of major jolts of the 1960s, a decade that was to provide America and the world with a lot of jolting experiences, some bad, like Wars, Assassinations and Riots. Some good like Space Missions, Color TV and Hippies.

I was at Dealey Plaza for the 40th Anniversary of the JFK Assassination, along with thousands of others. It was a poignant, eerie, macabre scene. Security was very tight, I think due to this taking place just 2 years after 9/11. Just at the moment marking the exact time of the assassination, a Dallas Police Swat Team showed up in full armor. That was the macabre part of the day.

A man from Longview, Texas, born less than a month after the assassination, had a good letter to the editor in this morning's Dallas Morning News, in which he paraphrased JFK's famous "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country," line from his Inauguration Speech on a snowy January day in 1961.

Below is the letter from Longview, and below that is the video I made of this day in 2003....

Today marks 47 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the streets of downtown Dallas. I was born just 22 days later, on Dec. 14, 1963. 

When he was killed, Kennedy was smiling and waving to thousands of spectators along that motorcade route. He was 46 years old. Now, I am 46 myself. A few days ago, I was traveling by car in Dealey Plaza. I glanced over at the old Texas Book Depository Building, and then I looked down at the roadway at the "x" that I have seen so many times. Many people are frozen in grief, wondering what might have been if Kennedy had not been shot. 

I share that grief. But I look at that spot with fresh eyes as a 46-year-old today: The dream did not die. The vision of a brighter future did not die. The man's legacy lives on.

To broadly paraphrase and adapt one of Kennedy's sayings: "Ask not what types of bereavement are associated with Dealey Plaza. Ask yourself how you can turn the page and make this country a better place for all mankind."

James A. Marples, Longview