JFK 48

Where were you 48 years ago today? We who are old enough to remember the day can tell you precisely where we were when we heard about President Kennedy's assassination.

Everything changed that day. It was the coming out party for TV. It was the dominant media outlet from then on. A huge bubble of idealism burst. We felt the communists were the bad guys, and nothing like this could happen to us. Wrong.

In retrospect, this date was only the beginning of chaos. Something was let loose in the American psyche. Soon "the sixties" arrived: The Beatles, Viet Nam protests, race riots, assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Dr King.

Everything seemed to grind on in discord until "the sixties" ended, I believe, with the tragedy at Kent State. It was a tough time. I'd rather not live it again.

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