Why JFK?


So there's been a question bugging me a bit. I'm Hungarian and I've never actually been to America, I just know a lot about it since most of the TV shows I like are made or were made in America, as well as a lot of music and literature I like and I could go on. I also happen to like the things that are about the civil rights era and the '60s, and true crime is one of my favourite themes for books, films or series. So of course I was interested in this show.
Anyways, I've always seen and heard that the whole nation - like literally the whole nation - got totally shocked by the assassination of John F. Kennedy and that parties were cancelled for months etc. And I know about some of the important things Kennedy did as a politician, so it's clear to me why a lot of people would mourn him, but since he stood for a lot of things that were at the time controversial - how dare he say that blacks aren't worth less than whites, for instance - I don't really get why the whole country would be so universally sad and desperate about the death of a single person. And it doesn't seem like a simple "celebrity dies and fans cry" situation, because it's a historical fact that the assassination was the big "where were you when that happened" event before 9/11. Even though we know how many assassinations happened those years, from Medgar Evers to Martin Luther King etc.
So dear American friends, maybe you can explain to me this whole thing so that I can understand it better. Why was the death of one person such a historically important event, why did people feel so close to him that they got affected by it as if they had lost a family member? I'm not being insensitive, I really am curious.

- marciel0

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Unlike other deaths or murders or presidents or celebs, JFK's is the only one that has remained questionable.
Abe Lincoln's death took place _after_ the Civil War, so even if John Wilkes Boothe did not shoot him(as he %100 did), it wouldnt matter to history.

Besides, Al has memories of what happened in the 60's such as Viet Nam, as did the janitor whose family was killed. Thus, yes, returning to 60's makes more sense than saving Lincoln, killing Hitler, or preventing James Dean from speeding off on his Spyder.

Heck, but why not 9/11 or preventing John Lennon from being killed?

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Heck, but why not 9/11 or preventing John Lennon from being killed?

Al was obsessed with the JFK thing. Plus, how old would he be waiting from 1960 until 2001?



“Willoughby, sir? That’s Willoughby right outside. It’s July. It’s summer. It’s 1888.”

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Long answer short. Many people saw JFK as a "savior." One of the nicknames he had when he was running was the "Camelot of America." His youth was a big factor of why people liked him. They were tired of old white men running the nation. One of the reasons why JFK won and Nixon lost was because their debates was the first televised events where other presidential debates had been done over the radio. So people saw JFK as this young enthusiastic leader while they saw Nixon as well an old white guy.
In short why were people so impacted by his death? Well during his presidency he had done a lot of things to show that he had the potential to be one of the best president's of the United States. He was the leader/president almost everyone wanted (popular opinion of course there were still people who didn't like him). So when he did it seems that America had lost their hope, their camelot. As much as people mourned over him because they liked him as a person and as a President, they cried over the death of their symbol of hope. The people saw great potential because of the things he had done before, but now his potential was gone.
I think Stephen King the author of the book, was trying to say is that maybe we fell in a love with an illusion or that potential doesn't aways mean a good thing. I saw King's message about potential with Lee in the later part of the series where they talked about having great potential and he decides to shoot the President with his potential. King was in a way trying to saw "Hey maybe the world wouldn't have been such a great place if JFK would have lived."

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I recall a statement by Gary North I read from his book, Victim's Rights when I was studying American History back in my college days, which left a lasting impression on my mind and, in my opinion, perfectly encapsulated the motives surrounding the endless myth of JFK. North referred to the late Harvard University political scientist, James Q. Wilson, who said it best: "It all began in about 1963. That was the year, to overdramatize a bit, that a decade began to fall apart" (p. 289). In the footnote (20) North elaborates further:

...the period beginning with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy brought radical changes to the culture of the West: a rise in revolutionary activity, beginning with the campus violence of the fall of 1964; the escalation of the Vietnam War and the protests against that war; a radical change in culture, especially music, beginning with the Beatles in late 1963 and 1964; and a tremendous shift in the theory of knowledge (epistemology) on the campus: from empiricism and liberalism's optimistic "can-do" pragmatism to subjectivism, relativism, and mysticism. This shift was accompanied by a huge increase in the use of drugs and hallucinogens, and also a tremendous increase in the extent of visible occult activity, especially among those who had received college educations.


it doesn't surprise me then that the idyllic era that was pre-11/22/63 has been romantically idealized in modern media and literature considering that the JFK assassination was such a pivotal or watershed moment in American history that was without parallel until 9/11/01, and still resonate even in our day. Of course, I love all things Americana especially between the "Roaring 20s" to "Warring 40s" and onto the "Fabulous 50s" so that's why JFK to me

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We know now that JFK was an idol with feet of clay. His father Joe Kennedy bought his election as President with the help of his friends from the Italian mob. JFK was only interested in having sex with the more women he could meet, first of all actresses by courtesy of his friends from the Rat Pack. He was more interested by sex in Hollywood than politics in the White House. This was more Bobby's domain.

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